Number 9

[PeteM]

I'd like to see us sign Lewis Wing or Tommy Leigh. And Bernard of course. That would be true intent.

Can't see what the appeal is about Leigh apart from that he's from Pompey but I like the look of Wing who weighs in with plenty of assists and could fill the creative hole left by Jacobs.

How many goals did Jacobs actually contribute to?

According to transfermarkt, the stats (in all competitions) are as follows:

2020/21: 21 appearances, 2 goals and 3 assists
2021/22: 32 appearances, 6 goals and 7 assists
2022/23: 39 appearances, 5 goals and 5 assists

Obviously some of those appearances will be off the bench as well.

[Blue Walter]

imagine if we went and paid £500 to buy someone out the army and stuck them up front, the board would be shot for that wouldnt they, I mean the stats and record would be shocking, and even if they had scored some goals they would be coming from a ***** league so wouldnt be worth the punt anyway

I think you are exaggerating some people's veiws somewhat. Guy Whittingham had already played at several levels and was a regular scorer at each. When he came to Pompey he was still a relatively young man who hadn't played in full time football but full of potential. Some of our signings don't have the same pedigree as an up and coming Whittingham and have reached the age where there potential has been reached or their potential would have been shown. Not all our buys, I hasten to add, because amongst some of the uninspiring transfers there have been some good ones with Devlin being particularly exciting.

I don't get why people are seeing bringing in players cheaply from clubs at a lower level to us is so good. Bringing in a player with potential is good in my opinion. If we went and got all our players out of the Ishmian League on 10 year contracts would that be seen as good?

[Pompey55]

imagine if we went and paid £500 to buy someone out the army and stuck them up front, the board would be shot for that wouldnt they, I mean the stats and record would be shocking, and even if they had scored some goals they would be coming from a ***** league so wouldnt be worth the punt anyway

Actually we never did pay £500 pounds to buy him out of the army, he bought himself out so he could move to us from Yeovil we eventually paid him back as it saved us paying them a fee also it was £450
Yeovil wanted to buy him out but by doing it himself it meant he was a free agent
Whilst in army he joined Waterlooville ( 23 goals in 36 games) moving then to Yeovil (18 goals in 23 games) and then to us hardly unproven
Also almost half his goals scored for us 42 were in one season and he had always acknowledged that was mostly helped by playing along side Walsh

[PeteM]

I don't get why people are seeing bringing in players cheaply from clubs at a lower level to us is so good. Bringing in a player with potential is good in my opinion. If we went and got all our players out of the Ishmian League on 10 year contracts would that be seen as good?

Obviously that wouldn't be good, no. But I don't quite understand why you think we're bringing players in from a lower level than us. With the exception of Devlin and Yengi, they were all playing at League One level or above last season.

[Blue Walter]

I don't get why people are seeing bringing in players cheaply from clubs at a lower level to us is so good. Bringing in a player with potential is good in my opinion. If we went and got all our players out of the Ishmian League on 10 year contracts would that be seen as good?

Obviously that wouldn't be good, no. But I don't quite understand why you think we're bringing players in from a lower level than us. With the exception of Devlin and Yengi, they were all playing at League One level or above last season.

I was referring to the cases of Shaughnessy, Sparkes & Stevenson really where they came from relegated clubs or clubs that struggled last season. Sparkes was deemed as surplus to requirements by Exeter and I don't see these players as improvement on players that have left. I certainly don’t see the attraction of Yengi who was hardly a standout player in a league that is deemed at the same level as our National League, at best. I don't see why bringing these players in on long contracts as deemed as good. I would think our recruitment team have seen him play and has seen something that other visiting scouts haven't seen. At 24 years old one would assume he is at least reaching his peek.

I don't dismiss all our transfer activity because there is a mix of real potential and players of proven ability at our level. What has disappointed me is the overall quality of the squad hasn't been improved in my veiw and the positions appear to have been filled with cheap options. Maybe the players I envisaged coming are not available, and before you ask I don't have any names of players that would I would like to see. I suppose someone along the lines of Lewis Wing from our level, but I would assume he will end up in the Championship.

