Pompey head coach John Mousinho's press conference ahead of Blackburn Rovers trip.
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00:00So, Jon, we went into the international break on a massive high, so how have things been
00:07over the past couple of weeks?
00:08It's been much more positive, I think, than the previous international breaks, going into
00:12it off the back of a good performance and a good win. I think a really good week, actually.
00:16Overall, we didn't take as many points as we would have liked to. I think we look back
00:20at those three games and I think we could have taken nine points in the end. We didn't
00:23end up doing that. So there's been a lot of positivity and a bit of confidence in the
00:26camp, which has been a real nice thing to be able to be around and to coach. And I think
00:32that that's all stemmed from the confidence that we had going into those games anyway
00:36off the back of some really solid training and some good performances. So it's been a
00:41good week, a good couple of weeks. If you'd have asked me after the Preston game, I probably
00:45would have said we wouldn't have wanted the break, but we've used it as best we can. We've
00:49got a bit of rest into the lads. We've worked hard as well when we've been back in and it's
00:54been a good week going into the Blackburn game this week.
00:56And how's Colby been specifically?
00:59Colby's been fine. It's just business as usual now for Colby. So he's been back into it.
01:03He's trained every single day and he's absolutely fine. No different to what you'd normally expect.
01:09How pleased are you with how that return went? It couldn't have really gone better, could it?
01:12Yeah, I think the most important thing for me was making sure that he got back on the pitch
01:16and he could compete at this level. So I know we got the goal and it was a bit of a fairy
01:20tale in the end, but I was more pleased with the fact that the pace, having come back from
01:25such major surgery and having been out for so long, and you can't really replicate the
01:29pace of a Championship game, particularly coming on the back end of it when Preston
01:33are chasing the game and it's 2-1. Very difficult to replicate that in training or anything
01:37that we do out there. So I'm really pleased that Colby fit straight into that and found
01:40himself to be comfortable at the level. If you consider the last time that he'd actually
01:43set foot on a football pitch was way back in April, at the back end of April. I think
01:48where he was fully fit in the league below. So he's coming back from a serious injury,
01:54so for him to slot back in was really pleasing.
01:56The buzz around the place when everyone saw he was on the team sheet, the buzz when he
01:59entered the pitch for the first time in what feels like a lifetime and then he puts the
02:02ball in the back of the net. What is the plan with Colby going forward? We all know he wants
02:06to play as much as possible, you'll want him to, but is that a feasible thing?
02:11There's nothing from the heart surgery that would prevent us from doing that. So we've
02:16ticked every box there. The only considerations we have now are physical, away from anything
02:23cardio related. So we're not taking advice from surgeons saying he can only play one
02:28game every three weeks or whatever it is. Absolutely nothing to do with that. As far
02:31as we're concerned, he's fully fit in that respect and it's only a case of making sure
02:38that he's match fit and he's ready to start games from every other aspect.
02:40A couple of forwards as well, Kassidy Yengi and Marco Amani on international duty, both
02:44getting on the score sheet, Kass a couple of times. So how pleased are you with those
02:48two?
02:49Yeah, I think really good for Mark to go away with Ireland and with the 21s and get a start
02:55I think on Sunday night and get the goal. That was really pleasing for us. Mark hasn't
02:59had a huge amount of minutes over the past couple of weeks. So that was an important
03:02thing for us. I think if he'd have gone away and not been involved, it would have been
03:06one where he's not had the training with us and international camps tend to, with the
03:10games that they have quite rightly, they don't tend to be as intense as maybe you'd have
03:13the training over here. So really pleased that Mark got the minutes and he's back in
03:17training today, looking good. And to see Kass score a couple last night was really pleasing
03:22for him to get. I think his scoring boots back is something we know he's very, very
03:26capable of. I think his performances have got better as the season's gone on. I think
03:30it culminated in his best performance for us at Preston last weekend. And the one thing
03:34I think that was then missing from his performance was his goal. So to see him score two on the
03:37international seems great.
03:38And a player that seems to be getting a lot of praise currently is Matt Ritchie with his
03:42recent performances. Are we seeing the best of him now?
03:45I don't think we've seen the best of Matt. I think we've seen a very good version of
03:48Matt, but I think there's still plenty to come, particularly in possession. You know
03:52what you're going to get from him out of possession? He organises, he runs, he leads the midfield
03:58and the forward line, I think. And that's the best way to put it with Matt. He's been
04:01such an invaluable member of the squad, as I've spoken about many times for many, many
04:06weeks since he signed. And now to be able to step up and put that sort of influence
04:10on the team has been really pleasing for us. And I think if you look at Matt, those will
04:15be his bare minimum standards. And I think the next part of it is, once we see some of
04:18that magic in his left foot and we've seen glimpses of it, we've seen a couple of really
04:23good crosses, we've seen a couple of decent enough shots. But I think goals and assists
04:26are the next thing that can follow for Matt if he nips in at the back post and gets one
04:28of those headers and sort of kick-starts his sportsman's career in terms of goal-scoring,
04:32we'll see a lot more.
