Back from the Tranmere game

[Selsey Bill]

Well, all I can say is "what a crazy night". Having missed our last two games which we won, I was gently being warned off attending last night by the likes of NSS, and when we went 1-0 down after about half an hour, there only looked one likely winner.

With two ex Pompey players in their side, losing the toss inevitably meant we were going to kick off facing the Fratton End, never a good omen. However, we came out all guns blazing and could easily have been ahead again early on. After a fairly frenetic opening spell, Tranmere grew more and more into the game, and in fairness to them, didn't give us any time at all. They were much quicker, closed us down better, and looked like a team who had just beaten top of the league. We, on the other side, looked lacklustre, and certainly not a team brimming with confidence. Their goal originated from a poor corner from Butler that yet again didn't clear the man at the front post (grrrr - what do these professionals do in training?). They cleared it to the left and played a great ball up to their Swansea loanee Donnelly who sublimely controlled the ball, passed it to Myrie-Williams who shot into the bottom right corner- 1-0. great goal. The rest of the half they controlled.

This continued into the second half, and five minutes in they were 2-0 up after a goalkeeping howler from Jones. I'll be interested to see this one again, as to me it looked like he was shoved badly when about to catch their cross in, and that one of their strikers assisted with the 'hand of God'. In any case, Jones should have caught the ball.

At this point, it was evident that our 3-5-2 set up was not working. Jed was pretty much man marked out of the game by their captain who was excellent, and Passley and Butler were ineffective. Perhaps a hangover from their Cambridge endeavours where I hear all three were dead on their legs at the end. In fairness to Awford, perhaps he IS learning, because he can clearly see this and makes his first substitution after 55 minutes, replacing Devera with Barcham and going 4-4-2. This didn't really change things and if anything Tranmere looked even more likely to go on and score a third. Here comes Awford's (Waddock's?) master stroke part 1: He introduces Westcarr in replacement for a largely ineffective Passley, and within 5 minutes he scores a delightful glancing header from a perfect Tubbs cross from out on the right. 1-2, and a glimmer of hope. Master stroke part 2: Hollands off, Chaplin on. 5 minutes later we are 3-2 up and the Fratton crowd goes absolutely mental. Less than 10 minutes earlier I would have put my mortgage on Tranmere running out comfortable winners.

There were some good solid performances last night, especially from Whatmough and Robinson, but the MOTM for me had to be the much maligned Andy Awford.

A couple of closing points:
The referee had an absolute shocker last night - he got so much wrong.
Tranmere were better than us for most of last night. I would have felt sorry for them had it not been for their ridiculous time wasting and injury feigning.

Onwards and upwards! Play up Pompey.

[the-future-is-blue]

Good to have you back SB - was worried in case you jinxed the team - but all was well, err, in the end !
Good managers certainly work out how to smother our better players. Perhaps AA is learning how to influence the game whilst it's in play, a bit of experience now and Waddock's influence ?
Football is enjoyable again and for that I'm grateful. The player's must feel very confident now.

[Pompey_Galactico]

Agree with you fully there Sb was at the game myself. The ref has to have been the worst i have ever seen, some truly shocking decisions. I would be putting in a strongly worded letter to the FA regarding his performance after last night if i was Awford.

Butler and Passley did struggle but they were always outnumbered, with Jed playing what looked like a free role it put a lot of pressure on the middle two which stopped them pushing slightly wider and helping our wing backs. This in my eyes was stifling anything we tried to do. Sometimes a free role works, cambridge backs that up, last night it didn't. As you said Jed was marked out of the game and was finding it hard to get involved. It took balls to make the subs Awford and Waddock did but i paid off, so fair play to them.

Tranmere started time wasting after their first goal and the ref never really did anything about it. I also thought the ball was punched out of Jones hand, Tubbs was screaming about it at the ref but he didn't care. Josh Thompson (ex pompey, probably still pissed we took him from celtic then told him to do one as he was carp!) who was "dying" in front of me was a joke, the fact that the ref allowed him to walk all the way across the field instead of just stepping off the side he was on and walking round was an appalling decision. He should have been ushered off the pitch and play continued with straight away. If I was Hollands I would have played the drop ball into the corner for Tubbs to run on to, they were cheating, so why give them the ball back? but i suppose he did the good sport thing. Never been a big fan of Taylor but i was happy for him to get those goals last night as he really deserved them for his last two performances.

