John Mousinho's Pompey press conference for trip to Hull.
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00:00So Jon, a couple of away matches over the next week or so against sides in and around
00:16you in the table, does this feel like an opportunity to really build some momentum now?
00:20Every game does really to be honest, there's always going to be an opportunity every time
00:24we play a game to build a bit of momentum, regardless of who we play, regardless of where
00:29they are in the table, and I think we've shown that this year actually probably hasn't mattered.
00:33We've played against, we've had some good performances against top of the table, some
00:37poor performances against top of the table, good performances against bottom and poor
00:40performances against the bottom as well, so we've had the lot I think and what we need
00:44to do is just make sure we focus on the next game, full focus on Hull, try and take care
00:48of that as best we can and then move on to Plymouth on Tuesday.
00:50In terms of Hull City, they finished just outside the playoffs last season, change of
00:55manager in the summer, maybe the results haven't quite gone to plan for them so far this season
00:59but what has been your overall assessment of them as a side?
01:02I've been really impressed by a lot of the things I've seen so far and they play a unique
01:07style of football, very, very different way, so I think anybody that's seen them play,
01:10they're on Sky, a few weeks ago I think against Sheffield United and certainly play a really
01:14interesting brand of football in the way that they build up and the way that they rotate
01:17and the way they try to keep possession, so everybody I think is in for an enjoyable afternoon
01:22of football and we've got to try and do our best to counter that.
01:24Are they a team that constantly keep you thinking on your feet?
01:27I think so, yeah, I think just the way that they build up and the way that they look to
01:31dominate possession, I think definitely means you have to think and make sure that you're
01:34at it properly.
01:35In terms of your away form this year, some of the best results have been on the road,
01:38the QPR win, some good points at places like Newsport, some disappointing results as well,
01:42has it felt like a little bit of a mixed bag on your travels this season?
01:44Yeah, I think the two games where we struggled properly on the road, the Cardiff and the
01:49Stoke game came off the back of, they were both midweek games and I think we, difficult
01:55to really assess and I still think there's a lot of things that we're scratching our
01:58heads about that we didn't do well enough on the night but we certainly have to address
02:02that better by the time we go into the Plymouth game where we do have another bit of travel
02:06to do on the Monday, we've got to go into that game a lot better prepared physically.
02:10I think having said that, if you look back at some of the teams that have had those back-to-back
02:15travels on the Saturday and the Tuesday or the Saturday and the Wednesday, there aren't
02:19many sides that picked up a huge amount of points, we're not going to use that as an
02:22excuse, we're just using that to make sure that we do things a bit better or do things
02:25a bit differently going into those games but the only thing we have to worry about at the
02:29moment is Hull, take care of that and then go from there.
02:33Does it have a different complexion because I imagine particularly with the trips you've
02:36got Hull not nearby, Plymouth again has its different types of long travels, do you have
02:41to assess things just a little bit differently, how you manage schedules and things like that?
02:45Managing schedules is the big one for us and managing the recovery on the Saturday evening,
02:48the Sunday and the Monday really and just making sure we try and do everything as best
02:52we can to prepare the lads so they're physically in really good shape for the game on Tuesday
02:56but to be honest, I don't want to sound like an old dinosaur but things have moved forward
03:01so much since I first started in the game 20 years ago and the way that we travel, the
03:07hotels that we stay in, the food, the preparation, S&C, everything, I know it's the same for
03:12the majority of clubs but I think as a player there aren't any excuses really to not be
03:16at the top of your game so I really do expect the players to be firing for both of these away games.
