Gavin Whyte

[cowespompey]

Will the manager have the guts to do what obviously needs doing and that cut our losses with him . He’s never going to do anything here

[eltorrro]

Will the manager have the guts to do what obviously needs doing and that cut our losses with him . He’s never going to do anything here

We won't know unless he does it...but we can only hope!!

[blue-two]

Feel for him. But it ain't happening for him.

[Blue Walter]

It appears that he has had extreme personal problems that has affected his game. For that reason alone you can only feel for him on a human basis but, whatever the reasons are, he has been a huge disappointment. Especially when he was seen as our 'marquee' signing. So far he hasn't justified a starting place and I find it concerning Mousinho is shoe horning him in the team at the expense of in form players, citing protection against tiredness as the reason. I hope, obviously, in time he will live up to his billing and starts doing it for Pompey. In my opinion that can only come from the subs bench as things stand, but I also believe it is far too soon to talk about ditching him as I think there is every chance he will turn out to be that marquee man.

[Pompey1984+1]

I suspect there are elements of resting players, and elements of trying to get Whyte back into some sort of form.

We need all our players in the squad over the course of the season, I think with a fully fit and firing Whyte and Scully we would have seen some more rotation and perhaps have seen less of a dip over the intense holiday period.

[Blue Walter]

I suspect there are elements of resting players, and elements of trying to get Whyte back into some sort of form.

We need all our players in the squad over the course of the season, I think with a fully fit and firing Whyte and Scully we would have seen some more rotation and perhaps have seen less of a dip over the intense holiday period.

I agree that only by playing Whyte & Scully will be able to find some form. With only first team football in League One available there is no other option but for them to get game time in the first team. But I think that when an out of form player starts ahead of players that are producing it weakens the team. I agree tiredness in a conjested fixture list is a problem but this is where substitutes are important. My veiw is that both Whyte & Scully should only come on for tiring players or when the game is safe. But to get to the safe period we need our best players starting in my opinion.

[NSRailings]

I agree that only by playing Whyte & Scully will be able to find some form. With only first team football in League One available there is no other option but for them to get game time in the first team. But I think that when an out of form player starts ahead of players that are producing it weakens the team. I agree tiredness in a conjested fixture list is a problem but this is where substitutes are important. My veiw is that both Whyte & Scully should only come on for tiring players or when the game is safe. But to get to the safe period we need our best players starting in my opinion.

Agree with this. And as we had a few points cushion Mousinho might have played around with things a bit - I think he's done that before. So tomorrow's selection will be very interesting, as he was disappointed we'd thrown away the points gap after Exeter.

[Pompey1984+1]

Left to right.

Scully. Kamara. Lane.

[StMonkton]

I suspect there are elements of resting players, and elements of trying to get Whyte back into some sort of form.

We need all our players in the squad over the course of the season, I think with a fully fit and firing Whyte and Scully we would have seen some more rotation and perhaps have seen less of a dip over the intense holiday period.

I agree that only by playing Whyte & Scully will be able to find some form. With only first team football in League One available there is no other option but for them to get game time in the first team. But I think that when an out of form player starts ahead of players that are producing it weakens the team. I agree tiredness in a conjested fixture list is a problem but this is where substitutes are important. My veiw is that both Whyte & Scully should only come on for tiring players or when the game is safe. But to get to the safe period we need our best players starting in my opinion.

I think the tiredness issue is slightly more complex than just sore legs that need a rest after an hour. In a period as long as the football season physical and mental fatigue come and go. I think we’re seeing it at the top level this season, partly driven by a short between season summer due to the World Cup.

To us oldies it seems almost heretical that people being paid vast sums to do what we used to do for fun complain of playing too much. It happens so often though so I don’t think we can just write off the younger generation as softies.

I think professional sport is so intense these days that human beings need to plan recovery into their schedule. That’s why rotation evolved as a concept.

Back to Pompey. I think some of our best need a bit of a break to recharge. How the manager achieves that while still putting out a competitive team is one of the biggest challenges he faces.

A couple of new signings might help and in my view he really does need to rest a few of what we might call the first eleven.

When we had to reshape things due to Bishop being injured I think we were a bit surprised how well things went. I think it also keeps the opposition guessing a bit.

If we are to still be in the automatic places by the end of January I think we need a slightly different approach to what we’re doing currently.

Let’s hope the manager is successful at achieving that.

[GreenBlue]

Great post

[StMonkton]

If you meant mine, ta.

If not, Happy New Year anyway!