Pompey boss John Mousinho chats to The News ahead of Portsmouth's Friday night trip to Pride Park in the Championship.
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00:00Now that dust has settled, are you satisfied with the point or is there a tinge of frustration that you couldn't convert it into strength?
00:07A bit of both really. Satisfied with the point and a clean sheet against a really good Championship side.
00:12I think there's a bit of frustration around the amount of shots that we had and we didn't really test the goalkeeper quite enough.
00:18So there's definitely improvement there. I also think we can count ourselves unlucky with the disallowed goal and the penalty shot in the first half.
00:27So overall really, really pleased and I think if a couple of things go differently on the day then we get a different result.
00:32It's back-to-back clean sheets as well so you must be really pleased with having that settled defensive unit this season.
00:37Yeah, we've not done that this season and one of the most pleasing things for me is the defensive unit, the back four, the back five with the goalkeeper.
00:45I think if I'd have said to you the back four at this stage of the season was going to be Terry Devlin, Regan Poole, Marlon Pack and Conor Ogilvie,
00:54we probably would have raised a few eyebrows but I think all four of them are performing excellently at the moment.
00:58I thought Tom McIntyre came in and performed really well and we've got some real good options in behind that as well.
01:03Backed up by Nick Owen, the two goalkeepers behind him really pushing as well.
01:06So very, very pleased with that but overall the clean sheet I think comes from the mentality and the aggression and the organisation from the entire team.
01:14And that's not just a cliche, I'm sure everybody that was there last night and was there on Saturday can see that.
01:19Defending becomes a lot easier if you have your forward players pressing like our boys are pressing at the moment.
01:23If you have the two midfielders doing the job that they're doing and everybody else in behind that.
01:28So it's a big collective effort and we've got to keep going with that and try and do it again Friday.
01:32Speaking about the defensive unit, that's four consecutive games at the centre-back now for Marlon Pack.
01:37Is that where you see his long-term position now moving forward?
01:40I'm not really bothered about long-term with Marlon at the moment, it's just about seeing what the next game is.
01:45I think if you have a younger player who you're looking to develop and probably looking to work on certain attributes of the game,
01:52then maybe it's more important to nail down a position and to think about where they can really improve in those areas.
01:57If you look at Terry, we're now focusing on him largely as a right-back and everything we do out on the training pitch
02:03and all the individual work that we do with Terry is focused around that and that's quite different to what we'd be asking him to do if he was a 6 or a 10.
02:10With Marlon, I don't think it makes too much of a difference because of the experience that Marlon's got,
02:15because of the fact that when he first came into the side at centre-half, we told him the day before,
02:20so it's not like he needs to go and do a huge amount of prep because he's an intelligent player.
02:23I think there's no issues. If we needed Marlon to slot back in as a 6 or anywhere else, he'd be absolutely fine.
02:28We're not looking at long-term with anything.
02:31Since Colin Bishop's return, there's been a real upturn in results. Other than his goals for him, what is it that he gives the team that makes him so pivotal?
02:39The same things I've always spoken about with Colby from when I first walked in the door
02:44and everything that I knew about Colby even prior to him joining the football club.
02:48I always thought he was a really difficult player to play against, an absolute handful,
02:53so the very, very least Colby gives you is a really, really tough time and he can properly batter centre-halves on his day.
03:01On top of that then, all of the defensive work that he does, all of the physical work that he does with his back-to-goal,
03:06he's also extremely good with the ball, so a very, very good touch.
03:09Brings players, links players in really well and ultimately, he does what a centre-forward does best.
03:13He does what you want centre-forwards to do, which is score goals.
03:15He pops up at crucial times, puts the ball in the back of the net and that's pretty close to being all-round centre-forward.
03:22The most important thing is we've had patches where Colby's gone through four or five games without scoring for us
03:28and it's never been a concern of mine. I remember there was a period when I first joined the club where,
03:33when that happened, he ended up with 20 league goals that year, 21 league goals last year
03:37and there was a period where he was getting a bit of criticism.
