Mentality - The Biggest Contributory Factor?

[Pompey1984+1]

I don't think the problems we are seeing at present are are wholly tactical, sure some tweaks can be made they always can, but we have changed formation slightly in the last few games, and as games have progressed and it's not really changed much. In much the same way as it didn't help last season.

I don't think the problems we have are that the players have suddenly become bad players, although I do think injuries have hampered our ability to keep it fresh. The squad that was flying is still capable of flying. That's not to say I don't think we need a few signings.

I don't think we have been sussed as such and I don't think it matters if you play one two or three up front.

I think the problem is mentality - the Blackpool game was different it was easy for the players to 'put it in a box' the circumstances around that game was the red card and the several excellent individual strikes - these happen. There isnt a lot we can do about them.

The performances of late are harder to explain without looking inwardly - the problems of late have by and large been individual errors or collectively bad performances. These can be addressed but they require you (the players) to be brave - individual mistakes happen in football and you have to put your big boy pants on and go again - trust the process if you will. Once you start playing it safe and playing inside yourself the problems start to kick in.

I think we are starting to see elements of this, this season like last season we are seeing playing stop saying give me the ball, I'm going to change this game, I'm going to lift those around me.

I think this is what we are missing, that doesn't have to mean experience and it doesn't have to mean expensive. I think we saw it from Robertson he was comfortable receiving the ball in difficult spots and wouldn't shy away from it. I thought we saw elements of this from Lowery yesterday, he seemed to recognise he, personally was in a no lose situation.

I think this is what happened last season - we need Pack and Morrell to really earn their crust now.

It's not totally broken, and it's not unfixable but it needs the players to believe again, and the squad to be freshened up slightly, but what it doesn't need is panic.

[Dinksy]

Good points. They just look tired to me - mentally and physically. Confidence has evaporated and only Pack still seems to have the same drive. This is where managers earn their crust. How do you lift a side short on ideas and confidence. Mousinho has done all the coaching badges but has he got the man-management skills to lift this side? Is this where the experienced manager would more likely have an answer?

[Sam_Brown]

The return of KFC to Man City yesterday shows that one or two good signings can really turn things around. We all want to go up. I don’t want to spend another year in League One. I’ve always been one to say that you should trust the long term plan and a good team takes more than one window / season to gel but we are at the top and this is the best chance we are going to get at getting promoted as any we’ve seen in years so if there was ever a time a decent January transfer window was needed it’s now.

[Dinksy]

The return of KFC to Man City yesterday shows that one or two good signings can really turn things around. We all want to go up. I don’t want to spend another year in League One. I’ve always been one to say that you should trust the long term plan and a good team takes more than one window / season to gel but we are at the top and this is the best chance we are going to get at getting promoted as any we’ve seen in years so if there was ever a time a decent January transfer window was needed it’s now.

KFC maybe but ours is a Bargain Bucket team.

[NSRailings]

I think we are starting to see elements of this, this season like last season we are seeing playing stop saying give me the ball, I'm going to change this game, I'm going to lift those around me.

I think this is what we are missing, that doesn't have to mean experience and it doesn't have to mean expensive. I think we saw it from Robertson he was comfortable receiving the ball in difficult spots and wouldn't shy away from it. I thought we saw elements of this from Lowery yesterday, he seemed to recognise he, personally was in a no lose situation.

I think that's a good point regarding Robertson. Players need to have a little swagger and that isn't necessarily dependent on age. I don't understand how we can put in a good performance against Bolton and not be full of confidence. As someone on FourNilWrittenAllOverIt said - we've been top of the league for most of the season so far, how can we not have confidence?

Mousinho hinted at that in post match interviews. Some players do great things on the training pitch but not during the game. It could be stage fright. So fingers crossed for some decent new arrivals and for Mousinho to be the man for the job and get the confidence into the squad.

[Claygate]

Mentality is not the biggest contributory factor in how badly we are playing. We are out of all the cup competitions, so all the players have to focus on is just the league. There are far more significant resaons for our current downfall, namely:

1.) Injuries

Our best defender (Poole) and best midfielder (Robertson) are out for the remainder of this season. Irrespective of who we sign in this January transfer window, I think its very big ask to expect promotion without these two players in the team.