04:33Marlon Parker's well the captain. A couple of games he was on the sidelines for, but
04:37he was back in the squad last time out against Preston as centre-back. Is that something
04:41you've been working on for a while?
04:43No, it was something we considered for a while. I think with sometimes the lack of options
04:47we've had at centre-half, it just felt like the right thing to do with the gravity of
04:52the games. We've spoken a lot about the physical demand on the centre-backs over the past few
04:57weeks and how three games in a week hadn't always suited the centre-backs coming back
05:00from long-term injuries. And it was one of those decisions that we made. We've been thinking
05:06about Marlon's influence and what he might be able to do in the back line. We made it
05:10relatively late in the day and it was probably the best way for us to do it with Marlon.
05:14I don't think we needed to overly coach him or overly think about what he needed to do
05:19in there. He came in and performed really well on the day.
05:23Let's talk injuries. Conor Shockless, he was pencilled in for a return maybe now, maybe
05:28in a week or so. What's the update there?
05:30Unfortunately, Conor's had another setback and we're looking at probably about another
05:35six weeks for Conor. He's back outside doing straight line running, but he felt his other
05:39calf, had a scan and it turns out there's a tear in the other calf. I think it's new,
05:44it's definitely new. A bit of head scratching as to how that's been done and how that's
05:49happened and everybody is frustrated, I think, and really devastated for Conor in particular
05:54and the team because of how pivotal he is to our success. Not really sure how it's happened.
06:00It's one of those where we are having a look at things from every single angle and trying
06:06to figure that out. Sometimes these things do happen with muscular injuries unfortunately
06:10and you can search as much as you want, but you can't find the answer. Really, really
06:14frustrating one for us, but we still need to make sure that Conor gets back and he gets
06:18back nice and fit.
06:19And Jacob Farrell?
06:20Jacob, he's not going to be available for the weekend, but he's been outside. He's looking
06:26much better than he was, so still about a couple of weeks away.
06:28Terry Devlin has been performing amazingly out there at the right back, but Jordan Williams
06:33and Zac Swanson, a couple of players that are in that position as well, they've been
06:36out for a while. Where are they in terms of return?
06:39Zac's a lot closer, so Zac, we're hopeful that he may be available for the Swansea game
06:43at the weekend. Zac's been out on the grass, he's been the more active of the two. Jordan's
06:47been out as well, but we're looking at about another four weeks for Jordan for the hamstring
06:50to settle down. He can do straight line running and he's been out. He's been working around
06:55the pitches, but he can't put the boots on yet and do any change of direction until that
06:58hamstring really settles down and the injury picks up away at Plymouth. So, yes, it's been
07:03good that we've had the strength and depth in that area at right back and we've played
07:06all three of them. I think all three of them have done really well and Terry's coming in
07:09and taking the ball by the horns in every aspect, so there's going to be a lot of competition
07:13by the time everyone's back.
07:14Any new injuries to report post-Preston or over the international break?
07:17No, we've got the same squad, I think, to select from that we did previously going into
07:24the break. No new injuries, we've been training with all of the lads that were available for
07:28the Preston game, minus Mark and then minus Cassini because they were on international
07:31duty. So, everything is as was.
07:34And next up is Blackburn away, how are you feeling ahead of that one?
07:37We're feeling really confident going into the game and we have to temper that with the
07:40fact that we know Blackburn are a really good side and they've had some excellent results
07:44at home so far this season. I think that John's done an unbelievable job wherever he's been
07:49in the Championship and Blackburn, the fact that he's had success last season off the
07:53back of, I think, a tricky start going in and really making them solid and competitive
07:58and they've had a really good start this season. We've watched them quite a few times and
08:01every time we watch them, we're really impressed with the way that they play. So, really good
08:05system, good players, really well coached and I think it's going to be a decent game.
08:09One thing the team have kind of struggled with this season is putting in a good performance
08:13and then following it up straight afterwards. So, what's the plan there? What would you
08:16like to see from your players?
08:17I think that was my concern off the back of the whole game. I think we've put that one
08:20to bed because the big concern for us was that mid-week away when we have to travel
08:24off the back of a big bit of travel, QPR into Cardiff, for example. That was one we didn't
08:29deal with really well. I think we put that to bed when we performed as well as we did
08:33against Plymouth and then we followed that up with the performance against Preston. So,
08:35that doesn't concern me now. We're still really focused on making sure we're at it.
