John Mousinho's Pompey press conference ahead of Sheffield Wednesday
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00How are you feeling about last night?
00:11My thoughts and feelings are very similar to what they were late last night. I'm deeply
00:15displeased with the performance and the result. We've got a huge amount to get right by the
00:21time we go into the game on Friday. We've only got a couple of days to actually sit
00:25down and try and dissect the game and work on a few things that we have. So it's going
00:29to be about a lot more than what we're actually able to do on the training pitch. I think
00:33the players are really going to have to make sure that they turn themselves around to perform,
00:38as I know that we're capable of performing.
00:39Is a quick turnaround something you'd want at this stage?
00:44From a physical point of view, probably not, particularly considering the travel. But it
00:49is what it is. We've got to go and play these fixtures. But certainly from a psychological
00:56point of view, it's exactly what we need. It's exactly what we want. It happened the
00:59other week when we lost against Stoke on a Wednesday night and we had the game straight
01:03away against Oxford on the Saturday. I think that really helps us because players, staff,
01:08everybody at the football club, the fans, they don't want to be dwelling on the loss
01:11and the performance. It's a really good chance to really wrong the rights of what we did
01:16last night.
01:17What was the main area of concern for you last night watching the game? Where would
01:21you like to see these improvements happen on Friday?
01:23I think whenever you start a game like we started, you put yourself on the back foot
01:28straight away. My point to the lads afterwards was, what we did in the first 10 minutes,
01:34we weren't practical enough in terms of the way we played. We invited pressure, we didn't
01:38turn Stoke early on and we completely switched off from the throw, which resulted in the
01:42own goal. Then we didn't defend a set piece like we were professionals at all. We looked
01:48like a part-time team, I think, defending a set piece. That's something that we have
01:52to take on board as staff and we will ask the question of the players this afternoon
01:59about what are we doing that isn't preparing you well enough to go and do something very,
02:04very basic like defending a set piece and not getting the first contact, not getting
02:07the second contact, not getting the set-up right. At that point, at 2-0 down, it becomes
02:12a very, very difficult game to get back into because, again, if you watched the game last
02:16night, you saw that Cardiff have got some really good players and really excellent attacking
02:20front six who then started to play with freedom, creativity, move the ball quickly. We couldn't
02:25quite live with them at that point. I genuinely think if we actually make the game a bit more
02:30difficult for the first 10 and 15 minutes, aside that of 1-5-0 at the weekend coming
02:36into this game at home, the confidence drops a bit, there's probably a bit of frustration
02:40and we can start making our way into the game. We just didn't do any of those things. We
02:44made it very, very easy, I think, for Cardiff to establish a foothold in the game. After
02:47that, there's still plenty we need to do better and plenty to work on, but the start of the
02:51game, the way that we've started games this year and the mountain we've given ourselves
02:54to climb on multiple occasions is really, really concerning.
02:59With that second goal going in, it was a blow for two reasons because Nico Schmidt and goal
03:03had to go off because of a blurred vision, I believe it was. Any kind of update on him?
03:07Will we see him on Friday or is it Jordan Archer again?
03:10We don't know yet. We're in a lot earlier than the players. The players aren't in until
03:13this afternoon, so we'll get an update then.
03:15With Jordan Archer involved, it's his debut. He's come on the side of 2-0 down. How impressed
03:19are you with his individual performance?
03:21I thought he was one of the only positives of the night in terms of the way that he came
03:24on. He hasn't played a huge amount of league football over the past few years and hasn't
03:28played a single minute of league or cup football for us this year. He came on, I thought we
03:33heard him all night. He showed leadership, he showed quality and I was really pleased
03:36with his performance.
03:37If there is a situation where Norris and Schmidt can't play and obviously Archer is the number
03:42one for the game, what happens with the substitute keeper?
03:45We'll recall Toby.
03:47Paddy Lane as well, who was injured. What's the situation there?
