Pompey v Cheltenham: John Mousinho's pre-match throughts
John Mousinho talks to The News ahead of the Blues' game against the Robins at Fratton Park
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00:00 here with Pompey boss John Massino. John, a world of selection considerations going into this weekend game,
00:06 obviously given that you had three players not in the squad and Paddy Lane not involved either on Tuesday night.
00:11 Yeah, and that's been a hallmark of where we've been over the entire season so far.
00:15 I know we're only, I think, in the third week, but yeah, plenty of selection headaches constantly in terms of
00:22 the players that are pushing for spots in the starting line-up, players that are out of squad pushing for spots in the squad.
00:28 And also, I think the players out of the squad can consider themselves a bit unlucky to not be involved in starting XI as well.
00:33 So, I suppose we have the luxury of being able to make changes.
00:36 We made 10 changes for the Forest Green game and then a couple from league game to league game for Orient,
00:43 I think three and then two on Tuesday night.
00:45 So, we've had that luxury as well.
00:46 So, yeah, a bit of a headache, but also quite a nice thing to be sitting on.
00:49 Of course, not just, you know, it's horses for courses, depending on the opposition, might call for different players.
00:54 Yeah, and that's been the hallmark of it so far, really, just to do the opposition analysis,
00:58 see where we are in terms of team selection after that, and then put together the best XI that we think can possibly start
01:03 and win the game for us at the weekend.
01:05 And yeah, we do just feel we're in a relatively strong position at the moment,
01:10 particularly with the way that we're going about it from a competition point of view with the League Cup victory
01:18 and players then really putting themselves at the forefront of selection meetings.
01:22 So, yeah, I think overall, a really, really strong message that we're managing to send out amongst the squad.
01:27 Cheltenham this weekend, on paper, a poor start, but when you scratch a bit deeper, you probably get a different story.
01:33 Yeah, I think they've had a pretty difficult start in terms of opposition with a couple of really tough away games,
01:39 particularly the one the other night against Reading, and then I think at home to top of the League at the moment, Bolton.
01:45 So, Cheltenham, from what I know from the back end of last season, I saw them a couple of times live.
01:51 They finished the season really, really strongly.
01:53 I think one of the games I remember was them at home against Sheffield Wednesday, where they were by far the better side against ultimately promotion winners.
02:01 And they took themselves away from any relegation scrap towards the back end of last year.
02:06 They were excellent. They've had a tough start at the start of this year as well.
02:08 But I think coming into the fifth game, that makes it even more, I suppose, pressing and important for them to try and get on the board.
02:13 And particularly, I think, away from home, at the Park, they're going to want to do that.
02:16 And it's going to be a difficult afternoon.
02:18 One of the big narratives on Tuesday was 0-0 at half time.
02:21 The patience shown by supporters and that continuing to the second half, given that they see a similar performance from your players,
02:27 and it's the same result at half time, probably hopefully the same this weekend if it doesn't emerge that way.
02:32 Yeah, I think that's what it's all about.
02:34 It's all about the performance and what the fans see.
02:36 I think they want to see that attacking, passionate, committed football.
02:40 And I think they saw that in its droves on Tuesday night in the first half.
02:44 Hence, I think there was a lot of satisfaction at half time.
02:46 They knew that the players were putting everything in and we were trying to really build upon what we'd done over the past couple of games.
02:52 And yeah, I think that's all that is ever asked of us.
02:54 So we're trying to provide that.
02:56 We had probably negative reactions to the way that we played at times last year, even when we won games, which is absolutely fine,
03:03 probably because of the style of football.
03:05 So we're not changing it because of that.
03:09 But certainly we think it really helps when we marry the two together.
03:12 And believe it or not, that is the way that we want to play as well.
03:14 I've always spoken about that.
03:15 It's just easier said than done a lot of the time, particularly when sides make it very, very difficult for you to do.
03:20 And you ultimately don't want to go too direct.
03:22 You don't want to be too direct as it plays into side's hand.
03:24 They drop off so that you ultimately get frustrated and start going longer and longer and longer.
03:29 But at the moment, I think we've got a pretty good mix of when we play out the back and when we do go longer as well.
03:34 When we do either one of those, we want to get the ball into the opposition half as quickly as possible and with good possession.
03:40 And yeah, it's a fine balance in football.
03:42 But hopefully we're getting that right.
03:44 It's a really, really delicate and difficult thing to do and we'll be working on that every day.
03:48 A couple of weeks left of the transfer window.
03:50 What are your considerations there, starting firstly with Tom Lowry's injury?
03:54 Yeah, I think prior to Tom Lowry's injury, we were done.
03:57 The only consideration we had then was if anything popped up that we weren't really aware of or something just came up last minute.
04:03 And we were always monitoring the market to see if anything like that happened.
04:06 Since Tom Lowry's injury, we've knocked our heads together to think about the possible list of who would be there
04:13 to potentially replace him.
04:14 We'll get a bit more news in terms of the timescale this afternoon on to Tom Taddy's surgery.
04:19 And we're also meeting, I think we're meeting at five o'clock with the recruitment team today just to go over some of those options,
04:24 see where we are financially, see where we are in terms of squad balance, all of those sort of things that we're going to take into consideration.
04:31 Well, you've referenced the fact that you've left three players out on Tuesday night and Paddy Lane as well.
04:35 So that obviously goes into the equation.
04:37 Yes, it's a tough one.