08:39We're at full tilt when we go into the Blackburn game but as far as back-to-back performance
08:46goes, I think we put three back-to-back performances in the week before the international break.
08:49The team are off the bottom of the table now. So, confidence-wise, has that had any impact
08:53at all?
08:53I don't think so. I think that the confidence was there going into the Preston game, bizarrely,
08:57because of the performance levels that we saw. I keep speaking about the games but we
09:03definitely should have taken more points at Hull and Plymouth and I thought we deserved
09:06to. Not like the Middlesbrough game, the Leeds game, for example, we're winning games later
09:12on and we think we should be taking more points from those. We didn't perform anywhere near
09:16at the levels that we did at Hull and Plymouth. So, I'm really, really pleased with that.
09:20The confidence was high going into the Preston game and hopefully it's even higher off the
09:23back of that. We've got to make sure that we're still at it and we still do the right
09:26things day in, day out and minute in, minute out in the games because we know that at this
09:30level, if you get too carried away with anything, you get punished really quickly.
09:34Bearing in mind the improved form since Hull, did the international window come at an awful
09:40time for you and your team?
09:41I think when you win a game at the weekends, sometimes it feels like the momentum that
09:46you had going into the game can be slightly stilted but, to be honest, my take on what
09:53I saw in the week and the performances leading up to Preston was a side that reflected how
09:57we trained in the build-up to the whole game and I thought we trained really, really well
10:00in that free week. We had a week and a bit because the Sheffield Wednesday game was on
10:05a Friday night and we had a lot of time to get out on the training pitch and work on
10:08a few of the things that I think we needed to do a lot better and this international
10:11break has actually provided us with that opportunity again. The previous international
10:15breaks, we've gone into it a bit battered and bruised and we've not had many numbers
10:20out on the training pitch so I think after the Oxford game, we went into the international
10:25break and we came out with a positive result against Cardiff at the back end of it but
10:29I think we had 13 and 14 training at times. This week we've had 20, 22, we've had the
10:35numbers, we've had players right back at it and it's been really, really useful for
10:39that. Everybody's been involved in those sessions, everybody's been really pushing
10:43for the competitiveness of them so I think that's made a big difference. If you'd have
10:49asked me at the weekend, I probably wouldn't have wanted to play another game on a Tuesday
10:51but I think it's turned out really well for us.
10:53Because it was a wonderful way to end that period going into the international break,
10:58wasn't it? Everyone on a high, Colby Bishop, it was fantastic.
11:02Yeah, and we needed that. We need to combine the two, right? So I think we need to combine
11:06the highs of going into the international break with three points and the Colby Bishop
11:11story and the sort of X factor that that gave everything and we need to carry that into
11:18the next game but we also need to make sure that we take stock of the situation as well
11:23which is, right, we've won one game at home, great, well done, move on, let's move on from
11:29that, let's take the positives of that but we've got to move on because Blackburn don't
11:33care, Millwall don't care, Swansea don't care, we have to make sure that we get on
11:37with our job, we have to be better than we were for those three games and keep improving
11:42on those things because we've still got a really tough situation to get ourselves out of.
11:47Realistically, when is Colby ready to start again?
11:51I think we can consider it from this weekend onwards. There's no issues in terms of the
11:56cardio side of things, the biggest consideration for us is the fact that he's been out for that
12:02long and we have to take that into consideration from a physical standpoint like it would be
12:08with any other lower limb injury because he did spend time in a hospital bed, he spent
12:12time at home where he couldn't properly walk, he couldn't properly run, he was immobilised,
12:15it's such a major surgery, it has a huge impact on the body even though it's not knee surgery,
12:20hip surgery, whatever it is so we've got to take that into account but I certainly think
12:24that having built up that 15-20 minutes against Preston, having a good block of two weeks
12:28training this week, maybe this weekend and the mobile game is going to come too soon
12:33but I don't think we're too far off considering him for a full start.
12:36Obviously, everyone has to be patient with Colby, haven't they?
12:39Yeah, and it's like with any other injury really, particularly with the fact that we
12:43consider ourselves to have, I might miscalculate, five really good centre-forwards in the building
12:48so we've got Colby, Cassini, Marco Marni, Elias Sorensen, Christian Sadie, I think all
12:53of them at some point this season, apart from Colby, have started a game as a number nine
12:56for us and they've started a game up top so we've got strength and depth in that department,
12:59we don't need to rush Colby back, we want to play him when the time's right and we have
13:04to make sure that physically if it is right for him, we'll do it.
13:07Does he want to start now?
13:08Yes, oh yeah, I mean sure he does, I think it would be slightly different from coming
13:13back from a two or three-week injury but I'm sure Colby is pretty keen to start, he's not
13:17knocked on my door and said he's ready to start but I know he is so he doesn't need to do that.
