Pompey boss John Mousinho talks to the media ahead of Saturday's visit of Burnley to Fratton Park
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00:00John, back-to-back victories followed by back-to-back defeats. How's the mood within the squad today?
00:08It's OK. We're not coming in bouncing around, as you'd expect. So, we try and stay as level as we possibly can, whether we win, lose or draw.
00:17That's been a key feature for us this season, particularly when we haven't won as many games as we'd have liked to have won.
00:24Making sure that we're not too down and not too negative is really important, but we're realistic about what we need to do better and what we need to improve upon.
00:31That was the message this morning. I thought there were plenty of positives last night, but we still came away without any points.
00:36We need to improve upon a lot of those things that we didn't do well.
00:38What were the positives that you took from that defeat?
00:40Apart from the chance that Millwall had early on in the game, which was really poor defending from us, the only other opportunity they really had was the goal.
00:50We have to do better defending that, but apart from that, right up until the 40th minute, I thought we were the dominant side.
00:56We were right on top, creating the best chances. And again, in the second half, we came out and put Millwall under a huge amount of pressure without properly testing the goalkeeper.
01:07So, a lot of positives there. I think the performance on the whole was good. It was much better than it has been, or it was at the weekend anyway.
01:15I don't think it quite hit the heights of where we've been at home recently in the wins against Middlesbrough and Stoke.
01:20But, you know, there's plenty that I think we need to take from last night and keep going with.
01:28And I think if we add a bit of ruthlessness and clinicality to the top end of that, then we'll score goals.
01:33Centre-back's an area that's been strengthened during the win, though, and turning Conor Shottsie.
01:37It must be great to have a depth of options now in that position.
01:40Yes, it's an area that we've struggled to keep all of our players fit, I think, first of all, through the season.
01:47So, we haven't managed to have any real partnerships through the year.
01:51We've gone from the start of the season having, I think, Riley Towler, Conor Shottsie, then Jordan Williams had a spell in there with Riley.
01:58Jordan Williams had a spell with Tom McIntyre. Regan came in and had a spell with Tom McIntyre.
02:03And then I think Regan's played alongside Marlon. Tom's played alongside Marlon. Marlon's played alongside Riley, Rob, and keep going.
02:13It was another new one last night. So, we've never had that stability at the back in terms of partnerships.
02:18And we've never had the full strength of depth in terms of selection, in terms of team selection.
02:24So, we're not going to have that because the band's out all season.
02:26But as we are at the moment, hence bringing Rob in on the short term, we think it's going to really strengthen our options going forward.
02:32And I think with Shotts coming back last night and Hayden coming in and doing as well as he did, I think the prospects there look a lot better.
02:39Firstly, on Hayden Matthews, how did you review that as debut scorer?
02:42I just thought, considering he came in and he only trained on Monday, I think he flew into the country on Friday.
02:49Really, really good. Really, really happy with how Hayden dealt with the whole occasion and how he played.
02:56I think there'll be little bits that he can do better, probably slightly disappointed with the goal as well.
03:01But again, stick by what I said last night, I think we should have stopped the attack far earlier.
03:05And I thought Hayden as a debut over here, we didn't intend on bringing him off other than he had a bit of cramp towards the end.
03:12I think because of the demands of the game over here compared to what he's been used to.
03:15So, absolutely delighted for him to be able to come in and hit the ground running.
03:19And secondly, staying in that position, Colin Shotts around 20 minutes in his legs. Is he ready for a start in place now?
03:26I'm not sure he's ready for a start, but he's back and it was good to get him through that initial phase.
03:31The first thing with Colin was to get him through that solid block of training, which we've managed to do.
03:36The next step was to do what we did last night and get him that 15-20 minutes and then we're going to build from there.
03:41So, it's probably one of those where maybe another week until he's ready, he's had another week's worth of training.
03:47If we can get him some minutes of the weekend, then great.
03:49So, we'll take a view on where we are over the next couple of weeks and go off that.
03:54Josh Murphy was announced now in the match by the sponsors of Frack Park.
03:57He's been met with a bit of split opinion between the support base.
04:00Having watched the game back now, how do you review Josh Murphy's performance?
04:03I thought he was a constant threat, picked up the ball in some really, really good positions and got himself in some excellent crossing positions.
04:08He put in a couple of really good crosses as well.
04:10I suppose the big thing for Murph would be actually turning some of those opportunities into goals for himself.
04:18He can really get that, defend a bit more, cutting inside with his right foot.
04:22And then some of the crosses, I think Murph will obviously want to do better, but some of the crosses were really good.
