Pompey boss John Mousinho previews Sheffield Wednesday clash
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00:00That is for you, the squad and the football club.
00:03Yeah, exactly that. I think just a brilliant achievement for everybody connected to the club
00:07and well deserved for everybody, particularly the fans for sticking with us through the season.
00:12I think everybody connected to the football club deserves a bit of credit for what we've managed to achieve this year.
00:19We've managed to do it that way the hard way, but to be here with two games to go
00:24and to have secured that for next season is really, really important for the football club.
00:28On the Saturday last year after winning the league, it was all about making sure
00:32that when we were here in 2025, back in April, that we were still a championship football club
00:36and we managed to do that.
00:37And in the dynamics of the game against 10 then Watford, it did get a little bit nervy.
00:41Was it always a tactic just to play it out if we were in possession?
00:45Yeah, I mean, it was incredibly nervy. I just think naturally so because the nature of the game,
00:50the importance of the game, and we weren't aware of the other results,
00:53but it turns out it was a massive result for us as well. We needed to win.
00:55There were times of the season where I've been convinced that it might still be the case,
00:59but I thought 50 points was probably enough. If we had drawn the game on the weekend,
01:02we'd have got to 50 points, but we'd been looking back thinking,
01:05with two games to play, there's still only a four-point gap.
01:07So it was hugely important, the magnitude of the game, how important it was to make sure
01:12that we get the three points over the line. So naturally, yeah, we were a bit nervy,
01:15but I thought we dealt with it well.
01:16Bishop got four goals around this Leeson weekend. How crucial has he been since coming back
01:21against Preston at home?
01:22Yeah, there's probably, I haven't actually seen it, there's probably all sorts of league tables
01:25at Portsmouth without Colby and Portsmouth with Colby this season.
01:29I know what the outcome's going to be. We're going to be significantly better with him.
01:33It's not lost on me, the importance of the football club. When I first came in,
01:37I was extremely pleased to be joining a side that had a number of mine that could build a team around,
01:42and there's so many clubs at this level, and actually at any level of football,
01:46they were just desperate to find a centre-forward, an all-round centre-forward
01:49that can do what Colby can do. So we feel extremely lucky to have him,
01:54and hence, while we've certainly always backed him here, I've always been a huge, huge fan of Colby
02:00and thoroughly deserves that new deal that he signed recently.
02:04And Conum and Lange came back into the squad, earlier than expected.
02:08Was it initial to pull them out onto the pitch on Monday?
02:12So yeah, with Conum and Lange, they came back earlier than expected,
02:17earlier than was in their rehab plan. What we did with the pair of them was,
02:21after the Coventry game, we knew how crucial the week was going to be
02:26with Derby and then Norwich and then Watford.
02:29And we looked at it and thought, well, you know, Rob's going to come back into it.
02:33We asked Rob to play a bit earlier, and we asked Rob to come back a week earlier
02:36and do a lot more than we'd asked him to do.
02:38And, you know, can we ask the same question as those two?
02:40Because we weren't sure that Rob was going to be able to get through those two games,
02:42and we thought we might need an impact in the Watford game as well.
02:45And I said it on Monday, when we had the conversation with Lange and Shox,
02:50about asking them whether they were comfortable doing it.
02:53Their response was, can we do Norwich instead?
02:55So they wanted to come back even earlier.
02:58But, yeah, it was a risk, but we got them on the pitch and you saw the impact
03:01that they both had, particularly shocks in terms of cleaning everything up in the air.
03:04So it was really great to have them back.
03:06And we've seen a lot of good games and results, and some not so good,
03:10and loads of unexpected injuries this season.
03:12Is there a lot to take into next season from what we've seen?
03:16Yeah, the biggest thing for us is learning any lessons in terms of mistakes that we made.
03:21And that is across the entire football club, and we really try and do that internally
03:27with the coaching staff and myself and Rich.
03:30We're constantly talking about where we can make improvements to the football club,
03:33and that fills up to the executives as well.
03:35So we're definitely trying to make sure that we learn from our first season.
03:38It's been an eye-opener, it's been a brutal season at times,
03:41and we just have to make sure that we do our best to come back stronger this year.
03:45We're safely secured and two games to go.
03:47Are we going to see some of the players we haven't really seen this season come onto the pitch?
03:51Or are we just going to stick for the original start of the moment?
03:53I don't know yet. I don't know.
03:55We're going to take a view on injuries, and I think, just take a balanced view on what we need to do with players.
04:01We don't want to risk injuries for players that have maybe played 40 games this year,
04:04but at the same time, players just want to play, and we want to put a strong side up.
