The Pompey Chimes Forum

Pompey owners are in attendance today - and Will Ferrell is attending the game as their guest.

It is blowing a gale out there today with gusts of wind up to 60mph Not the best conditions for Pompey perhaps and it reminds me of a classic game many years ago at FP vs Fulham were the wind was so strong the gks had problems clearing the milton end box from a goal kick. Pompey were 4-0 up at half time attacking the milton end and the game ended 4-4. Anyway I digress.....

KJ has named the same starting xi that started against Birmingham so Close and Cannon retain their positions in central midfield and Harrison stays as the no.9. Marquis and McCrorie are named as subs on the bench. Quite a strong bench in my view today with Bass, Raggett, Hanstrup, Evans, McCrorie, Marquis and Pittman.

Come on Pompey - lets get those 3pts today

1-0 Close
Approaching half time.
Not in touch with the game but looks like we are dominating the stats (FACTS)
Of course we won the stats last week too!

Marquis has come on for Ellis Harrison at HT

Naylor has picked up a yellow early in the 2nd half (48min)

Naylor makes it 2-0 on 75mins from close range following a corner.

I think Close scored from 30 yards following a corner too.

report from O/S

https://www.portsmouthfc.co.uk/news/201 ... eZwlq02fBk

I think Pompey hit the post twice and had three goals ruled out for fouls and offside.

Nice to get the first league win of the season....next up Sunderland away!

Ben Close.....what a player! That's all!

Just back. Tranmere played a lot of neat possession football while we looked much more dangerous. It was beginning to be frustrating before that goal. Looking forward to seeing it later. Others will no doubt analyse individuals. The most eye catching performer for me was Cannon, bought much energy and creativity and linked up well with Close and Naylor. Still too early to judge our prospects this season.

I live up north and this was the first home game I’ve been to in a while so it was nice to see a win. Especially with a little less drama than the checkatrade final which was the last game I went to.

It was good to see us mixing it up a bit and playing it out from the back more than the “hoof it and hope” tactics we played for a lot of last year.

Only really thing of any note to add was Marquis came on for Harrison (I think) and just felt like we started sitting back a bit more until Pittman came on. Don’t think Marquis did anything of note and just seemed like he moaned the entire second half when ever anything didn’t go his way or someone didn’t pass to him. Head seemed to drop quite early and got frustrated when he was being easily out muscled by the tranmere defenders and that was it. I don’t know anything about him or his history but not a fan on yesterday’s performance. Seems to have a good touch but attitude could use some work.

I wasn't at the game yesterday, but just saw the highlights.

Is the pitch narrower this year?

No. But I was looking for the small improvements. The only thing I noticed was that the TVs weren’t working.
But the ground was full. And where’s better on a Saturday afternoon?

Can't believe how much I enjoyed the game yesterday and how positive I now feel. So many positives: Downing such a good replacement for Clarke, Harness will be my player of the season, and Tom Naylor was outstanding. He must keep the armband. If Ben Close's goal doesn't win goal of the season, it will be beaten by something very special. Even Lee Brown had a good game Disappointed to see Anton Walkes getting pelters all over social media. I think people are being really harsh on him and not quite sure why?
Oh, and the Tranmere fans were excellent.

Overall, pretty good, and a nice way to start the league season at home. Thoughts must be tempered by the standard of the opposition, and Tranmere were poor. Their only tactic seemed to be to fall over at the slightest touch; it was like watching a team of ten Nathan Thompsons. This is fine as a means of getting possession, but then Tranmere had no idea what to do with the ball. The two biggest threats to Pompey's goal were both from corners hit to the big CB, which is always going to be a possibility, but nothing from open play. It will be a tough season for Tranmere if they can't find anything extra. Anyway, back to Pompey.

I am worried that Walkes will become the fans' scapegoat for the season, for no good reason. I don't know why supporters need to have one, but it seems to be a feature of all clubs.

I like Cannon at No.10. Not highly creative, but Cannon and Close together would cover both sides of the game. It also gives us some energy there, overcoming one problem of last season where the opposition DFM had as much time as they wanted on the ball. I don't know where this leaves McCrorie, but I am sure he will also get chances.

Harness flattered to deceive. Lots of good moments, but too slow to release and pass the ball on. He needs to get his head up and look for where Marquis and Pitman are positioned; they will do the rest. I hope that he is just settling into a new team as he clearly has loads of talent and should be a serious threat. Failure to play a simple final pass seems to be a feature of L1/L2, but it drives me absolutely crazy; just do the easy thing and let defences worry from there.

I don't think many L1 teams will have a bench that includes players like Pitman, Marquis (back to first choice next game, but then Harrison) and Evans. Throw in Hawkins and Williams, and Jackett will have serious attacking options to change the team as games dictate, and also rotate players through the season. We appear to be better set to last a long season than we were last year when too much depended on Curtis and Lowe scoring or creating goals.

agree with you about squad depth - and as you say with McCrorie, Close, Naylor and Cannon there is clearly depth in the midfield positions too for the 4,8 and 10 positions and Morris can play in the four or eight position and Pittman, Harness and Evans can all play as a 10.

Nice problem to have competition for places and a strong bench to choose from.