03:20Entering November now, does this feel like the period of the season where the table,
03:24where the season begins to really take shape, where you kind of know the battles that you're
03:28going to be drawn into? I think it already has, I think that was probably clear
03:33after the first international break, I'm sorry after the second international break I think,
03:37I thought around then you looked at the table and that was a fair reflection of where everyone
03:42was and how everyone performed so far during the season so yeah I think when you're 12 games
03:47in you definitely have a good idea of how sides have fared. What's the atmosphere, what's the
03:52mood like in camp at the minute? The mood's really good to be honest, the mood's never
03:55dropped in the camp, it's been very very positive and I keep banging on about the same message which
04:00is positivity in the midst of a load of realism about the situation and about the fact that we
04:03need to pick up points, we need to win games and I think the general response this week has been
04:09great, we had a sort of a long debrief after the Cardiff game, not just on the Tuesday night but
04:14on Wednesday as well, came back into it and responded really well for large parts on Friday
04:18but still didn't get the win and we've had to you know dust ourselves off and go again this week
04:22because the schedule's relentless, the championship doesn't let up, we've got more points to
04:26win on the board and a positive week this week and it puts us in a very very different position.
04:30Good luck John, thank you. It was clearly an improved performance against Sheffield Wednesday
04:35compared to Cardiff but you just couldn't quite get there, I think you said to yourself you
04:41just weren't quite good enough, when do you think you can actually bridge that gap,
04:45how can you bridge that gap? I just think we need to be better in those small moments and if you
04:49look at the reason I say better in the small moments against someone like Sheffield Wednesday
04:53is that I think if a couple of the small moments go differently then we draw the game or we win
04:57the game. Against Cardiff I don't think that's the case, I don't think we were good enough for
05:01the entire 90 minutes so I think if we, there's a really good example against Sheffield Wednesday,
05:07I said it on the night, was how they scored the second goal which was we were on a full press,
05:13they had the left side centre-half at his back to goal in the corner, in the far corner in front
05:18of the fraterno and sort of swung his leg at it, the ball broke, we switched off for half a second
05:22and they're out, they're at us and Michael Smith goes and puts the ball in the top corner from 25
05:26yards which at the moment those are the sort of things that happens, he's a fantastic striker
05:30Michael Smith but I've never seen him do that before in my life so yeah that's the sort of
05:35thing that we have to protect ourselves against to make sure the ball doesn't even get there
05:38and I think there's there's plenty of encouragement, there are plenty of signs that
05:42show we can do it and we've been in plenty of games but we just have to be better and that's a
05:47very very general way of putting it but we have to defend our box slightly better and when we
05:52have chances we've got to put them away and we have created enough in most of the games to at
05:58least be in them and we have to be a bit more ruthless. Do you think you're far off? We aren't
06:04but there's some performances that have been definitely well there's two performances that
06:08have been but for the most part no so I think for the other 10 games I even think the couple of
06:13the games we lost at home against West Brom and Sunderland for large parts of the game we were
06:16we were there and we're competing with the sides that are there at the top of the league so no we're
06:21not far off but at the same time you get to the 12th game and think okay we're not far off, we're
06:26not far off, we're not far off, we have to change that, we have to break ourselves out of that, we have to
06:31break ourselves out of anybody that's feeling sorry for themselves or anybody that thinks
06:35how their luck's not quite going away that we need something to change, yeah we need something to
06:38change but the only people that are going to make that change are ourselves, the players, the staff
06:43and everybody at the football club so that's all that we can do I think and make sure that we
06:47turn ourselves from being the nearly men into putting together some back-to-back results and
06:51go okay we've finally arrived in the championship, this is our level and we're going to kick them
06:56from there. Obviously you're looking around your squad to try to get a winning formula again,
07:00are you looking at other players, fringe players now perhaps having an opportunity?
07:04We've looked at all the players, well we've looked at pretty much all of the players so far this
07:08season almost everybody's featured at some point on the pitch, I can't think of many players at
07:14all actually or if there are any that we have registered that haven't actually managed to get
07:18minutes on the pitch and don't hold me to that but I think that's about right and so everybody's had
07:24a chance, there are players that haven't had as much of a chance as others but yeah we've shuffled
07:31the pack, I think we've brought players in, some have done well, some haven't and we've got to find
07:34the right balance going into the weekend to try and win the game and everybody at all times, my
07:38message to the lads, everybody at all times has got a chance to impress in training or in a game
07:42when they come on, whatever it is you've got to be at it, you've got to be at it all of the time
07:47because you never know when your opportunity is going to come. Terry is a really good example of
07:51that, Terry wasn't in any squads, he went away with the Northern Ireland U21s, he didn't play
07:57much away there, probably didn't expect to be in the squad against QPR and all of a sudden he started
08:01against Sheffield Wednesday live on Sky on a Friday night and you know he's got every chance of
08:05starting at the weekend as well and he's a good example to everybody, you've got to be ready and
08:10when you are there and you get your chance you've got to take it. One player we've not seen a lot
08:14recently is Owen Moxley, what's the situation there? Owen's now back from injury so we've
08:20made sure that we've been deliberate with him in terms of getting him back in and I think
08:26he travelled to QPR and Cardiff, didn't get in the squads but he was in the squad at the weekend
08:30for Sheffield Wednesday so he is back and he's ready for selection. What was his injury?