04:27And on another day, he comes away with a couple of assists and that's not really anything to do with him.
04:31So, we've just got to keep making sure that Murph is a threat down that left-hand side and keep making sure that we add to his goals and assists.
04:37Moving on to Saturday, third-placed Burnley visit Pratt & Parke, a team that hasn't conceded a goal since December 21st.
04:44How do you go about breaking them down?
04:46I think that there's a number of ways that we'll try and do it.
04:51They're obviously very, very good defensively.
04:53And that's not just the goalkeeper and the back four.
04:55It's everything they do throughout the entire XI and how they defend as a side.
04:59And there's probably no better example of that than Monday night when they defended really well as a team.
05:04I think their top score is at the level and they managed to keep them to, I think, one shot on target in the last 10 minutes.
05:13So, clearly very, very good at what they do.
05:17At the same time, I think goals take the other night out of it or last night out of it.
05:21Goals are something that we haven't struggled to come by at home.
05:23So, we've got to keep the pressure on.
05:25We've got to keep making sure that we do the right things.
05:27Keep making sure that we try and create from wide areas, try and create from central areas
05:31and just try and make them defend as much as possible and put them under pressure.
05:35And also be aware that Burnley are a real threat going the other way.
05:38They're a team that generally tend to dominate possession.
05:40Do you think that approach will suit your team?
05:44Yeah, I mean, they do dominate possession.
05:46I also think they're not afraid to mix it.
05:48So, I've seen Burnley also go a bit more direct.
05:50And I think that's one of the things that's made them a good side this year.
05:53They're willing to do both sides.
05:54They've got a centre forward that's physical in Fleming and they've got runners around that as well.
05:58So, I think that while the preference, I think, for a side like Burnley would be to keep the ball as much as possible.
06:04I also think they're a threat because they don't mind doing the opposite as well.
06:07Any update on Jordan Williams?
06:08Nothing at the moment. He's going to go for a scan today.
06:11And Rob Atkinson?
06:12Rob's fine. He'll be available for selection.
06:14One name that wasn't in the squad last night was Riley Towler.
06:16You mentioned there could possibly be a move in pending for him.
06:20How is that situation?
06:21Yeah, I mean, no, I didn't say anything about it.
06:23Well, as far as we're concerned, it was just a selection issue last night.
06:28Not an issue, but it was a selection last night in terms of bringing Hayden in.
06:31And we thought, you know, we'd review that as the window comes to a close.
06:34And I think, look, if there is another option, then we'd certainly consider it.
06:40But at the minute, we're really happy with Riley in the building.
06:42Any incomings close ahead of Saturday?
06:44I think we're close on a couple, yeah.
06:47Whether they're done before Saturday, I don't know.
06:49But we are really close on a couple.
06:50Is there a position that you're prioritising, looking to strengthen?
06:53Yes, yes. But I'm not going to tell you.
06:55OK, lovely. Cheers, John.
06:57Ask him what he is!
07:01Bearing in mind what happened with Jordan Williams,
07:03does that vindicate your decision to rest those players against West Brom?
07:08I think it goes, I guess it gives a bit more,
07:12there's a bit more evidence, I think, to the argument.
07:14I mean, Jordan was obviously one of the players that we rested
07:17and we were really happy with the fact we could get him some minutes.
07:21We actually thought that it was important for those players to get some minutes
07:24so they weren't completely rested and deloaded for five days
07:28coming into the game last night.
07:30So, yeah, that probably goes to show where, you know,
07:34where the dangers lie with playing this many games.
07:38And even then, if you look at Jordan, Jordan had, I say only,
07:42but Jordan had only played on the Saturday and the Tuesday.
07:45We had had players that we had to take out for West Brom
07:47that played Wednesday, Saturday, Tuesday
07:49and it just becomes too much of a risk for them.
07:52So, yeah, those are the reasons that we made those changes on Saturday
07:56to, first of all, protect people from injury.
07:59And, yeah, you know, it was a shame that we didn't get the result last night
08:03but I still would have made the same decision.
08:05And on the flip side, do you regret giving him those 21 minutes
08:08and not resting completely?
08:10No, because we thought that all the indications were that he'd be absolutely fine to do it
08:14and the reason we gave him those 20 minutes
08:16was because we needed to protect Conor Ogilvie
08:18and we'd spoken about the lack of depth that left back at the moment
08:21and Conor at that point, Conor is a player that just hasn't been able to have any rest whatsoever.
08:26And I think the only time that he's been able to come out the side
08:29was for the FA Cup game.
08:31But apart from that, and the one Sheffield United game that he missed,
08:34Conor's, I think, started every single game in the league
08:38and played almost every minute and we have to be really wary of that.
