Pompey boss John Mousinho gives an update to The News from Croatia pre-season training camp on transfers, fitness and the work his team are undertaking.
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00:00Here with Pompey boss John Massino, day 5 of the Croatia training camp, John, and really
00:06been going through the pace since the boys?
00:08Yeah, a bit of a lighter one today but definitely the last couple of days we've had a couple
00:12of heavy sessions after the introduction that we had on Sunday, just getting the legs flushed
00:18again after all the travel on Saturday, two really heavy days Monday and Tuesday with
00:22all of the running that you guys have seen as well and then just taking it back slightly
00:25today so we can go again tomorrow for the last day.
00:28Is that just on account also of the heavy load that the lads have put in and that they've
00:32really turned up and put that effort in as well?
00:34Yeah, our normal training week would look like three days on and then the one day off
00:37so this really, I know it's not on Thursday but this would sort of represent the Thursday
00:41and then we'd have the Friday going into the game so it's just trying to mirror the training
00:45weeks which we managed to do on the first week as well, had the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
00:48in and then training on the Friday so yeah, just to make sure that we're into that routine
00:52and patted fairly early on.
00:53And obviously when you get that then you pick up a couple of niggles along the way which
00:56is the norm.
00:57Gavin White's been one of those and Tom McIntyre, are they a couple?
01:00Yeah, so nothing serious, they're both out, they've both been running on the pitch, they
01:03should be, I think Tom McIntyre will join us tomorrow for the session but no issue with
01:08him and then Gavin we're hoping to have back next week involved in the games.
01:11Obviously fans are well looking for the latest update on transfers, what's the situation,
01:16is it similar to what you've been reporting the last couple of days?
01:19Yeah, very, very similar and we've had a couple of recruitment calls since then but my focus
01:23has largely been on what's going on on the pitch and that's probably really changed since
01:27the last couple of weeks or over the last couple of weeks since we've been back in.
01:29So there's plenty going on, I think there's probably a bit more movement to be expected
01:35maybe towards the back end of next week or the start of the week after that.
01:40I think just because teams are only getting back into pre-season this week, everything's
01:44settling down, managers want to have a look at players, nothing is moving hugely at the
01:49moment so we're just staying patient and making sure that we keep an eye on our targets
01:53and get the ones that we want.
01:55Obviously Rich Hughes is in, we've been keeping a close eye on him just to see what his mood
01:58is like and trying to use that as a barometer, how is he reporting back to you?
02:02Yeah great, obviously Rich being out here is really useful for the two of us because
02:06we don't have to set up any Zooms or speak on the phone so we just have a quick update
02:11every afternoon and we're obviously in constant contact anyway so I think that's a really
02:15useful part of it and as you've seen you've probably seen Rich on the phone quite a bit
02:19and disappearing here and there so obviously really good to know that everybody's busy.
02:23A couple of individuals, Riley Towley you've spoken about being open-minded about what
02:27his future is, how does that stand and how has he looked when he's reported back in?
02:32Riley's looked excellent since coming back, he's looked fit, he's looked strong, I thought
02:35he's ended the season really well in terms of the linking game and I thought he was excellent
02:40throughout the whole season despite the fact that he didn't play a huge amount of games.
02:43He's a big, big part of what we achieved last year and I think he's given himself every
02:48chance of coming in and affecting the team and the squad this year.
02:51So he's one of those ones that you look at and think he's come back and will be past
02:55things as opposed to maybe, he was always going to be looking at a development loan.
02:58Yeah and with Riley we've got the games, as with everyone we've got the games next week
03:03and I think it's a good chance for the players to back up what they've put in training with
03:07all the pre-season games and put in a really good shift there so that's a good opportunity
03:12for Riley, a good opportunity for everyone to come back and show where they're at.
03:14I guess as you said the first reference point is the fitness when they look at it and then
03:19the next one I guess will be when the games start up to the next stage of that.
03:22Yeah and we've obviously started to do a lot more football work this week, we got the pulls
03:26out straight away at the beginning of last week and we've continued with that, we've
03:28done a bit more tactical work this week than we did last week and we'd like to see that
03:33developing in the games as well as we go into that first one on Tuesday night.
03:37So yeah, definitely a good opportunity, I think the lads have got a really good base
03:40level of fitness but a good opportunity for them to go and hit the ground running.
03:42I just had a quick chat with Christian Saley, how's Christian reported back?
03:45Yeah, Christian's done really well, I think that again another player who finished the
03:50season really well, had probably a tough spell around Christmas in January, came out the
03:54side, came out the squad and then found himself playing a huge part in what was the rest of
03:59the campaign with that goal at Oxford and then some really strong performances after
04:03that so we fully expect Christian to have a big impact this year.
04:05How do you define his position moving forward, are you looking at him as a 9 and a 10?
04:10Yes, but I think more as a 10, I think that's where he really settled into that position
04:14last year, we'd originally brought him in as a 9 and I thought it was a combination
04:19of two things really, the first game that Christian played for Portsmouth was Bristol
04:23Rovers at home when he actually came on as a 10, did really well and never really looked
04:26back since then so the combination of that plus the fact that we had Colby and Cassini
04:30who were pretty much firing all season when both fit so really good options there and
04:36I think Christian can definitely play as a 9 but I think the focus for him at the moment
04:40is as a 10.
04:41Just another important factor of last season's success, the leadership group, there's obviously
04:45been one or two players that have moved on from that, how do you assess that and who
04:49do you think about bringing into that collective?
04:51I think I expect everyone to step up to be honest and I wouldn't want to define anybody
04:58in terms of where they are in that leadership position at the minute, I think that whether
05:02you're 18 or 35 you've got a big responsibility to step up and actually show that you've got
05:08those capabilities to the group and I think we've got plenty of players that can do that
05:12and there's plenty of different types of leaders as well, we've got the Aikataupo leader in
05:17there, the club captain in Marlon and you've got everything in between as well so I consider
05:21young players like Paddy to have a real influence on the group and I think everybody should
05:25so I think there's plenty of opportunities for players to step up, obviously there's
05:29a couple of holes that have been left by players that have left in the summer, we've signed
05:32some really good experience with players that have had Premier League, Championship, captaining
05:37sides, all of that and everything in between, all of that experience as well so I do expect
05:42that we've got plenty more this year to come.
05:46Just finally, I'm breaking exclusive here on the session, the game yesterday, there
05:49was a couple of trialists in place, can you bring us up to speed on those two trialists?
05:53Yeah I think the one, the trialist on the blue team we're going to have to let go unfortunately
06:00he just wasn't good enough, a centre half, but in fairness to him he's 40 years old so
06:06that was probably part of his issue and the one that really caught the eye was the right
06:09sided centre half for the blues, I still think at 38 he's got a couple of years left in him
06:14maybe so we'll be thinking about offering him something in the next few days.
06:18So we perhaps just say that that was the session yourself?
06:21That was, we wanted to make an 11v11 so we joined in.