Post-Match Thread and Ratings Pompey 1 - 0 Southend United

[Evening Echo]

Match report: Portsmouth 1, Southend United 0

A MISSED penalty from Nile Ranger proved costly as Southend United slipped to a 1-0 defeat at Portsmouth afternoon.

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[McNasty]

Please put your reaction to our first League defeat in November for years here.

 

[MisterStubbs]

Time for a change, Brown just isn’t getting the best out of this squad. His obsession with playing players out of position is beyond a joke now. On what planet does he think playing our most creative player (MK) in central midfield? The continuing of playing Timlin who has been so poor at left back ahead of Hendrie and the less said about him keep starting Ranger who offers nothing is tedious now. His tactics are poor, he doesn’t react to the game until it’s till late and it’s now time to make a change in my opinion.

Excellent following from the Blues fans, the only plus point from today.

 

[Somerset Ex-TTB]

Time for a change, Brown just isn’t getting the best out of this squad. His obsession with playing players out of position is beyond a joke now. On what planet does he think playing our most creative player (MK) in central midfield? The continuing of playing Timlin who has been so poor at left back ahead of Hendrie and the less said about him keep starting Ranger who offers nothing is tidious now. His tactics are poor, he doesn’t react to the game until it’s till late and it’s now time to make a change in my opinion.

Excellent following from the Blues fans, the only plus point from today.

It’s the first game ranger has started for about 6 games. What is getting tedious is the constant rubbish on this forum.

 

[McNasty]

Craig, to you it might seem rubbish but to the poster(s) it is their opinions.

God help us all. :smile::smile:

 

[MisterStubbs]

It’s the first game ranger has started for about 6 games. What is getting tedious is the constant rubbish on this forum.

The rubbish on this forum mirrors the rubbish we are being served on the pitch most weeks. Are you happy with how the seasons gone so far? Are you happy with the way Brown sets us up?

 

[RHB]

I only managed to see the first 45 on iFollow and, penalty miss apart, we were equal to, or better than Portsmouth. I thought Ranger ran his socks off in that 45, he won headers, played other players in and generally made himself a real nuisance to the Portsmouth back line. I can't comment on the second half as iFollow managed to **** right off early into that half, video and audio. What is interesting are the comments about Ranger on here, presumably based on the Radio commentary versus what I saw on video. There was a good following this afternoon and it's reasonable to expect that there will be a fair chunk of Zoners in that number. So I will wait to hear from those who actually attended the game. I'm sure they will be able to give us a balanced view.

 

[Ayrshire Blue]

Kightly in Centre mid? Cox as the head of a diamond? Theo starting?

What is he smoking?

Pays far too much attention to the opposition and tinkers our shape for them and as a result we don’t have an identity of our own

 

[Ayrshire Blue]

It’s the first game ranger has started for about 6 games. What is getting tedious is the constant rubbish on this forum.

Yet you felt the need to respond?

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

I only managed to see the first 45 on iFollow and, penalty miss apart, we were equal to, or better than Portsmouth. I thought Ranger ran his socks off in that 45, he won headers, played other players in and generally made himself a real nuisance to the Portsmouth back line. I can't comment on the second half as iFollow managed to **** right off early into that half, video and audio. What is interesting are the comments about Ranger on here, presumably based on the Radio commentary versus what I saw on video. There was a good following this afternoon and it's reasonable to expect that there will be a fair chunk of Zoners in that number. So I will wait to hear from those who actually attended the game. I'm sure they will be able to give us a balanced view.

Also had a problem with ifollow's video (not audio) in the second half.Though I managed to get it back on midway through the half.Missed their goal though.

Obviously that penalty miss was crucial.:sad:

 

[manor15]

Pathetic performance really. You won't see many penalties worse than Ranger's, still not entirely sure how there was no card shown for that either. We could have kept playing all year and we wouldn't have threatened. No width, no creativity, no movement. Really poor.

