Pompey boss John Mousinho previews trip to Coventry
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00:00John, obviously you don't need reminding that you've lost 15 of 21 away games this season.
00:07You'll be familiar with that. How do you, does that quite tell the full story of your
00:11season on the road this season, do you feel?
00:15Good question. I don't think so, but that's the reality of it. It is exactly that. So
00:24we can sit here and talk about a couple of games where we should have taken more points,
00:28a couple of positive performances, but ultimately we haven't been good enough away from home.
00:31We've not picked up enough points and that's seen us married with our really, really good
00:35home form. If we'd have picked up a few more points away from home, we would have been
00:38sat here in a different position at the minute, but we're not. So I think the important thing
00:43for me is what I felt, I think since the turn of the new year, I think we take the West
00:49Bourne game out of it. I know it happened, but we take the West Bourne game out of it.
00:51I think that we very, very deliberately changed the side around that day because we'd had
00:55the two previous home games which we both won. We had the game again against Millwall
00:59I think on the Tuesday, so we knew we had that busy schedule coming up and we wanted
01:02to sort of shuffle the pack. I think apart from that, and by the way, I qualify this
01:07by saying we know it's not good enough to just be competitive in games, but we've been
01:10much more competitive than we were post new year where there were too many games we'd
01:15go into and we'd just been sort of blown away from home. So I think we've been much more
01:19competitive. We've been in games, we've caused sides a lot of problems. What has been the
01:23most frustrating thing for me over the past few weeks, if you look at the likes of Sheffield
01:27United, Luton, Preston, and then again at the weekend, is that we're in all of those
01:33games and we have a chance to take at least a point from all of those games as well and
01:38we don't manage to do it. So that's something that we really, really need to improve upon.
01:42The last two games have been incredibly frustrating for myself and for the squad, I think, as
01:46you could have seen, because we've worked hard to get back into games and late on we've
01:51ended up conceding. So that is unfortunately an accurate picture of where we are away from
01:57home and I think thankfully for us we've got an opportunity straight away to try and put
02:02that right and two other games away from home after that.
02:04Do you think you're close then?
02:06It feels like we're close. We're evidently close. We're seven or eight minutes away in
02:11these fixtures, which isn't good enough because we need to make sure that football isn't played
02:16over 90 minutes. It's played over probably 100-105 minutes most weekends because of the
02:21amount of extra time added on. So we need to be aware of that. We need to make sure
02:24that we play well and we play consistently and after we score equalisers like we have
02:29done the last couple of weeks, that we manage to, in those situations, take points. And
02:35actually I'd stretch it one further, when we're on top against the likes of Sheffield
02:38United, when we're on top against the likes of Preston, we need to make sure that we try
02:41and go a goal or two ahead because inevitably these sides are always going to be able to
02:44make changes. So I think it's just a little shift in mentality that we need to adopt as a group.
02:49Obviously, you've got an excellent home record, which is driving your promotion push.
02:53I wish it was a promotion push.
02:55Survival push, sorry. It's like a promotion form at home. But yeah, how do you change?
03:02Do you have to change? What's the process about away games? Do you approach them differently?
03:06Are there tactical tweaks? What do you do?
03:09Well, without giving too much away, we have slightly changed the approach since it's the
03:15new year in terms of the way that we're pressing sides. And I think that for the most part
03:21has meant we've been a lot more solid. So we have been solid again. Granted, I'll take
03:25the West Bombe game on the chin, but we've been a lot more solid. We go up to the Stadium
03:28of Light and it's a close encounter. All these away games we've played recently have been
03:32really close encounters as well. So we've tweaked that. We've changed the way we approach
03:37things. So we've tweaked that very, very slightly and changed a couple of bits in terms
03:44of team selection with our approach. I know we spoke about the post-Preston, how we looked
03:48in terms of team selection. We were there again for the weekend because we decided to
03:53play Terry in as a 10. So yeah, we have approached things slightly differently. I think we're
03:59not formulaic, but we can probably be slightly more predictable at home. Just away from home,
04:04we do have to slightly adjust to opposition and make sure that we try and come up with
04:09as effective plans as possible to stop them from playing.
