Blues boss John Mousinho chats to The News ahead of their trip to the O's on Saturday
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00:00 Here with Pompey boss John Massino. John, 10 changes on Tuesday and a lot of positivity,
00:05 probably gives you plenty to consider going into this weekend's game.
00:09 Yeah, I think exactly that. There was real positivity obviously in the result and in
00:13 the performance as well and particularly having made 10 changes with the lads probably going
00:18 into that game with a fair amount of excuses that they wanted to take them and getting
00:22 a big message from us that it was a big opportunity for them so don't use anything that you can
00:26 to make an excuse and not perform well and they performed brilliantly and ultimately
00:29 going into the weekend now we've got a really tough team selection ahead of us.
00:33 Not 10 out of 10 from the first two games but there's probably reason to be cheerful.
00:38 Yeah, and again it would be not a concern, it would be great if we were 10 out of 10
00:44 for the first couple of games but there's always going to be a few things to iron out.
00:47 We're going to get to January, February and March and there's still going to be things
00:51 going into game that we want to improve upon so it's a good time I think in the season
00:54 to keep learning and keep building and there's a huge amount of new relationships going on
00:59 at the football pitch at the moment as well. If you look at the way that we started the
01:03 season with, for example, Regan Paul and Joe Rafty out there building that partnership
01:07 with Gavin White and Antony Scully in front of both full-backs and then just everything
01:12 else in between as well where people aren't quite used to each other, they're getting
01:17 there, they're getting there quickly and that was another really pleasing bit about Tuesday
01:20 night is that even thrown together at very, very short notice, we didn't have a full week
01:25 to prep like we did for Bristol Rovers, we had one day to prep for that and we did as
01:29 much as we possibly could but I thought they were really fluent and played really well.
01:32 One old relationship was the one with Joe Piggott who we come up against this weekend
01:36 and probably a handful for most sides at this level.
01:39 Yeah, and Joe played a fair bit for me at the back end of last year and I think he would
01:44 have played a bit more had he not been sent off against Aftonton and came in and made
01:47 a real difference to the side so we're fully aware of the threat that he poses and he's
01:51 had an excellent career and I think he's really trying to kick-start it now going out and
01:55 getting to late in the season.
01:58 We're fully aware of the threat that he poses and I think we've got plenty of attacking
02:02 players in behind that and they can cause us a lot of problems.
02:06 They won League Two last year for a reason and ultimately they were comfortable winners
02:11 and fully deserve the promotion and a lot of the time teams that do that come into the
02:14 season with a bit of momentum so I think we've got plenty to make sure we're aware of on Saturday.
02:19 Thinking of Joe and Colby back at Atherton at last season and they looked promising there
02:23 and he offered a lot at different stages obviously before your time as well.
02:27 Yeah, and I played against Joe quite a few times when he was at AFC and he was a real
02:31 handful then.
02:32 I think that was when he really made his name in the league and not only was he a handful
02:37 as a centre-forward, he scored quite a few goals as well and when he got going for us
02:42 towards the back end of last season I thought he was excellent.
02:44 I remember him coming in for the Sheffield Wednesday game, did really well, kept his
02:48 place I think for the Atkinson game, scored a goal.
02:51 It would have been disappointing not to get two and as he went through obviously he took
02:56 his touch and got sent off and after that he even came in and had a pretty good part
03:00 to play at the back end of the season scoring against Atkinson again and I think started
03:05 against Derby in one of our better performances of the season.
03:08 I'm just thinking off the top of my head here, even towards the back end of the year
03:13 with the Wickham game he came on playing off the left and set up the goal for Paddy Lane
03:16 towards the back end.
03:17 So yeah, I think one that we really utilised and really love having around the place.
03:22 In terms of the transfer window, it's sort of open-minded seems to be the byword from
03:26 the owner Michael Eisner down, is that fair?
03:29 Yeah, I think that in terms of the business that we've done so far, if we earmarked all
03:32 of the positions that we wanted to bring in and without going through all 13, I think
03:37 Rich sat down and spoke with the news in Spain and said there were four positions that
03:42 we wanted to fill.
03:43 I think that was goalkeeper, who we managed to do, goalkeeper 10, centre half and the
03:51 eight.
03:52 Obviously with bringing Alex in we feel that he fits that last piece of the puzzle.
03:58 Now over the next three weeks we're still going to keep an eye on everything, the comings
04:01 and goings and if anything does pop up then I think there'll be a bit of flexibility
04:05 there but at the moment we're pretty content with where we are.
04:07 And there is money in the existing budget if that happens?
04:10 Yeah, I think there's probably two things to look at.