03:39It just didn't bother me in the slightest because I know what Colby's going to give us
03:42and he always gives us that and he'll pop up with goals as well.
03:45We saw three players last night, Paddy Lane, Owen Motts, Jack Swanson, Abdullahi Kamara all getting minutes.
03:51How crucial are those players going to be in this really busy period?
03:55Yeah, hopefully the players realise how important it is to have the squad.
03:59We had Regan Poole coming off at half-time, Tom McIntyre coming into a really quick game and doing really well
04:04and then the same with the two lads that started the game.
04:06Owen hasn't started a game since April, hasn't started a Championship game before in his career
04:11and was playing his trade-in in League Two a couple of years ago.
04:15So, for him to make the step up was really, really pleasing.
04:18Paddy Lane as well has been in and out, in and out, spent a bit of time on the sidelines with an injury
04:23and then he's come in and he's affected the game really well.
04:25Those two players slotted in brilliantly and off the back of that as well to be able to bring abs on,
04:30to give us that solidity and the platform to go in and close the game out was pleasing to give him the minutes.
04:37To be honest, I thought Christian came on and made an impact as well.
04:39We need that. We've got three games this week in seven days, we've got a bit of travel to do as well
04:44and there's a huge amount of physicality I think that's required at this level.
04:47In order to be successful, you don't just need 11 players, we need an entire squad.
04:53Following on from that, how difficult is it to keep them up with their match practice with no Football League trophy,
04:59under-23 sign and things like that? Is it difficult to keep that level of fitness and sharpness when they're ready to go?
05:04Yeah, that's hard. That's one of the hard things.
05:06If you asked me last year about something like the Football League trophy,
05:12when we had a fit squad and we could make 11 changes like we did for a couple of the earlier rounds,
05:18it was brilliant, it was great to have and we kept a lot of the lads fit
05:21and then we just had a couple of issues around that Chesterfield game
05:24and all of a sudden we're going into late in the morning and having to play a couple of the first team players
05:28and we ended up winning the game and then Rags got sent off.
05:32It became a bit difficult then, but yeah, there's pros and cons to that.
05:37But as we are this year, we don't have the first two rounds of the FA Cup.
05:41We were out in the first round of the League Cup and no EFL trophy, so it's been different.
05:45It has been difficult, I think, for players to stay on top of themselves and stay fit.
05:48They've got to do it as best they can in training and we try and replicate as much as we can in training with match practice.
05:54But yeah, we need to rely on players to be professional, to come into the sides when they come into the sides.
05:59If they have long spells on the sideline, they've got to do their running after the games,
06:02they've got to come in the next day and they've got to do their top-up session and go again and again and again.
06:06And that's just the minimum we require from players.
06:09At Friday night, Derby County, obviously a team you know well from last season.
06:12What sort of challenges are you expecting?
06:14I think that Derby at home are a different kettle of fish to what they are away from home.
06:19A lot of sides are like that, by the way.
06:21That's just one of those things.
06:23If you saw Derby over the past couple of games, Leeds away on Saturday, I don't think they were...
06:30I guess having judged the post-match and looking at everything there,
06:34I think it wasn't necessarily their focus to go there and get three points.
06:37I'm sure it will be on Friday night.
06:38They took a really good point at Burnley last night.
06:40And they're a side that at home this season have been very good.
06:43They were on television against Sheffield Wednesday the other day.
06:46I thought they played some really good football.
06:48They're expansive, they've got some really good players.
06:50And they give you also what Paul Warren's sides give you,
06:54which is sides that run out of possession, they're aggressive, they work.
06:58There's a reason that he's been so successful over the years
07:01and it's because he puts together sides that are really competitive.
07:05So I expect a really good game.
07:06And lastly, Paul Warren recently described his team as a Leeds-Ryne side
07:10with a little bit of sugar sprinkled on top.
07:12How would you describe your team?
07:17The team that we have is exactly as we perform any week.
