Blues boss John Mousinho chats to The News after his side's 3-0 defeat at the hands of Leyton Orient
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00:00 Here with Pompey boss John Massino. John, it's not a word I'd throw around very readily but I mean is that a fair word to use today for long periods of the game?
00:09 A team that just wasn't recognisable as one of yours for long periods?
00:12 Yeah I think, sort of take the second half out of it being 3-0 down we had a bit of a go but never looked like scoring.
00:19 The first half was, you know, that was the side that I looked at and I thought it was unrecognisable.
00:24 Not necessarily the start of the game, I thought we were okay at the start of the game but it's not good enough to be okay at the start of the game.
00:30 I can accept going 1-0 down, we've done it plenty of times this season and it's the character that we then showed to try and bounce back from that and I didn't think we showed any of that.
00:37 I thought we were really wasteful in possession, I thought we were just a yard off everything out of possession and the second and third goal summed that up, just a yard off everything in the box.
00:46 We had corner after corner, either hit the first man or chipped it into the goalkeeper's hands and Llorien had a chance, they put it in, they delivered it, they attacked it properly and yeah we paid the price.
00:57 So really, really disappointed with the performance.
00:59 And take it in parts, the first 30 minutes you got into good positions and then the execution, final ball, quality of ball was short again.
01:07 How frustrating is that, that you're not making more of those moments?
01:11 Yeah and I thought that was, again, any time we build up any head of steam in the second half as well, we got into areas and the cross was either cut out by the first man or we put it into the goalkeeper's hands.
01:20 I've never seen a goalkeeper catch the ball so many times, that was from open play and from set pieces.
01:25 Yeah I thought that was, that's probably the thing that's summed up our play over the last four or five weeks, is the fact that we've got into good areas and we've just not created opportunities off the back of it.
01:34 And I think that was what cost us at Cheltenham last week, I think that was one of the factors that cost us this week but there were far more concerning things that took place today as well.
01:44 And in that 20 minutes where it just seemed like it collapsed and the players went under it?
01:48 That was a big concern of mine, I just didn't think that we responded particularly well.
01:52 If you look at the first goal, yeah I didn't think we responded particularly well to the first goal and then we went 2-0 down and we thought 'okay, now we'll have a go'
01:58 and then as soon as we missed the penalty I thought the heads went down and at 2-0 down at home it's fine, we missed the penalty, that happens.
02:05 It happened here at Port Vale last year and we ended up getting back in the game but rather than what we did at Port Vale last year, we ended up going straight down the other end and conceding a goal.
02:14 And in fairness in the second half when you got into those moments, it didn't look like there was going to be a way back into the game today either?
02:21 No, I think we needed to score relatively early in the first half just to change the dynamic and try and get a bit of pressure on Orient and yeah we didn't do that.
02:29 We got into some nice positions but never really effortlessly gone.
02:33 Fans made themselves known today and hard to argue with that opinion really?
02:36 I thought they were very, very mild compared to what they could have been to be honest.
02:40 So I thought any reaction there was completely fair and I heard them singing throughout the second half so no grumbles there whatsoever.
02:49 I think that was more than a fair reaction.
02:52 Questions have got to be asked now from around and about and further afield, you have to find the answers?
02:59 Yeah, that's fine, whatever is said externally is fine.
03:02 We've just got to make sure that we answer and ask the right questions internally as well and we always try and do that.
03:08 I think today just feels a bit different because of the way that we went down today.
03:12 I've always said that I haven't got a problem with us concealing goals, we're going to lose games sometimes.
03:20 Even the Blackpool game here, I think we take the circumstances of the game, the red card and all these things and just think okay, let's just dust it off and go again.
03:29 Which we did really well after that but today we looked like we were just really lacking confidence and lacking in anything that you'd seen from a side that's been so, so good and so dominant for large parts of the season against some really, really good sides here.
03:41 That's the part we have to get a lot better.