03:51Again, I don't know. He's not in until later on this afternoon.
03:55With all the existing injuries as well, before last night, any updates on those?
04:00No, no one of those injuries will be back for the weekend. Exactly the same update as
04:06we've had for the past couple of weeks.
04:08A few players we haven't seen in the past couple of games, Sammy Silvera, Harvey Blair
04:11are in Moxham. They've not been in the squad recently. What's the situation with those
04:15three currently?
04:16Harvey was ill all last week and so he missed out. He didn't train at all last week. I think
04:23he came in on the Friday, hoping that he'd be okay, but had been sick through the night.
04:28So we sent him home. We didn't want that spreading through the squad. So Harvey's first training
04:32session with us was Sunday. We didn't feel he was in the right place to come and contribute
04:36to the Championship action on the Tuesday night.
04:38In terms of the other two, Emission Owen Moxham has just got back from an injury. So the first
04:43time that Owen trained was last week. And with Sammy, I think a difficult one for him.
04:49We just felt with the nature of the game at the weekend and the way that we wanted
04:53to go about playing the game, he was probably more suited to having someone like Terry on
04:56the bench to come off and in a much more physical game where second balls are more important
05:01and we're going a bit more direct. I think that proved to be the right decision at the
05:06weekend. We also need a bit more defensive cover. So without Zach Swanson in the squad,
05:13we didn't have enough defensive cover and Terry covered it right back in the game on
05:16Tuesday night when we needed him.
05:18Cassidy Yenge as well, that's the most we've seen of him so far this season. How important
05:22can he be now if you give him a run of games in the Championship for him?
05:26Yeah, we've spoken at length about Cass and his potential involvement this year and how
05:32important he could be to us and the different aspect that he gives us up top. It's been
05:37really important for us to get him back fit and to try and get him firing.
05:40So your thoughts on Sheffield Wednesday come Friday?
05:43It's a huge game. Under the lights at Fratton Park, you've got Portsmouth Sheffield Wednesday
05:48and two massive clubs that have fallen below the standard that both clubs have set in past.
05:56I think it's an amazing side to be involved in and it's two clubs that are scrapping at
06:00the wrong end of the table as well. So I think Sheffield Wednesday are a really good side.
06:04They built on what they've done last season which was fantastic. I think if you take out
06:09the first few games and if you put into context what Danny's done since he's been at the football
06:14club, it's been absolutely incredible. They've had an up and down start, they've had some
06:18really good results this year, probably not picked up as many points as they'd like to
06:21but a really, really good side and one we have to make sure that we're on top of our game for.
06:25A couple of days to pick the players up after a defeat in midweek. This is something that
06:29we didn't really have to do too much last season. How are you finding that, Jon?
06:36It's not something I enjoy really having to come in and talk about picking players up
06:41because it means that we've lost games or it means that we haven't performed well enough
06:46in games. I felt that for the most part, even when we've lost games, it hasn't been an issue
06:52because we've still come away from games with a fair amount of confidence and mainly because
06:57of the performances and the performance levels and what we've done. So when we've conceded
07:02late goals against Burnley, I'm furious at the nature of the goal that we conceded but
07:06the performance level for the most part was really, really good and it had been for the
07:10couple of games leading into this one. The performance levels have been really high.
07:14So to pick the lads up again in a similar manner to what we did after the Stoke game
07:18where we could turn around to Oxford, we're definitely going to do it. We're going to
07:22be really positive going into the game but it's not something that I think is a particularly
07:26good trait to be good at, being able to pick the lads up because it just means that we've
07:30put those performances in for a second time. So that's something I'm very, very wary of.