07:22And all I can say at the moment is that I looked at a side last night
07:26that very much belonged, individually and collectively, to be in the Championship.
07:29And that's how I'd judge the team.
07:32I don't know how to follow up that last question.
07:34But I'll just crack up on the injuries.
07:36John, Regan, Paul, what's the situation there?
07:38Regan's okay.
07:39He came out and he did everything that the starting XI did last night
07:45out on the training pitch today without getting people too carried away with that.
07:48That was very, very little.
07:50And it didn't involve getting out of a walk.
07:52But he's not in there strapped up or needing a scan.
07:56He's fine.
07:58If he misses the weekend, he should be back for the following week.
08:02So he's 50-50, I think, for the weekend.
08:04We'll see how he is.
08:05But it was very much precautionary.
08:07He didn't injure himself.
08:08It was one of those on that side where he'd had the hamstring graft.
08:10He was just feeling a bit timeless.
08:12So no scan?
08:14No, no scan needed, I don't think, unless anything changes this afternoon and tomorrow.
08:19And he comes in a bit sore, but no scan needed.
08:21And a fitness test to assess how he is?
08:23Yeah, I think we'll know.
08:24We'll probably only have to go outside.
08:26Regan will know when he's in the physio tomorrow morning.
08:28So we'll just give him an extra 24 hours and see how he is.
08:31Tom McIntyre came off looking prettier than he went on to the pitch yesterday.
08:35Is his nose actually broken?
08:37No, no.
08:38He just took a whack to it.
08:40And then he had to change his shirt, change his shorts.
08:42I think that was an amusing moment for certain members of the South Stand and Milton End
08:47when he ripped his shorts off last night.
08:49And yeah, I'm sure he's housewives' favourite, Tom McIntyre.
08:53It was a funny moment looking back on it.
08:57But at the time when he was off the pitch and we were defending a corner,
08:59I didn't find it so amusing.
09:00But yeah, he's fine.
09:02No Phantom of the Opera-style masks?
09:05No, no.
09:06He's all right.
09:07He's tough as well, Tom.
09:08So yeah, he's taken a few knocks over the years and he gets on with it.
09:12Just a couple of others.
09:14Jacob Farrell?
09:15Jacob Farrell's at the final stages of his rehab with S&C.
09:18He's been out on the pitches doing everything,
09:20buck training with us at the moment.
09:21So I suspect that if he passes everything towards the back end of this week,
09:25he might be back with us next week.
09:27How's Jordan Williams?
09:29Jordan's okay.
09:30Jordan's a strange one.
09:32No issues at all,
09:33but he's one where quite early on he's been able to go out and do a lot of running.
09:37But only straight line running, so no change of direction at the moment
09:40because of the nature of the hamstring injury.
09:42So he's not progressed to that stage of his rehab yet, but he's on track.
09:47So nothing imminent, no return anytime soon,
09:51i.e. the weekend or the weekend after.
09:53But hopefully around that Christmas schedule we'll see him back.
09:56Does Shox remain on the same course he was?
09:58Shox is on the same course.
10:00You can probably imagine him being really cautious with Shox
10:03because of the nature of the injuries that he's had this year.
10:05He is out doing that straight line running,
10:07so the progression for Shox will be once he's ticked all the boxes there,
10:11he'll do a change of direction,
10:12then we'll start getting the ball involved in the change of direction
10:15of the final part of the S&C rehab,
10:17and then he'll be back with us.
10:18But there's no rush with Shox.
10:20I don't actually ask Steve for an update on him
10:23because we'll just know when Shox is back and when he's ready,
10:26and we're not going to push him because of the nature of what's happened.
10:28And I guess it's early days for Yengi from the news of his injury as well.
10:32Yeah, Cass is still on the same trajectory,
10:34so I think he's two weeks into what's going to be a 10-week injury.
10:37Yeah, Omani the same clearly as well.
10:39Yeah, Mark's back with Brighton at the moment,
10:41so Mark's back doing his rehab with Brighton,
10:43so we haven't seen him around the place
10:45and we're still looking at about four weeks for Mark.