08:41Obviously, if you start a game, there's more exertion there, isn't there?
08:44Rather than if you come on for 20 minutes, isn't there?
08:46Yeah, and that's something where, you know, we'd like to think
08:50that we were in a good position to be able to do that with Jordan.
08:52Unfortunately, it hasn't worked out as we'd like to do it.
08:55But, yeah, no regret.
08:58I made the decision at the time for the best interests of what I thought was the best thing to do
09:01and unfortunately, Jordan's picked up an injury.
09:03He's previously done his hamstring, as you well know,
09:06but he's played four games since, so they're not related then?
09:10No, no. I mean, he came back and he trained for a period.
09:14He played against Wickham, so we're actually really pleased
09:18with the way we were able to reintroduce Jordan into the fold.
09:21And because we had that Wickham game where we could give him 60 minutes,
09:24it was sort of ideal for us to be able to do that
09:26and to be able to give Jordan that time, give him a week off after that.
09:30Not a week off, but he didn't play against Blackburn,
09:33so there was a week until he had to come and start against Middlesbrough.
09:36I think that for the Middlesbrough game, we managed to sub him off.
09:41Same for the Stoke game, I think.
09:43So we were really conscious of his minutes and conscious of making sure
09:46that we got everything as good as we could.
09:49Yeah, the biggest concerns for us were when Jordan initially started games,
09:52not necessarily coming on the bench at the weekend.
09:54There's been plenty of pain on the road this season,
09:57but Burnley was an agonising one for a different reason, wasn't it?
10:00Because you were so close, weren't you?
10:02Yeah, a really good performance that was up at Burnley.
10:04And we were really frustrated at the time, I think,
10:07because of the way that we conceded the goal and the nature of it.
10:10And the fact that we felt pretty comfortable without Burnley
10:13giving us a huge amount of defending to do,
10:16didn't cause a huge amount of problems.
10:18And I thought we deserved the point on the day.
10:21I thought we were really good value for it in terms of the overall team performance.
10:24So that was definitely one of the more frustrating ones on the road.
10:27And now you're obviously facing them at Fratton Park.
10:29Nine goals conceded all season.
10:31Yeah, I mean, one of them was against us.
10:34So I think we've got a leg up on some of the other teams,
10:37although it's going to be a completely different challenge.
10:39And Burnley's defensive record has been outstanding all season,
10:42but particularly over the past few weeks.
10:44And not having conceded before Christmas is some going.
10:46So they're going to be tough to break down.
10:48And that's not just the goalkeeper at the back four.
10:50That's everybody, the entire XI and all the subs that they've got as well.
10:54So they're not just a good defensive side either.
10:58They're very, very astute going forward.
11:01They've got a lot of threats across the pitch,
11:02so we're going to have to be wary on both sides.
11:04Obviously, things change very quickly in the Toronto window.
11:07Saturday, you were saying you thought it would be a busy week.
11:10Is that still going to be the case, do you feel?
11:12Yeah, it's going to be a busy week.
11:14We're hopeful. We're close on a couple.
11:16Yeah, we expect a busy end to the window for us.
11:19Are they likely to arrive before Saturday?
11:21I hope so.
11:23But if not, then we should have them wrapped up by the end of the window, obviously.
11:29We're in today. We're not training tomorrow.
11:32We're back in on Friday.
11:33So hopefully if we give it the day tomorrow to go through a few bits,
11:37we can add by the time we get back on Friday.
11:40And James obviously asked you about positions you focused on.
11:43Attacking players still the case?
11:45Yeah, all will be revealed really soon.
11:48So if you can stay patient for a few more days,
11:50then we'll reveal everything when we reveal the signings.
11:55How many players do you want, realistically?
11:58I think it's less so about numbers.
12:01I think probably at least two.
12:05But we want to make sure we bring the right players in
12:07and we bolster the squad in the right way.
12:09There's no point in bringing in more players than we need just for the sake of it.
12:13It's just about bringing the right quality of players in.
12:16Really, I think that's the most important thing.
12:18You want at least two. Do you think you will get at least two?
12:20I think so, yeah. I think we're in a good position on a couple.
12:23I think we'll be in a solid position come the end of the window.
12:28Any updates on any injuries at all?
12:31No, nothing. We're just waiting on Jordan.
12:33He's had a scan today, so we'll see how that is.
12:36Apart from that, we're going pretty well on all the other injuries.
12:40Mark trained again fully today.
12:42We'll take a view on whether he's involved or not at the weekend,
12:44and then go from there.