04:14 There's a little bit in the existing budget but that's been increased from last year already
04:21 and without really definitely saying it, I think the way the owners have been with us,
04:27 certainly with me since I came in January, is that if there's something that's worthwhile
04:31 to go out and get, Paddy Lane is the perfect example there of someone who we went out and
04:35 spent a significant fee on.
04:37 If there is someone here we make a compelling enough case to go and get then the owners
04:41 have been very, very willing to back us on that and they've done that all the way through
04:45 and gone above and beyond what we thought they would do.
04:48 So we've even done that this transfer window, we've had players on freeze, we've had players
04:53 coming in for fees as well and obviously the loans that we've brought in.
04:57 So I think we're in a really, really strong position in terms of what we might be able
05:00 to do going forward.
05:01 Yeah, and in terms of narrative between now and the window, I think as we said briefly
05:04 on Tuesday, there will be players that don't get into teams in the opening weeks of the
05:08 season that will present perhaps opportunities or things that pop up.
05:12 Yeah, exactly that.
05:13 It's very, very fluid and between now and the closing of the transfer window, there'll
05:18 be a huge amount of change.
05:20 If you look at where we've gone already this week, I think we'll get to a stage in three
05:26 or four weeks' time before the transfer window where we look at what was the starting line-up
05:31 of the first day of the season, it's already dramatically changed.
05:33 That's just what happens in football.
05:34 I think there are opportunities that pop up everywhere just because of the schedule that
05:38 we're faced with as well.
05:39 And like I said to the boys today, now we've got eight games in August, so a lot can change
05:43 very, very quickly and who knows what's going to happen.
05:45 I'm sure the recruitment team will be looking at squads and who's out over the next couple
05:49 of weeks as well.
05:50 Always a really interesting one to have a look at, just to re-mark that.
05:53 The ones that haven't got a huge amount of minutes towards the back end of August, that's
05:57 definitely one to have a look at as the reasons why, whether it's an injury, whether they
06:01 form that favour, whether they were a bit favourable in the first place.
06:03 Yeah, definitely one to keep an eye on.
06:05 And Denver's in, what's the situation with him at the moment?
06:08 Yeah, still looking for something for Denver, so no real update on that.
06:12 But Denver's in with us every day, training really well.
06:14 His attitude's been absolutely spot on, so hopefully both parties can come to a mutual
06:18 understanding on that at some point.
06:20 And it's just making sure whatever comes in is right for Denver.
06:23 Because ultimately, the ball's in his court at the moment.
06:26 If we forget something and he wants to leave, then we're not going to stand in his way.
06:29 So how does that work if Denver does move on?
06:31 Is that then freeing up money that wasn't considered in the playing budget?
06:35 We factored that in, so we factored in Denver moving on at some point, because that was
06:40 something he indicated he wanted to do in the summer.
06:42 So yeah, we have factored that in, so we're not contingent on Denver moving on to free
06:46 up any money.
06:47 And if a curveball does arrive, is that something you can consider, if you can give yourself
06:52 enough time to send someone out that you wouldn't expect, if you can improve things on that
06:56 player?
06:57 Yeah, I think ultimately, if any curveballs do come in, we are keeping an open mind.
07:02 We're never going to close ourselves off and be this early in August and say, 'We're done'.
07:06 There's absolutely nothing to see here.
07:09 I think that would be pretty naive.
07:11 But I think we've changed our recruitment strategy now from that real active mode and
07:17 sort of pulling in every direction and making sure we spin about a thousand plates at one
07:22 time to probably just seeing what lands on our doorstep.
07:24 Not a bad place to be, right?
07:26 I think so, yeah.
07:27 A really healthy place to be.
07:28 In all honesty, it's much further on than we probably expected it to be.
07:32 We thought there'd maybe be a bit of work to be done towards the back end of August,
07:35 but I think a lot of the groundwork was done really early on and the fact that we were
07:39 able to announce five or six signings in the first week just put us in a really strong
07:42 position to just pick off one or two here and there.
07:45 Every time we had a bit of leeway to do so and it's worked really well.
07:49 That was a call out from Robertson's performance on Tuesday, a cameo, but it probably worked
07:53 out being about half an hour in the end.
07:56 But there was a fair amount, certainly from the supporters anyway, of glimpses that they
08:01 picked up on and they're very infused about.
08:03 Can you see why that's the case?
08:04 Yeah, I can see why that's the case.
08:05 I thought he was pretty eye-catching when he came on and he showed those glimpses of
08:10 what I'm brought into the club and we're fortunate enough to have seen that quite a few times.
08:14 It's obviously our job, we go and watch Alex and we've seen him play in the U21s league
08:20 and do well.
08:21 I guess the only unknown for us, and we took this as a very calculated one, was how he'd
08:25 actually do in league football and of course we're yet to see that.
