The Pompey Chimes Forum

No lack of energy in first half. But the usual lesson: if you don't take your chances, you lose.

Nice of the ref to let us keep 11 on the pitch by the end....... a lot of effort, but futile in many cases as we lacked the final touches every time. Good atmosphere so well done to the fans....shame the same can't be said for everyone on the field.

uspompeyfan wrote: ↑Tue Sep 24, 2019 9:26 pm Nice of the ref to let us keep 11 on the pitch by the end....... a lot of effort, but futile in many cases as we lacked the final touches every time. Good atmosphere so well done to the fans....shame the same can't be said for everyone on the field.

is Williams even a real player or did he blag his way into the team like that African bloke did at Southampton a few years back ?

Our defence is so bad, Bolton at fault for two goals, Downing at least one. Midfield can't keep the ball for more than two passes. Curtis flatters to deceive. No cutting edge up front.

Manager has to go.

There's just no communication at the back. I think there was just one offside decision all night (and that was a no brainer). Admittedly, no centre-half likes a player running at them, but ours look terrified. Huge gaps between the two, no cover in front. I have to admit, I didn't think losing Clarke would make this much difference, but his composure at the back was first rate. Perhaps Naylor needs to play the anchor role for a bit, and ease off on the marauding runs forward.

I actually thought Williams had a decent game, and linked up with Pitman really well on that flank, but I don't think he put in a fair cross all night. Similarly with Curtis - needs to cut inside far more often.

Marquis desperately needs a strike partner - he was having to collect the ball so deep in the end, it left him a ludicrous amount to do.

I attended with my son, and the first thing to say is that our supporters were terrific, as good as one could hope for.

I thought that we did pretty well in the first half, but yet again we didn't score when we had the upper hand, which could have changed the game. Considering that we were playing against more gifted players I thought our defence did well and Haunstrup in particular was excellent against a very tricky winger. When they broke from defence their class told however, and they put away two chances with skill.

We started the second half well and were creating chances but none went in, if we had gone to 2 - 1 it would have been game on. At around 60 minutes it became apparent to my son and I and also to others around us that our midfielders were tiring, and gaps were opening up in midfield for them to exploit. Now would have been the time to put on Cannon and McCrorie/Evans but there was no movement on the bench and predictably they scored on about 70 minutes just before Evans came on, and when he did it was to replace Williams, who I thought had a reasonable game, especially as he was out for the whole of pre season, although his crossing was generally poor. McCrorie finally came on to replace Close - far too late in my opinion. Marquis had very poor service, and there is no point in having a hotshot striker if you don't give him ammunition to use. Unlike a previous poster I think that defenders have now worked out the way Curtis plays, and I think he needs to go outside and cross with his left foot more and not keep cutting in onto his right foot. He needs to mix it up more.

Summing up, not much has changed, we still aren't putting away chances, we still don't have a midfield general who can pull things together (Harness maybe), and we are still not making timely substitutions.

This can all change for the better very quickly, and it needs to or KJ is going to come under severe pressure.

We looked well on top for the first 20mins and if we could have only put one of our chances away it could have been a different story. Then they scored against the run of play and we didn't really look like getting back into it after that.

It's a shame, but they are a mid-table premier side and we are towards the bottom of league 1 so no surprise really.

The match against Bolton on Saturday is much more important to us actually and we need to take the same effort into it as we showed in the first 20mins last night.

We will see! PUP

OldSpice wrote: ↑Wed Sep 25, 2019 2:44 pm We looked well on top for the first 20mins and if we could have only put one of our chances away it could have been a different story. Then they scored against the run of play and we didn't really look like getting back into it after that.

It's a shame, but they are a mid-table premier side and we are towards the bottom of league 1 so no surprise really.

The match against Bolton on Saturday is much more important to us actually and we need to take the same effort into it as we showed in the first 20mins last night.

We will see! PUP

Spot on Mick, especially the bit about Bolton this weekend. Must win, and well, or will get toxic.

I thought we looked better than we have done of late.

Back 4 was much more settled than I expected. Hawkins was good.
Liked the look of Williams like that he wanted to run at them.

Harness to come back in and play behind Marquis?

Pompey1985 wrote: ↑Wed Sep 25, 2019 3:26 pm I thought we looked better than we have done of late.

Back 4 was much more settled than I expected. Hawkins was good.
Liked the look of Williams like that he wanted to run at them.

Harness to come back in and play behind Marquis?

My shout for when Harness is fit is that he will go back to RW, and Williams will switch to LW, to replace Curtis.

Can't Williams replace the janitor instead?

And i thought our fans were disloyal have a read of this if you need something to cheer yourself up: https://www.saintsweb.co.uk/showthread. ... ZotQS2ZPfY