I assume our business has nearly finished as 9 of the 10 places have been taken up but, I suppose, there is still time. I thought we had good players for this level last season and I thought we would add real quality to it and makes more of a force this coming season.

[Pompey55]

I don't get why people are seeing bringing in players cheaply from clubs at a lower level to us is so good. Bringing in a player with potential is good in my opinion. If we went and got all our players out of the Ishmian League on 10 year contracts would that be seen as good?

Obviously that wouldn't be good, no. But I don't quite understand why you think we're bringing players in from a lower level than us. With the exception of Devlin and Yengi, they were all playing at League One level or above last season.

We need to quantify comments regardless coming from a higher level
Scully played a total of barely 100 minutes for Wigan last season and if you take away the 68 minutes in the last game of the season it’s even lower game time
Whyte never made the Cardiff squad after 1 January and prior to that it’s mainly odd few minutes of the bench
Norris came from Burnley but spend last year at Peterborough
These 2 however with their past league one experience are at the top end of quality in our division but both found the jump to championship a step to far
The others are from teams who mostly struggled in our league or from a lower level
In most suggested line ups on another thread only the 3 I mentioned get chosen for starting 11

[Pompey1984+1]

I don't get why people are seeing bringing in players cheaply from clubs at a lower level to us is so good. Bringing in a player with potential is good in my opinion. If we went and got all our players out of the Ishmian League on 10 year contracts would that be seen as good?

Obviously that wouldn't be good, no. But I don't quite understand why you think we're bringing players in from a lower level than us. With the exception of Devlin and Yengi, they were all playing at League One level or above last season.

We need to quantify comments regardless coming from a higher level
Scully played a total of barely 100 minutes for Wigan last season and if you take away the 68 minutes in the last game of the season it’s even lower game time
Whyte never made the Cardiff squad after 1 January and prior to that it’s mainly odd few minutes of the bench
Norris came from Burnley but spend last year at Peterborough
These 2 however with their past league one experience are at the top end of quality in our division but both found the jump to championship a step to far
The others are from teams who mostly struggled in our league or from a lower level
In most suggested line ups on another thread only the 3 I mentioned get chosen for starting 11

Good players get relegated too because football is a team, no squad game. Are the players we have brought in better than the players they have replaced in the squad?

I'd say for the most part they are at the very least equal - with perhaps a question mark over Thompson - but he's no good if he can't stay fit, or eats a chunk of wages. Mostly they played a lot of games last season, you can't influence the game from the treatment table.

[Portchesterblue2]

imagine if we went and paid £500 to buy someone out the army and stuck them up front, the board would be shot for that wouldnt they, I mean the stats and record would be shocking, and even if they had scored some goals they would be coming from a ***** league so wouldnt be worth the punt anyway

I think you are exaggerating some people's veiws somewhat. Guy Whittingham had already played at several levels and was a regular scorer at each. When he came to Pompey he was still a relatively young man who hadn't played in full time football but full of potential. Some of our signings don't have the same pedigree as an up and coming Whittingham and have reached the age where there potential has been reached or their potential would have been shown. Not all our buys, I hasten to add, because amongst some of the uninspiring transfers there have been some good ones with Devlin being particularly exciting.

I don't get why people are seeing bringing in players cheaply from clubs at a lower level to us is so good. Bringing in a player with potential is good in my opinion. If we went and got all our players out of the Ishmian League on 10 year contracts would that be seen as good?

