Pompey boss John Mousinho gives the lowdown ahead of his side's Bristol City Championship clash this weekend.
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00:00Here with Pompey boss John Massino. John, let's start on the injury updates then. Can
00:06you bring us up to speed with the situation with your players at the moment?
00:11Yeah, we've not had the best of news with the scan from Cassini Yengi. It's so rich
00:16for turns. There's damage to the knee ligament, the PCL. It's going to be about 9-10 weeks
00:21so he's currently in a brace making sure that the knee doesn't flex too much and extend.
00:27Real blow for us I think because of the fact that obviously Cass was away with Australia
00:32when he did it. He played the full game. I think it was an injury that he picked up during
00:36the game, played the full game, scored a couple of goals and we were hoping that it wouldn't
00:39be anything too serious. That one's been a disappointment and a frustration, especially
00:46considering the fact that Cassini was in the side for the three previous games prior to
00:51the international break. I think coming into a good bit of form, I think building a bit
00:54of momentum as well and so that's going to be a bit of a loss. The only other injury
00:58we have at the moment that would be fresh from the weekend is Marco Marni, who just
01:03picked up a bit of a side strain so he's gone for a scan today and we'll get the results
01:06in the next few days. Cassini, that's worse than initially anticipated perhaps, is it?
01:12We just didn't know. Whenever you get a knee injury, it's difficult to assess. We were
01:21hoping that it would be less than that but there's always a chance with ligament injury
01:24that it's more than that as well. I think it's halfway in between. It's not ideal but
01:28it's not one of those long, long-termers so we're going to have to get on with it.
01:31I mean, injuries have been under the spotlight for forever here, it seems. It's worth pointing
01:36out that was away on international duty and obviously completely out of your hands.
01:39Yeah and again, one of those we can add to the list of different injuries that we've
01:43had and different ways of picking up injuries. This was one where Cassini picked that injury
01:47up playing for Australia against Bahrain, picked it up during the game. There's absolutely
01:50nothing we can do about that. We have no control over him when that happened and unfortunately,
01:54that is one of the risks of players going away on international duty and it's never
01:59anything I'd discourage. I always actively encourage players to do it. I think it's
02:02really good for the player, really good for the football club. Unfortunately, it just
02:06brings extra risk with it when we didn't have the game, obviously, that week. Having said
02:13that, we've picked up injuries in training and that happens here as well so just one
02:19of those unfortunate things in football.
02:20Does that then make January a strike of consideration?
02:25No, I think that hopefully, by the time we reach January, we've still got enough in
02:33contention for those centre-forward spots. Mark's injury, we're hoping, isn't going
02:37to be too serious so we've still got Mark. If Mark is more serious than we think, I think
02:43we've still got Colby, Elias and Christian to compete for that spot so I don't think
02:47it's necessarily going to be a concern for us.
02:49Obviously, numbers-wise, you're well stopped there but is there an issue there potentially
02:54with players with momentum, players coming back from injury? Do you really want players
02:58attacking that second half of the season with decent momentum?
03:04Yes, we do. That's one of the things to speak about with Cassini's injury. I think it
03:08took him a minute to pick up the momentum in his form and to get going and having those
03:12three starts in a week, we probably saw the best of Cassini at the Preston game where
03:17he got his fitness going, he got into the middle of the games and he got the momentum
03:20going as well. I think with most players and most centre-forwards that we would say pick
03:27up in January, if we were going to go and strengthen in that position, we're probably
03:31going to have the same concerns. They're probably players that possibly haven't been
03:34playing for other sides, possibly players that are coming back from injuries, etc. So
03:38I do think we're fine in that department and that wouldn't be something we're looking at.
03:42Just the other lads that are coming back from injury, Zach Swanson, Jacob Farrell?
03:46Zach's trained with us this week, so Zach's back in full training. He's looking fine,
03:51no issues there, so he's available for selection at the weekend. Jacob has been out on the
03:55grass but still not back in full training.
03:57Okay, so what's the outlook for Jacob now? Is it getting closer?
04:00Getting closer, hopefully back with us at some point next week, I think.
04:03Yeah, okay, great. And Conor, obviously a bit further down the line for Conor, isn't it?
04:07Yeah, same with Conor, we're still on the same timescale with Conor,
04:10so nothing imminent with him.
04:11Jordan Williams, is he getting closer?
04:13Jordan Williams is getting closer. He's not been out doing anything other than straight
04:18line running at the moment and it's one of those where you get back out and you can run,
04:22but you're still a couple of weeks away or a few weeks away from a return to training
04:25and then a return to play.