04:38 You know, I mean, with Paddy coming back to full fitness, we have an extra body around.
04:42 And that's one where we have to make sure that the balance of the squad as well is right.
04:47 And we don't just bring in another player for the sake of it.
04:49 We have players in these backup positions just, or we have players currently not playing,
04:54 that should be challenging for first team spots.
04:57 And they are.
04:58 And we have it for the very reason that we're going to get injuries and suspension.
05:00 So we also have to look at that and look at the squad depth that we have and think about how that impacts us.
05:05 For the pretty brutal run of games that we've got with these eight games in August,
05:09 I think nine games in less than 30 days altogether, something like that.
05:12 So, yeah, all of these factors come into consideration.
05:15 We're thinking about them every day.
05:16 Obviously, Colby Bishop was mentioned in terms of outgoings earlier in the summer,
05:19 given what happened last season.
05:20 Is there any news?
05:21 Has there been anyone registered any interest in Colby Bishop?
05:24 No, nothing, which is great news for us.
05:26 And from my perspective, we've got Colby here on a long-term contract and he's playing some,
05:33 in my eyes, some spectacular football without being, Colby is not necessarily,
05:38 you wouldn't describe him as a spectacular player, but I think it's spectacular football in terms of what he does for us
05:42 and the work ethic that he puts in, the way that he leads the line,
05:45 the way that he puts chances away when he gets them in the box.
05:49 I just think he's a real leader in every sense of the word.
05:52 So, yeah, the situation with Colby is that he's, I think, incredibly happy in terms of the football that he's playing.
06:01 He's had an incredibly successful 12, 13 months here and may it continue.
06:06 Sean Raggett's someone who's had limited league minutes anyway so far.
06:09 If there was anything to come out in terms of interest for him, what would be the position there?
06:14 So, again, in terms of where we are with Sean, Sean being here at the moment makes us much stronger
06:20 and he's probably been one of the ones that's been unlucky not to have started more games.
06:25 The performance of the back four in the league game so far has been excellent.
06:30 I thought Sean and Connor were very, very good against Forest Green as well.
06:34 And it's really tight. It's tough to call. We left Rielly's town out of the last two squads,
06:39 which probably tells you everything you need to know about the strength and depth that we have or that we think we have,
06:44 because I think Rielly is 100 per cent a starter at this level.
06:48 So, yeah, at the moment, I think we're much stronger with Sean in the squad, challenging for a first team spot.
06:54 We've got a very, very long season. We're only three league games in and a lot can change between now and the weekend,
07:00 let alone now and Christmas and now and the season.
07:03 Denver Hulme, obviously, the status quo a week ago was helping him to get something sourced out that we can and working towards that.
07:09 Any news, any progress? No, no progress there.
07:11 So still in the same spot. We suspect now with a couple of weeks left in the window that there'll be a few of those deals that start to accelerate
07:18 and maybe a couple more bits materialise.
07:21 Again, just making sure that both parties are happy with the outcome there, that Denver go somewhere that he's wanted and that he's going to improve and flourish.
07:29 And also that it's the right deal for us on this side.
07:32 I just want to ask you finally about Abu Kamara, who he had his experience at Leighton Orant last weekend and then came back and then came off the bench and influenced things on Tuesday night.
07:41 So how pleasing was that?
07:42 Really pleasing. It's all part of Abu's process in terms of learning and coming away with us on loan.
07:48 What Abu will have by the end of the season is pretty much everything sort of ticked off and it's time he goes back to Norwich.
07:55 And I'm sure that Abu will challenge for a place in Norwich's side at some point in the very near future, whether they're in the Championship or the Premier League.
08:04 All of these things I think are really important.
08:06 All of a sudden in one week, he's had the first time that he's started a competitive game in the League Cup, the first time he started the League game, his first couple of assists,
08:16 his first taste of life at Fratton, the first time he travelled away and then started, the first time he came off as a sub,
08:22 the first time he's had to rebound and then come on and do excellently on Tuesday night.
08:25 He's done all of that in the space of 10 days.
08:27 He's been brilliant at it as well.
08:28 He's been great to have around the place, really, really good in training.
08:31 And we saw, again, we've got complete trust in him because we put him on to go and influence the game at 0-0, a game that we thought we had to win.
08:38 And he did it and he did a really, really good job.
08:41 And yeah, I think he's been absolutely fantastic, especially considering he's so young.
08:45 Yeah, I mean, just the home fans, I've seen a couple of glimpses now on those cameos.
08:48 He can get you on your feet and engage and just, you know, attack people.
08:53 He gets you on your feet, he attacks, he's quick, he's direct.
08:55 One thing that we would probably like to see a bit more of with Abu is, I think, he cut back onto his right foot in the box
09:00 and then that's where we want him to drive and get the shot off and really, you know, sort of really go for the throat in those instances
09:06 because he's got so much quality and particularly cutting him from the right there.
09:11 He provides a real, real threat with the left foot.
09:13 He's got, he's no mug in terms of finishing on his right foot as well.
09:16 So productivity will get plenty out of Abu because of the fact that we've already seen, you know,
09:21 we've already seen a couple of assists against Forest Green.
09:24 He was heavily involved in that goal against Bristol Rovers.
09:27 And, you know, I'm sure that based on his pedigree and based on what we've seen out in training,
09:30 we'll get goals and assists out of him through the rest of the season.