Pompey head coach John Mousinho talks to The News ahead of Tuesday night's visit of Exeter to Fratton Park.
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00:00 Here with Pompey boss John Massino. John, you weren't wowed by the performance necessarily on Saturday, but you were pleased with how you performed in both boxes. Is that fair?
00:11 Yeah, I think that's really fair. I'm going to stick by what I said after the game. I thought we were pretty ordinary for the first 35-40 minutes. It seemed like at half-time we had some words amongst the coaching staff, i.e. what's the message you want to get to the players here?
00:26 We were pretty firm in telling the players that we weren't happy with where they were. What I saw looking back at me was a group of players that understood that perfectly. I didn't have to fly off the handle or anything. They knew that they weren't performing particularly well.
00:41 What they had done was make sure they didn't concede any chances during the time they didn't play particularly well. They kept their shape, they worked really hard and they got their rewards. Toodle up at half-time, I thought we were slightly fortunate.
00:53 The second-half performance was completely different. It was very, very professional. We got the ball forward really quickly. By the time we scored the third goal, we became very, very comfortable in the game and just saw it out.
01:03 Obviously, we added the fourth, but having looked at that in the second-half, we were really, really pleased. Ultimately, we probably didn't wow, but we did what we needed to do to win the game and win it comfortably. That's the most important thing.
01:15 Regardless of performance, there's momentum off the weekend and now the challenge is to carry that forward into the game against Exeter.
01:20 Yes, and to get the right balance between not getting too carried away with everything, but also taking a lot of confidence from the second-half performance in particular and the result.
01:31 We managed to get through a really tough away fixture and win 4-0. We're sitting there thinking we're not pleased there's a load of improvement. It's a really good spot to be in.
01:40 We've got to take a lot of confidence from that and we've got to take the momentum forward to the home game on Tuesday because it's going to be completely different.
01:46 Different opposition, a real, real challenge, I think, with the Exeter side that's coming here. But we have to back ourselves to be able to do well at home.
01:53 A pleasant problem.
01:54 But there's people knocking on the door going into Tuesday's game. What are your considerations on that front?
01:59 It's a really difficult situation that we find ourselves in, in a very, very good way because we've got people competing for starting spots and, like I've been saying over the past couple of weeks, leading players out of the squad that don't deserve to be out of the squad.
02:13 They don't even deserve to be out of the team and that's a really difficult thing for players to understand that sometimes they're a lot closer than they can actually imagine.
02:21 So it's just a good spot to be in actually and it's one that we wanted to handle over the summer.
02:27 So when Rich, myself and Phil and the board spoke about what position we wanted the squad to be in, we did want to have two players competing for every position.
02:34 And we knew that was going to give me a headache a lot of times in terms of team selection.
02:40 But also it's a long, long season and we're fairly lucky at the moment in terms of injuries.
02:46 And you never know how quickly that may change. So we're going to need the entire squad throughout the season.
02:50 One person who's knocking on the door and excited fans so far is Alex Robertson. How pleasing to see his early contributions?
02:57 Yeah, I think he's really caught the eye in a couple of games so far.
03:01 A really good cameo, I think, against Forest Green and again coming on against Leighton Orion and just creating and dazzling with a bit of skill here and there.
03:08 But he's also a very solid player in behind that as well and he can do simple things very well.
03:12 So one of those who we knew what he was going to be like coming in, i.e. he's competing amongst some established players and there's some tough competition there.
03:23 And the most important thing for us with Alex is to make sure things go smoothly for him and if by smoothly it's slowly, then so be it.
03:31 Because it's his first taste of senior football in this country, starting games.
03:36 And that's something that's going to be a real challenge for him, adjusting to that as well.
03:40 He's done himself a lot of favours in terms of the way that he's started his sportsman career.
03:44 Is freshness a consideration, given that you're going Saturday, Tuesday, it seems like every week at the moment?
03:50 Yeah, we were lucky enough that we could manage it last week with the 10 changes and the one player that played on Saturday, Tuesday in Antony, we left that one starting line-up on Saturday.
03:59 And freshness was part of that.
04:01 So yeah, I think it's going to be something we keep in mind as we go through.