08:37Owen had an issue with his hip, he had a couple of different issues I think that he was nursing
08:41as well through pre-season and through the opening weeks of the season and he wasn't particularly
08:46at it with everything physically and I think the way that Owen plays he needs to be there and it
08:52was a good opportunity for him to come off it and just make sure that he got everything right
08:57coming back and getting back into the squad and he's looked a lot better since he has.
09:02What does he need to do to get into that team? He just needs to keep improving and keep
09:06impressing in training and make sure that if and when he does get his chance, he played a couple
09:09of games at the start of the season then he's right at it and he affects the side whenever he
09:13does and that's the most important thing, just stay patient and if and when you get your chance
09:17make sure you're good. And of course you know all about him because he's been here since January so
09:22you know what his strengths are? Yeah, we do and there's good competition in the middle of the
09:26park, I think we've got those five players that are competing for the two spots and that makes
09:31it fierce competition. You'll come up against another familiar player from last year in
09:36Abu Kamara at Hull, how's he done since he's gone there do you know? I don't really know to be
09:41honest, I mean we obviously watch Hull from a preparation point of view but to us when we
09:48look at that, Abu's just another player that we have to be aware of as an opposition
09:52threat so yeah we haven't been studying the game from that point of view
09:57and you know Abu for us wishing all the best but yeah just not the weekend. I think it's fair, it's
10:03been established you guys were monitoring him in the summer, the fee went to Hull at 4.5 million,
10:09that was a lot of money wasn't it? Yeah, that was never realistic for us, I mean it's great that
10:12Abu was able to do that and off the back of last season I think he fully deserved it.
10:16Because he changed last season, he improved and developed didn't he under you guys here with
10:22regular football? I think so and a lot of the young players do that when they come away on a
10:27loan and particularly impressive with Abu was the fact it was his first loan and he hit the ground
10:31running and you know even I say he hit the ground running, he probably had a difficult period in
10:37some people's eyes from the outside when you're looking at the first three months but from our
10:41point of view we thought he was flying because you don't often come in from a 21 side and affect
10:45every game, also he was probably playing slightly out of position and the second we switched him
10:51over I thought he was really really effective for the rest of the season and he was outstanding,
10:54the threat that he posed towards the back end of the year was incredible. Is he a player you think
10:58that can flourish in the championship? I hope not for this week but yes absolutely. In terms of
11:05injuries any developments on any of them? I know I think everything that we've got that's been
11:12out on all the players we've been out apart from the two goalkeepers Nico and Will who've trained
11:15this week and or have trained today fully and they're going to be available for the weekend
11:20apart from that there are going to be none of the injuries that are going to return for the
11:22weekend and everything is about on schedule with everyone else. So is Nico available for this game?
11:28Yes. In terms of Jordan Williams as well? Jordan probably won't be available we might
11:36try and get him out on the grass on Friday but the likelihood is it'll be more likely Plymouth
11:42or Preston for Jordan. And Paddy Lane? Same for Paddy, he's not been out on the grass yet we
11:47thought we might be able to get him out on the grass today but the Achilles injury hasn't really
11:50settled down. Zach Swanson? Zach I think Zach possibly Preston if not then give him two weeks
11:58and back after the international break as well. So Nico will be the only one added to the squad
12:04then for this match? Yeah Nico you've got the possibility you know Nico and Will both train today. Thank you.