04:26Yeah, the FA Cup, draw your reaction? Some friends reunited in January, I'm sure?
04:30Yeah, I think the FA Cup is an amazing competition. I had some great times in it as a player and
04:37I think it's one of those that, by the time that third round weekend rolls around, I think
04:42everyone will be excited to get involved and everyone will be excited to have a bit of a break
04:46from the league, I think. But at the minute, that's just one of the things that, regardless
04:50of who we drew, it would have been the same reaction and whether we draw one of the Premier
04:53League sides or aside from the lower leagues or aside from the non-league, it doesn't really
04:58affect us at the moment. It doesn't really bother us. It's just another game for us to prepare for
05:01and we'll deal with that as and when. It's a decent enough fixture against a side that's
05:07flying high at the top of League One and have been brilliant this season. So, I think it's going to
05:11be a really good tie and after we've played Sunderland, we'll have all eyes on that.
05:15I'll make that the start of something like seven games in 22 days at the start of the New Year.
05:19That's a heck of a run to begin the New Year with.
05:22Yeah, it's going to be a really interesting period for us. We've got a really busy period
05:25coming up in the build-up to Christmas and after Christmas, two away games in between Christmas
05:29and New Year and that's the nature of it. I think that we probably would have been looking at
05:34December and January anyway, saying that's a busy period for us. Now, we've added two games in
05:38January because of the postponements which we have to play and we have to make sure that we deal with
05:43and that's the nature of it. When you have a couple of postponements like you do,
05:47then we have to make sure that we find a way to deal with those weeks and deal with those games,
05:53deal with the travel, all of those sort of things and to be honest, I think it's something that the
05:57lads will relish and I think we'll relish as a staff. So, at the moment, we've got three games
06:01coming up this week which will be exciting, particularly continuing two of them at home
06:05and all of these games that do pile up, yeah, there's two ways to look at it. I think you
06:10can look at it and think, oh, it's that fixture congestion and aren't we unlucky or actually,
06:15we can just play game after game after game and pick up as many points as we can.
06:18Let's talk about those back-to-back home matches. How important is Fratton Park going to be in your
06:23Championship fate this season? I think we've seen with the last home game how important that home
06:28momentum can be, how important the crowd can be, getting on top of opposition early, whether we're
06:34facing the Milton End or the Fratton End. A lot of the time last year, we waited until the second
06:38half to get going and attack the Fratton End. This year, we've actually been quite good going
06:43towards the Milton End. So, I think there's a lot of excitement that should be building coming up
06:49to these two home games. We're coming off the back of a really impressive win against Preston,
06:53a really impressive performance, probably our best of the season and we've got to build upon
06:57that and I think we're really looking forward to playing Millwall. We couldn't make that happen,
07:00so there's probably a bit more pent-up frustration and pent-up support there ready for
07:04us when we do come back to Fratton for these two games against really, really good Championship
07:09opposition and I think that's the most exciting thing. Even with the postponements, it's one
07:14defeat and four and a very strong argument to say that shouldn't have been a defeat as well. So,
07:17broadly, you could look at the form as accelerating. Yeah, we're feeling really confident about things
07:22and form is okay. We've picked up points. I think performances have been really good since the
07:27performance away at Hull and there's been very, very few periods in that where we haven't been
07:33at it, maybe towards the second half of the weekend, but I think there were plenty of reasons
07:38for that. So, having got that out of the way, having that three-week break without a game,
07:42we've got that out of the way. We've got a game under our belts and going into a three-game week
07:45this week, I think there was a huge amount to be excited about and I know that we're feeling
07:49really, really confident internally. We've still got to do all the right things and make sure that
07:53we address the game properly because Bristol City are such a good side, but I think we can go into
07:57it with a lot of confidence. Just on your team, Marlon Pate obviously continuing it in the middle
08:01of defence. That shows that you firmly believe that's a consideration for yourself moving forward?
08:07I thought Marlon was excellent against Preston and I thought he was excellent against Swansea as
08:11well. So, there was no reason for us to bring him out at the weekend. I think we've got Potsey and
08:17Doz doing a really good job in the middle of the park as well. So, there's plenty of competition
08:20with the sixes, plenty of competition with the centre-halves as well and, at the moment,
08:24Marlon's one that I think really deserves to be there. It made all the more impressive,
08:28the fact that he had to carry 94 or whatever minimum it was on a yellow
08:32and negotiated that really well last weekend. Yeah, that was frustration early on, I think,
08:37picking up that booking. I'm not necessarily sure it was Marlon's fault, but he picked up early.