Changing players' positions and the team shape every 5 minutes in the second half just meant that we never really built up any momentum. Putting Leonard at right back for the last 10 meant we lost all control in the middle of the park and the game was over. Too many big names (Cox, Kightly) need to take a long hard look at their performances of late.

Defence was fairly strong after a 5 minute spell where all of their boots became stuck to the pitch meaning they were unable to do anything other than stand and watch and hope Turner would clear off the line.

If there's a positive it was Turner, who was excellent for the most part and much more mobile than Ferdinand.

Oxley 6 Stuck to his line. Not a lot to do.
White 5 No protection from Wright. Better at centre back. Still can't cross.
Ferdinand 6 More like his old self.
Turner 7 Alert and intelligent.
Timlin 3 Woeful positioning and needlessly giving the ball away when we were in control.
Wright 4 Seemed to have no idea where he was playing. Did half of the job of a central midfielder and half of the job of a right winger. Problem with doing half of each means that he wasn't very good at either.
Leonard 6 Quiet. On his own in the middle a lot of the time.
Kightly 5 Makes nice dribbles but no end product. Rarely beats the first man with his set pieces.
Cox 4 No threat. Too deep to be a forward and too far forward to be in midfield. See Wright above.
Ranger 3 No threat either, didn't win anything in the air, worst penalty I've seen in a while.
Robinson 6 Had a good effort first half then was used as a target man which he isn't.

Subs
Fortune 6 Tried to battle up front
McLaughlin 7 Actually posed a threat with his runs
McGlashan 5 Wasted, long balls for him to chase

Need to improve on that massively. PB needs to stop misusing players (Kightly in the middle, Cox in midfield, Wright on the right, Leonard at right back, Timlin at left back) when he doesn't need to. They were there for the taking but once again left with nothing on the road. At least it was only 1-0.

 

[Medway Blue]

Kightly in Centre mid? Cox as the head of a diamond? Theo starting?

What is he smoking?

Pays far too much attention to the opposition and tinkers our shape for them and as a result we don’t have an identity of our own

This is one of the biggest issues. People called Tilson tactically naive but Brown takes the biggest. Too concerned with what the opposition are doing, no doubt so he can take plaudits for wonderful tactics, rather than just playing to his own squad’s strengths. This is League One Football, it ain’t rocket science.

 

[Another Surrey Shrimper]

Portsmouth
Nice to see a packed ground for a mid table League 1 game. Old ground but it does what it needs to do - houses a lot of people if they want to be here. I'm in the top right corner by the drum so no idea if there is any noise anywhere else.


The first half - nothing happens. Both teams are playing a reasonable passing game but cancel each other out and there's nothing of note. Lenny ran half the pitch and forced a corner that came to nothing and there was a half decent shot that I think was him too but that was all, right up till the 45 when a ferocious shot is parried and the follow up is again hit hard by Ferdinand (first shot his too?) and an illegal arm gets in the way for a hotly disputed penalty (Pompey go into a running round like headless chickens hissy fit). Ranger takes a long run up, leans back, and skies it. The ref blows for half time and instantly an ominous cold wind blows in full of that fine rain.


15 minutes into the second half and their goal came from nowhere. We'd been attacking/keeping the ball for about 10 mins without any real threat when they broke down the left wing and a decent long shot dipped over Oxley's head. The noise from the away end carried on regardless and into the applause on 58 minutes for the Pompey fan who passed away.


Then the game went very flat for about 10 minutes before dipping further where we were were just awful really and the only previous plus point being our defensive play disappeared (from the midfield at least) and we allowed a single player on a few occasions to run through half our team.


Lack of creativity is the main issue. Not a good watch. All I have really taken away from today is a video on my phone of Ranger ballooning his penalty but I think I'll probably get rid of that little memento.

 

[Floval Flyer]

By the sounds of it; this thread should carry a health warning :-(

 

[rararblue]

The thing I don't understand is that we sign a player who apparently is a penalty expert then we don't let him take them.