13:21Obviously you've spoken about Conor Shotman, basically you say six weeks, he's not going
13:27to play again this calendar year, is that fair to say?
13:29That's probably fair to say considering the fact that if and when he is back in full training,
13:34I think he would have been out now since the second week of the season so altogether it
13:38would be that looting game, that's where he picked up the injury in the first place and
13:43he came back for the Sheffield United game but you have to consider that for the Sheffield
13:46United game, he trained for a week previous to that but he's had one week's training in
13:51four months at the minute, he'll have less than that obviously, one week's training in
13:56five months, six months as it goes on, so it's a really weird one with Conor, we're
14:01not looking at it and going Conor was out for six months, he's going to come back in
14:04December and we treat it as that, so it's been a strange one because we're always talking
14:07about him coming back, coming back, coming back and he hasn't managed to do it but I
14:10think still we have to look at it and go when he does come back, it's been five, six months
14:15and we have to treat that with plenty of caution.
14:18How frustrating is it with Conor for you?
14:21Yeah I think these ones are more frustrating because you look at a Regan Paul and we knew
14:26that Regan was going to be out for a long period of time and it was what it was, when
14:31Regan had a lengthy spell on the sidelines, he was out when Conor's had his lengthy spell
14:35on the sidelines, I think there's been plenty of times where we thought he was close to
14:40being back and certainly we had him in a matchday starting line-up and thought he was going
14:44to be back for that, once we had that set back I thought he was probably going to be
14:48back for this weekend if not for the Swansea game and for him to pick up the other injury
14:53it's been really frustrating.
14:54So did he aggravate it in training, is that what happened?
14:57No just straight line running outside, he wasn't back in training at all.
15:00Wow and how's he?
15:03Yeah he's dealing with the situation as well as he could but he's upset, he wants to be
15:09back, he wants to play and he's had a limited number of minutes this season compared to
15:13what was close to I think every minute of every game barring the first game at home
15:17to Bristol Rovers.
15:18So I think he started all the other 45, I don't know if he definitely did every minute
15:23of every game but he was close to it so it was really unusual for Conor.
15:25I suppose we found out about the news now but you've had time to adjust to the latest
15:29setback about it?
15:30Yeah we've had a few days, I think we got the news at the back end of last week so we've
15:35had a bit of time to process that and look at what that does to us going forward between
15:40now and the new year.
15:42With his injuries, is it a case, would you be looking to bring in a new centre-half in
15:46January?
15:46I think we'll have to consider it with the fact that we're still not 100% on a return
15:53date and then what we spoke about there, if and when Conor's back I think it's going to
15:57have been a long time out of the game and if you look at the recent injuries that we've
16:02had with Tom McIntyre and Regan Paul, having to bring them back in and play them week in
16:07week out has probably been slightly detrimental to them physically and we don't want to have
16:11to do that to Conor, I think it will definitely be a consideration in January.
16:15Cassidy Young is back today isn't he?
16:18Yeah Cass is back, he flew back pretty much straight after the game, went back to the
16:21hotel.
16:21Thankfully they were, I say only, they were only in Bahrain so it wasn't like it was a
16:25flight back from Australia.
16:27So is he trained today?
16:29No he only arrived back this afternoon so I literally only just spoke to him when he
16:32came to the office there.
16:34So is he in the consideration now for Saturdays?
16:37Yeah, it's probably not, it's never ideal when you have players travelling that distance
16:43in their international windows but we want players to compete at an international level,
16:47we want players to start and score like Cassidy did and that's really good news for us I
16:50think to see Cass on the score sheet last night, to see him playing, we're really pleased
16:54for him and yeah he's in consideration for the weekend.
16:57Obviously he's not quite reached his levels of last season yet has he?
17:01I think there's been some real upturns in Cass' performances over the last week in
17:06particular.
17:06I think if you look from, he got much better in the second half against Hull, in the Plymouth
17:11game he looked much more of a threat in certain moments and there were things he could have
17:15done better and I thought he probably had a shaky start at home to Preston, 10-15 minutes
17:18then really grew into the game and looked like a massive threat to be honest.
17:23What we haven't seen so much of this season is the goal threat that Cass provided and
17:27hopefully last night's goals at an international level will kick start the season.
17:30Having Cole be back as well, that competition, can that drive him as well?
17:34Yeah, it can do.
17:35I think that hopefully we've got players that don't need to wait for competition to
17:39actually drive themselves to better performance.
17:41I know sometimes that happens and our message to players is that regardless of who's there
17:46behind you, if you think there's no competition you're still not safe in the side rule.
17:50If you're not playing well enough you're not going to find yourself in the starting
17:52line-up and particularly up front we've got quite a few options there.
17:57Mark, Cassini, Colby, Elias, Christian, there's plenty for us to pick from going up top.