04:08And obviously, from Middlesbrough 27 to Pernham 24, there's only 20 points separated all,
04:13so probably sit four points behind 12th position.
04:16Is that an aim here this season, to try and finish an hour as high as we possibly can?
04:19Yeah, the aim would definitely be to finish as high as we possibly can.
04:23We'll see. It's going to be an important message to the players.
04:29So that's big for us, the football club as well.
04:32But ultimately, we've allowed ourselves that luxury, I suppose, in doing our work early enough to be secure.
04:38But yeah, I think it's really important to try and finish the season strong, strongly,
04:42and to try and make sure that, particularly, I know there's nothing riding on the Sheffield Wednesday game,
04:46but certainly there could be a lot riding on the last game of the season with Hull.
04:49So yeah, we've just got to approach that fixture professionally.
04:52Tony Stewart's had two starts, one clean sheet and one win for him at Pooley.
04:55Is it important for him to have his first start in the NFL football?
04:58Yeah, it came a bit earlier than we expected.
05:01We weren't necessarily thinking that Toby would, I think first of all,
05:04playing the National League this year, we were happy that he got a National League loan.
05:07When that was cut short, we were really happy to have him around here
05:09because of the amount he improves when he's training and not just playing.
05:12So it's been a massive boost for Toby.
05:14He played the two games for Crawley.
05:16He's given him half a chance of staying up.
05:18Speaking to Scott, there's been very, very positive reports in terms of what he's done as well.
05:23When you keep clean sheets away at St Andrews, not many sides have done that this year.
05:27Not many goalkeepers, particularly young ones like Toby.
05:29So I'm really, really pleased with that.
05:31It's going to be great to see him in the last couple of games of the season.
05:33I think it sets him up really nicely as a goalkeeper that we've got those long-term ambitions for.
05:38But if he can mix it in the league all of a sudden, if it is a path I want to take next year
05:42and loan him out again, then he's a step closer to the championship if he's played league football.
05:46And would that emergency seven-day line be extended?
05:49Possibly, again, that's genuinely nothing that's been put on my desk over the past few days.
05:56So I don't know, but if we can do it, then great, yeah.
05:59And Sheffield Wednesday up next with nearly another sold-out away end.
06:02How crucial have the fans home your way been backing you and the squad?
06:06Yeah, I think the home form speaks for itself and Fratton Park and how difficult sides have found it
06:12to come and play at Fratton Park.
06:13And it's got a lot of medium attention, quite rightly.
06:15I've always spoken about how powerful it can be to play at home.
06:18And the home form has been pivotal, really, in keeping us up this year.
06:22And that's been great.
06:24I think what stands out to me as much as well is the away support.
06:30And the away fans haven't had much to cheer about this year.
06:33I think their best away day, or certainly in my time this year, the best away day was the Norwich game on Friday.
06:38It was such a special occasion to be able to do that.
06:41And, yeah, there's been a few involved between apart from that.
06:44So the one that really sticks out in my mind is West Brom.
06:46And I said it the other day, I genuinely thought after the West Brom game that my credit was going to run out and walk over to the away fans and get pelters.
06:53And it was the complete opposite.
06:54And I think that just sums up where we are as a football club and how much backing we've got.
06:58It was a very, very special, it's been a very special place in the past this year.
07:01And I think I can say it with evidence as well, because I've seen it this year.
07:06I don't know of any other football club in the country, maybe not the world, that gets that level of support.
07:12And injury-wise, Williams obviously came off, that looked like a season finish after him. What about Bishop Murphy?
07:18Bishop Murphy, fine. You won't see a dual win in the rest of the season, maybe six or eight weeks.
07:22And any other injuries to report off?
07:24Nothing else, I think everyone else is fine.
07:26Lovely, thank you.
07:27Cheers.
07:28I've been doing the stats, and before you played Bristol City December 6th, you were bottom of the league.
07:35And then from that point, only six teams scored more points than Pompey over the remainder of the season.
07:40How has that changed?
07:43I think there's been a couple of things.
07:45The Bristol City game, we've spoken about the importance, I think, of the turnaround prior to the last international break,
07:51which was the week where we had Holt Plymouth and Preston.
07:54So I think probably that Bristol City game was maybe the culmination of us putting that together a bit more consistently,
08:03and really, really good performance when we played Bristol City at home.
08:07So there's been a definite change around that time, just prior to that last international break.
08:14In terms of how we did it, we had to change these tactically, first of all, which I think we were happy to do.
