vs Wycombe FA Cup

[Earl Grey]

The team looks a serious one. Cookie doesn't want to drop out of this competition but he still wants to see what others can do.
Looks a decent compromise between experiment and giving youself a good chance of winning. The subs bench is full of options if it all goes pear-shaped.

Forde
Buxton Burgess Clarke Stevens
Rose Close
Evans Roberts Lalkovic
Hunt

Subs: O'Brien, T.Davies, Naismith, Baker, Bennett, Chaplin, Smith

[No Shot Sherlock]

Pearphetic or Pearthetic?

[Pompey Dave]

That team was neither serious or competent. Forde a disaster again, time to give the sub goalie a chance. Absolutely dire. Akinfenwa man of the match I thought, says it all.

[pompeygunner]

Massively disappointed tbh. Went over full of hope & expectation but we really do seem to be all over the shop @ home atm which frankly doesn't bode well.
1st half we were woeful, misplaced passes galore & no cohesion. 2nd half we bucked up a bit but then lost our way again. Roberts is rapidly going downhill, had an absolute mare today & yet still stays on the pitch. Only two outfield players who started came out of the game with any credit imo, Burgess & Stevens. The rest were woeful.
I thought Cook's comments afterwards were telling especially about the players who came in, the vibe was he was not happy with any of them. So where the hell does that leave our much vaunted strength in depth?
Now Mansfield becomes absolute key we daren't lose a 4th home game on the trot. That would be very very serious IMO.

[Pompey Dave]

Thought Close had a good game, Roberts awful, Evans awful in his normal position despite the goal, looked better when moved to full back. Forde gets worse by the week. Enda poor I thought and Buxton awful. Rose average, Hunt not in it. Centre half's OK, no service for Connor when he came on and Bennett looked good.

[Pompey Dave]

Oh and Cook seems to have coached Milans attacking intent out of him. He has joined the passing sideways and backwards club too.

[Pompey Dave]

How long was Cooks contract?

[<dj.>]

I pretty much agree with the above. In the first half they were the worst I've seen them for a while. In fact, I had to ask Mrs J who our striker was because I hadn't noticed Noel Hunt. Wycombe pressed and clearly wanted to win, we played without passion, without ambition and seemingly without a plan. Their first goal could have been avoided if we'd had a man on the near post for the free kick. For their second, Forde clearly didn't know whether to come out or not, went forwards and backwards a couple of times and was caught in no-man's land. Our goal came from a quick cross fired in low from close to the by-line. I posted on here in the Notts County thread that that was the way to undo league 2 defences, but we seldom do it. When we do, we look very dangerous. Instead, too often we lofted a high ball into the box from the touch line half way down their half and it was always cleared, more often than not as an easy keeper's ball. That was just one of the many ways we contrived to give away possession yesterday.

Lalkovic should have stayed on - MoM for me - and Roberts should have gone off. His decision making was very poor all match, although, to be fair to him, our players were not offering him easy passes too often. We looked much, much better with Chaplin and Bennett on the pitch.

For the second match in a row, Mrs J and I left the ground at full-time without applauding the players off the pitch, which by our standards is serious disgruntlement.

[Selsey Bill]

I think I've just about calmed down, but I left the ground yesterday as disappointed as I have been for a very long time. Those of you who 'know' me will be aware that I am always a glass half full man when it comes to Pompey, but I find it impossible to take anything positive from that abject display. It was as if our players either thought they just had to show up to win, or Paul Cook told them they didn't need the distraction of a mini cup run. However, I know the latter is not the case as he was spouting off in the News earlier in the week that they were taking the competition seriously and would love to get through to R3 and get a glamour tie.

I sat in the Fratton End for a change and was right behind the goal so I witnessed Forde's display clearly and closely. He was totally at fault for their second goal, but didn't even look confident prior to that.

I agree with everything said previously about Roberts. He needs dropping to straighten his head, and I'm getting fed up with our fans singing about him when he is playing so poorly. All it does is encourage Cook to keep playing him. I disagree with what was said above about Burgess though, I thought he was completely outplayed by Akinfenwe who was by far the best player on the pitch. I did something I very rarely do yesterday which was to applaud their striker as he was subbed late on. I kind of knew Burgess would struggle though, because he has done so before against big strikers like Akinfenwe, Rubin Reid, etc. He needs to learn how play against them. I thought Buxton did OK, but Evans is better, and strangely played better when dropped back to RB. What is also evident is that Close is too lightweight to play at this level. He is very good with the ball at his feet, but he is no Michael Doyle, who we missed big time yesterday. Rose was also very disappointing. Our best player in the first half (which was almost certainly the worst half of football I have seen us play under Paul Cook) was Milan Lalkovic. If I'd had my way he would have been playing with Bennett and Baker from the start. When Bennett came on he completely changed the game for 15 minutes or so and we should have gone on to (undeservedly) win. He played very well for the time he was on the pitch, and if ever there was a good example of the positive effect dropping a player can have, Kyle Bennett is it. Hunt was the wrong man for the job yesterday. He is too slow, and up against one of the best centre back pairings in the league he was never going to get any joy. We would have been far better playing Chaplin who has the pace to get in behind the likes of Pierre, or even Smith, who at least has height.

Anyway, next Saturday's game against Mansfield is now massive. I don't think I can ever remember watching Pompey lose 4 times in a row at home?

For the first time under his stewardship, I am concerned for Paul Cook.

[pompeymick]

I think I've just about calmed down, but I left the ground yesterday as disappointed as I have been for a very long time. Those of you who 'know' me will be aware that I am always a glass half full man when it comes to Pompey, but I find it impossible to take anything positive from that abject display. It was as if our players either thought they just had to show up to win, or Paul Cook told them they didn't need the distraction of a mini cup run. However, I know the latter is not the case as he was spouting off in the News earlier in the week that they were taking the competition seriously and would love to get through to R3 and get a glamour tie.