10:47Any other business in terms of injuries?
10:48No, I think everyone has come through last night.
10:50Regan's the one that we'll monitor.
10:52Owen and Paddy both came off with exhaustion
10:55or just exhausted, not with exhaustion.
10:58They were just exhausted, which was great.
11:00We wanted to do that.
11:01We don't want players leaving anything behind
11:04and they left everything out there,
11:05which was really pleasing for two players coming in like that.
11:07So everyone else is fine.
11:09It's just going to be making sure that we get the recovery right
11:11to go into Friday.
11:12Just on that note, the players are going to have to go to the well again,
11:15aren't they, in a short space of time on Friday night?
11:18How set fair are they for that challenge
11:20to play at the intensity they have been playing for 90-plus minutes?
11:23I think they're set really well.
11:25The acid test for me was when we had those two away games.
11:28We had Holloway, Plymouth away.
11:31I remember at the time speaking openly about the challenge
11:34of going away on a Saturday and away on a Tuesday
11:37and how we hadn't dealt with that particularly well
11:39when we'd had a couple of those games, the Cardiff game in particular,
11:42that we just didn't deal with well with the double travel.
11:45So I think we dealt with Plymouth well
11:46because we looked physically really good.
11:48Then off the back of a long trip to Hull, a long trip to Plymouth,
11:50we came back at the weekend against Preston
11:52and we looked like a really fit outfit and obviously beat Preston.
11:55So I've seen a side that has physically looked really good at the weekend.
11:59I think they looked really good again last night.
12:01I haven't really got any concerns going into Friday
12:03other than just keeping all the boys fresh and keeping them at it
12:05and we're going to do very, very little tomorrow.
12:07But, you know, Derby have had the exact same schedule,
12:10but just slightly different.
12:11They've had two bits of travel to do.
12:12We've got the one bit of travel going into the weekend.
12:14That's the way it is.
12:16That's what we've got to deal with.
12:18And that's my message to the boys.
12:19Just learn to deal with it.
12:20The Championship is relentless because you don't have as many games,
12:24but all of a sudden when they're really spread out at the start of the season
12:27and we're all sitting around waiting for a game to come along.
12:29Now we go into an incredibly busy period during Christmas
12:33and then January is just immense for us in terms of the games we've got.
12:37So we've got to get used to it.
12:38We've got to get on with it.
12:39We've got to play the games.
12:40And I know the lads love doing that.
12:42So it's great.
12:43Can Matt Ritchie do that?
12:45I mean, loads of use of veteran status.
12:48No player probably likes that.
12:49But, you know, at this stage in his career and the way Matt Ritchie plays as well.
12:52Yeah.
12:53Again, the proof's in the pudding, I suppose, with Matt.
12:57When he made his first start, or his second start it was,
13:00but his first start in a long time against Hull,
13:02we were probably thinking he won't play on the Tuesday.
13:04But his physical output was good enough.
13:06He felt great going into that Plymouth game.
13:08And then he started again at the weekend.
13:09So we've done a three-game week.
13:10Not concerned about that.
13:11Yes, we've managed him slightly over the past two games in terms of his minutes.
13:15But I've got no concerns because Matt's such a top professional.
13:18He does everything right off the pitch
13:19and gives himself the best chance of performing at a much younger age than he actually is.
13:25And Colby, we're all so enthused.
13:27He's given another dimension since his comeback.
13:29But with the injury situation at Caz,
13:31there's obviously a lot back on his shoulders now in a short space of time.
13:35Yeah, and that's not ideal, I think,
13:37to have Colby back and have two centre-forwards injured at the same time.
13:40But we've got Christian and Eli who have come on
13:42and shared the workload over the past couple of games.
13:45And we're just taking a gauge off Colby, really.
13:47We take a gauge off Colby during the games.
13:49Put your hand up when you feel that you're really flagging
13:51because you need players to be able to press at the top end of the pitch.
13:54And Colby doesn't look to me like he's performing like a player
13:58who's been out for three months with open-heart surgeries.