08:19We were relatively calm as a football club in making sure that we didn't panic.
08:24We didn't ignore the situation, so we were realistic about what the situation was,
08:28and we didn't panic, so we didn't think right, all of a sudden we have to do something drastic here.
08:33There was that, and then we combined it with our strategy, our short-term strategy this season,
08:38which was, let's get to January, and we know where we need to reinforce in January,
08:42and we're going to do that, and we're going to do it quickly, and we're going to be willing to spend,
08:46and the club did spend, so even though we didn't necessarily bring in a huge amount on permanent transfers,
08:51although with Hayden we did spend a smithy amount of money, brought the two lads in from Australia,
08:56Ben and Corinne from Permanence, and then, for want of a better phrase, we went heavy on the loans,
09:01and that was brilliant. It was a brilliant thing to have that backing from the football club to go,
09:05there we go, and those are the tools that we asked for to try and stay in the championship based on what we saw in this season,
09:12and I think that had a huge effect, so by the time we sort of settled down post-West Brom,
09:18I really think we settled down post-West Brom, we were in every game, competing with every side in the championship,
09:22and we beat some of the big boys as well, and I think we were in a much, much better outfit in the second half of the season.
09:28Of course, there's other factors, of course, so you've got Colwood Bishop coming back, I suppose as one,
09:33Matt Ritchie, regular starters, another, Conor Ogilvie getting to his feet at that level,
09:40there's all these things going on, you can analyse and look back, can't you,
09:43what contributed to this success of staying up?
09:47There'll be loads of small things that will accumulate over time, Colby was a huge influence in what we had,
09:54and him coming back in, forget the goals, forget the goals, just the influence around the place,
09:59and what a big player he is for us.
10:01Matt Ritchie had a slow start to the season in terms of us playing him,
10:04and all of a sudden when he came into it, he was instrumental in leading us as a captain as well,
10:09when we called upon him.
10:13If you talk about captains, Marlon Pack playing out of position, selflessly playing really well there,
10:19playing as many games as he did, was brilliant, so there's a lot of factors, there's definitely a lot of factors there,
10:24I can't remember what the other one we mentioned was, but yeah, there's many, many individuals that stepped up,
10:29like Conor Ogilvie, Conor Ogilvie was the last one, that adjusted to the level quickly,
10:32and that's been a big theme that I've spoken about with the players over the past two or three months in particular,
10:38is that everybody's had time to adjust to the level, now tell me, this is my question to the players,
10:42tell me if it's too much for you, tell me if there's a level too much for you, or are we just making small mistakes in the wrong times in games?
10:50We're competing against Coventry, who are right up there in the league, and we're competing against Preston,
10:55forcing us to make four changes at half-time, but we don't quite get it done because the detail's not there,
10:59and my challenge to the boys is if we can be more consistent with that, and we pick up more points in those games,
11:04then it gives us that extra boost, and all of a sudden we're looking at being a big table side.
11:10You come across very calm and composed and in control, there's been a period in the season when you've panicked,
11:16and you've thought, what the hell do we do here, we're not going to stay out of it.
11:21I've never panicked, I've never felt like we've lost control of anything.
11:25I've certainly felt at times, particularly after some of the heavyweight defeats,
11:30I've had to do a bit of soul-searching, and we've been really, really low as a squad,
11:34and obviously as somebody who will naturally take responsibility for that,
11:39I've had to have significantly deep thoughts about what we do differently,
11:45and try and come up with solutions, that's probably the hardest thing.
11:47It's going, right, that's the way I thought we were going to win the game,
11:50that hasn't worked out, what do I need to do?
11:52Do I need to change something drastically?
11:54Or do we keep on the same path?
11:56So, yeah, it's been a difficult time just this season.
11:59In terms of not panicking, I think the biggest thing for me is the fact
12:03that I've always felt that backing from the football club,
12:05so there's been no need for me to panic, and the strategies remain the same.
12:08As bizarre as it sounds, even, I think, two weeks ago when we spoke to the owners,
12:13just to my face, said, look, the strategy's the same.
12:17If we get relegated, it's not great, but we don't want to change anything.
12:20We're sticking with the long-term strategy.
12:21You're the man that we won at the football club, and that is really powerful to hear,
12:25particularly when everyone else around you are making the short-term changes.
12:28So that had a big, big impact on me, and that was from the ownership,
12:32that was all the way down right to the executive, and to Rich in particular,
12:35who you guys may or may not have seen.
12:39After every single away game, after every single loss,
12:42he's there at the tunnel, we speak about it, debrief straight away,
12:45always very together as a unit and making sure that we approach these challenges together,
12:50and that's been a big thing for me.