07:35I'm sure that we'll get a reaction on Friday night and I'm sure that we'll see a very,
07:40very different side to what we saw on Tuesday. I'm not getting ahead of myself but then there's
07:45that real point of, OK, what are we going to look like when we go into the Hull and
07:49the Plymouth games? Are we going to get a reaction and then go back to thinking, OK,
07:54we've cracked it here, this is going to be all right. It's just impossible. It's impossible
08:00to approach games like that at any level, let alone when you're playing sides like
08:03Cardiff who are littered with players that, if they haven't played in the Premier League
08:07already, they're definitely going to. So we need to be right on top of our game every
08:11single day and not wait to lose games to react.
08:16After the game yesterday, you described it as two steps forward, three steps back. Does
08:20that make it so infuriating to you at the moment?
08:22Yeah, yeah, absolutely. The contrast of speaking after the game on Saturday where we didn't
08:31play any vintage football on Saturday and we didn't tear QPR apart but we were practical
08:37and we were energetic and we were very, very switched on from set pieces, from any dead
08:44balls. We won second balls, we got on top of them and just started the game completely
08:50at the other end of the spectrum. And yeah, that's why it's really, really frustrating
08:55for me and I've got no issue, I've got no problem losing games. You're going to lose
08:58games as a football club, as a head coach, as players. It's about the nature of how you
09:03lose those games and I think that's the most disappointing and frustrating thing is the
09:07nature of the loss.
09:09Because naturally you guys went into that game confident, fans were confident, great
09:13morale boost on Saturday and it just didn't look the same team.
09:17No, not at all, not at all. And it is really, really difficult when you give yourself a
09:23deficit at the start of the game. It becomes really difficult because all of a sudden,
09:27spoke about it yesterday, Cardiff won 5-0 at home on Saturday and they're on a decent
09:33run of form, turn things around and they're going to go into the game with a huge amount
09:38of confidence. So it's about making that difficult for them for 10 or 15 minutes. It's a bit
09:42of a cliche but if we make the game difficult for Cardiff for 10 or 15 minutes I think we
09:45start to frustrate them and we start to build into the game ourselves and we just didn't
09:50do it. And it was very, very simple moments that we switched off and allowed Cardiff to
09:58score goals that I'm very, very disappointed with. It just wasn't good enough in terms
10:04of the way that we defended the box for the first two goals and after that you're 2-0
10:07down against a really good side and it becomes really easy for them and we could never get
10:11back in the game.
10:12Do you believe you've got players who are the required level to perform in the Championship?
10:17The reason I think we have is because I've seen it and I have seen players against some
10:21of the top sides in the league and I've also seen players against some of the sides that
10:25are struggling at the bottom end of the league performing well and doing enough to win games
10:29and doing enough to draw games and certainly doing enough to compete against sides who
10:34have got players that if they haven't played in the Premier League already, the likes of
10:40El Ghazi and Robinson, then in my opinion they're going to play in the Premier League,
10:44the likes of Colwell, Tanner, Robertson. So we've done that against Sheffield United who
10:50have got a very, very similar mix. We've done that against Burnley. We've done that against
10:57other sides so I don't see it as an excuse. I think the players are more than capable
11:01if they apply themselves to really compete at this level.
11:05Is it just about consistency? Is it about mentality?
11:09My big takeaway from last night was around mentality and I'm going to have a chat with
11:13the lads today and see what the approach was going into the game and we'll talk about the
11:18start of the game and we'll have a look at the reasons why we started the game like we
11:23did. If it's anything that we've done as a staff, if it's anything that we've done to
11:27prepare the lads and they don't feel they're in a good enough place to start games, then
11:33we've got to take that on board and we've got to try and change things. I see it as
11:38mentality. When you concede from switching off from a throw and then a set-piece, I do
11:44see that as a mentality issue. I think when Cardiff created plenty of chances last night
11:49where they played through us and they were better than us and I thought we're trying
11:53and Cardiff just played well and they did things that they were better than us at and
11:59I can live with that. I can always live with that and I can live with if we concede a couple
12:02of goals doing that and we can't get back into the game, that's fine. It's something
12:06that no-one wants to be in that position but sometimes you're playing against good
12:10sides and you have to accept that they're going to be decent at certain things. I've
12:14got no issue with that. The basics though, the basics that we didn't do well enough,
12:17that's where I think there was a problem.
