Positives From Exeter Game

[Jack_Tinn]

~ 3pts and 7 from the first 9 available;
~ clean sheet;
~ 2nd consecutive clean sheet;
~ Alex Robertson made his first league start in England .... and was MoTM;
- Exeter were unbeaten going in the game this season (3 games);
~ Exeter had yet to concede a goal in the league this season before Colby Bishop scored;
~ The atmosphere at FP sounded fantastic - just over 17,500 for a midweek game which was live on SKY;
~ Pompey are not unbeaten in their last 14 games. The best run the club has had since 1948;
~ Norris made a wonderful reflex save towards the end of the game. Great for his and his team mates confidence;
~ Pompey up to 4th in the early table
~ Pompey have the 2nd best goal difference in League 1 (+5) Scored 6 and conceded once.


A few things for Pompey to work on though:

~ five bookings in the game for Pompey . At least two of them were avoidable e.g. for kicking the ball away;
~ could have done better closing the game out in the last 10-15mins. Conceded possession and invited Exeter onto them too easily
~ lack of quality delivery from corners.

[Pompey55]

Totally agree about poor delivery of corners mostly by Scully who has done nothing in my opinion to merit a starting place and certainly should not be taking set pieces
I would start Sparkes or Kamara as long as you keep Ogilvie in support to do the defending which is a weakness in both their games

[Pompey1984+1]

Totally agree about poor delivery of corners mostly by Scully who has done nothing in my opinion to merit a starting place and certainly should not be taking set pieces
I would start Sparkes or Kamara as long as you keep Ogilvie in support to do the defending which is a weakness in both their games

I think it's a little unfair to say Scully has done nothing. He has one assist so far this season.

[GreenBlue]

JT listed 11 or 12 positives and 55 agreed with the negatives only and provided on of his own. Cheer up 55. We are not relegated yet.

[Jack_Tinn]

JT listed 11 or 12 positives and 55 agreed with the negatives only and provided on of his own. Cheer up 55. We are not relegated yet.

just a point of order. I said there were a few areas from the game that Pompey could work on. These are not 'negatives' but more highlighting areas of focus going forward where improvement can be found. Mousinho himself said after the game that he wasn't happy with some of the quality of the crossing and that the team needed to do a better job managing the end of the game and he and the coaches would be working on that now in training.

I was concerned watching the game about the yellow cards. You make it harder on yourself naturally if you are trying to manage a 1-0 win and you have three of your back four already on a yellow.

[GreenBlue]

My post was more a tongue-in-cheek dig at 55. Just for fun and no animosity intended.

[jam tomorrow]

What is reassuring is some Exeter fans believe we were better than Blackpool who they had played and also thought we would at least be in the playoffs. I thought our play was good and of course there are things we need to improve on, which is understandable at this stage of the season. The only question I ask myself is, are there any positions which we could improve upon before the end of the transfer window to make us stronger?

Answers on a postcard please and sent to Richard Hughes co Fratton Park

[Pompey1984+1]

I think the signs are positive, JM has highlighted some areas of improvement (as he has done each game) the things that he is picking out are all fixable too - things like set pieces can be improved, game management can be improved.

I think things like game management are a bit of a rock and hard place too, as you can take it to the corner and it's deemed a bit negative or you can cross it in, get a second, or give the ball away and they score.

All very much a work in progress but we are getting better game by game and growing into the season.

September looked a tougher month at the start of the season but the wah Derby and Barnsley have started shows us we don't need to be scared.

[Pompey55]

My post was more a tongue-in-cheek dig at 55. Just for fun and no animosity intended.

My post was a reiteration of my view of the game if you had noted I was complimentary of the professional performance when I got home on Tuesday but then also highlighted my concerns regarding Scully
I thought it was positive to suggest viable options to replace him with Sparkes or Kamara

[Pompey55]

I think the signs are positive, JM has highlighted some areas of improvement (as he has done each game) the things that he is picking out are all fixable too - things like set pieces can be improved, game management can be improved.