04:05 We've got players that can come in and replace starters that are equally as good or provide us with something different.
04:11 And I think that's a really good thing to have.
04:14 We're in a really, really good spot with that.
04:16 So it's something we're going to have to manage.
04:18 We don't want to chop and change the side too much, but if we can bring in fresh legs for these Tuesday night games, then again for Saturday, then I don't think we're going to shy away from doing that.
04:26 Obviously, Jack Sparks facing his old side tomorrow.
04:29 How pleased have you been with him, particularly that performance last week on Tuesday?
04:33 He was excellent on Tuesday. I thought actually he made a real difference when he came on against Bristol Rovers as well.
04:38 Slightly different role that he had to play at the weekend because we were comfortable at that time being 3-0 up.
04:44 We're not asking him to come on and really change the game.
04:47 We're just asking him to come on and do as good a job as he actually did.
04:50 I thought he was excellent playing out of position as well.
04:52 So providing that attacking threat against the later on in back four.
04:57 So yeah, he's been great.
04:58 It's been a real good competition for Connor there.
05:03 Again, I put Connor to bed for the weekend and he was excellent as well.
05:06 So it's going to be a really tough competition for both of them.
05:08 But very, very different players.
05:10 They bring different attributes to the table and I think it's again, very healthy to have both of them in the building.
05:15 It's a bit of a Luke Shaw about Jack, isn't there?
05:17 Can you see the sort of comparisons?
05:19 Yeah, I think even physically he's really powerful and well set.
05:23 He's a really fit young lad, strong and he's a boss in terms of the way that he's going about defending at the moment as well.
05:29 Which is probably the area that he wanted to work on the most.
05:31 And the quality that he's got on his left foot, I think everybody's seen.
05:34 His crossing is really, really good.
05:36 His set pieces are good.
05:37 He can score as well when he cuts in.
05:39 Gets the ball shifted back onto his left foot.
05:42 And again, the attacking options that he gives us, I think in particular, we're really, really happy with.
05:47 We've got to make sure we nail down the defensive side of his game so that he can really compete there.
05:52 That's probably Conor's biggest strength.
05:54 So yeah, I think between the two of them, we've got a real good combination in full-back areas.
05:58 How pleased have you been with Will Norris in the start to his Pompey career?
06:01 Yeah, I mean, he just looks like he's taken to everything very, very easily.
06:06 He's an extremely calming presence.
06:08 And the way that we're trying to play out from the back, and this isn't just playing short out from the back, it's also the way we want to go longer.
06:15 So when people talk about playing from the back, we generally mean both ways.
06:20 And what he gives you is that option. So he can pick Colby out, he can pick Conor Ogilvie out.
06:24 And a couple of times he can pick Gavin out.
06:27 And we can also plan and see how good he is before it's really...
06:30 Now that's a real bonus.
06:32 I think to have the most important thing is his goalkeeping ability.
06:35 Thankfully in the two league games so far, we haven't really tested him too much.
06:39 And that's testament to the back four and everybody in front of them doing their work.
06:43 But I think when he's been called upon, he's been very, very solid.
06:46 And he came and claimed a couple of crosses at the weekend that just relieved the pressure, particularly one at the back end of the first half.
06:51 And it was really nice to have in the side that confidence, that positivity in terms of a goalkeeper.
06:59 So, yeah, he started his Portsmouth career really well.
07:02 He had quite a traumatic end to his Peterborough stay.
07:04 I mean, you're confident, and the only signs are there's no lasting damage from that.
07:08 I think Will's just the right character to be able to deal with that.
07:11 And not in an overly confident or overly arrogant way. I just don't think it's overly affected him.
07:17 And I'm sure he took the negatives from that game.
07:20 And I'm sure he's been working on what he can improve upon over the summer because that's what all good goalkeepers do.
07:25 You don't play in the Premier League for nothing, and that's what he's been able to do.
07:28 And he's had a really, really good career out of it.
07:31 And now for us, it's about finding him a home.
07:33 And hopefully that's going to be Portsmouth for a long, long time.
07:36 And yeah, he doesn't seem to have been affected by it at all. He's just the right personality.
07:40 I don't know what he's been like in the media, but you can probably tell he's very calm, very composed.
