• 10 months ago
Pompey boss John Mousinho chats to The News following the Blues' 1-0 win at Brunton Park
Transcript
00:00 First of all John, I've got to ask, any injuries tonight?
00:04 No, no injuries as far as I know. We got through the game unscathed.
00:08 The three players that came off, we just had a bit more energy and a bit more legs with everything I think in terms of the travel and everything we've done over the past couple of weeks.
00:16 We've had a pretty hectic schedule. I think it was three away games on the spin before the Northampton game, another away game today in the long run of the season.
00:24 That was all freshening things up in terms of substitutions. I will obviously contact all the spin team all the way back, spin team again tomorrow, but I think we've come through unscathed.
00:32 So that's one piece of good news and the other one was a pompid win in 1-0. What do you make of that result?
00:36 The result, fantastic. To come away here and win a game, keep a clean sheet and be the dominant side was really pleasing.
00:44 There were loads of aspects of the performance that I think we can do better at, particularly starting the game.
00:48 I thought we were slightly sloppy for the first 25 minutes. After Will got a bit of treatment, I thought we livened up a bit.
00:54 But still in the final third, there was a bit more that we could have done I think to create a few more chances for ourselves.
00:59 I suppose a familiar story to the times where we have struggled this season, but also I think if you get into half-time away from home and it's 0-0,
01:07 give yourself a chance to go in, to tweak things, obviously to change the game in terms of bringing substitutions on.
01:13 We managed to do that. The game towards the back end, we defended really well but Will didn't have a save to make, which was really pleasing.
01:22 We obviously dealt with Guardao's direct threat and to be honest, we saw the game out relatively comfortably without conceding any chances.
01:29 It's about winning isn't it really? It didn't get to the levels of last week but you still won comfortably.
01:35 Yes, and I completely agree to be honest. Obviously it didn't get to the levels of last week. There were glimpses where it could have done.
01:40 The goal was a superb goal. I think if we put the game to bed and get the second, maybe we'd become a bit more relaxed and then we don't tighten up quite as much as we did towards the last 15-20.
01:51 Probably my only criticism is that we stopped playing a bit, we went a bit longer. You've got to find that right balance between going long, shelling it, defending your own box and actually trying to play a bit.
02:02 Because when we play up in the middle, we're on the good side. We've got the potential to do what we did today and we scored the goal.
02:07 We came close to it. I thought Lange had the chance to hit the post over the bar. Obviously he hit the post from the set-piece.
02:14 He kind of shot the signalling score from the set-piece as well when he went for the goalkeeper.
02:18 So not a vintage performance certainly compared to last week but well enough to win the game.
02:23 I don't think we were backstabbed by anyone. We dominated the game and had the best chances of a win.
02:29 You were talking the other day about despite all the injuries you still had 22 players to choose from and your player came off the bench in Kamara and was the inspiration.
02:37 Yes and it's true. We've got Christian and Gav here today. Anthony Scully was actually ill this week so he didn't travel.
02:45 Obviously Ryan Schofield and a couple that are all making with. If you look at Zach who's close to coming back.
02:50 We've got a decent enough squad despite all the injuries and that's the reason we did everything we did in January. So really pleased that we got that beyond the 18.
02:59 Of course you look back and to bring someone like Abs on was great for us. He showed the quality that he's shown all season when he's been at his best and set the goal up.
03:08 I thought he was really lively after that as well and Abs has been incredibly unlucky to find himself out of the side.
03:13 We thought he looked a bit tired after the game Tuesday night against Oxford so we brought him out of the side to rest.
03:20 To be honest there's no one's been dropped. It sounds a bit cliche but no one's been dropped.
03:26 We've got the options to rotate, we've got the options to rest and to be able to do that and the left Abs on the right and the game was brilliant.
03:32 What a ball as well.
03:33 Great ball. He's shown a lot of composure. He's got the potential to do a fair bit with his game because he's a real threat with his pace, his touch, he's also got that quality that you'd probably expect from a centre midfielder like Marlon.
03:48 When he's put something together with that, you know that Abs is a real threat and a player that's certainly going to go beyond this level.
03:57 Thank you.

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