I think things like game management are a bit of a rock and hard place too, as you can take it to the corner and it's deemed a bit negative or you can cross it in, get a second, or give the ball away and they score.

All very much a work in progress but we are getting better game by game and growing into the season.

September looked a tougher month at the start of the season but the wah Derby and Barnsley have started shows us we don't need to be scared.

Very much doubt if the Barnsley game will go ahead due to international call ups
In a recent club posting they suggested that if we lose Whyte,Lane Devlin and Robertson then we would look for it to be rearranged that’s not counting Barnsley call ups
That cost us last season when they were performing badly on the original date for the game then beat us later in the season when playing well

[Pompey55]

Totally agree about poor delivery of corners mostly by Scully who has done nothing in my opinion to merit a starting place and certainly should not be taking set pieces
I would start Sparkes or Kamara as long as you keep Ogilvie in support to do the defending which is a weakness in both their games

I think it's a little unfair to say Scully has done nothing. He has one assist so far this season.

From possibly his one and only decent corner!

[Jack_Tinn]

What is reassuring is some Exeter fans believe we were better than Blackpool who they had played and also thought we would at least be in the playoffs. I thought our play was good and of course there are things we need to improve on, which is understandable at this stage of the season. The only question I ask myself is, are there any positions which we could improve upon before the end of the transfer window to make us stronger?

Answers on a postcard please and sent to Richard Hughes co Fratton Park

I have been asking myself the same question. There is always the ability to "add one or two more" to any squad and therefore I would say that Pompey could always add another creative player but I think the biggest area for me is that I would like to see a physical imposing midfield player.

Neither Pack nor Morrell will back down I know from a challenge in midfield but at times vs Exeter I wish we had an imposing midfield player on the bench that we could bring on to shore up the midfield. Lowery (when fit) is slight of build, Robertson is 20 and playing regular first team football for the first time and Devlin is short in statute and only 19yo.

Shaughnessy has the build and experience I am thinking about and you can see Mousinho is thinking perhaps along the same lines hence why Raggett comes on with 10 mins or so left and goes into centre half and Shaughnessy moves into a defensive midfield role. Saydee is the other player who is closest to what I think we could look to add but he is a forward player and not a midfielder.

[Jack_Tinn]

I think the signs are positive, JM has highlighted some areas of improvement (as he has done each game) the things that he is picking out are all fixable too - things like set pieces can be improved, game management can be improved.

I think things like game management are a bit of a rock and hard place too, as you can take it to the corner and it's deemed a bit negative or you can cross it in, get a second, or give the ball away and they score.

All very much a work in progress but we are getting better game by game and growing into the season.

September looked a tougher month at the start of the season but the wah Derby and Barnsley have started shows us we don't need to be scared.

Very much doubt if the Barnsley game will go ahead due to international call ups
In a recent club posting they suggested that if we lose Whyte,Lane Devlin and Robertson then we would look for it to be rearranged that’s not counting Barnsley call ups
That cost us last season when they were performing badly on the original date for the game then beat us later in the season when playing well

Good point about the Barnsley game. I can't see that going ahead since we only need three call ups and we have Whyte and Robertson likely to be in their respective squads and Lane, Devlin and possibly Yengi with chances to be called up too. Morrell is suspended for Wales for his red card in June vs Turkey.

When I see Regan Poole playing with such assuredness I question why he can't get in the Wales squad - he has played for Wales at every level up to full international and been in several squads before so it is not out of the question if he continues to play as he is currently.

[Pompey1984+1]

September 4th - 12th.
Barnsley Away.

October 9th - 17th.
Gillingham Home (Football League Trophy) not impacted.
Northampton Away.

November 13th - 21st.
Oxford Away.

March 18th - 26th.
Barnsley Home.

[jam tomorrow]

Screws Headline

Portsmouth prepare list of transfer targets as they plot next move after midfielder surgery
There is still no definitive decision on whether they are going to replace Lowery I must admit based on my comments earlier whether we should bring anyone in I would like to see a replacement for Lowery. As I would like cover for Roberston because he is showing how much we needed a number a creative atttacking number 8. We have cover for most positions but this is one position that needs it