Injuries to Scully, Oligivie, Lowery, Pack and Bishop have also had a major impact.

2.) Form

Why did Moushino change a winning team? If it ain't broke, don't try and fix it.

Bishop, Kamara and Shaughnessy are all having a dip in form. Bishop has not fully recovered from his injury IMHO.

Kamara is young and still learning his trade. It's unrealstic to expect him to play at a such a high level for a sustained period of games for someone in his first senior season. Kamara needs a break. Unfortuntely, there is no one on the bench who are any better.

Shaughnessy is not the rock we have seen without Poole by his side. The latter clearly brings out the best in him.

3.) Strength in depth

Left back - Sparkes had another shocker yesterday. Any opposing team who has pace ghosts past him over and over again. He maybe a good crosser of the ball, but Sparkes is a defender first and foremost. Unfortuntely, he just isn't good enough and has the speed of a snail. He gets nowhere near close enough to his marker, but because he has no pace, he positions himself further away for a better chance at recovery to make a tackle. Its just too easy to attack our left hand side at the moment. The sooner Oglivie returns to full fitness the better. Although he is at least 2-3 weeks away from returning to the first team I believe.

Centre back - The whole premise of how our team is set up is to pass out from the back. Raggett is a decent enough defender at this level and provides an attacking threat. However, he is no Regan Poole and we miss him terribily.

Wingers - Why on earth did we offer Martin a contract until the end of the season? What a waste of a squad number. I fail to see why we have signed him. I have not seen anything in his appearances thus far that warranted him bing given a deal. Surely there are better options in the market? I can only assume he was cheap, but understand he is popular amongst the group. However, this is not a popularity contest. We need players who can influence a game from the bench. Martin does not offer that at all IMHO.

Every manager / coach have their favourites and in our case Whyte is one of them. He is clearly having issues off the field and what is a concern is that he has 2.5 years left remaining on his contract. Perhaps sending him out on loan to a club who are nearer to his family is the answer? I can't see the club cancelling his contract, which will be too expensive but no doubt the best outcome for all parties even at this early stage of his Pompey tenure.

Scully is nowhere near match fit and I don't see him being first team ready for at least 2 weeks. Unfortunately, the club signed him on the premise he could replicate the one good season he had at Lincoln. A big risk that has not come to fruition and unlikely to do so on current evidence.

Strikers - Saydee has made 11 apperances in the league to date and not scored once. That is simply not good enough for a team challenging for promotion. He is not a professional footballer in my opinion, by that I mean he is more suited to non-league. His first touch is poor and can't hit a cow's ar$e with a banjo. The only other alternative is Yengi, he is raw but nowhere near the finished article. Plus of course he is away on international duty for at least another 3 weeks. We must sign a striker (no. 9) that can challenge Bishop. Colby knows that if he has bad run of games, he is still assured of his place. Just look at our rivals in Derby, Peterborough and Bolton who all have a plethora of striking options.

4.) Defence

We are easy picking right now. We are not just woeful at defending set pieces, but you could have steered an oil tanker through our back line yesterday. I dont think a new signing or bringing Towler into the fold is the answer. It's almost as if the team need to go back to basics to arrest this alarming drop in form.

5.) The No. 10 position

For me, this is the biggest contributory factor. Tino Anjorin was never the answer. He is too inexperienced and for someone so young, is too susceptible to injury. The poor bloke is made of glass and more worringly is not scheduled to return unitl mid-March. The failure to sign an experienced no. 10 in the close season is now coming home to roost. We have only secured promotion twice in the last 25 years and on each occassion, we had a quality no. 10. in Paul Merson and Gary Roberts. Until such time as the club sign such a player, we are not going to get out of this division anytime soon.

I am sure like me, we all hope that we can go on a 10 game winning streak. However, for the reasons outlined above, our 'blip' is going to continue for a good few weeks yet. By which time, we will probably have slipped to just outside the playoffs. Then we will have given ourselves far too much to do with 12-14 or so games remaining. Our season is only going to end one way I am afraid and we will find ourselves in league one again for another wretched year. I would be delighted to prove wrong of course, but I just can't see it.

[jam tomorrow]

Clay top posting agree entirely sums up the situation we took Hughes on hoping he could bring talent in on the cheap now it’s coming back to bite us. Once these injuries hit us the quality is not there.