04:12I would ask you how to improve your away form. I'm sure you would love the answer yourself.
04:17Yeah, I know what the answer is. I think it's a combination of those two things that we spoke
04:22about earlier. When we were on top in games, we've definitely been on top in away games,
04:25100% taking advantage of that. And that's not something I'm just saying because it's
04:31cliched. We're sitting there with plenty of games in the recent memory where we've been
04:39playing well. Sheffield United in the second half, we've not scored. Preston in the first
04:43half and we've not scored. So we have to be better then. And then if we're not playing
04:47particularly well away from home, then dig in and make sure that we don't concede and we don't
04:51concede sloppy goals on the break. Make sure we don't concede set pieces. And I think if we do
04:55both of those things, combine both of those things, then it's immediately going to mean
04:58we've got a better side on the road. How do you approach Coventry?
05:02Again, without giving a huge amount away, we know Coventry are a really good side. Their form in
05:08recent weeks has taken a slight dip, but their form I think since we played them just before
05:11Christmas has been absolutely sensational. One of the former teams in the country,
05:14they've moved themselves from a side that we're probably looking at, yeah, maybe looking behind
05:20them and the bottom end of the table to one point outside the playoffs only having just dropped out
05:24recently. So really, really good side with some fantastic players and I think they've been
05:28brilliantly coached as well. So we're going to approach it with a couple of tweaks, but
05:35we're not going to be a million miles away from how we've been approaching it for the
05:37recent away games. Like I said, I don't think we're too far away, but we still need to make
05:40sure we improve and tweak. Alexander McMillos has been on the bench for the last few games.
05:44How close is he to actually featuring? I think he's really close. I mean,
05:48the Blackburn game was a difficult one. First of all, we didn't want to disrupt the back four
05:52going into the last stage of the game when we were keeping a clean sheet. So Alex, that was
05:57the first game he was available for in terms of where we looked to get his physical markers from
06:01this mini pre-season that he's had. So the first consideration there was, was that the right game
06:06to bring him on? We didn't think so. And then I thought with the physicality and aggression
06:11on display just to sort of throw Alex in from the cold, I'm sure he would have, you know,
06:17he would have given a good crack at handling it, but that was my take at the time and
06:21we didn't necessarily want to do that. We wanted to actually just, hence we put Marlon on at the
06:26back, trying to actually play a bit more because the second we went a bit more direct against
06:30Millwall, we didn't have any joy. So as soon as we did play, actually, after going a goal down,
06:33we looked like a much different side. But Alex is close. He's trained. He's had another week's
06:39worth of training. And so, yeah, I think he's very, very close to coming in. He obviously made
06:43three changes in the 69th minute. Marlon came at centre-half. Was Alex considered for that role?
06:49He was. It was just a case of all of those things that I said there and the fact that
06:52I thought at that point, one thing that we hadn't done particularly well through the entire game
06:56was play any football. And we'd spoken about, you know, sort of splitting and playing a bit
07:01more in the half-time, not necessarily to try and religiously break a side down and play through the
07:07lines, but just to invite the extra pass because of how aggressive Millwall were and then to go
07:10beyond. And we did that much, much better when it got to the 70th minute and we conceded the goal.
07:16And I thought we played really well. So there's a spell that we played really well to get back
07:19into the game and equalise. And I thought Marlon was a big part of that with that calming influence
07:22at the back. You spoke after the game about the language behind the dugout. You spoke eloquently
07:29about that and it's alerted a lot of people to the situation. What would you like to be done
07:35about those situations moving forward in football? I think, first of all, it'll be interesting to see
07:39what the response is from the FA. That'll be the first thing that'll be interesting. I've not heard
07:45anything yet, but I think both clubs are putting their reports in. So that wasn't a dig, that was
07:50just where we are at the moment. The only different response I would have liked at the time, like I
07:55said, was as soon as we reported there should have been a lot of a heavier steward presence
08:00because it was just allowed to continue and without any change. So it wasn't actually until
08:04we scored the goal that it was decided that there should be a heavier steward presence there. So
08:09it's nothing that has affected me personally, but I think it will have affected a lot of people
08:16and could affect a lot of people in the future. We talk about trying to take
08:21discrimination out of the game. There are a lot of commitments and there's
08:29a lot of good work that's been done, but certainly in my experience of the weekend, I was really
08:33disappointed with the response and it just felt like we're sitting here paying lip service to it.
