- 5 days ago
Pompey boss John Mousinho previews Saturday's Championship clash with Middlesbrough with a Josh Murphy update and all the talking points.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00So John, two-all draw with Watford on Wednesday night. Could have been more but it ends with a small string of defeats for your side.
00:07What was your big takeaway from the game?
00:10Good question. We were frustrated with not winning the game.
00:15Thought we could have done so off the first half that we built and when we got back in the game at 2-2 then
00:21we were always wary of the counter-attack with the pace and athleticism when Watford had got in their side
00:26and thought we were the other side that was showing the intent to win. So it feels like it's a two-point drop
00:31but my overall take is I thought the performance was very good, particularly in the first half.
00:35We just have to learn how to win those sort of games, either to put sides away first off
00:42and second of all not to defend as poorly as we did for the two goals.
00:45Because apart from that, yeah, it was a good game but I thought we were pretty solid.
00:49It's not often you see a player withdrawn in the first half but would it be fair to say that Rocco Vata coming on
00:54change the game a little bit from a Watford perspective?
00:57Yeah, I mean, he's a fantastic player and Watford have got some very, very good players in the starting line-up
01:02and on the bench as well and to be able to bring someone as good as Vata on, to change the game,
01:08to bring Urinkundu off and bring Vata on, that's a really nice sub.
01:12So, did it change the game? Obviously Vata had that involvement in both of the goals.
01:18Ultimately, I think that we could have left anyone as free as we left on the left wing for that first goal
01:24and they would have punished us. So, that was just much more sloppy defending from us.
01:27And we spoke before the game here on Monday, Jan Minhoek, how pleased are you to see him get a goal
01:32and what's that going to do for his confidence?
01:34I think he's a confident young lad anyway but it should hopefully boost him and give him that little bit of belief
01:41and a little bit of confidence that he can really cut it at the level.
01:44He's definitely done it in fits and starts over his time at QPR when he had some very, very big contributions
01:50and some very impressive performances but maybe not consistently.
01:53So, to see him in the starting line-up back-to-back, I think that's the first time that he's done it in a long, long time.
01:58And he's still only young, it's still his first year of professional football over in this country.
02:03And we saw some really bright bits from this game yesterday, the first time that he took his defender on
02:07early on in the game and he got Max Delaney booked. I think he had, he obviously scored his goal,
02:12he had the shot that was saved, another left-footed shot and another couple of really good chances.
02:16So, really pleased for Minhoek and yeah, we want to see a load more of it.
02:20And another goal for Adrian Segacic now, free and believe for him this season.
02:24Big impact from the bench, we usually see him starting, was that just a rotational decision?
02:29Yeah, I think that, you know, we've had a look at the past couple of games, two losses.
02:33I think we've been disappointed with some performances over those two games.
02:36And, you know, by Seg's own high standards, particularly when we saw him in the first couple of games,
02:40I don't think anybody would argue that he hadn't quite hit them.
02:43And so, we thought it was, yeah, it was a good opportunity off the back of that long away travel,
02:47with Chappas coming in nice and fresh, with plenty of other players, with Swifty coming in nice and fresh as well,
02:52that we'd make that change and rotate around.
02:54And yeah, probably like I suppose I'm talking about with Watford, that ability to bring Vata off the bench.
02:59It was very nice to bring Adrian off the bench last night.
03:01And with Segicic set to stay with Pompey squads for the duration of the international break,
03:06as opposed to travelling with Australia, how big a benefit could that be for Portsmouth?
03:10I think it will be a benefit, considering what happened to him on the last international break.
03:13Usually we really do encourage players to go away with the international teams.
03:17The Australian fixtures are sometimes frustrating because of how far the travel is,
03:22and the couple of injuries that we've had off the back of international breaks last year with Cassini,
03:26when he was just getting going for us.
03:27So, that for us, probably is going to benefit us.
03:31I think that Seg's partly came back off the international break and took a bit of time to get going as well.
03:36So I think just being here with us and having that two weeks worth of training is going to do him good.
03:40And no Josh Murphy in the squad on Wednesday. What's the latest with his road to recovery?
03:45Josh is still a bit of touch and go, 50-50.
03:49We're frustrated with the nature of the injury and the fact that we can't seem to quite get over the last little hurdle.
03:55And so it's just niggling away really.
03:57And we are pushing, but we just have to be sensible at the same time to not make it worse.
04:01So Middlesbrough up next on Saturday, the different kind of tests to Watford, would you say?
04:05Yeah. I mean, all games are going to be very, very different, but certainly, you know, different Watford,
04:10sorry, Middlesbrough are the best side in the league.
04:13They've had a very, very good start to the season and they're excellent defensively and going forward as well.
04:18So it's going to provide us a real challenge.
04:20First of all, making sure that we stop them from playing the way that they do
04:23and then trying to open them up at the back as well.
04:25And yeah, that's going to be a very good game, I think.
04:28Any recollections with battles against Rob Edwards as a player?
04:31Of course, he came down to Fratton Park last season with Luton,
04:34but any sort of on the pitch for Rob Edwards at all?
04:36I don't think so. He was a better player than me.