 

[Rochford Shrimper]

Pathetic performance really. You won't see many penalties worse than Ranger's, still not entirely sure how there was no card shown for that either. We could have kept playing all year and we wouldn't have threatened. No width, no creativity, no movement. Really poor.

Changing players' positions and the team shape every 5 minutes in the second half just meant that we never really built up any momentum. Putting Leonard at right back for the last 10 meant we lost all control in the middle of the park and the game was over. Too many big names (Cox, Kightly) need to take a long hard look at their performances of late.

Defence was fairly strong after a 5 minute spell where all of their boots became stuck to the pitch meaning they were unable to do anything other than stand and watch and hope Turner would clear off the line.

If there's a positive it was Turner, who was excellent for the most part and much more mobile than Ferdinand.

Oxley 6 Stuck to his line. Not a lot to do.
White 5 No protection from Wright. Better at centre back. Still can't cross.
Ferdinand 6 More like his old self.
Turner 7 Alert and intelligent.
Timlin 3 Woeful positioning and needlessly giving the ball away when we were in control.
Wright 4 Seemed to have no idea where he was playing. Did half of the job of a central midfielder and half of the job of a right winger. Problem with doing half of each means that he wasn't very good at either.
Leonard 6 Quiet. On his own in the middle a lot of the time.
Kightly 5 Makes nice dribbles but no end product. Rarely beats the first man with his set pieces.
Cox 4 No threat. Too deep to be a forward and too far forward to be in midfield. See Wright above.
Ranger 3 No threat either, didn't win anything in the air, worst penalty I've seen in a while.
Robinson 6 Had a good effort first half then was used as a target man which he isn't.

Subs
Fortune 6 Tried to battle up front
McLaughlin 7 Actually posed a threat with his runs
McGlashan 5 Wasted, long balls for him to chase

Need to improve on that massively. PB needs to stop misusing players (Kightly in the middle, Cox in midfield, Wright on the right, Leonard at right back, Timlin at left back) when he doesn't need to. They were there for the taking but once again left with nothing on the road. At least it was only 1-0.

....i genuinely think that Phil Brown ruins decent players!

 

[turkishm]

Didnt see the game, so have to be carefull what i say. So all i will say is 1 0, no goals again. We wont lose by a big score under PB, but unless he can get these forwards, or anybody to score some goals, then look forward to nil nils, or 1 0 either way.

 

[5scoops]

Time for a change, Brown just isn’t getting the best out of this squad. His obsession with playing players out of position is beyond a joke now. On what planet does he think playing our most creative player (MK) in central midfield? The continuing of playing Timlin who has been so poor at left back ahead of Hendrie and the less said about him keep starting Ranger who offers nothing is tedious now. His tactics are poor, he doesn’t react to the game until it’s till late and it’s now time to make a change in my opinion.

Excellent following from the Blues fans, the only plus point from today.

Very well said

 

[blues exile]

Only saw the last five minutes thanks to iFollow's incompetence so can't comment on the performance but the result was entirely predictable. Having four 'Strikers' who can't score goals, even from the penalty spot, is not a recipe for success. We are one of the lowest scoring teams in the league and we will be looking over our shoulder soon unless things improve. The shots on target stats are derisory. According to the radio commentary we failed to get to grips with their change at half time introducing Kennedy. If true, this seems to follow a pattern where we lose the plot if the opposition changes things around, something that has happened more than once this season.

 

[shrimperjon]

Time for a change, Brown just isn’t getting the best out of this squad. His obsession with playing players out of position is beyond a joke now. On what planet does he think playing our most creative player (MK) in central midfield? The continuing of playing Timlin who has been so poor at left back ahead of Hendrie and the less said about him keep starting Ranger who offers nothing is tedious now. His tactics are poor, he doesn’t react to the game until it’s till late and it’s now time to make a change in my opinion.

Excellent following from the Blues fans, the only plus point from today.

Excellent summary, spot on. Brown out, Nathan Jones in!