12:53I've always felt the club's approached everything together and managed to get ourselves out of it.
12:57What's been your lowest points?
12:59I mean, Stoke was very tough.
13:05Stoke was tough, but always easier to take than a couple of the recent losses.
13:11So, in all honesty, emotionally lowest points were Preston and Coventry.
13:16They were tough to come back from.
13:20Very, very important to me for the boys is that after Preston,
13:23I knew it after the game, I knew what we'd do, I knew we'd beat Blackburn,
13:26and after Coventry, the reaction to do what we did,
13:31where if the Derby game goes the other way,
13:33then who knows if we'd put that performance in against Norwich and then Watford.
13:36So, I think it was really crucial that we did the job against Derby.
13:39I worked at every club below Pomp at the moment and sat there manager.
13:43Yeah, and it's not lost to me.
13:45I think we mentioned it on Monday.
13:47We were speaking about the ambition of the football club and my ambition.
13:54My take at the moment is there's been a huge amount of loyalty from the football club to myself.
14:00And the club have stuck by everything that we said when we were at that first press conference back in January 2023.
14:07And it might be easy to say, yeah, of course it did, but not many clubs do that, right?
14:11You can look at the amount of clubs that will bring head coaches in.
14:14They'll talk about one thing, they'll talk about being a long-term project.
14:16Things go wrong after six months and there's a change.
14:19Things go wrong after three months and there's a change.
14:21So, to have that backing has been really, really important.
14:24It's enabled me to not panic, to not think, alright, I need to do something drastic on Saturday to save my job.
14:31And believe me, that's a really powerful thing to have behind me.
14:35Have you had that reassurance along the way, even when you're bottom of the league, that the club will be sticking by you?
14:40Yeah, yeah.
14:41Whether that's been explicit or implicit, it's always been there.
14:45And I've always, yeah, the club have just been brilliant with that.
14:50I think that's all the top five in the Championship, only five clubs have kept their managers.
14:53So, it happens, but you've had that stability here.
14:57Yeah, and that's never been lost on me.
14:59But that stability is, again, what do we want to talk about as a football club, what do we want to achieve as a football club, I think.
15:04If the football club is sure that they've got the right guy in place, which I felt like they've been sure about that,
15:12then it's about sticking to what they believe in and myself also sticking to what we believe in.
15:18And my take has always been every decision that I make will be for the good of the football club
15:23and they're good for the process of the long-term future of the football club as well.
15:27Not to try and necessarily increase my stock or vice versa for the football club.
15:32Just to go, actually, we need to do something drastic in the short term.
15:35So, I think that's been matched.
15:36One thing that I've spoken about, probably not a huge amount this year, but alignment.
15:41So, when I first joined the football club in January 23, it was that alignment.
15:45I felt there was alignment through the football club, right from the top down to essentially Rich,
15:49where Rich had that ability to shape the football club as a sporting director,
15:55backed by the owners and backed by the executive, and I was sort of the next part of that.
15:59So, there's always been that alignment from top to bottom.
16:01And, you know, we have a really good relationship from everyone through the chain.
16:05So, you know Rich and I work incredibly closely together, but I speak to Tony, Andy all the time.
16:11I speak to Eric, I speak to Michael all the time.
16:13Breck and Anders and Andy if they're over as well.
16:15So, everybody in the chain, there's a lot of communication.
16:18You know, football, how quickly managers come and go.
16:21Oxford and Derby came up with you and they sat there managers as well.
16:24So, I suppose Pompey to sort of book the trend in that respect by sticking by you.
16:30I just think, yeah, fair play.
16:31I think fair play to the football club.
16:33There's definitely times where we would have sat in here and thought,
16:35any other football club, you know, that's going to be it.
16:39Look at the performances that have been put on.
16:41But I think what's been an interesting thing is that the fans, the fans have never turned.
16:46And that's been a reflection of, I think the fans knowing what we're trying to achieve.
16:49The fans understand the circumstances sometimes with some of the injuries that we've had.
16:53And making sure that we probably have always just managed to put in that performance as well.
16:58That keeps everyone on the side.
17:00But, yeah, I think as a football club, that's why I speak about everybody hopefully taking credit for the achievements this season.
17:08Because it hasn't just been about the players, the staff or the football club internally.
17:12It's been about everyone, even the media.
17:15I don't like complaining to you guys too much.
17:17But I've never felt like we've ever been at loggerheads at any time this season,
17:20despite some horrendous losses.
