Pompey 0-0 Luton Town: John Mousinho's post-match reaction
Pompey boss John Mousinho talks to The News following Saturday's goalless draw against 10-man Luton at Fratton Park
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00:00John, that was another rock and roll game of Championship football, how did you feel
00:07at the end of it?
00:08Slightly disappointed with not taking all three points. The first half hour was frantic,
00:13a really good game of Championship football. Luton caused us a couple of problems early
00:16on and then we grew into the game and all of a sudden I thought we looked a real threat.
00:19I thought we got the ball down, we played some really good football. The threat that
00:24we were causing Luton and the space that we opened up in behind ultimately culminated
00:29in the goalkeeper getting sent off. It was really good, I think we played really, really
00:33well for half an hour and actually the first half I was really pleased with. The second
00:36half we huffed and puffed, we just didn't have quite enough quality but defended really
00:40well when we had to. I think everyone here knows it's no secret we're going to come away
00:44from Fratton Park a bit disappointed to not take all three points and we've got to build
00:47on that next week.
00:48Do you think it's just the final execution, maybe a couple of decisions in the final third?
00:52I think so. We got the ball into the final third without any problem and Luton chopped
00:55off and we got the ball to our wide players and got the ball to some of our more attacking
00:59players and it was very, very compact in the middle of the box. We just didn't quite have
01:03enough in terms of quality and execution and sometimes decision making. It's a really interesting
01:08one, it's one that we need to take on board as a coach and staff because we set the side
01:11up to play against a Luton side that were going to be really aggressive in their press
01:15and I thought we did that really well for half an hour and then when those things change,
01:20there are going to be times and maybe we didn't expect it so early where we're just going
01:23to completely dominate possession even at this level. So, there's loads and loads to
01:29improve upon and I think it's a positive that we're really disappointed not to have more
01:33points on the board.
01:34On the flip side of it, when you've got two deep banked players to negotiate, it's not
01:38always that easy to open up those spaces is it?
01:41No, not at all, not at all and I think that is a factor but also we need to be better
01:45as well. We have to make sure that if we look at it and go, were we unlucky, did we miss
01:51chance after chance after chance, I don't think that's the case. I think we created
01:54a huge amount of opportunities and we had a lot of good areas that we put ourselves
01:58into and they didn't culminate in any chances for a number of reasons. It's really difficult
02:02in the moment to properly break down why but that's our job, we'll do that this week and
02:06try and get better at that.
02:07A penalty appear on the first half, are we on that one?
02:10It looked like a Stonewall penalty to me and I've seen it back on the wide angle that we
02:15have and it just looks like a penalty and Shox is saying definitely he's never going
02:20down in that situation otherwise and you can see what we got told last week a lot of
02:24the time is sometimes a player goes down and the refereeing unit says look at the players
02:31reaction to that and I think my reaction has been a bit more severe than the players. We
02:34had 11 of our players and one of them actually got booked because of it so I think that probably
02:40goes to show you that in my opinion it looked like a penalty and that was the one gripe
02:44I think I would have in the game but one of those things, we didn't get it, we'll have
02:48to dust ourselves off and move on.
02:50At the other end, Christian said he was a good side of goal, was he a dummy there?
02:54Yeah and I think he was disappointed with that and he knew it and I thought Christian
02:58was excellent today, we brought him in the side to cause problems that I thought he did,
03:02the ball stuck with him, I thought it was his best game in a Portsmouth shirt, I know
03:05he didn't score but I thought he was a real handful stepping up to this level so really
03:08pleased with Christian and I think the final bit for him is to add those goals and to add
03:12those goal contributions to his game.
03:14Will Norris, a trio of really, really good saves in the first half of the third one,
03:18how important is that for you?
03:20Really important, we're going to need that through the season, there are going to be
03:22sides that come here or sides that go away from home and we're going to rely on Will
03:26to keep us in the game, obviously we want to defend a bit better than that but sides
03:31have got a lot of quality here and we need to make sure that the goalkeeper is right
03:35on top of his game and Will was today so really, really pleased for Will, he thoroughly deserved
03:38in terms of him picking up the man of the match, I know he was a spectator for the last
03:4260 minutes of it but really happy for him.
03:44You've had a bit of flak from some ports of the fans online in terms of Will, has there
03:49not been too much effort in goalkeeping for him, goals conceded so far?
03:53Yeah I think so, I think it's one of those things when you do step up a level and concede
03:56a couple of goals there's always going to be people that micro-analyse goals and we
04:00look at it and think is there anything else we can do, the goalkeeping department is the
04:05most critical of themselves as anyone so they always look at what can be done better but
04:10to be honest Will is a huge part of what we're trying to achieve, he was in the teams of
04:14the year last year for League One, right up there in terms of his performances week in
04:19week out, he gives us a huge amount in possession and today he came out with a crucial save
04:23so hopefully he'll take a huge amount of confidence going into next week.
04:26Slightly concerning moment for Marlon Packer, an update on what situation he's in?
04:30He's okay in the dressing room, he's fine there, he's got a pack of ice on the back
04:33of his neck and we'll see how he is over the next couple of days, just one where there's
04:36no rush because we haven't got a Tuesday game and we've got a bit of time for him to settle
04:39down and hopefully be fit for next week.
04:41Have you got some encouraging news on track for us?
04:43Yes, I suspect we'll be getting a couple in this week, things are starting to move a bit
04:47more and it's been a really positive week from that standpoint, I've been very, very
04:52busy and I think overall a really good week for us, I think coming off the back of where
04:57we were a couple of weeks ago where I didn't think we'd particularly covered ourselves
05:02in a huge amount of glory going into the first game of pre-season because of the week that
05:05we had in terms of results and performances, two really, really good performances against
05:092x on the sides, a bit of movement on the transfer market and I think things are looking up.
05:13When you say positive on the transfer side, do you mean there's been progress towards
05:17some of the league conclusions?
05:18Yes.
05:19So that's obviously a very positive thing, you've been getting additions for a couple
05:24of weeks ago?
05:25Yes, really good news, everybody I think is clear about the fact that we need a couple
05:28of additions and I think it's going to be a real boost when we get them in.
05:32What about the introduction to the Championship now and a bit of time to take stock of what's
05:37been a couple of high-level performances really?
05:40Yes, tough introduction last week I think and the tough first 10 minutes when we settled
05:44into the game.
05:45I don't think we deserved to win the game last week, we probably didn't deserve to take
05:47the point on chances created but we definitely deserved to take the point on effort levels
05:51and desire and today I thought we were the better side and there's probably an argument
05:56that with 11 men there's a few more goals in the game, I actually think there definitely
06:00would have been.
06:01I'm not saying we win the game but I think we definitely looked a threat with 11 men,
06:05probably slightly more than we do when we're playing against 10 men so I'm really happy
06:08with the two performances.
06:09The boys I think need to realise that the level is tough, there's a lot of quality here,
06:13they've got to make sure they're on it every second of every game but there are games there
06:16to win for us and I think that's the most encouraging thing.