I thought Westcarr, Barcham and even young Chaplin brought a lot of energy to the game. Westcarr's header was sublime, from an excellent cross from Tubbs of all people and from that moment on Tranmere looked shell shocked. I have seen some games in my years but for me that disappointment (especially after I saw us demolish cambridge) to total elation in 9 minutes was not something I had not experienced. Now I understand what my dad means when he talks about that feeling at the Oxford game and Biley scoring right at the death, back in 84?

[Pompey Penguin]

Apart from the result, the big positive from the game was that Awford (at last) did something proactive and timely with his substitutes. It won't work every time, but making changes that might actually impact a game, rather than 90+ minute time-wasting moves, is a big step forward.

The negative was Dunne's booking and two match suspension. Atangana would be the obvious replacement, but he hasn't looked good coming on as a sub lately, and I wonder if Awford might go with Ertl, especially for Northampton away, which will be a tricky game.

[Milton End]

Thanks to all for the reports and comments.

The Radio Solent commentator also agreed that the refereeing was very poor last night.

[dickinson]

Having recovered from last night's game, with its mainly down's and then ecstatic up. I remember thinking,when were were one nil down and not in control of the game, what the hell is going on. We just seemed to be one pace off all the time. Something I felt, needed to change. Jed was being man marked, our midfield was too defensive with Dunne and Hollands and there was no feed to the forwards, and yet I didn't see any changes in position on the pitch. I remember thinking that we needed to push Whatmough up into midfield and drag Wallace back into a more defensive midfield role, hence pulling his man marker back. Also push the wing backs on a bit more than was currently happening. That way we give them something to think about. If that doesn't work try something else. But at least keep them guessing, and break the control they have. After all, we are the home side.
We seemed to have a strategy of not being proactive and a more lets 'wait and see' approach. We'll wait until were 2-0 down before we become proactive.

I'd be interested to know what others amongst you thought needed to be done, when we were two down.

[pomp 'n circumstance]

Ahhh...normal services is resumed with another 'plat du jour' masterclass from SB, with a side salad from other sources who were there last night. It beats anything from the Snooze and the web site - most often they appear to have been watching a different game.

At 0-2 down, I had no inclination to continue checking on the score and retired to watch the dismantling of Citeh by Barca which finished around 7 or 8 minutes before us. On checking the BBC, I thought I had misread the score and decided to quaff another acceptable claret to calm the nerves and there it was.....3 goals in a 10 minute spell and 3-2 with a few minutes to go. This was almost a Pedro Mendes moment (remember his 2 goals against Citeh which started our great revival, absolute folk law stuff) - I say 'almost' because we came from 2 down! And accepting the fact that our ginger giraffe got the last 2 goals it was totally bizarre ( not forgetting that any resemblance of him to Pedro Mendes is total sacrilege!) - terrific result and hopefully team spirit is now sky high.

[dickinson]

Having recovered from last night's game, with its mainly down's and then ecstatic up. I remember thinking,when were were one nil down and not in control of the game, what the hell is going on. We just seemed to be one pace off all the time. Something I felt, needed to change. Jed was being man marked, our midfield was too defensive with Dunne and Hollands and there was no feed to the forwards, and yet I didn't see any changes in position on the pitch. I remember thinking that we needed to push Whatmough up into midfield and drag Wallace back into a more defensive midfield role, hence pulling his man marker back. Also push the wing backs on a bit more than was currently happening. That way we give them something to think about. If that doesn't work try something else. But at least keep them guessing, and break the control they have. After all, we are the home side.
We seemed to have a strategy of not being proactive and a more lets 'wait and see' approach. We'll wait until were 2-0 down before we become proactive.

I'd be interested to know what others amongst you thought needed to be done, when we were two down.

Sorry I meant one down, not two down.

Sorry about the reality check.

also sorry about keep saying sorry!

[Pompey Wales]

Thanks Bill, great report as always. Looking forward to Saturday's game as don't get to that many games in a season. Shame Dunne will be out, will be interesting how AA plays that one. Sounds like he is not afraid to make game changing decisions at last, well done to him.

[Selsey Bill]

Shame Dunne will be out, will be interesting how AA plays that one. Sounds like he is not afraid to make game changing decisions at last, well done to him.

I fear we'll miss Dunne big time. He really makes our team tick, and our early to mid season dip coincided to a degree with Dunne being out with his knee operation. This suspension has been on the cards for a while though with a player of his nature. I'm not sure we have a 'like for like' swap for him. I'm a big fan of Atagana and would like to see him start, bringing on Foggy for Big Nigel for the last 20 minutes once we have the game sewn up . I suspect he may utilise Johnny Ertl though?

[Milkins]

Ahhh...normal services is resumed with another 'plat du jour' masterclass from SB, with a side salad from other sources who were there last night. It beats anything from the Snooze and the web site - most often they appear to have been watching a different game.

