Pompey boss John Mousinho talks to The News ahead of the Blues' meeting with Cardiff City in the Championship.
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00:00John, obviously we know the outcome of Sassi's result, but even though you didn't get the
00:04three points, what can you take from that game in terms of giving yourself belief, confidence
00:10from the manner of that performance?
00:11Yeah, I think we should take a lot of positivity from the way that we went about our business
00:15for the entire 90 minutes and it's the best away performance I think of the season despite
00:22not getting the result and I think it's moving in the right direction certainly from where
00:26we've been for some of the away performances and some of the away games it feels like over
00:30the past couple of weeks we haven't necessarily got the results but we're putting together
00:33much more solid performances, we're looking like less likely to concede and where that's
00:39been our downfall this season in terms of conceding some of those heavier away defeats
00:44in particular.
00:45So I'm really, really pleased with all of that, pleased with the fact that we created
00:47a lot of chances as well and the biggest disappointment is that we didn't put the ball in the back
00:51of the net to take the lead and to give ourselves a bit of a cushion because I do think by the
00:56time Sheffield United scored it would have been perfectly reasonable for it to be 3-4-1
01:00to us in the game.
01:01It wasn't as it was so we've got to deal with that and move on but also take a lot of confidence
01:05from it.
01:06Obviously you need points away from home but sometimes you also need a good performance
01:10especially the previous results.
01:12Yeah I think we needed a good performance more so because of previous performances more
01:16than anything so the fact that we've gone away too many times recently over the past
01:20couple of months and not put in performances that are anywhere near good enough and there's
01:26a couple of games where we've not even been in the game at half time and that's been unacceptable
01:32for us to do that, for the away fans, for everybody connected to the football club so
01:36we've been working hard to try and put that right.
01:37There's been a bit of head scratching because the home form's been so good and we've been
01:40performing so well at home with the same set of players and largely the same set of players
01:44and the same approach so yeah we did tweak things very, very slightly but it wasn't a
01:48huge tweak.
01:50We have to take a lot of confidence from that, in my opinion we were much the better side
01:55against one of the top sides in the league who are currently second and we've gone to
01:59Bramall Lane and given them a really good run for the money and we've got to make sure
02:03we continue to do that no matter who we're playing for the rest of the season.
02:06With 15 games to go, what do you make of the relegation battle down there in the Championship?
02:12Well it's interesting, I think everything now is very much well formed in terms of where
02:17the league is, you can look at the league and it's pretty distinct, you've got the top
02:20four teams, there's a few teams that are battling for the final two play-off positions and then
02:25there's probably quite a few teams that are really involved down at the bottom and Swansea
02:29picked up a good result yesterday but there's been a couple of sides that you would have
02:34thought would have just been comfortable and away with it, particularly after we played
02:38them, Derby would have been one I thought, Cardiff in particular, Stoke but sometimes
02:42they don't pick up results and end up down at the bottom so it's still really tight and
02:45I'm sure there's some of the clubs at mid-table as well that are thinking we just need to
02:50get to 50 points and be done with it so there's probably a very clear group who are in that
02:58sort of relegation battle but there's probably quite a few at mid-table that could consumably
03:01get sucked into it as well.
03:02What sort of position would be safe do you feel?
03:06What would be safe?
03:07What in the current league at the moment?
03:09I don't know actually, I don't know off the top of my head because it does go tight, you
03:12keep edging up the league and thinking maybe they're alright, maybe they're alright but
03:15it's actually only a couple of losses or a couple of wins away from being tracked back
03:18into it and there's honestly plenty of clubs that I thought they're just going to be nowhere
03:22near it and all of a sudden, Swansea last week and Swansea at the weekend, you're thinking
03:27I never would have thought in a million years that they'd been dragged into it, a big result
03:29for them at the weekend and all of a sudden they're okay.
03:32I think every club down there will just be striving to get to 50 points and just maybe
03:38try and get a couple more on the board as well just to be sure, that feels like it's
03:42about the right mark this season so we're not necessarily targeting that but the quicker
03:46we can hopefully get to that and then push on from there the better.