I dont see it as a good thing, or a bad thing. I am waiting until I have seen how Mous can coach them and they have played some games.
you question the australian league nd what he might be able to do, well I would question the irish league and what sort of standard that is. Curtis came form there and worked out ok?? devlin has come from there and is highly rated with lots of teams after him??
of course all our players from lower leagues on 10 year contracts isnt going to work, and we arent doing that. Mous and hughes have clearly targeted certain players that they believe will fit the style of football they want to play.
People seem to forget we have Pack, Morrell, Raggett as experienced players alongside to guide and help players too.
Lets see what the season start brings before we write them all off ffs

[farehamblue]

I don’t normally post but as this is an interesting discussion do I’m posting my view. I think mous was fairly comfortable with the starting 11 but recognised the lack of depth in the squad last season. The players brought in are more for providing more depth other than Whyte and Sculley who have been recruited as we were very light with wingers. Like most posters I would have liked to have seen a proven striker to challenge Bishop, Adam May from Cheltenham, who scored regularly last season an option. I can see a number of younger players being loaned out and possibly a further 3 or 4 players brought in. A back up goalkeeper, a centre half (hopefully Bernard) and a number 10/playmaker. I will reserve judgement on our transfer activity until the end of the window but hoping that we will be competitive this season. Pup

[Pompey1984+1]

I don’t normally post but as this is an interesting discussion do I’m posting my view. I think mous was fairly comfortable with the starting 11 but recognised the lack of depth in the squad last season. The players brought in are more for providing more depth other than Whyte and Sculley who have been recruited as we were very light with wingers. Like most posters I would have liked to have seen a proven striker to challenge Bishop, Adam May from Cheltenham, who scored regularly last season an option. I can see a number of younger players being loaned out and possibly a further 3 or 4 players brought in. A back up goalkeeper, a centre half (hopefully Bernard) and a number 10/playmaker. I will reserve judgement on our transfer activity until the end of the window but hoping that we will be competitive this season. Pup

The problem is no proven player is going to come and play second fiddle unless you pay them a huge wedge, and even then they might not.

[Mickemo]

I don’t normally post but as this is an interesting discussion do I’m posting my view. I think mous was fairly comfortable with the starting 11 but recognised the lack of depth in the squad last season. The players brought in are more for providing more depth other than Whyte and Sculley who have been recruited as we were very light with wingers. Like most posters I would have liked to have seen a proven striker to challenge Bishop, Adam May from Cheltenham, who scored regularly last season an option. I can see a number of younger players being loaned out and possibly a further 3 or 4 players brought in. A back up goalkeeper, a centre half (hopefully Bernard) and a number 10/playmaker. I will reserve judgement on our transfer activity until the end of the window but hoping that we will be competitive this season. Pup

Good post. I was going to write something similar as IMHO the primary reason we fell off a cliff in Oct was injuries to our main players. The recruitment so far this season provides us strength in depth so hopefully we can avoid a repeat.

That said I do acknowledge the perception that our recruitment is light on Championship quality, but that can be resolved by 3 higher quality signings. If we made those I’d be very confident of achieving our objective this season!

I’m most excited about young Terry Devlin, he could be our new Barry Horne - PUP

[Portchesterblue2]

imagine if we went and paid £500 to buy someone out the army and stuck them up front, the board would be shot for that wouldnt they, I mean the stats and record would be shocking, and even if they had scored some goals they would be coming from a ***** league so wouldnt be worth the punt anyway

Actually we never did pay £500 pounds to buy him out of the army, he bought himself out so he could move to us from Yeovil we eventually paid him back as it saved us paying them a fee also it was £450
Yeovil wanted to buy him out but by doing it himself it meant he was a free agent
Whilst in army he joined Waterlooville ( 23 goals in 36 games) moving then to Yeovil (18 goals in 23 games) and then to us hardly unproven
Also almost half his goals scored for us 42 were in one season and he had always acknowledged that was mostly helped by playing along side Walsh

Well please accept my apologies I was £50 out, and if we eventually paid him back, does that not mean we paid to get him out the army???
Oh ok, so we cant buy a striker from the Aussie Pub league, but signing from waterlooville and their lofty heights thats ok
oh no sorry, he was ***** too because walsh did it all

[Blue Walter]

imagine if we went and paid £500 to buy someone out the army and stuck them up front, the board would be shot for that wouldnt they, I mean the stats and record would be shocking, and even if they had scored some goals they would be coming from a ***** league so wouldnt be worth the punt anyway

I think you are exaggerating some people's veiws somewhat. Guy Whittingham had already played at several levels and was a regular scorer at each. When he came to Pompey he was still a relatively young man who hadn't played in full time football but full of potential. Some of our signings don't have the same pedigree as an up and coming Whittingham and have reached the age where there potential has been reached or their potential would have been shown. Not all our buys, I hasten to add, because amongst some of the uninspiring transfers there have been some good ones with Devlin being particularly exciting.