14:01And to be honest, maybe for the Swansea game a little bit.
14:04But apart from that, I think he's been back and he's got close to his best.
14:08A bit like Regan Paul, though, wasn't it?
14:10He had that initial high Burnley man-of-the-match performance, possibly.
14:13And then he tailed off a little bit when you come back from an injury.
14:16Although I suppose you'll find in the situation with Colby
14:19it's a bit more individual in a rare injury or rare issue.
14:22Yeah, it's slightly different.
14:24And I've spoken a lot about Regan
14:26and the path to recovery for Regan from an ACL.
14:29I just put Colby in a slightly different category
14:31because of the nature of the injury.
14:33And it was a massive deal having open-heart surgery.
14:38But Colby was back out so quickly,
14:41much quicker than he would have been for a lower limb injury.
14:44And he had different issues to contend with on his return
14:47because you see the size of the scar down the middle of his chest
14:51and all of the work that had clearly been done.
14:53That was the main area that he had to build back up.
14:56And it was almost like his fitness in his legs,
14:59he kept on top of himself so well during his time out
15:02that that's been a bit different to having an ACL
15:05or to having a broken leg or any other ligament injury.
15:07So I do think Colby's in a slightly different category.
15:10Yeah, OK.
15:11Last season, Derby, it felt, just personally,
15:15like it was a really seminal moment in the season,
15:18going and getting that result
15:19and then going into Barnsley on the Tuesday
15:21and then kicking on with those wins after.
15:23How important do you think that was at that moment last season?
15:25I felt that at the time, actually,
15:27because we'd had an indifferent start.
15:29I think they had picked up a couple of results,
15:33but we went Bristol Rovers draw,
15:35I think they picked up a couple of wins later on in Exeter.
15:38Then after that, we picked up a couple of draws again,
15:40Cheltenham and Stevenage,
15:41and everybody was looking at our August schedule.
15:42I remember when it came out at the time thinking,
15:44we've got a really good opportunity in August
15:46to pick up maybe maximum points, which we didn't do.
15:49We played against some sides who,
15:51sides that had been promoted
15:52or sides that eventually got relegated.
15:54And Cheltenham at home with 2-0-0,
15:55Stevenage away with 2-0-0.
15:57I remember there being a bit of a,
15:59probably a bit of an air of disappointment around there,
16:01the points haul in August and going into September.
16:04I distinctly remember when the fixtures came out,
16:06it was like, oh, you can pick up some points in August,
16:08but September's going to be the month
16:09where you might come unstuck.
16:11We had, I think it was Barnsley away,
16:13sorry, Derby away, Barnsley away.
16:15There was something like Wigan away, Wickham.
16:19It was a tough run, Lincoln.
16:21So yeah, a really tough run.
16:23And we started off,
16:24Peterborough was the other side, sorry, as well.
16:26We played Peterborough on the 1st of September
16:28before the international break.
16:29We were a really good team.
16:30And we managed to beat Peterborough,
16:32which boosted everyone.
16:33Went into that Derby game and it was a big one.
16:36It was a really, it was a big moment
16:38because I think we picking the point at that stage
16:42meant that we were in contention to go top
16:44if we beat Barnsley on the Tuesday
16:45because no one else was playing that night
16:46apart from Port Vale.
16:48And it just kept Derby within touching distance of us as well.
16:50So yeah, it felt like a big moment at the time.
16:52And I just remember at the time,
16:53I feel it was nothing more than we deserved.
16:55We thoroughly deserved the point up at their place.
16:58I thought we played really well in the second half.
16:59And when we got the goal, it felt like a big moment.
17:02There was a bit of confidence that was just injected
17:04into the lads off the back of the Peterborough game.
17:06Doing that at Derby and the Barnsley,
17:08the first 45 at Barnsley,
17:09was probably the best we played all season.
17:11At Derby Link, Mark Thomas is head of recruitment there.
17:13Someone you obviously know from your Oxford days.
