JOHN Mousinho says he is pretty much ready to take on a manager’s job.
Oxford United’s 36-year-old club captain gained his UEFA Pro Licence, the highest coaching qualification in the country, earlier this year.
Mousinho juggled the 18-month course with his role as chair of the Professional Footballers’ Association, and is often seen on the touchline as part of Karl Robinson’s coaching set-up.
He told BBC Radio Oxford’s Five Minute Fans Forum that although he has yet to receive any managerial job offers, that doesn’t mean he isn’t prepared to take on a vacancy.
O’Donkor did himself no harm at Fratton Park, especially when you consider who he was up against. Led the line on his own against Pompey centre halves who have more than 1,000 appearances in English football between them, compared to Gatlin’s 11 #oufc https://t.co/KS3w13B1WI
— Liam Rice (@OxMailLiamRice) October 27, 2022
“When will I feel I’ll be ready? I feel ready in a way now,” Mousinho said.
“I don’t think I’m ever going to be fully ready, I don’t think anyone ever is going into any job.
“I’ve done as much preparation as I can, and I speak to the manager quite often about this.
“One of the things he’s been brilliant with me in terms of supporting me on that journey and progression, is the fact he says ‘you have got everything on paper, it’s just about getting the experience now’.
“We’ll have to see on that, I think I’ve been pretty open.
“I’ve been working closely with the manager here, which is brilliant and I feel very lucky to be able to do that.
“I’m not entirely sure on timescales, and when I would ever properly feel ready but certainly I think an exciting chapter coming up.”
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For now, Mousinho is responsible for United’s set pieces, an area the team is constantly seeking to get better at.
He said: “We’re always looking to improve the goals we score from set pieces, this season we’ve actually been pretty good and we’re right up there in the league.
“What we haven’t done too much this year is score from too many corners, it’s a lot of wide free kicks and a couple of free kicks centrally that we’ve had a bit of joy from.
“We work on Thursdays and Fridays on set pieces, and really break down the opposition and their set-up.
“Sometimes it comes off and sometimes it doesn’t, that’s my job in particular to make sure it comes off more often than not.
“We’re constantly looking at how we can try and gain an edge at set pieces because we know they’re vitally important.
“To rewind slightly, the main issue was conceding from set pieces – that was the number one priority.
“The priority is to make sure that we don’t concede so we do spend a lot of time in making sure we’re full prepared for what the opposition are going to throw at us.”
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