08:27 We've seen him in the cup game, but we've also seen how good he is in training and everything
08:31 that we've seen so far in terms of his development.
08:33 The fact that he went away with Australia as well tells us that he is ready to come
08:36 in and impact the first team at Portsmouth and that's what we'll be pushing him to do.
08:41 In terms of fitness, is he ready to start?
08:44 I think he is.
08:45 Yeah, he's a really fit young lad.
08:47 The question for us would be whether he's got that match fitness in terms of playing
08:52 for that development side and playing for the loan side in pre-season with Man City.
08:56 He just hasn't had the competitive action so far and even by that I would class the
09:02 back end of our pre-season, the AFC Wimbledon game and the Bristol City game, as close to
09:06 competitive games as you possibly could get.
09:09 So that gives us a lot of positivity with our players coming into it.
09:12 Alex hasn't had that, but I think he's kept himself in very good shape.
09:15 He looks good, we're going to keep monitoring him.
09:18 I suppose for us it was probably unfair that we played those 11 minutes for some players
09:22 and for others maybe it wasn't.
09:24 He went to Colne and Ogilvy for example and he'd ended up playing 41 minutes, so nearly
09:27 a full half.
09:28 Thankfully he's as fit as a flea so he was absolutely fine.
09:31 But yeah, a really interesting one for us to factor in.
09:33 What are your considerations with timeout for the eighth position at the moment?
09:37 So I think we've obviously shown that we've got better flexibility in terms of being able
09:42 to change shape and that enables us to play two holding midfielders.
09:46 But I think we've got a lot when we compete for that spot.
09:49 Just off the top of my head, I think Terry came in and he was excellent the other night.
09:53 Alex, that's what he brought in to do.
09:55 Ben Stevenson can play there, Joe Morales played as a holder and as an eight as well.
09:59 I think really, even if you look across the squad, probably a couple of others that could
10:05 play in that position.
10:07 I was thinking Abu and Paddy, you played Paddy as an eight against Lincoln last year.
10:12 I think he could definitely do it.
10:14 So very, very different options.
10:16 So yeah, a bit unfortunate that we haven't got Tom for the time being, but I think there's
10:19 plenty of cover.
10:20 Just on Tom Lowry, you've updated, what's the situation with him?
10:24 So he had the scan and he's going to see a specialist.
10:28 The specialist wants to review the scan and then speak to him on Tuesday.
10:31 So it's not going to be a matter of days and I don't think it's going to be a week here
10:36 or there.
10:37 It's going to be at least a few weeks with Tom, but we're just waiting to see what the
10:40 consultant says before we update anyone fully.
10:44 We don't actually know.
10:45 So he wants to read the scan again and talk the options to with Tom.
10:49 So obviously, it was a horrible season from the last term in terms of playing time and
10:54 now this, you've got a feel for him.
10:56 Yeah, we really do feel for him.
10:57 I know this is probably a bit of, yeah, might be a bit of the first thought in everybody's
11:02 mind is Tom Lowry and there's that injury prone.
11:05 This one is just a knee injury and he's just dreadfully unlucky.
11:09 There's nothing he could have done.
11:10 He came back really, really fit.
11:11 All of the sort of smaller niggles that he had last season with his groins and his hips,
11:16 he's come back and he's addressed with the gym work that he's done, with the work that
11:19 he's done in the off-season.
11:21 I thought he was one of our outstanding performers pre-season.
11:23 He deserved his place in the starting line-up last week and he was probably one of our bright
11:28 sparks in the first half as well against Bristol Rovers.
11:30 So, just really unfortunate when you get one of those injuries like he's done to his knee.
11:35 There's absolutely nothing you can do about it.
11:37 No amount of strengthening and no amount of gym work and he would have ticked all those
11:41 boxes.
11:42 So, yeah, feel really sorry for him ultimately, but he'll bounce back and Tom's still very
11:46 young, so he'll be fine.
11:47 Better news for Paddy Lane?
11:49 Yeah, I think Paddy's out there.
11:51 He's been in his boots for the last couple of days.
11:53 I think he started doing some running on Friday and he's been back out there this week training.
11:57 Not training, sorry, just running.
11:59 Hopefully, I think if he could join in training towards the back end of next week in some
12:04 sort of modified capacity, then I think that would see him maybe after the Stevenage game
12:11 being back in the fold, hopefully.
12:13 Good, good.
12:14 Tell us about Ronan Curtis.
12:15 Has he been around?
12:16 What's he doing now?
12:17 What's his situation in terms of his rehabbing?
12:19 Yeah, so Ronan's been around.
12:20 He comes in and he gets his rehab done.
12:23 So, update with Paul, the physio.
12:25 He's absolutely fine in terms of making sure that he gets his work done, comes in, works
12:31 in the gym, works diligently.