17:15What can you say about Mark
17:16and what he did at Oxford back then?
17:18I mean, incredible record he had.
17:20Mark recruited me at Oxford,
17:21so he's clearly a genius.
17:26Yeah, Mark was the head of recruitment there
17:28and brought me in as a player
17:30when I left Burton.
17:32So I had a really good relationship with Mark
17:35and he did some excellent things at Oxford,
17:38bringing in players
17:40that have gone on to do really good things.
17:42And yeah, no surprise to me that
17:44it was a couple of years ago now
17:46that he ended up going to Derby
17:48and obviously overseeing everything they've done there
17:50over the past couple of seasons.
17:51So yeah, obviously he was here as well
17:56and somebody that's done brilliantly well.
17:59And got a good relationship with him.
18:01And yeah, I hope that he doesn't have
18:03a nice weekend this weekend
18:05because in all his recruits,
18:07they aren't as good as us, basically.
18:09That would be the one.
18:11So I wish him well, but just not on Friday.
18:13I was just trying to think of some of the players,
18:15like Dickie Atkinson, were they kind of on Mark's watch?
18:17It just seemed like Oxford were sending players
18:19for a couple of million every year back then.
18:21Yeah, there were some good centre-halves
18:24that I played alongside during those times.
18:26So Dickie Atkinson, Elliot Moore,
18:28Lou McNally, who was at Bristol City,
18:31I think.
18:32Kurt Snelson, who's now at Derby.
18:34And yeah, plenty of players in between.
18:35Quite a few players that have gone on
18:36to play Championship football.
18:37And that was a big part of Oxford's model
18:39at the time to do that.
18:40Is it something that you took stuff from
18:42when you were transitioning?
18:44That experience, what you did on the recruiting side
18:46and the success there at Oxford?
18:48Yeah, certainly towards the back end of my time
18:52as a player at Oxford, I got the privilege,
18:56the manager allowed me to sit in on recruitment meetings
18:59and I got to have a look at the real insight
19:03into what it took to be a head coach,
19:06not just the coaching side of it
19:07and the management side of it,
19:08but what you had to do on the recruitment side as well,
19:10which is a hugely important,
19:11massively important part of it.
19:12And I came in during the January transfer window
19:15when recruitment was right up there
19:17and we went into a summer where we did,
19:18I think, 14 new signings and we did the same again this year.
19:21So you can tell what a big part recruitment is
19:23and that gave me, I think, a good insight
19:25into what it was like.
19:26Just a couple to wrap up on.
19:27Marlon Pack enjoyed his run in battle
19:29with Ashley Barnes last night at the centre half.
19:31That was probably a good education for him.
19:34I thought so.
19:35I thought, you know, Barnes is a terrific
19:37Championship Premier League player
19:39and he's had a fantastic career
19:41and you could tell early on
19:42it was going to be a really good battle.
19:44I thought that Barnes was slightly fortunate
19:46he left a couple on Marlon early on
19:48that on another day, I think,
19:50could have resulted in a card.
19:53Yeah, it was a really good run in battle.
19:55He's a really good player, to be honest.
19:57Ashley and Marlon.
19:58So yeah, it was good.
20:00He's game as anything.
20:01I had a bit of fun with the fattening when he came off.
20:04Yeah, you're going to come up against players
20:05at this level that have not only got
20:07the ability to score goals,
20:08but they've got that mouse as well
20:09and they can do a lot of damage
20:11if you're not on top of them
20:12and thankfully Marlon was on top of them.
20:14When do we take this makeshift
20:15centre-back tag away from Marlon?
20:18Yeah, I mean, it's up to you guys.
20:22So it's not you that's calling them a makeshift, is it?
20:24Yeah, yeah.
20:25I don't, you know, I would look at the,
20:27as I said earlier, I look at the back four.
20:29It's certainly not a back four
20:30we would have anticipated playing at times
20:33during pre-season or early in the season,
20:34but I feel very, very comfortable with it now
20:36and it's a big challenge for everybody
20:38that gets a shirt at the moment
20:39to keep their shirt.