03:45 How do you begin to turn that around now, one winning sixth in the league, one winning seventh in all competitions?
03:50 I think the form and what we've done in the last six or seven games is now irrelevant.
03:54 We've got to dust ourselves off, we've got to get back on the training pitch next week and we've got to try and solve some of the issues that we've got.
04:01 That's the only way we can do it, we've got to try and stay as consistent as possible.
04:05 I would have liked it to have been a lot smoother than this, especially after the position we were in around Christmas but it hasn't happened.
04:11 We've had a poor run of games, we've still got a fantastic opportunity, we're still somehow top of the league.
04:16 We've got another game next weekend and we've got runs of fixtures and we're back ourselves to be able to beat any side when we're performing properly on a day.
04:24 And the opposite goes as well, if we're not performing, if we're not playing well, then we're going to get turned over.
04:28 Fairly lengthy stay in the dressing room afterwards where I'm sure there would have been some honest conversations taking place.
04:34 Everything I've said here really is a good test for us at this stage of the season.
04:40 Everything feels like it's the end of the world and it's not.
04:43 Like I said, we're still top, everything is still to play for with those 19 games but as quickly as we can build a lead at the top and as quickly as we can get ourselves there and be a good side, that happens the other way.
04:54 You can all of a sudden let everything slip and I think we've let our grasp on the league slip a bit over the last few weeks.
05:00 19 games to go, still in a really good position and we have to make sure that we don't let that happen again.
05:07 A couple of bits of housekeeping, Matt Macy through the door now, what was the thinking behind that?
05:11 We just wanted to strengthen the goalkeeping department if possible and Matt came up, that was something we thought was going to make us stronger as a squad so we decided to do it.
05:19 We know everything we know about Matt so it was a very easy transition back in.
05:23 What does that now mean for Ryan Schofield? Will you consider what happens with him moving forward?
05:27 Far too early to make a decision on that at the moment. We'll see how things pan out over the next couple of weeks and then make a decision later on.
05:35 Matt, we know all about him and what he offers, that's going to really sharpen up competition in that department.
05:40 I think the competition has always been strong in that department. I don't know what it is now.
05:43 Before the start of play today we had the best defensive record in the league and a lot of that comes from the back four and the goalkeeper behind him and everything we do in front.
05:53 It wasn't a case of me bringing competition to sharpen anything up in Will's game, it was just the fact we thought we could strengthen the squad.
06:00 That was the rationale behind that.
06:02 Josh Martin here for the rest of the season?
06:04 Another one where Josh I think he's done well enough in the games he's played to earn himself a contract towards the back end of the year.
06:10 We're going to need all the players now and especially players like Josh.
06:16 It's been great to have him around and now it's time for not just Josh, everybody to step up.
06:22 People look at the gaps and the injuries being picked up and Robbo and the recent form and think the January window is imperative.
06:28 How important is it that you do strengthen now?
06:31 It was important anyway. We knew that coming into the window.
06:35 As soon as the last window closed we knew the next opportunity for us to strengthen would be January and we've been looking at that constantly since.
06:42 That's the priority, the priority is to strengthen. We need to come out of it on the 31st of Jan better than we were on the 1st.
06:48 It's a good challenge, it's not always easy to do but that's where we're focused.
06:52 Just back on today, pressure now increases and it will be at this club and it comes with the territory.
06:57 How do you respond to that and how do you stand up to the demands of getting Porto Football Club out of this league?
07:02 I think the pressure is there every single day. The pressure has been there since the first day of pre-season.
07:06 I've always felt it's been there since I walked in the door and had the first game here against Exeter and it hasn't changed.
07:13 We haven't earned ourselves anything yet at this time of the season and I think pressure is a great thing to have.
07:19 We'd much rather be battling here at the top of the league and having questions asked about us because our form hasn't been great.
07:24 We're still in first position. It's much better to have those demands.
07:30 If you don't want those demands then Porto Football Club isn't the place for you to be.