04:38So I don't think he was scrapping around in the lower leagues like I was.
04:41And how important is it finally to try and pick up a positive result heading into that international break?
04:46Yeah, it always is. We managed to do it on the back end of the first international break
04:49and it turned that start that we'd had, which we were looking at a loss, a draw and a win,
04:54going into that Preston game, it turned it into a really positive start.
04:57So I think, yeah, we're sort of there in a similar position at the minute,
05:01whereas a win makes it look like a very positive start to the season,
05:05that you win nine games in. A draw probably feels like it's all right.
05:09And any negative result, you think, you know, we've had, I guess, an okay start to the season.
05:15It's interesting that that sort of one game can have such a big effect on things
05:19and have such a big effect on how you feel about the situation.
05:22Ultimately, that's the business we're in. It's a bit of a cliche, but it's a results-based business.
05:26So we're going to have to try and focus on winning the game at the weekend
05:29and, yeah, improving upon the performances we've put in so far as well.
05:33Thank you, John.
05:36With Josh, what's been the process of treating his ankle?
05:40Because obviously it's lingered a few weeks now, hasn't it?
05:43I don't know. That's the point for the medical staff to answer.
05:47Is it a case of perhaps it might be worth resting him
05:51and bringing him back after the international break to give him that time away?
05:54Well, that's a possibility. We'll have a look at how he settles down over the next couple of days.
05:59And, yeah, obviously he's not fit for the weekend and he's got two extra weeks.
06:02Is he back in training at all at the moment?
06:04He's not right now. We've taken him back out on the grass a couple of times
06:09and the ankle's just not been quite right.
06:11But it's not long-term though, as you said before.
06:14No, it's not long-term.
06:15So is it quite frustrating just not having that end game as such?
06:19Yeah, with every injury you have to be cautious with it.
06:23But this one, I suppose, it's been a touch-and-go situation for a couple of weeks now.
06:28So, yeah, everybody's frustrated.
06:29We obviously want Josh to get back on the pitch and play as quickly as possible.
06:32And, yeah, we're all focused on doing that.
06:35Just every single injury has a different nature to it.
06:38Some are very, very straightforward.
06:40I can tell you exactly how long they're going to be.
06:42And others, yeah, others are a little bit...
06:44There's a little bit more...
06:46I don't know what the right word is, but it's not just quite straight down the line.
06:50How do you assess Colby Bishop's form at the moment?
06:53I think in terms of goal scoring, Colby's always going to be disappointed with not scoring.
07:01He's proven time and time again that he's got the ability to come back in
07:05and put the ball in the back of the net.
07:07And I know that he's going to do that from my very first season here.
07:10I think in 2023 there were question marks over him
07:13with a short, barren run that he had towards the back end of the season.
07:17Ended up with 20-odd goals.
07:19You know, he bettered that tally the next year
07:21and then in a lot of ways probably bettered that last year.
07:25Not necessarily in terms of, or definitely not in terms of sheer numbers,
07:28but managed to score 11 goals in a season where he had open heart surgery as well.
07:33So Colby will want to score more.
07:36I'm sure he'll want to improve upon form at the moment as well.
07:39He's a very realistic young lad and knows exactly where he needs to improve.
07:44And yeah, I think that certainly there's a lot of players at the minute
07:47that we can ask a bit more from.
07:49And in terms of his performances, not in terms of goals?
07:52Yeah, I think that we've probably, again, know that there's plenty of errors in improvement
07:57and there's plenty of things we can do better
07:59and certain things that we can do as a team as well to help a lot more.
08:02I suppose really he's suffered the most of Josh Murphy not there
08:06picking those crosses from the left.
08:07Yeah, and we've had to adjust the way that we played slightly.
08:10You probably would have seen that last night without that outlet on the left-hand side.
08:14And yeah, we don't necessarily have that on the right-hand side either.
08:17It's very different. It's a different type of game we're playing.
08:19It doesn't necessarily suit what we've done over the past couple of seasons,
08:24even when we didn't have Josh, which was get the ball right and cross it in the box.
08:27You didn't have a strike on the bench yesterday, which obviously is a most confidence as well for Colby.
08:33Yeah, we didn't bring him in as a centre-forward, but Florian played 90% of the time last season
08:40as a centre-forward for Swansea when he was on the pitch.
08:42So we took the view on balance that if something had happened to Colby early on,
08:49if we wanted to make the change, that we were going to do Florian probably
08:53instead of just chucking Mackenzie in at the deep end.
08:55I didn't think that would be particularly fair on him, just having come over from Scotland recently.
08:59So whatever we do in behind Colby, whatever we do on the bench, whatever we do in and around that,
09:09whatever that seems like in terms of being a voter-confident site, there's never any question in my mind
09:14how good Colby is and the contribution he's had to this football club and what he will do going forward.
09:20Any time there's ever been any doubt in his contribution and his playing ability,
09:25he comes back and he proves everyone wrong. I've seen it time and time and time again.
09:28There's no issue, anyone can always break down performances and criticise individuals or criticise the team,
09:37but certainly in Colby's case, I think he's proven how big of a player he is for us
09:43and how important he is for the football club and ultimately I know he's going to keep doing it for many years.
