Pompey boss John Mousinho chats to The News ahead of the Blues' trip to Chesterfield in the FA Cup.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 Here with Pompey boss John Masino. John, a juicy FA Cup affair to look forward to this weekend.
00:06 Yeah, I think exactly that. And when the name was thrown out of the hat, when it was us away at Chesterfield, I think the first assumption was that it would probably be on TV because of all the connections between the two football clubs and the fact that Chesterfield are absolutely flying at the top of the National League at the moment.
00:21 So there's a huge amount to play for anyway, as there is in any FA Cup tie. But the fact that it's Paul Cook and the number of players that have been involved in Portsmouth over the years, the fact that Chesterfield are absolutely flying at the top of the league, I think, yeah, they will make for it to be a really juicy cup tie on Sunday.
00:38 We spoke briefly about Paul Cook and your experience from the past and admiration. I mean, just develop on that and the way he approaches football.
00:45 Yeah, just one of the sides through the years that sticks out in my mind is Chesterfield's side that got to the semi-finals of the League One playoffs and very, very unlucky, I think, to lose to Preston, who eventually got promoted that year.
00:58 And then, ever since then, and obviously even before then, Paul Cook's always played, I think, expansive football with and they're very attacking and very possession based.
01:05 So, you know, it's always been really nice to watch and he's had some very, very good sides over the years. So, you know, we expect that we'll see more of that at the weekend.
01:13 Everything that we've seen in the analysis so far indicates that this side is no different from the other teams that he's been very, very successful with over the years.
01:19 And I think, you know, coupled now with the fact that Chesterfield, I think, have recruited really well over the summer after their disappointment of not going up last year.
01:27 They've got some really, really good players in there, least of all if you look at one lad that we had here last year, Michael Jacobs, who had a real effect for us through the entire season and his stay here.
01:36 And I thought he was excellent towards the back end. The only thing I think that stopped him from either staying here or maintaining his status as a league footballer was maybe family issues and geography because talent-wise, he's right up there.
01:49 And that's just one of quite a few players they've got in the squad.
01:52 So, hopefully, two sides that are fairly aligned in principles and lend into a decent spectacle.
01:56 Yeah, I think that's what we'll see. I definitely think we'll see two sides that want to play football and two sides that are also attacking in the way that they want to do that.
02:04 And, yeah, there are a lot of similarities, I think, between the two. So, it should be a good spectacle.
02:08 Is a Fedecal Paul one of the more exuberant characters and brighter characters in football?
02:14 Yeah, I mean, definitely. I've only ever been around Paul playing against his side, so never in a coaching or managerial capacity.
02:22 But, no, he's some great things, one of the great characters of the game.
02:26 And, yeah, people, obviously, from the success that he's had here speak very, very fondly of him.
02:30 So, I think still somebody here that is revered and has had a huge amount of success wherever he's gone.
02:36 And you've obviously would have come in at this stage a fair amount in your playing career as well.
02:39 So, what are your experiences and appreciation of this competition?
02:42 Some really good experiences, to be honest. A couple of tough ones when I've been knocked out by non-league sides, which is never nice.
02:48 But that's the whole point of the competition, I think, is that you pit all the best sides in the country against each other.
02:53 But, yeah, some decent enough runs, certainly decent in terms of the levels that I was playing at at the time.
02:59 And it does give you the opportunity to go and play away at certain grounds that you've never been at before.
03:05 There are ties that just, I know, they sort of light up and different things happen because of the, it's a real cliché, because of the magic of the FA Cup.
03:14 And I think everybody that loves football in this country does look forward to that weekend in November where you get the first round.
03:20 We were looking forward to the first round draw. And then, yeah, every time there's a subsequent round, I know there's just a little bit of excitement in the air around what can be done, especially for lower league clubs.
03:29 I know it might be different for clubs up at the top, but I think, you know, seldom do clubs at the top level not take the FA Cup seriously.
03:36 I still think it's held in high regard. And, yeah, because of that, I think everybody's got fond memories of it.
03:40 So the suggestion from that, from what you're saying, are you take this competition seriously in terms of how you approach it in line-up?
03:45 Yeah, very seriously. And we'll go, we'll be strong in terms of the line-up. We've had a week leading into this.
03:51 We don't have a league game for six days after it. I know we've got the game on Tuesday night, but we want to take this game in isolation first before we look at anything in terms of team selection on Tuesday.
04:00 So, yeah, we'll certainly be approaching it as seriously as we approach a league game.
04:03 And the situation with your trio of loanees that are here at the moment?
04:06 All three can play. That's good news.
04:08 And the other lads that are unavailable?
04:11 No, injury-wise, apart from the long-term injuries, then everybody else is available.
04:15 So after Reading, I think everybody came through the 18 in the squad, the two outside of the squad with Riley Talbot and Ben Stevenson all available for the weekend.
04:26 Obviously, Conor's a fairly robust lad, isn't he? So you'd hope his rehab would go as well as could be expected?
04:32 Yeah, and I think it will. We're almost two weeks post the event now.
04:35 So it goes really quickly and Conor is extremely diligent and hardworking in everything he does.
04:41 You don't play the amount of games that he's played at such a young age without being a dedicated professional.
04:46 So it's a blow to him that he's not in the side.
04:48 I think this is the first time for a long, long time in his career that he's had a couple of injuries back to back with the Barns injury and then going into the Cambridge game.
04:55 So he's obviously disappointed. He's gutted. He wants to play, but he'll be back very, very quickly.
04:59 And he'll come back a lot stronger, I'm sure.