I sat in the Fratton End for a change and was right behind the goal so I witnessed Forde's display clearly and closely. He was totally at fault for their second goal, but didn't even look confident prior to that.

I agree with everything said previously about Roberts. He needs dropping to straighten his head, and I'm getting fed up with our fans singing about him when he is playing so poorly. All it does is encourage Cook to keep playing him. I disagree with what was said above about Burgess though, I thought he was completely outplayed by Akinfenwe who was by far the best player on the pitch. I did something I very rarely do yesterday which was to applaud their striker as he was subbed late on. I kind of knew Burgess would struggle though, because he has done so before against big strikers like Akinfenwe, Rubin Reid, etc. He needs to learn how play against them. I thought Buxton did OK, but Evans is better, and strangely played better when dropped back to RB. What is also evident is that Close is too lightweight to play at this level. He is very good with the ball at his feet, but he is no Michael Doyle, who we missed big time yesterday. Rose was also very disappointing. Our best player in the first half (which was almost certainly the worst half of football I have seen us play under Paul Cook) was Milan Lalkovic. If I'd had my way he would have been playing with Bennett and Baker from the start. When Bennett came on he completely changed the game for 15 minutes or so and we should have gone on to (undeservedly) win. He played very well for the time he was on the pitch, and if ever there was a good example of the positive effect dropping a player can have, Kyle Bennett is it. Hunt was the wrong man for the job yesterday. He is too slow, and up against one of the best centre back pairings in the league he was never going to get any joy. We would have been far better playing Chaplin who has the pace to get in behind the likes of Pierre, or even Smith, who at least has height.

Anyway, next Saturday's game against Mansfield is now massive. I don't think I can ever remember watching Pompey lose 4 times in a row at home?

For the first time under his stewardship, I am concerned for Paul Cook.

Quite a few in the South stand applauded Akinfenwe when he was subbed, he won practically every header, and more importantly did something positive with them, he has very quick reactions for his size and even outpaced Burgess at one stage.
I thought Cook's antics in his box made him look like a petulant child having a tantrum, he may not slag his players off in the press but he certainly lets them, and everybody else, know during the match.
I feel Cook lacks motivational skills, his attitude towards 'lesser' competitions leaves a lot to be desired, he complains about the size of his squad but shows complete disdain towards competitive Cup matches. Everyone expects him to use his squad fully when it comes to these matches but the intent to win must be there for every competitive match Pompey play in. What use is it to play players in a game they are fully aware that he is not interested in, what message does that give out. " I don't want to win this one, so you can play" really boosts a player's self confidence.He should have gone into every competitive match with a 'desire to win' outlook not one that says it doesn't matter, even if the team is not his first choice players.
We may have the biggest squad and one of the biggest budgets but it doesn't reflect in the team which be the most lightweight in the Division in terms of stature & physique.
I may get the distinction of watching Pompey lose four times on the trot in the much maligned Checkatrade Trophy on Tuesday, so you may be watching No 5 unfold on Saturday.

[Selsey Bill]

I may get the distinction of watching Pompey lose four times on the trot in the much maligned Checkatrade Trophy on Tuesday, so you may be watching No 5 unfold on Saturday.

Crikey, I completely forgot about 'that' game

[pompeygunner]

Dont get me wrong SB when I say Burgess & Stevens were the only ones who came out with any credit from the starting 11. It doesn't mean much @ all after as you rightly say was an absolutely abject performance.
I too worry about PC, lose & play poorly against Mansfield & the crowd who turned a tad yesterday will really give an ugly response I feel.
And that will just heap pressure on the Board. I hope things pan out but like you I was lower than a snakes belly@ 5pm yesterday. We show zero signs of putting together a cohesive run of results & in fact are started to look a very befuddled outfit who IMO are showing clear signs of being confused @ whats being asked of them.
And if anything happens to Conor we could be in real trouble because its starting to like our forays into the transfer market for that troublesome up top striker have brought the sum total of zilch which with our budget is not on.

[Selsey Bill]

Dont get me wrong SB when I say Burgess & Stevens were the only ones who came out with any credit from the starting 11. It doesn't mean much @ all after as you rightly say was an absolutely abject performance.
I too worry about PC, lose & play poorly against Mansfield & the crowd who turned a tad yesterday will really give an ugly response I feel.
And that will just heap pressure on the Board. I hope things pan out but like you I was lower than a snakes belly@ 5pm yesterday. We show zero signs of putting together a cohesive run of results & in fact are started to look a very befuddled outfit who IMO are showing clear signs of being confused @ whats being asked of them.
And if anything happens to Conor we could be in real trouble because its starting to like our forays into the transfer market for that troublesome up top striker have brought the sum total of zilch which with our budget is not on.

I'm worried mate. The last thing we need right now is a new manager, and to lose Chaplin. I really hope I'm wrong, and I feel disloyal admitting this, but I'm beginning to feel that PC is losing the dressing room. It's weird how a cup game that really should be quite insignificant, is making me feel this way, but something happened yesterday.

[POLPERO99]

I thought the whole team looked as though it had been thrown together with little thought or game plan . Personally , I wouldnt have played Roberts, he needs our best team around him all the time to play well and he also looks better when he comes back fresh. Yesterday wont have done him any good either. I thought Evans was terrible and has not looked good for a while . That wide position is a really important position for us and we need some genuine quality there to pull teams around and switch play. We look an easy team to defend against at the moment especially when at home.
Hard to get excited about next Saturdays Mansfield game but if things dont go well we might have an issue.

[Pompey1985]

Yesterday shows what Doyle brings to the side. A voice and a leader.

Yesterday we had neither.