Walsall BFTG

[Berkshire Blue]

No one else seems to want to do one, so here are a few random thoughts.

A lovely sunny afternoon with a s/westerly breeze, and we lost the toss and attacked the Fratton end in the first half.

Walsall are a big physical team who could also play some nice football, and for the first 10 or 15 minutes were all over us. I think that they thought that they could bully us out of the game, and after only a few minutes their captain was lucky to remain on the field after making a really nasty tackle with studs up. Several of their players were booked for over aggressive tackles and their centre forward was substituted in the second half to avoid him being sent off.

We gradually got back into the game, but they always seemed to me to have more of a sense of purpose than us - we lacked presence and ideas up front or maybe it was just bad service.

They started the second half very well and fast and quickly scored after a complete horlicks on the left of our defence. We have a young team and we must expect this sort of thing from time to time while our players work out when to play out of defence and when to boot the ball upfield.

Later in the second half Main and Kabamba came on, and the game completely changed. Walsall no longer physically dominated us and Kabamba particularly was a right handful. They started defending deeper and soon Kabamba went through into the box and was taken down. Pitman blasted in the penalty. We really should have gone on to win, but it was not to be and we had to settle for a point, which overall was probably a fair result.

For what it is worth, I think that Lowe would have made a difference for us, and I would like to see Kabamba given a chance as target man up front with Pitman playing off him, which I think might give us a better balance.

[Earl Grey]

Agree with that summing up. Lowe really is key for us imho. I thought he might struggle at this level but from what little we've seen of him he seems even better.
As for the ref I can only think it was too early on in the game to reach for a red. Trouble is he then made it difficult for himself because they realised they could get away with some really robust challenges and the ref struggled to maintain control. I reckon he knew he'd made a big error in not stamping his authority on the match because the penalty was a bit soft.

[BlueinPLtwenty]

It was my first game with my season ticket! (a first for me in nearly 60 years of following Pompey). We started slowly and how their first challenge on May was not a red card defeats me. We looked a little unbalanced, Evans looked confused where he was supposed to play and when Talbot went off he was a little better but not the powerful performance the style of which we experienced last season. Lalkovic also seemed confused where he was supposed to play and his defensive faults heavily contributed to their goal. Burgess also looked somewhat out of touch and I wondered whether he might get sucked into retaliating against their centre forward (who was eventurely substituted before he would have been sent off). Jack & Brandon Haunstrup played well. Luke McGee made an excellent stop to keep us in the game. Pitman looks total class and certainly when the two Strikers came on the style of the game changed, however although Main & Kabamba were a physical presence they hardly touched the ball apart from the penalty. I thought May played OK, Rose huffed & puffed and Bennett played quite nicely at times. Naismith was caught in possession too often.

It was a bitty performance, but we got a point. On to Wigan next week which will be a real tester of where we are in this League.

[Selsey Bill]

Sorry, I would have done a report, but been busy all weekend. An accurate report thanks BB. The referee was awful and, as you rightly say, should have produced a red card for that terrible tackle on May (?) very early on. I don't care whether it was the first or the 90th minute, he should have gone. Again, agree that they then thought they could get away with anything, and did. As for the penalty, never in a month of Sundays was it a penalty, but hey, we needed it as it got us right back in the game. From that moment onwards there was only one winner, but we didn't take advantage of the situation. When Main and Kabamba came on we looked a different side all together, with Main really putting himself about. My biggest overall concern was that we seemed to have no game plan whatsoever. One other point, there were rumours doing the rounds that Carl Baker (who was told he wasn't even on the bench) an hour or so before kick off jumped in his car and left the ground in a huff. Whilst he denied this on Twitter later on Saturday evening, I suspect he could be at Coventry (or another club) by this time next week! I wouldn't be too bothered about this, and it would release some funds to get in another player or two which it is evident we need. I get the distinct impression that Kenny Jackett is trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear right now. Anyway, on to Wigan which could get nasty. I'll be there so will hopefully get to report back about after.

[Milton End]

Many thanks for all the reports.

Here in Cambodia, I was only able to listen to a small part of the PFC radio commentary: the website software was rubbish. However the part that I heard had more about Baker's departure from the ground.

Just before the start, one of the commentators went down to the dressing room area for some technical reason. He personally observed Baker have a very angry exchange with another Pompey player (Naismith?) just before leaving the ground.

This does not seem to be consistent with Baker's later tweet....

Back in the UK by the time of the Wigan game: a really tough fixture.

[Earl Grey]

Lalkovic also seemed confused where he was supposed to play and his defensive faults heavily contributed to their goal.