08:37Have you had much feedback since saying it? Say again? Have you had much feedback since saying that?
08:42No, no, nothing. The discriminatory language, was that directed at you? It was directed at me,
08:49yeah, it was directed at me. They were wider than mark without going into it because I don't think
08:54we should and I'm sure it'll come out from when the FA investigate. It was directed at me, it was
09:00strange because it was wider than mark, but it doesn't mean it's right. I don't think I should
09:03sit there and take it because other people would have been affected by it and I think that's the
09:08most important thing and that's why we've been told that you've got to report that
09:12kind of language and that kind of behaviour and it just kept happening, so I thought it was the right thing to do.
09:16Obviously, we were asked what was said, but it was purely discriminatory, it wasn't racism or...
09:21Yeah, it tips into that category, it tips into that category, yeah.
09:28But you've managed Pompeii for over 100 games and you've stood on Twitch Live before with fans
09:32behind you, you've not heard that sort of thing before then? I've taken a shed load of abuse,
09:37I actually think most of it is quite light-hearted and some of it tips over into
09:43the personal, which is fine, right? And again, I've got no issue, call me whatever you want,
09:47but let's keep it within certain boundaries. Honestly, I take absolutely any form of abuse
09:53that anyone wants to take apart from discrimination, and I think quite rightly, and that's
09:57again, not for me, but there's plenty of people that would have been affected by that and I think
10:01that's where we need to be better. Was anything directed to your players as well? No, it was just
10:06all on me, but it would have affected my players. In terms of injuries, you spoke on Saturday about
10:12Swanson and Omani, how are they ahead of the Coventry game? Mark's back in full training
10:17today, so he's okay. Mark had had the back spasm on Friday and we just needed players that were
10:23full tilt going into the weekend and he wasn't, he wasn't 100%. Zach didn't train today, might train
10:28tomorrow, we'll have to see how he is, we're just waiting for that heel to settle down. It's not
10:32going to be a long-term one, but it might just be one that niggles along, so we're hopeful, we're
10:35not sure. Because obviously it's an issue he's had before, are you hoping it's not as serious this
10:39time around? Yeah, we're hoping it's on the other side, so it's on the opposite foot this time,
10:45but very, very similar in terms of the presentation of the symptoms, but yeah, we're hoping it's not
10:50quite serious. And Yengie was not in the squad on Saturday, obviously. Was that a selection or
10:56was that down to his injury? That was just selection. Okay, what's he need to do to get
11:00back into the squad? Just the same answer as I'd have for any player, just keep working hard and
11:05when players get the chances, just make sure they try and take it. And we've always got opportunities
11:10in training to really try and showcase players' talents and that's important, but most importantly
11:16is when you get on the pitch to really show what you're all about. So, same with any player,
11:21and we've got a very, very competitive strike force at the minute, trying to wrestle for one
11:26spot or two spots, and yeah, Cass definitely forms part of that. So, there's no injury issues
11:30with him at all at the moment? No, he's fine, he's been back training now for a couple of weeks.
11:34And any updates on Sjokz Moussi and Akerson? Rob, we expect to train with us this week,
11:40possibly involved at the weekend, wouldn't be available to start, but possibly involved,
11:45and then Sjokz next week, training with us next week. Because Rob was behind him,
11:49has he sort of stepped up then? Yeah, Rob looks like he's going to be back before Connor,
11:53so yeah, we're hopeful we've got Rob for the weekend, if everything goes all right in training,
11:58touch wood, and yeah, Connor will be about a week behind him. Thank you.