I don't get why people are seeing bringing in players cheaply from clubs at a lower level to us is so good. Bringing in a player with potential is good in my opinion. If we went and got all our players out of the Ishmian League on 10 year contracts would that be seen as good?

I dont see it as a good thing, or a bad thing. I am waiting until I have seen how Mous can coach them and they have played some games.
you question the australian league nd what he might be able to do, well I would question the irish league and what sort of standard that is. Curtis came form there and worked out ok?? devlin has come from there and is highly rated with lots of teams after him??
of course all our players from lower leagues on 10 year contracts isnt going to work, and we arent doing that. Mous and hughes have clearly targeted certain players that they believe will fit the style of football they want to play.
People seem to forget we have Pack, Morrell, Raggett as experienced players alongside to guide and help players too.
Lets see what the season start brings before we write them all off ffs

Both Curtis & Devlin were standouts in the Irish League, as was Whyte when he was there. Far less players come from the Australian League although, in fairness, that is probably geographic more than anything. Yengi may well turn out to be a success but his record at the level he has come from is far from convincing. Nowhere near the promise that young Whittingham, Curtis or Devlin had. Pompey's recruitment staff must have run the rule over him and they have seen something that no one else has seen, which is surprising for a player who is 24. Nevertheless they have seen something and their record earlier in the year was good so there maybe something here, but it is hard to get excited about.

[Pompey1984+1]

Sorry to be pedantic but Devlin and Curtis played in totally different leagues, in totally different countries.

[Portchesterblue2]

imagine if we went and paid £500 to buy someone out the army and stuck them up front, the board would be shot for that wouldnt they, I mean the stats and record would be shocking, and even if they had scored some goals they would be coming from a ***** league so wouldnt be worth the punt anyway

I think you are exaggerating some people's veiws somewhat. Guy Whittingham had already played at several levels and was a regular scorer at each. When he came to Pompey he was still a relatively young man who hadn't played in full time football but full of potential. Some of our signings don't have the same pedigree as an up and coming Whittingham and have reached the age where there potential has been reached or their potential would have been shown. Not all our buys, I hasten to add, because amongst some of the uninspiring transfers there have been some good ones with Devlin being particularly exciting.

I don't get why people are seeing bringing in players cheaply from clubs at a lower level to us is so good. Bringing in a player with potential is good in my opinion. If we went and got all our players out of the Ishmian League on 10 year contracts would that be seen as good?

I dont see it as a good thing, or a bad thing. I am waiting until I have seen how Mous can coach them and they have played some games.
you question the australian league nd what he might be able to do, well I would question the irish league and what sort of standard that is. Curtis came form there and worked out ok?? devlin has come from there and is highly rated with lots of teams after him??
of course all our players from lower leagues on 10 year contracts isnt going to work, and we arent doing that. Mous and hughes have clearly targeted certain players that they believe will fit the style of football they want to play.
People seem to forget we have Pack, Morrell, Raggett as experienced players alongside to guide and help players too.
Lets see what the season start brings before we write them all off ffs

Both Curtis & Devlin were standouts in the Irish League, as was Whyte when he was there. Far less players come from the Australian League although, in fairness, that is probably geographic more than anything. Yengi may well turn out to be a success but his record at the level he has come from is far from convincing. Nowhere near the promise that young Whittingham, Curtis or Devlin had. Pompey's recruitment staff must have run the rule over him and they have seen something that no one else has seen, which is surprising for a player who is 24. Nevertheless they have seen something and their record earlier in the year was good so there maybe something here, but it is hard to get excited about.

Pitman was a standout in the wessex league last year, should we resign him ??