12:32 He's still great to have around the place.
12:33 I think the lads still love him here.
12:35 So, sometimes Ronan comes in and he does this off his own back.
12:40 He comes in away from the main schedule to make sure that he's not too busy in the physio
12:44 room and obviously does that for the good of the team.
12:46 So, I think, yeah, fair play to him.
12:48 But, yeah, we still see plenty of him around.
12:50 He was looking at September and then needing to get up to match fitness.
12:53 Do you know if that's kind of what they're working towards at the moment?
12:56 Yeah, I think that that's still a possibility, but I think you've just got to be very, very
13:01 careful with the ACL injuries.
13:03 I think the minute you come back and it's just slightly too soon, you're in real trouble.
13:09 And, yeah, Ronan is still in a really good spot with everything.
13:12 He's had a really good summer.
13:13 But what we don't want with Ronan is him re-injuring the ACL because then you're another six to
13:18 nine months again.
13:19 So, you've got to properly wait for that graft to heal.
13:21 And usually that is at the back end of the nine months.
13:23 Can he still have a pompy future, Ronan?
13:25 Yeah, we think so.
13:26 Obviously, that's sort of in his hands, I guess.
13:29 And we completely understand the reasons for Ronan turning the contract down.
13:33 We've got no issues with that.
13:34 And he's been open with everyone and that's absolutely fine.
13:37 Sometimes the expectations of both sides don't quite meet each other and that's football.
13:44 No issues with it.
13:45 I've had it a thousand times in my career.
13:47 But certainly, if and when Ronan thought that might be an appropriate thing, then if he
13:54 wants to come back and say it's a real possibility for him, then we'll explore that.
13:59 And someone who does have a pompy future, young Kobe Motto, who gave a really promising cameo
14:03 on Tuesday night.
14:04 Yeah, that was really nice.
14:05 It was a nice position for us to be able to, first of all, have Kobe in the squad because
14:10 he'd done so well at the weekend against Forest Green for the academy.
14:13 I think he was involved in four of the goals.
14:15 And speaking to the academy lead, Sam Hudson, he said he was just outstanding.
14:19 He was unplayable.
14:20 And that was a really nice thing for us to be able to lean upon.
14:25 A really good performance.
14:26 And in all honesty, if he hadn't have played well at the weekend, then he wouldn't have
14:29 been involved with the first team.
14:30 So we weren't just doing it for the sake of it.
14:32 We were doing it because Kobe deserved to do that.
14:34 I think off the back of a couple of pre-season games where he hadn't quite sparkled as much
14:38 as we would have liked him to, but he's obviously got the bit between his teeth and he's knuckled
14:42 down and he played really well.
14:43 And the most pleasing thing was I thought that Kobe just didn't look out of place.
14:47 So if he'd have been a 24, 25-year-old playing there, he just would have thought, OK, yeah,
14:51 this is a player that's playing pretty well.
14:53 The fact he's 16 is hugely promising for us and it's just about managing that properly.
14:58 And Kobe's back down with the academy today because we've got such fierce competition
15:03 in the first team for places and that's going to be something for him to manage and deal
15:06 with.
15:07 But at 16, he's got a hell of a lot of promise.
15:09 And when he's 16, sometimes they come and play like they're playing on the park and
15:12 he's just playing with a freedom, obviously quite direct player as well, isn't he?
15:15 That's what we loved about him.
15:16 We wanted him to be direct, we wanted him to get down the outside of full-backs and cross
15:19 the ball and deliver it and be a real goal threat.
15:21 And the interesting thing, luckily, I suppose for both of us, Kobe was on the defence side
15:26 so we could just talk him through a couple of things we expected him to do defensively.
15:29 It's another real interesting thing about the situation.
15:34 Kobe hasn't spent a huge amount of time training with the first team so when we're talking
15:37 about the ways that we press, the way we build up, the way that we want to play, he's not
15:41 particularly familiar with it.
15:42 So to play like he did the other night without really having any exposure was a real double
15:47 whammy for us.
15:48 And in terms of the future, if he continues to show the attitude that he showed over the
15:52 weekend, would there be more opportunities for him?
15:54 Yeah, I'd like to think so.
15:55 And that's what we're trying to do.
15:57 It's a real, hopefully, hallmark of the way that we want to go about our business is that
16:01 any player that has got any sort of contract at this football club, if they show the right
16:07 attitude, desire and ultimately quality to get in the side, then they'll get in the side.
16:11 And that's the reason why Kobe got there.
16:14 And long may it continue.
16:15 We're always going to be monitoring how he's doing and he's got another real challenge
16:18 with a game at the weekend for the academy.
16:20 And yeah, we'll see how he does.
16:22 And now we've got six more games in August, so there's plenty of opportunity for everyone.