09:49Sammy Silvera, coming back with Middlesbrough, he's done quite well there by all accounts this season.
09:54Yeah, a very, very positive start to the season. We always knew Sammy was a really good player.
09:59That's the reason we brought him in here. For whatever reason, things didn't quite work out.
10:03But, you know, Sammy was sat here last year in a side that hadn't won a game.
10:09Speak about this being a year since we went away to Stoke and lost 6-1 as well.
10:12And so, yeah, probably didn't have the best platform here to necessarily perform as well.
10:16So, I think, I'm sure he would have wanted to do a little bit better here, but ultimately we didn't have a very good first half of the season
10:22and Sammy probably suffered for that as well.
10:25It didn't work out for him at Blackpool as well last season, but he seems to have gone back to Middlesbrough and playing well.
10:31It happens. It just happens. You've got a young player coming over from Australia.
10:35He had a pretty good season, his first season in the Championship, then came out on loan.
10:39A couple of loans that, yeah, maybe didn't 100% work out as he would have liked them to work out.
10:43And you just have to be patient with a lot of players a lot of the time.
10:47I'm not saying that we've, I'm not saying that certain players have made it or certain players have done all.
10:53We've, you know, this is, this is it after, after the back of a few questions that have been asked.
10:57But if you look at a player like Min Hyuk, the question's been asked two or three weeks ago when he hadn't made an appearance for five games.
11:04It was, you know, what's, you know, why have we got him here?
11:07Is he going to have an impact? What's he going to do for the first team?
11:10Just have to be patient with some of these players and sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't.
11:13But, look, players have always judged on performances at the end of the day and to see Sami back in and doing well is pleasing just as long as it doesn't happen Saturday.
11:24Why do you think it didn't work for Sami here?
11:27Just no reasons I laid out there. He came into a side that wasn't very good in the first half of the season.
11:32He would have been disappointed with some of his own performances and by the same token I don't think we've particularly played to his strengths.
11:39What sort of reaction do you think he'll get?
11:41I think it'll be relatively positive. I don't think there's going to be any ill feeling towards Sami whatsoever.
11:48I don't think there should be. Sami always tried. He always put the maximum effort in.
11:52Whether it worked out or not is irrelevant. I know he had a very negative reaction to his, I think, performance up at Bristol City.
11:59But you look at that and you think, OK, Sami got singled out. It could have been 11 players.
12:05It could have been me. It could have been the coaching staff. So I think we're all pretty balanced here at Portsmouth and I don't think it's going to be a negative reaction at all.
12:12For many of the early games you played John Swift in a deeper position, which you said is not quite his position.
12:18You moved him further forward in last night's game as well. Do you think he shows signs that he can play there?
12:25Yeah, I think he's more suited to that position. I think he picked up some really good pockets last night.
12:31Some of his passing, some of his touches were brilliant. He gave the ball away on a couple of occasions as well, which is going to happen, I suppose.
12:38And maybe a bit of frustration around that, but we are asking players to be creative. We're asking a 10 to get in the pocket and be creative.
12:44And ultimately, when you do that, when you sign a player like John and you play him as a 6, ask him to do a different role and then play him as a 10,
12:52then, yeah, sometimes the ball is going to break down on him. The ball is going to break down on everyone.
12:57We want players to be brave. We want them to get into good positions. We want them to take responsibility.
13:02He had a big part to play in the second goal, which was great. Gets himself in some really nice spots.
13:07And nearly equalised just before that as well with a really good run into the box from Terry's cross.
13:12So, yeah, I think that in terms of John going forward in that more advanced position, that's certainly, I think, where we'll see him a lot more.
13:21Is it very different number 10 to what you've played in the last few years, really?
13:24Yeah, we've had a combination of a few different ones. If you look at, I suppose, Christian when he was here and he was firing.
13:35Callum, yeah, probably more of a running, powerful 10.
13:38But we did a few times in that league, one season, play with Alex Robertson as a 10, a couple of times with Tino.
13:45And yeah, maybe Swifty's closer to the Alex Robertson mould in terms of a 10 than anything else.
13:51So I think we can definitely do it. And it's just finding a different way of playing with the players that we've got.
13:55What is his different way as a 10, would you say?
13:57Well, he's not necessarily going to, he's not Christian Sadie. No one really is. So he's not going to do what he does.
14:04Callum, if you look at Callum, he's sort of absolute 110%, really high energy, runs in channels.
14:10That's how, hence we can play him on the wing. Swifty's probably more of a pocket player getting on the half turn,
14:15trying to create a little bit more rather than doing it through athleticism and power.
14:20So, yeah, very, very different in terms of the guile and the ability that it brings.
14:24I suppose there's no right or wrong ways it's players in 10?
14:27No, there's many different ways. And I think that depends on the way the team's playing as well.
14:32I think when we're slightly more direct and we go from back to front a bit quicker, it suits probably a different type.
14:39And when we're trying to build a little bit more and play through the lines, it suits a different type as well.
Recommended
0:28
|
Up next
14:25
12:12
12:52
Be the first to comment