17:22And we've all been together hoping that the football club goes up and up and up.
17:26Matt Ritchie, you mentioned earlier on about Hull as well.
17:30He came in for, I think it was his second start or third start against Hull.
17:34Was that the sort of pivotal moment really?
17:37Things changed, having Matt Ritchie in the side for the way you wanted to play football at that point?
17:42Yeah, I mean, I just think it took Matt a bit of time to get going at the start of the season
17:48in terms of his match fitness and match sharpness.
17:51He's a player that has tremendous pedigree, played a huge amount in the Premier League,
17:56massive part of everything that Bournemouth and Newcastle did over the years.
17:59But hadn't played a huge amount in the past couple of years and then hadn't had a full pre-season.
18:03So we just had to take our time on that and make sure that he was right.
18:05And in hindsight, I think it worked out pretty well because we've got to fit Matt Ritchie for 35 games
18:11when he's playing this year and he hasn't missed any.
18:14So it was important to have him in the way that we want to press, the way that he leads on the football pitch.
18:19What we've seen particularly in recent weeks as well as some of the quality that he's shown particularly at Norwich,
18:24the delivery for Colby's Cross and the effect that he can have on games in an attacking sense as well.
18:28So to be able to do that at that age has been amazing.
18:31With Matt, it was never about his ability. It was just getting him to match speed, I suppose, wasn't it?
18:36Yeah, that's all it was. We always knew that Matt had the ability there.
18:39It was just making sure that he had the fit to match it.
18:42Is it crucial for the way you've played football this season as well?
18:45Yeah, I think so. Absolutely. I think all the players have been.
18:48But particularly Matt, you see the influence that he's had and the way that he leads the press
18:52and the way that he drives all of the lads. And yeah, that's been really important for us.
18:57How important is he to the press then? Does he lead the press for you?
19:02Well, I think certainly vocally he does. I think we expect, if I look across the front floor,
19:08so if you look at the front floor that we've had for the majority of the season,
19:11it's been Murph, Colby, Lange and Matt. And yeah, players have obviously come in and out of that
19:19at various times this season. I think that Matt probably leads it vocally in terms of the press.
19:25Colby's work rate and attention to detail is absolutely exceptional and his physicality
19:31that he gives us on the front line as well, out of possession.
19:34Murph has taken his out of possession game to the next level completely.
19:38His work rate is exceptional. Some of the recovery runs you've seen him do
19:41and still have the ability to go the other way.
19:43And then certainly Lange in the 10-spot league going up and pressing with Colby
19:48with the energy that he gives us and how tenacious he is.
19:51So the reason I'm mentioning those four and anyone that's come in in those positions
19:54that have done the same job is that they've all led it in a different way.
19:57So I think that as vocal as Matt is, Murph is as much of a leader because of the example
20:04that he sets for everyone and that's what we need across the football pitch.
20:07My point is we desperately need a Matt Ritchie but we need a Josh Murph as well.
20:13We need a Colby Bishop, we need a Calderon. We need everything and everything in behind that too.
20:16Ritchie started against Sheffield United I think here and then he came out with team again.
20:21At that start was he just not ready then for running the team at that point?
20:24I think whenever we started him we would have felt we'd been ready.
20:27It was just about making sure that we could be, first of all get him up to scratch the play
20:32Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday. The scheduled times in the Championship is relentless and
20:37it was just about getting the right mix and maybe by the time we got to the whole game
20:41we'd get the right mix of players.
20:43In terms of injuries, what's the outlook?
20:45Jordan you won't see this season. He'll be out for 6-8 weeks with a hamstring tear.
20:50We haven't got the results back from the scan but we know that the case isn't going to be there
20:53because we've seen it before. Colby's fine and Murph's fine and no other injuries.
20:57Oshish obviously fractured his wrist. Sorry, that was an injury. Oshish had the fracture previously,
21:03tried to play on it and it just wasn't right so I don't think we'll see a deal play the weekend.
21:09So how is he at the moment then?
21:11He's fine, the injury is the same, it was just a case of trying to test it and see if he could play with it.
21:18But it's just one of those things that doesn't obviously affect him football-wise but can't hold players off,
21:22can't properly close players down, can't really go into challenges and I think they're all players on your mind.
21:26It starts to affect the playing side as well.
21:28Now you've secure safety, will you play him again?
21:31I'm not sure we'll risk him unless he's 100%.
21:35Any other players been back at all?
21:38No, I think in terms of if we've got Shockton Langley back,
21:43I don't think anyone else is going to be back for the end of the season.