Pompey boss John Mousinho talks to The News ahead of Pompey's trip to the Madejski Stadium on Saturday.
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00:00 So Jon, obviously looking ahead to Reading at the weekend, what do you make of this match please?
00:04 I think it's a really good game of football and Reading, their league position is false, not just because of the fact they've been deducted points,
00:11 I also think the points deduction has maybe affected them in terms of getting momentum, they've had a couple of good results, they've got an excellent side
00:18 and we expect a really tough test against one of the bigger clubs at this level, with a coach who was coaching in the Premier League last year
00:25 and a real good mix of experience and youth in the team, so I think it's going to be a good game, obviously sides with different things going on and off the pitch
00:36 but I think it'll be a good game of football.
00:38 As a team you've raised the bar and set standards this season, so I suppose there is a little bit of disappointment that you only got a point at Cambridge,
00:47 can you sympathise with that and empathise with that?
00:51 Yeah, we're disappointed as well I think, the overwhelming feeling in the dressing room afterwards, that disappointment and it's really difficult to sometimes get the perspective
00:59 on where we've been, coming off the back of seven wins on the spin, you obviously want to go in and win every game but like I said, I think the most important thing,
01:08 like I said after the game, the most important thing for us was making sure that the point was well earned because of the wins that we picked up along the way
01:17 and it genuinely felt like that to me, sometimes for whatever reason you're not going to be able to win every game, we're going to try and win every game
01:25 but we didn't manage it the other night, so yeah it came over the point and I think that point becomes a valuable one I think because of what's gone on before that
01:34 and we'll obviously see what happens after it but it becomes more valuable if you go in and win games after that as well.
01:40 How's Connor Ogilvie?
01:42 Connor's okay, he's in the boot still today, he's got the crutches, no scan until tomorrow but we're probably looking at a very similar injury to what we saw with Cassini and Marlon
01:50 so around six to eight weeks, I don't know that yet so we'll confirm that if we have any news by Saturday but yeah it's not a pretty one, a bit of a different mechanism in terms of how he did it
01:59 because no one was anywhere near him but yeah one of those which is a bit of a blow to us, particularly considering Connor's injury record over the past couple of years,
02:07 it's been exemplary, I think he started 44 league games last year so a bit of a blow but yeah we just have to get on with it and dust ourselves off.
02:14 We were looking at the video clip of when it could have happened and it was like 10 seconds into the game.
02:20 Yeah that's the right time, so about eight to 10 seconds in and then you see when the ball breaks down there right, he's struggling, credit to Connor as a player,
02:29 you saw what he did, he tried to play on and when there was obviously a problem and that was because the ball was in play so it wasn't because he was trying anything else than to help the team
02:38 and ultimately it was too much for him so we got Jack on but there is a relatively serious injury there.
02:44 Was it down to the pitch or what was the situation?
02:46 I don't think so, I mean he slips and that was what caused it, I thought the pitch was absolutely fine, I thought it was immaculate actually to be honest,
02:53 I think absolutely fine is a bit of an understatement, it was immaculate the pitch so I don't know, I think it's one that we chalked down to a lot of bad luck.
03:00 If you look at those three injuries with the Cassini, the Marlon and now Conor Ogilvie's one, the bad luck that we've I suppose had, one of them was a red card and Charlie White spent a bit of time on the sidelines,
03:13 the other one Christian Sadie unfortunately fell on Cassini and the final one, no one's anywhere near Conor so you pick those up in the season but in terms of reviewing where we are, training practices, pitches, all those sort of things,
03:26 I don't think there's anything we could have done about any of them.
03:28 Is it his ankle as well?
03:29 Yeah.
03:30 Because you said you heard something pop so…
03:32 Yeah so we don't know what that is but probably most likely ligaments so just in and around the ankle, probably slightly more concern on the night but hopefully once we get the scan results,
03:42 a good result for us would be if it's around the six week mark.
03:46 Would it be a consideration bringing in another left back in January or not?
03:51 No I think by that time Conor would be back so we'll be fine and that's the whole point of having the two left backs that we have, it's not necessarily so that if one of those is injured we have to bring someone else in,
04:02 I think we're well stocked in the full back area so that's not something we're looking to strengthen.
04:06 You've got a couple of left backs around as well with Demar Hulme and Liam Vinson, would they be back up potentials?
04:13 Well yeah Liam's out on loan at Worthing at the moment but certainly if it comes to it and we need obviously the fact that we've got Denver in the building at the moment is I suppose an added bonus because we have cover there so like you said it's not the end of the world there in terms of Jack being the only left back that we have available but you know Jack did that for the last four or five weeks after the Barnsley game as well
04:35 so you never know what's happening with injuries and I think it's an extra added bonus that we've got Denver in the building.
04:41 Of course Jack's played every game so far?
04:43 Yeah and one of those stats which is brilliant for him and he's fully deserved it and probably we would have liked to not have had to use him quite so early on Tuesday due to the injury but I thought he came on and did really well considering the circumstances.