And that's why Bennett's a better all round player than Lalkovic.
Bennett's range of passing is better, too. What a lovely ball he played over the top right onto Pitman's boot. I think the only reason Brett didn't tuck it away was because Kabamba was trying to get to the same ball and slightly put him off...indeed I wasn't sure who eventually hit it first but Pitman holding his head in his hand at such a bad miss told the story. Pleased to see he didn't remonstrate with Kabamba as he was just trying to do his job of scoring. We are so lucky to have Pitman and making him captain seems to be a masterstroke by KJ.

[Pompey Penguin]

My first game of the season, and as usual I'll add to the above and not over-repeat what has already been mentioned.

Overall, a draw was a fair result from two pretty mediocre (at best) teams; a goal and a couple of other chances each was about the sum of the entertainment. The key moment in the match was the save by McGee and subsequent block by Burgess when the Walsall CF really should have scored to make it 0-2 and game over.

I was pleased to see that Jackett had a plan B, even if it was just "put Main and Kabamba on and lump it forward". This is something Cook would never have done, but is sometimes necessary when nothing is happening. I thought at the time that the penalty was incredibly soft, but watching it on video suggests that it was a penalty (although often you don't get them); as with Bass against Fulham, got to ask what the GK thought he was doing.

Talbot was as per last year (despite reports to the contrary). He misjudged two throw ins, letting the ball drop behind him and leading to dangerous situations and offered nothing going forward. Evans & Talbot are just not creative enough together on the right. However, you have to feel a bit for Talbot after waiting so long to play and then getting injured a few games into the season. We have now lost four defenders to injury, so it is credit that the defence has generally done OK.

Lalkovic was hardly involved in the game, and another one who looks no different from last year. I suppose he gets a pass as it was his first game, but he has got to do better. At present Naismith & Bennett would better options. Lalkovic was also at fault for the Walsall goal; Haunstrup had his man towards the corner, but Lalkovic just let the support player run past him to pick up a short pass and cross.

May and Rose looked too lightweight as a pair in CMF, especially as none of Naismith, Lalkovic or Bennett can tackle properly. However, they cannot be blamed if there was nothing in front of them until Main & Kabamba appeared.

Finally, we have to remember that this is a young squad, that has already suffered from a lot of injuries and Jackett is still finding out who can and cannot play at L1 level. I suspect that we will see a bit of changing around until Christmas, and hope that we can get enough decent results to consolidate in mid-table. And of course, my weekly call for Pompey to play 3-5-2.

[Number 1 Jasper]

Sorry, I would have done a report, but been busy all weekend. An accurate report thanks BB. The referee was awful and, as you rightly say, should have produced a red card for that terrible tackle on May (?) very early on. I don't care whether it was the first or the 90th minute, he should have gone. Again, agree that they then thought they could get away with anything, and did. As for the penalty, never in a month of Sundays was it a penalty, but hey, we needed it as it got us right back in the game. From that moment onwards there was only one winner, but we didn't take advantage of the situation. When Main and Kabamba came on we looked a different side all together, with Main really putting himself about. My biggest overall concern was that we seemed to have no game plan whatsoever. One other point, there were rumours doing the rounds that Carl Baker (who was told he wasn't even on the bench) an hour or so before kick off jumped in his car and left the ground in a huff. Whilst he denied this on Twitter later on Saturday evening, I suspect he could be at Coventry (or another club) by this time next week! I wouldn't be too bothered about this, and it would release some funds to get in another player or two which it is evident we need. I get the distinct impression that Kenny Jackett is trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear right now. Anyway, on to Wigan which could get nasty. I'll be there so will hopefully get to report back about after.

Next you will be telling us you have that situation in the week

[Pompey1985]

Carl Baker still lives in Coventry - he'll be there before the window closes.

[Albie McCann]

Now I'm guessing I'll probably be in a minority on this one, but anyway, here goes.....

As others have already said, we looked quite lost for long periods of the game on Saturday, with too many players seemingly unsure as to what they were meant to be doing, or what the game plan was......and for me that's when the Captain has a vital role to play.

Now I'm already a big fan of Brett as he looks a natural goal scorer, but there in lies the problem......he's up one end of the field away from most of the other players. For me the Captain needs to be in the heart of mid-field where he can pull all the players in and tell them what they need to be doing.....something which Mr Doyle did very well last season.

I know KJ won't change the captains arm band, but until the Team settles in I reckon we'll have a few more games like we did on Saturday when we're just not "ticking" the way we should.