07:44 And he doesn't let anything affect him, which is what you want from a goalkeeper.
07:47 Do you accept that when you play the way you want with Will, that there will be times that you can see goals that way?
07:52 Yeah, absolutely. And we accepted that at the back end of last season as well.
07:58 I think there were two occasions where Matt Macy against Port Vale and Josh against Wickham.
08:05 And we did concede goals. So if you're asking your goalkeepers to be brave and to ball at their feet,
08:09 sometimes they're going to misjudge it and they're going to get it wrong.
08:11 So I've always said that if we do concede from playing out, as long as it's under the right structure,
08:16 and we're trying to do the right things, then that's absolutely fine.
08:19 The best goalkeepers are the better goalkeepers at this level.
08:22 They make good decisions more often than not. And they don't get caught.
08:26 And ultimately, that's the truth.
08:28 But yeah, if we're going to ask players to be like that, we're going to have to accept it.
08:31 Otherwise, we just get our goalkeepers to play along every time. That's the very, very simple thing to do.
08:36 Like I said, the advantage of Will is that he can do both.
08:39 And at times, there's going to be elements of the game where we're going to be a bit more direct.
08:44 Because the gains from playing that way outweigh the cons, really.
08:48 Sides press us, and I think sides press us really well.
08:51 And what sides will do is they'll know how we're going to try and set up and play out.
08:55 And they obviously come with a game plan.
08:57 Sometimes the best thing to do with sides press us is we're not going to be overly arrogant and say,
09:01 "We're going to try and play out from that."
09:03 We can go, "OK, well, what's got our front?"
09:05 If you've got Colby Bishop, Kasimi Yenge or Christian Sadie, and we're going to go a bit longer.
09:09 And we back all three of them to have a go with any centre-halves at this level.
09:14 And if you have that in the building, if you have a goalkeeper that can do that,
09:17 or say Conor Ogilvy pushing up on the left, and even with the wingers,
09:21 I think we've got wingers that can compete in the air as well.
09:23 Anthony and Gav aren't the biggest, but they'll have a go.
09:27 And Adam's maybe not the most aggressive, but I think he'll still have a go.
09:30 And we'll win this fair share of heavy.
09:31 And so I don't think it's the right thing to do to overplay, especially at this level.
09:36 If we have to miss the press, we'll miss the press.
09:38 So we're waiting on Tom Lowry, but is there more positive news on Paddy Lane?
09:42 Yes, so yes, still waiting on Tom. We'll have more news on Tom tomorrow.
09:45 But positive news on Paddy. Paddy came back and trained today,
09:48 so he's in contention for the game tomorrow.
09:50 Oh, in contention, so...
09:52 He trained at the back end of last week. It's all been a bit quicker than we thought it would be,
09:55 but he had a full training session today. We wanted to see how he got through that.
09:59 He got through it absolutely fine, so there's no reason for us to hold him back anymore.
10:03 So broadly, very positive going into the game?
10:05 Broadly very positive going into the game. Just obviously the Tom Lowry injury.
10:08 We've got the long-term one with Josh Dockerill as well, but apart from that,
10:12 sort of touch wood at the moment, we've got a pretty good look in terms of how the physio room is.
10:19 That can change very quickly, we know that, but we're hoping it stays that way for a while.
10:23 As the phone rang the last few days in terms of transfers, any recruitment news?
10:27 No, nothing incoming or outgoing. So we're just doing as we said we would.
10:31 We're keeping an eye on anything that's going on and making sure we don't cut ourselves off
10:37 for the last couple of weeks, but there's nothing imminent.
10:40 Rich, myself and Phil and the board and the recruitment board, we're always in contact
10:44 and making sure that we're fully appraised and everything. And things do change quickly.
10:47 So at the moment, everything is nice and calm, but I'm sure that will change soon.
10:51 In terms of Denver, is it waiting for him to see if he can fix himself up with something?
10:56 Yeah, and we're helping with that as well. We're not just leading him to it, but it's up to Denver and his agent.
11:00 And again, we've said we're not going to stand in his way, so we'll see what comes of that.
11:04 I'm pretty sure in the next couple of weeks that something will pop up.
11:07 Cheers.