John Mousinho assesses Pompey's disappointing performance during a loss at Charlton in their final pre-season fixture.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00So John, how do you assess today's game against Charlton?
00:04I thought overall Charlton got exactly what they deserved in terms of winning the game 2-0 and were the better side.
00:09We obviously went a goal down early which didn't help but came back into the game and we were OK in the first half.
00:15I thought for the first half and the second half we were off it, we weren't the races and we didn't play particularly well.
00:22We finished the game strongly but I think apart from that there's plenty we need to improve upon.
00:27The first half wasn't too bad though was it?
00:30No it was OK but again those aren't the standards we're striving for, just to be OK when we come and play these games.
00:36Even though it's a pre-season friendly we understand that, we understand that the importance really is on the game next week and everything we've got going into that.
00:42So yeah, OK is OK, that's about it but we're certainly not happy with setting an OK as a standard.
00:49What disappointed you most about the second half?
00:51I thought we just looked like we were overrun and we couldn't quite come up with any solutions when Charlton pressed us.
00:56We didn't quite go long enough, smart enough and I thought we looked like we were second to everything so that was really disappointing.
01:03You struggled to even get into their box second half as well didn't you?
01:06Yes.
01:07And then some of the subs pepped things up such as Callum Lang as well didn't they but it just still didn't quite come off?
01:15Yeah, I thought we looked a lot stronger towards the back end of the game but the game was dead by that point and both sides had made quite a few subs.
01:21So I'm not going to read anything to that although a couple of the substitutions came on and did really well.
01:25I thought Callum came on and ran around and caused a lot of problems and that was probably one of the bright sparks of the game.
01:29You mentioned that you've learned lessons from this pre-season, the last few games, what have you learned?
01:34I think we've learned that we can't afford to go into games half at it and we can't even afford to go into games at 90%.
01:40We have to be at full tilt and we've now been punished by three sides at levels below us and we're going into a game next week against one of the top sides in the league.
01:49So we've got to make sure that all of the things and all of the lessons we have learned, making sure that we are at full tilt, we actually take them to the game.
01:55There's not a lot of correlation between pre-season results and how teams do in leagues but are you concerned?
02:01I don't mind the performance, sorry the results I really don't care about. I think the results are the results.
02:06It would be nice to get into winning habits but it doesn't really matter.
02:11We went into the season last year off the back of a loss, sorry two losses actually. We lost to AFC Wimbledon and we lost to Bristol City.
02:18I don't think it affected our form early in the season but we've got to make sure the performances are better.
02:22I think that's the biggest thing to take out of the pre-season games is that yes we've got our fitness in there but I think performances do need to be better.
02:28How can you improve performances?
02:30We've got a week's worth of training and we've got plenty to work upon and that's the only thing we can do.
02:34We can just knuckle down, we can review today's performance, go into training on Monday morning and make sure we're at it.
02:38Josh Murphy, how is he?
02:40He's okay, he's taken a knock to his ankle. I think it's just a contact injury so he hasn't gone over on it.
02:46There's not a huge amount of concern there but we'll monitor that.
02:49He didn't go down the tunnel at half time did he?
02:52He went off straight away I think just to get isolated.
02:55So we'll wait and see next week I suppose?
02:57Yeah we'll have to assess that and see if we need a scan but I think it's just going to be a contact injury so we're not too concerned about it.
03:04Tom McIntyre?
03:06Tom McIntyre, he is currently out with the injury that he picked up against Wickham so that's probably going to be a couple of weeks.
03:13So he'll miss the start of the season.
03:15And Jacob Farrell?
03:17Jacob Farrell again, contact injury that he picked up against Wickham, we didn't think it would be too bad but again just making sure that we,
03:25with everything that's happened with Jacob coming over from Australia and not being able to settle into training straight away,
03:30making sure that we treat that one as we need to treat it and he'll be a couple of weeks as well.
03:35Sorensen has obviously arrived, what do you make of that one?
03:39Really excited to have Elias in the building.
03:41It provides us with another option up front where we probably weren't looking to strengthen that department prior to the news about Colby Bishop.
03:49So yeah very, very interesting time I think to bring Elias in and to give him a really good opportunity to come back over here.
03:55Having been over here once and by his own admission things weren't going brilliantly well so I think it's a massive chance for him having gone back to Denmark
04:02and scored so many goals and had such an effect over there, it's a really exciting time for him to come back here.
04:06Well the sounds of it, he's not light for light with Colby, is that correct?
04:09Yeah I think he's probably more of a sort of on the shoulder centre forward that looks spinny to challenge but his goal scoring record over the past couple of seasons has been very good.
04:17High energy, quick, really likes to get going with his running so he's also no slouches back to goal so I think we can expect a lot from Elias.
04:26He was here watching today was he?
04:28Yes he was here, he was in the stands.
04:29So Monday will that be his first training session?
04:31Yes.
04:32Would you have signed him if Colby hadn't got injured?
04:34I think if the opportunity had come up we would have certainly looked long and hard at it as having another option in the building.
04:40I think particularly with Christian maybe more as a 10 we would have looked to certainly have a very strong look at it but the fact that Colby obviously is out I think made it an easy decision.
04:50Because obviously you guys have looked at this situation for a while with Colby, it's not panic butting, you look for options and contingency plans out there to sign a player.
04:59Yes we do that for every position so even though we thought we were going into the summer transfer window with a relatively strong forward line we were still looking at what was underneath that because you never know with injuries and I think Colby's news was very different to that.
05:12It's not what we were quite expecting but if we had picked up an injury we still would have had to make sure we were ready to go and bring someone else in.
05:18Thank you.