04:57 You build a game plan around trying to play a certain way and then maybe changing after 60 minutes and Jack had to adjust to that really really early and I thought he did it really well.
05:05 You surprised us all by changing both full backs for that Cambridge game, can we expect many more surprises for the Reading game?
05:13 I won't be changing the left back. I know it was probably a bit of a shock when Zach comes in for Joe mainly because Joe Rafty's form has been so good but I think that had Zach not had that personal tragedy it would have been hard to shift him from the side after the Derby performance definitely.
05:35 Certainly for Joe coming in and playing the way he's done at the start of the season and since that Barnsley game I think it's very very hard on form to shift Joe as well.
05:45 So you've got two full backs in really really good form, two right backs in really really good form, really really good position.
05:51 So I think when you see either of those on the team sheet hopefully now it's not a huge shock to the system.
05:56 So we're just trying to manage the workload and manage the games. No one's coming in and complaining about being tired it's just up to me to try and pre-empt that and to try and make sure that when we do have the tough weeks that we do that this schedule throws up.
06:09 It might be wise to utilise what we've got in the building and at the moment we've got players that are really fit fighting for the shirt and doing a brilliant job of making my selection decisions really difficult.
06:21 Are you able to do that because of the squad's strength across the team as well and not just the full back position?
06:27 Yeah I wouldn't do it otherwise and if you look at all positions maybe with the exception of Colby up top we've rotated everything and different players have played in different positions.
06:39 So Riley and Connor have both played left sided centre half, Sean and Regan have played right sided centre half.
06:44 Full backs have all come in and changed and maybe Will's the only other one in the league but Ryan's played plenty of league cup games.
06:50 In the middle of the park as well you've seen different combinations there, you've seen Ben, Joe, Joe Marlon, you've seen Alex and Joe more recently.
06:58 Plenty of players in the ten, plenty of players out wide as well and we think that's a real strength of the squad that players can come in and look to rotate into different positions and fit in really well.
07:07 How important is it to manage there with the fixed schedule as well?
07:11 Really important, we've got 46 league games, we've played two league cup games, we've had two EFL trophy games already, hopefully we'll get another one after we play the third because we like to qualify.
07:25 We've got the FA Cup tie coming up and in that week we're playing on the Sunday and then playing on the Tuesday straight away.
07:31 So we have to make sure that we are bang on it in terms of our physical preparation, our physical fitness.
07:35 There's no time to rest after the late in the game because we've got a game on the Saturday as well so I think it's wise for us to make sure that we do manage everything that we're doing in the squad.
07:43 The only reason we can do that is because we do have what we feel is a strong squad where we can bring players in and they can still compete for those spots in the first team and I think that's been a real hallmark of what we've done this year.
07:54 And of course when you have changed you've not lost games either so you've still got that strength there.
07:59 Yeah, when we had a couple of suspensions last week or a couple of weeks ago against Port Vale when we brought in Sean and Ben for their first starts of the season and I think they fit in brilliantly well and obviously we won the game and I thought we won the game relatively comfortably in the second half.
08:13 When we've done that I think performance has still been good, that's the most important thing.
08:16 It's a really fine balance between keeping the momentum and also chopping and changing too much.
08:20 So obviously that's my job when I pick teams, I've got to make sure that I try and get that right more often than not but I do feel very, not very relaxed, I never feel relaxed going into games but I do feel confident in the way that the players have played.
08:32 I felt confident in Zach's ability to go in and play really well as he did the other night, as confident as when I've selected Joe.
08:38 How's the other injuries?
08:40 Yeah, as Christian said he's absolutely fine, he trained today, he just feels his hamstring occasionally presents as a hamstring tear if you're watching from the sidelines because he pulls up and you think 'oh no, something's happened here' but it's just a neural problem, it feels like cramp in the middle of the hamstring, it's not actually cramp, it's just neural.
08:56 We just need to get on top of that and make sure we manage him and it's a big part of Christian's development, the fitness side of the game and where he is with his body.
09:03 He's unique in terms of his build and he's so strong and powerful and quick that we just have to make sure we manage that.
09:10 With all the other injuries progressing nicely, Marlon's been out on the grass, Tom's out on the grass, both pretty close to maybe returning to full training.
09:20 I think Marlon, if there is an international break, you won't see until after that international break.
09:24 Tom maybe will return to full training a bit sooner than that but again probably the timescale for him being back to full fitness because of how long he's been out will be maybe a week or two after that potential international break.
09:35 Josh Dockrell is coming along nicely, obviously one of the long-termers we like to keep an eye on.
09:40 Anthony Scully, again he's looking to get back out on the grass, he's not quite as advanced I think as Marlon and Tom but in a pretty good place and working hard.
09:49 And Sean Ragnett?
09:51 Sean Ragnett is fine, came back and trained today as did Gavin White.
09:55 And Gavin White?
09:56 Yeah, same, both trained today.
09:58 Thank you very much.