20:41I do look at, I made the same journey at a younger age
20:44going from the middle of the park to centre-half,
20:46so I understand parts of what it's like
20:49and the difference in the game
20:50and one of the reasons we did it with Marlon
20:52was because we thought he had the attributes to do it.
20:53There's no way we would have done that otherwise
20:55and I just think it's essentially,
20:57you know, we've seen what we've done
20:59over the past few weeks,
21:00the minutes his shirt's really made you learn.
21:04Could Marlon extend his career
21:06as he comes to the latter stages of it
21:08as a centre-back, do you think?
21:10Yeah, I don't see any reason why not.
21:11Marlon keeps himself in fantastic condition
21:13like Matt, really, really good pros.
21:15Marlon's played, he's close to 650 games now
21:18and there's nobody that plays that amount of games
21:20without being an incredible professional
21:22and going about their business properly,
21:25particularly as a lad that's had to rebuild
21:28from, not necessarily the bottom,
21:30but doing what he did after his release from here
21:34and then going away and applying his trade
21:36at Wickham and Cheltenham
21:37and building his way back up
21:38to be a really, really top championship
21:40centre-midfielder.
21:42There's no way he does that
21:43without having the ability to extend his career
21:45because of how intelligent he is as a player
21:47and how physically good he is.
21:49But we've seen the physical demands
21:51in the championship, in the midfield area
21:53and the amount of demands that players eat up.
21:55Obviously it's slightly different
21:56as a centre-back, isn't it?
21:58Yeah, and it's a different physical demand actually
22:01because you see the distance covered
22:06probably isn't quite as much as a centre-half
22:08but you have to be really quick on the turn
22:10or your positioning has to be really good.
22:11So, really differing demands.
22:13You might not come up against the same type of player
22:16that you do in the middle of the park
22:17because all of a sudden you look at
22:19what Marlon's faced over the past two games.
22:23He's had Ashley Barnes,
22:24a really experienced championship Premier League player.
22:27Cernak, who I think was 11 million euros.
22:31And then at the weekend,
22:32Naki Wells, Sinclair Armstrong.
22:34Really top players.
22:36Very, very different.
22:37You've got to adjust.
22:38You've got to adjust quickly
22:39and that's about, I think, just being intelligent
22:40and doing the right things.
22:42To outsiders, I expect Terry Devon
22:44is looking like the find of the season
22:45in the championship.
22:46Can you see why that would be the case?
22:48Yeah.
22:49Without getting too carried away,
22:50I think he's got a lot of work to do
22:52and that's a positive.
22:54We think that Terry can make huge strides
22:56and there's no way we'd be playing him there
22:58without thinking that.
23:00Certainly, from our perspective,
23:02there was a reason that we kept him around.
23:03There were a couple of question marks externally
23:05about whether we'd be able to go on loan.
23:07We had a couple of inquiries about him
23:08and it was never even something that I thought about.
23:11He was always going to be part of this squad.
23:13We probably didn't anticipate him playing
23:15right back as much as he did,
23:16particularly with the fact that we've had
23:18a really strong department there
23:19with Jordan and Zach.
23:21He's been outstanding.
23:23I think he's got better game on game as well.
23:25You talked about his physicality,
23:26but how pleasing to see.
23:27I think it was a dynamic last night.
23:29He charged forward, hit the ball.
23:30I think he cut it back for Paddy, wasn't it?
23:32Really powerful run,
23:33keeping it up for the distance in the game.
23:35Yeah, and that's the challenge really with Terry
23:37to build into the match fitness that he's got
23:39and then to add the technical side of the game
23:42that we've probably seen.
23:43We've talked about who he's competing with
23:45for that Northern Ireland number one spot.
23:46Really, really athletic, technical full-back
23:49that plays for one of the top sides
23:50in the Championship.
23:51Terry's got to keep working to get there
23:53because he's got some really outstanding attributes
23:54that will give him every chance.
23:56Cheers.