08:42You think your centre-half is on a booking early on and would have to manage his way through that,
08:47but Marlon's sensible. He knows how to manage his own game and I don't think we saw him exposed
08:53too much, if at all, during the game and I'm really pleased with how he handled that.
08:57Will Norris wasn't named on the bench last week. Is that the status quo for him at the moment?
09:01What is the situation with Will? Just the same as I've said, we've got three goalkeepers
09:04competing for spots and that's just as it continues at the minute.
09:09Okay, so he was in for consideration for selection for that game?
09:12Yeah, definitely. And that continues to be the case moving forward?
09:15Yeah, everybody that's fit is in consideration for selection, apart from, unfortunately,
09:20Ben and Tom because they're not in the squad list.
09:22How's it standing now in terms of players walking the disciplinary tightrope for you?
09:27For a couple more games, maybe?
09:28I think so, yeah. I'll have to double-check. I've got the email Ali sent me. He always sends
09:32the disciplinary updates, so that's not something that concerns me too early in the week and we're
09:36never going to leave players out because of that. We have to try our best to make sure we can avoid
09:42that if possible, but it's one of those things that comes with football players. You've probably
09:46seen over the past couple of weeks, they've been missing out with suspensions and one of the things
09:50we'll have to monitor, I think, as the week goes on and see where we stand with that before the
09:54weekend. I think I mentioned Callum Lange's one that is on the edge there. Probably someone that
09:58actually plays his game pretty much on the edge and with a real high intensity. Do you want to
10:03neuter that or what's the message to Callum? No, there isn't a huge message to Callum other than
10:08maybe anything that's to do with descent, kicking the ball away, those sort of things. Let's not
10:14be suspended off the back of that. If Callum does pick up a yellow, he picks up a yellow for
10:19something that he has to do for the benefit of the team and the benefit of the game, which might
10:22happen. Like I said, with the way that we ask Callum to play, which is on the edge and he
10:26plays there naturally, he plays with a lot of aggression, intensity, closes down brilliantly
10:30well. There are going to be times when he mistimes things, there are going to be times when he's
10:34aggressive and it's a bit too much. We have to live with that. We've got to get on with it and
10:39if Callum picks up another booking, doing one of the things that helps the team, then so be it.
10:43Just on the recruitment side of things, how do things stand with your loans
10:48ahead of January? Is that something that will be reviewed?
10:52In terms of the loans that we've... The ones in the building, sorry.
10:55The ones in the building, yeah. At the minute, no, there's no review on that. We fully intend
11:00to have the three loans that we currently have in the building for the rest of the season.
11:03Okay, well obviously Sammy's one that's been in and out, so obviously he falls into that category.
11:10Yeah, he falls into the category. I think that Sammy's been one that he's missed out on squads,
11:14but we expect him to compete for a spot in the squad and compete for a spot in the starting
11:18line-up as well as we go forward. But what's the challenge for Sammy moving forward then?
11:22Because he's shown flashes of potential, almost a bit of the kind of situation you get sometimes
11:27with wingers needing to influence the game consistently. Yeah, I think that's it really.
11:31I think you've probably answered your own question, is that that consistency is something
11:35we'd want to see from Sammy and we've seen flashes where he's probably looked like our
11:40most dangerous player without the goals and without the assists. So, final product is a big thing for
11:44him to consider and to work on. And also, the way that we're going about the press at the moment,
11:50it's definitely something that he needs to focus on. We've spoken about that with Sammy, make sure
11:54that whenever we do call upon him, we know we can rely on him to understand what we're trying to do
11:58and do it with the right aggression as well. So, in and out of possession, plenty to work on and
12:03to try and push forward to get in the team. And as his season's gone and really improved,
12:06Freddie Potts, I'm sure all supporters will be hoping that he's here for the duration.
12:09Would you expect that to be the case? I expect that to be the case. I've heard
12:13nothing to the contrary. So, as far as we're concerned, yeah, we'll have Freddie for the season.
12:17And likewise, Marco Mane? Yeah, likewise, Mark. Again,
12:20we've heard nothing from Brighton's end and I think with the way the Brighton season's going
12:26as well, we'd be really surprised if Marco was recalled, unless I suppose they have any injuries
12:32or areas they need to fill the squad in. But I think at the moment, we're really happy with the
12:37situation. Cheers.