At 0-2 down, I had no inclination to continue checking on the score and retired to watch the dismantling of Citeh by Barca which finished around 7 or 8 minutes before us. On checking the BBC, I thought I had misread the score and decided to quaff another acceptable claret to calm the nerves and there it was.....3 goals in a 10 minute spell and 3-2 with a few minutes to go. This was almost a Pedro Mendes moment (remember his 2 goals against Citeh which started our great revival, absolute folk law stuff) - I say 'almost' because we came from 2 down! And accepting the fact that our ginger giraffe got the last 2 goals it was totally bizarre ( not forgetting that any resemblance of him to Pedro Mendes is total sacrilege!) - terrific result and hopefully team spirit is now sky high.

Your persistent buggering of the English language is absolute folklore stuff.

[rumourmonger]

I too was in attendance last night . On the way down there I was telling my son that Tranmere wouldn't be a pushover by any stretch. I told him of the time in 1977 when lowly Pompey hammered high flying Rotherham 5-1 on a Saturday and then had a home game against Tranmere the following Tuesday. Big crowd , big expectations and big disappointment as Tranmere won 3-0. Then there was the game the following season when we were 2-0 up at half time and Tranmere scored at will in the second half to win 5-2 . So what happened in the first 70 odd minutes wasn't coming as a massive surprise to me. The last 15 minutes however were a joy to behold and sent us home much much happier than we had anticipated. Give them their due Tranmere had done their homework . They knew if they shut down Tubbs and Wallace and hassled Devera as soon as he got the ball then our game plan would be thrown into confusion and as has been stated fair play to Awford for the changes he made that worked so well.

Loved the banter with their crowd as well. Having had Premier League and you f****d it up , Championship and you f****d it up , League One and you f*****d it up and How much lower can you go sung to us all night it was a real treat to be able to sing back Two Nil up and you f****d it up.

I think our resurgence has four roots. The return of Dunne from injury (we will miss him over the next couple of games ) , the addition of Waddock as that extra pair of eyes that Awford so badly needed and the signings of Passley and Tubbs. The side that is taking the park at the moment is worlds away from the one that was going out earlier in the season.

[pompeywight]

Thankyou all for the great reports, almost like being there

[POLPERO99]

I was most impressed by the patience we showed throughout. There was the occasional aimless lump forward but overall I thought we tried to knock the ball around across the park . I do, do however have serious doubts about playing 3 at the back . You have to have a really good 3 thats the first thing and secondly you have to have some solid wing-backs who dont get caught high up the pitch when we lose the ball. Their first goal last night was a good example of when you beat a defender and make some space the chances are that there wont be another one around for a few minutes.

Felt a bit sorry for Mr Barcham though. I can hear it now from AA................. "Andy ! Andy ! I want you to attack down the left and get some good crosses in " OK Boss

5 minutes later ..............................." Andy , Andy ! Play over on the Right but stay up " Ok Boss

5 minutes later ................................" Andy , Andy ! Play right back in a flat back 4 " Ok Boss

If someone could teach Andy to tackle and defend he would be our Left Wing Back all day long .

[Ziggy Sawdust]

I too was in attendance last night . On the way down there I was telling my son that Tranmere wouldn't be a pushover by any stretch. I told him of the time in 1977 when lowly Pompey hammered high flying Rotherham 5-1 on a Saturday and then had a home game against Tranmere the following Tuesday. Big crowd , big expectations and big disappointment as Tranmere won 3-0. Then there was the game the following season when we were 2-0 up at half time and Tranmere scored at will in the second half to win 5-2 . So what happened in the first 70 odd minutes wasn't coming as a massive surprise to me. The last 15 minutes however were a joy to behold and sent us home much much happier than we had anticipated. Give them their due Tranmere had done their homework . They knew if they shut down Tubbs and Wallace and hassled Devera as soon as he got the ball then our game plan would be thrown into confusion and as has been stated fair play to Awford for the changes he made that worked so well.

Loved the banter with their crowd as well. Having had Premier League and you f****d it up , Championship and you f****d it up , League One and you f*****d it up and How much lower can you go sung to us all night it was a real treat to be able to sing back Two Nil up and you f****d it up.

I think our resurgence has four roots. The return of Dunne from injury (we will miss him over the next couple of games ) , the addition of Waddock as that extra pair of eyes that Awford so badly needed and the signings of Passley and Tubbs. The side that is taking the park at the moment is worlds away from the one that was going out earlier in the season.

That song's quite funny though. Just saying.