Pompey boss John Mousinho gives his verdict on his side's Fleetwood Town win which keeps them top of EFL League One.
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00:00 John, a win and some decent performances in there for some of your players tonight?
00:05 Yeah, the most important thing was the win and of the back of how we've been over the past few weeks we wanted to come here and obviously come away with three points and then some really good performances.
00:15 I thought the first half we were excellent, controlled the game. I think considering we changed shape as well and we only had a day to work on it I thought there was some really nice stuff in there.
00:24 A nice patient play, when we opened them up we obviously went and scored. It was very different in the second half, we still played some decent enough football and tried to catch them on the counter.
00:33 We had to dig in, we had to defend, we had to do the basics of football really well that we didn't do particularly well last week and I thought we thoroughly deserved three points.
00:42 First of all, what's the thinking behind the system change?
00:45 Joel Rafty being injured, so it's nothing long term but he just had a problem with his neck earlier on in the week and we were touching go as to whether he would be fit.
00:54 Yesterday he ended up not travelling and it was the right thing to do. I think going to that shape, in my opinion, players should be able to adjust to shapes and they did it really well.
01:05 I think it would have been nice to have a bit more time to work on it but from what I saw, especially in the first half in terms of our ability to get the ball down and play on a very difficult pitch as well, I thought the lads adjusted to it really well.
01:19 Would you have chosen to leave without a fit right back?
01:22 Yes, so without a right back we didn't really have a choice and I didn't think there were any natural replacements to slot in there.
01:29 There was some of it about the game that I thought would suit having three centre-backs on the pitch with how physical Fleetwood are and they were at the bottom of the league.
01:41 It might sound strange but I think they're quite a good side. They've taken the point of the bus that Frank Carr gave us a good game today.
01:47 I think under the new management as well, they're going to cause some problems. That was part of the thinking as well.
01:54 We don't want to get three centre-backs on the pitch just to be physical and lump it as you saw in the first half. I think all of the lads can play. There were a few things that went into the thinking.
02:03 That's the first time you've played at Pompey as well, isn't it?
02:05 Yes, it is. For the year I've been here it's been a back four every time. That's the system I prefer but I think there's also something to be said about any point in the game if you take a snapshot of the pitch.
02:19 Players are in different positions. It never looks like a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1. It always looks different. We want players to rotate into different shapes in and out of possession as well.
02:28 I think they're flexible enough to be able to do it.
02:30 Are we likely to see it back?
02:32 I don't know. It depends on injuries. I thought it worked well today to be honest. I think it's really good to have that flexibility. For the lads to be able to switch into that with a day's notice is great.
02:46 That first half, complete dominance. I think the pressure was very high. David, it was challenging in the box there. What changed after that half-time?
02:57 I think Flickwood pressed us a lot higher. The game changes that. Flickwood pressed us. It did become a bit more difficult to play on which is the fact that you saw the ball go into the middle of the park a couple of times and our players having to take an extra touch.
03:11 One of the things I think you have to deal with is that it's not a terrible pitch by any means but in January that's sometimes what happens.
03:18 I also think it just changes where we need to try and be a bit better. By that I mean when we are not playing as much as we would have liked to, we caught them on the counter quite a few times but then didn't end up putting the ball in the back of the net from a few of the chances we had.
03:33 I think if we do that it puts a pin in everything and the game calms back down and maybe we get a bit more possession.
03:38 Two different ways to play football, different ways to win a game and I think we probably just got to be a bit better at the second one.
03:45 In terms of the transfer market, what's the situation?
03:48 Over the last couple of days, Rich has said to me 'you switch off on it, concentrate on the game' particularly with the change in shape and the work we did on it yesterday.
03:57 I know Rich and Phil have been doing plenty of work over the last couple of days. I'll catch up with Rich now.
04:01 I think we hopefully can expect to see a player in the building next week but I will catch up with Rich after this. It's been his work over the last couple of days.
04:11 Game day for me, I'm all about just coming and getting the result.
04:15 Thank you.