03:49So 50 points is your target as well I take it?
03:52Just to get there as quickly as possible I think, you never know, it might not be enough
03:55to keep you in the league so you don't want to get to 50 and then just down tools and
03:58think that's enough but it's a nice enough target I think to actually strive for and
04:03to aim for and then just to hopefully do that as soon as possible and then kick on again.
04:07And obviously the next two games against sides that are rivals really to stay up I would imagine?
04:13Yeah certainly the game tomorrow night, I think it's a chance to definitely move league
04:16position and depending on how Oxford get on as well then we're going to have a really
04:19interesting game because Sam and Oxford, they're a side who start the season in brilliant form,
04:25flying away with it, doing very, very well, went through a really difficult patch and
04:30found themselves below us and then all of a sudden since Gary's come in they've done
04:33really well so there's plenty of, it was very, very tight, I'd describe it as very, very
04:38tight and it can change in a week, we've got two big games coming up at the end of this
04:43week and they come thick and fast after that as well, there's just sort of no letting up
04:47so every time we approach a game we just have to try and win it regardless of who it's against.
04:52Mark Omani, is he close being considered for selection?
04:56Yeah Mark's back and available for selection now.
05:00Was he not selected on Saturday through the loan issue?
05:03Maybe a slight percentage of that but it was more because it was just his first full week
05:07back in training so we weren't 100% sure if he was ready or not so from today's session
05:12onwards he'll definitely be fit.
05:14Then you got the loan issue, you had the six loans.
05:16Then we got the loan issue which we were fully aware of and again we just thought it made
05:20us stronger so we'll have to balance and judge that as we see fit at the time.
05:25What can a fit Mark Omani give you aside?
05:27Well I think what he did when he was at the top of his game, when he first came onto the
05:31scene with us and he scored a couple of goals, led the line really well, some performances
05:35I thought he was excellent, some then probably were very similar to what you expect from
05:40a first loan coming out of that PL2 league but overall I was really, really pleased with
05:46Mark's contribution.
05:47I think first of all to be competitive, to start as many games as he did, to score those
05:51goals, particularly the crucial goal against Oxford, I was really happy with him so I think
05:55as far as first loans go, Mark will be disappointed if he got injured and he spent a large amount
06:00of time out I think since the Swansea game but now he's back he's got a really good opportunity
06:03to kick on.
06:04Obviously for the Championship you have nine substitutes, you can't select all nine,
06:09five, but how many strikers would be the ideal number for you on the bench?
06:16Well I think the way we saw it at the weekend was that we had a bit of flexibility with
06:20certain players that we had on the bench and certain players that we had on the pitch
06:23so I think it's sort of game to game really.
06:27I think you've at least got to have one on there, sometimes two is a nice luxury to have,
06:32it just depends what you've got, it depends who's available, it depends who you think
06:34is really firing, but yeah certainly I think in games as well we do have the option to
06:40play Callum up front, I think he's done that a couple of times this season and done really
06:44well so we thought we had that option, we'd obviously had Christian on the bench as well
06:47and Corby leading the line so we felt we were pretty secure.
06:52Waddingham, is he okay if he wasn't in the squad?
06:53Yeah Tom's fine, that's fine it was just a selection.
06:59In terms of injuries as well, what's the latest in Regan Paul?
07:02Regan trained with us today for about a quarter of the session so he'll build up this week
07:06hopefully to train fully either at the back end of this week or start next week.
07:10So how's it planned with him then, is he in back?
07:14Just he'll be back, he'll be available, as soon as he's done one full training session
07:17he'll be available.
07:17Are you avoiding putting a time frame on his comeback at all?
07:21I mean I'd say Friday, Friday he should be available for a squad, if not it'll be Monday
07:27so it's not too far away.
07:28And you say he trained today, how did he do?
07:31He's fine, he's fine, we hardly dealt with him today.
07:36Any other injuries as well?
07:37No, no all clear on that.