12:19You spoke about rightly rotating the team because of this gruelling period and you made
12:23two changes last night. What was the thinking behind Sorensen starting?
12:27It was to freshen things up. We'd had such a huge output at the weekend and I thought
12:32that the effort levels of the front three in particular and the amount that they went
12:38after QPR, I thought Mark looked tired and Mark was tired when we spoke to him on Sunday
12:44coming back in from not having a huge amount of involvement with the 21s and then coming
12:47back in and playing a Championship game straight away. Mark felt that and he's going to as
12:51a young 19-year-old. Christian, we're always on at Christian about how effective he is
12:56and whether we can do that for 90 minutes and whether we can do that back-to-back and
13:00at the moment we don't feel he's in a position to do that. We wanted to freshen it up with
13:04bringing in two players that have shown that they can run, they're willing to run, they're
13:09willing to do all of the above. So we wanted to bring in Eli and bring in Paddy to freshen
13:13up the side.
13:14How do you think Sorensen did?
13:17It was a difficult one for Eli because he started off as a centre-forward and then very,
13:23very early on had to drop in and change position as a 10. I don't think, to be honest now,
13:30I don't think any of the players, maybe apart from the substitutes, covered themselves in
13:34any glory so I'm sure none of the players are particularly pleased with their own performances.
13:38And presumably you brought him off to get Christian back on again?
13:42Yeah and just to change things and to try and change the way we play.
13:48What do you make of Sorensen so far coming back to this country and how he's performed?
13:52I think we've seen some real glimpses of what he's capable of doing and he's taken his goal
13:59really well at Leeds and I think since then it's been a bit of a stop-start for him and
14:03we've seen some really promising things from Eli and it's about building into that and
14:08trying to make that a bit more consistent and trying to really work on his game to get
14:13him in a place where we can challenge him every week for a starting spot.
14:15You say you've seen glimpses, what positive things have you seen?
14:18I think he's always a willing runner, he's willing to work hard for the team and probably
14:23his best performance for us was against Oxford without scoring a goal and I know he missed
14:27the penalty, he'll be really disappointed with that and I thought his physicality with
14:31his back-to-goal, his link-up play was good and just that final third bit, putting everything
14:35together in the box, a couple of chances where I think he could have got a shot off or he
14:38could have got away from the player and those are the bits where if you put all of that
14:42together then I think he'll look like a really good centre-forward.
14:45Obviously we're speaking before the team train and you said already that there's no
14:49new injury updates, which is fair enough. Will Norris, what is his injury at the moment?
14:54He tweaked his MCL in the Stoke game so he's just been out with that in his knee, on his
15:00left knee.
15:01So did he not play the next game because of that then?
15:04So we thought that at the time he was going to be fit for the game so we'd made the decision
15:13to leave him out and we wanted to play Nicko off the back of that so we had selected Nicko
15:19and then Will Norris was available for the Oxford game and I think a lot of it was about
15:26to be honest making sure, in fairness to Will, wanting to do the right thing and wanting
15:30to play through what was an injury at the time and I think off the back of that when
15:34we had that international break and a couple of weeks rest when he got a scan and showed
15:38there was a bit of damage there so the right thing to do is to make sure that he's not involved.
15:42So he's not in training at all yet then?
15:44Not at the moment, he's done some light handling over the last couple of days but very unlikely
15:48he'll be fit for Friday.
15:49I think you said the other day, Hull maybe?
15:51Yeah, that would be much more likely.
15:53And if you've only got one keeper left through injuries would you call Toby Stewart back?
15:59Yeah.
16:00You can do that then?
16:01Yeah.
16:02And you'll have no qualms about that, he's playing regularly there isn't he?
16:05It's our player, we've just got to call him back, yeah.