Post-Match Thread and Ratings Portsmouth 2-0 Southend United

[AndyT]

... and if he is so tired, why did he play 90 minutes on Wednesday night!

 

[eastling]

As others have stated a crazy set up and Christmas presents galore for Pompey in the first half. Mantom hand ball missed fortunately which would have meant being three down. The players looked lost with that formation.

The second half was better and we should have had scored at least once but our attacking options are always limited.

A miserable afternoon weather wise too. Still warming up in a Portuguese restaurant in Southsea to ease the pain.

 

[AndyT]

The players looked lost with that formation.

I was thinking about this just now, as well.

Once you start over tinkering with things, not only do you lose the structure of the side, but you start putting doubt in the players minds.

As an employee, I'd want a manager to have a plan and know my role in that plan. If a manager keeps changing his mind, then that must filter down to the players who then start to lose confidence.

To me, SCP is just bluffing through a bit at the moment. That can't be giving individual players or the team as a whole any direction as to what we are trying to achieve.

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

A few things shout out as disappointing................again.
Firstly chopping around the back 4.
Then playing 5 across the middle so who knows to push on or hold back etc?
And Cox alone up top DOES NOT WORK. and repeat DOES NOT WORK!
Again play players in their right positions, play fit players (Dru?).
If CP doesn't want to give Theo a start then put Dieng up top and choose 2 from Hyem/Mantom/Dru/Klass.
But these players aren't super stars or football geniuses: and they need to know their roles and have trust that their team mates know theirs; which to me, at present, leads me to believe Oxley doesn't know what the defenders are going to do so how can he get off his line with confidence? The wingers (and midfield) don't know if they are leaving huge holes if they support Cox and don't fancy the odds of crosses amounting to anything.
And Coxy must be getting destroyed with his having to make all the running and be the bookies favorite for the next major injury.
Grrrrr, not happy or amused.

 

[mattitouk]

Am i the only one thinking, (not for the 1st time).. We are over thinking this defeat... I don;t think it would come as a surprise, however it was the manner of the defeat that makes it hurt.... Zero shots on goal!!..... We may as well just "shut up shop" and played a 8-1-1 formation.!!!

On the other hand.... To be fair,, they are top of the table for a reason, they carved us a part like a tender roast beef on a sunday lunch.

However.... Yes Wimbledon was a shock loss. as were several others throughout the season. But we had a couple lucky knocks also to give us credit.

That being said, it pains me to say it, I don't mind us losing and trying our best, but we were gutless this afternoon, and started the game on the back-foot and went backwards ever since.

Basically...

Poor team selection,
Poor formation,
Un-inspired

We had defeat written all over it from the first whistle.

I'm personally not expecting much more than we witnessed today from the match against Accrington Stanley.

 

[Jay_SUFC]

What's Hendrie need a break for? .. He spent most of the first three months of the season on the bench!

Sounds like a feeble excuse to me!!

 

[Onion_Bag_Dave]

Oh how we need the transfer window!

Didn’t expect to get anything from this game, baffling line up or not, SCP does not seem to have a plan B to combat the injuries we have suffered.

Transfer window can’t come quickly enough - absolutely true.

It’s hard to have a plan B when 3 of your first team back 4 are injured and your main striker who looked to be the 25 a season man to get you promoted is injured.

At the moment we’re clearly a mid table side with the injuries we can’t expect more... we can hope for more though!

 

[bigmolt]

Woww..., never thought we'd get a downgrade on Tango but we've found him. Yes i know he was one of our best players over the years but his tactics and team selection makes me certain that he could be another Alvin Martin. Couple of blatant errors today, leaving out Hendrie, most people on here agree he has been doing well. Playing crab Hyam, an embarrassment and not fit to lace League two's Michael Timlins boots. Also under his calming management style various players, Mantom, Oxley, Yearwood etc. are all going rapidly backwards.......SCP as a player, unfortunately a Martin, Little, Brown as a manager...!

I agree with you aboutMartin and Little.
But I only wish he was half as successful as Brown was!!!!!

 

[rlb999]

Not the most surprising result of the season - we're struggling against the better sides and Portsmouth are certainly one of these. When the second goal went in I'd have settled for 2-0 as if Portsmouth were really in the mood this could have been much worse.
Our failings are plain to see. The loss of Hopper has been a big one for us and we need a physical presence up front, although I tip my hat to Simon Cox for his efforts in a role he clearly isn't suited to. I suspect a target man will brought in pretty quickly when the window opens.
A dominant centre half is needed too. Again we have players injured in this position but with our current pairing we're always likely to concede. I sense both White and Moore would raise their game if they had dominant partner - for whatever reason Turner never really performs this role for me and I'd let him go at the end of the season. Whether Powell can find someone in January - presumably who is out of favour at this current club - remains to be seen.
If we can't solve these 2 problems I don't think the outlook for us is particularly good - and Powell will be gone by 31 Jan. If we can, and Powell can figure out which of his umpteen midfielders should be in the team, I'd expect us to climb the table in the second half of the season.

 

[blues exile]

On the face of it to lose 2-0 to the league leaders is hardly a disaster. However, the baffling team selection must have been as much of a mystery to the players as it was to supporters and if it was only changed at half time because of an injury to Turner, then clearly it wasn't an admission by Powell that he got it wrong. It appears Powell has retreated into a siege mentality, refusing to recognise his errors in team selection and tactics (how much more evidence does he need that playing Cox as the lone striker doesn't work for example?). There was absolutely no goal threat today despite us having the better of the second half. Portsmouth could simply sit back and soak up our feeble attacking efforts without raising a sweat. Tbis is a team that looks bereft of confidence, creativity and a coherent plan. Players are chopped and changed, substitutions made too late and the downbeat demeanour of Powell suggests there may be wider problems than just the team's performances on the pitch.

 

[Clinton Baptiste]

Another one of those games this season where one look at the team sheet and formation and i felt we had lost the game before it even began.

 

[Rayleigh boy]

should have played the kids at Luton -

all the anti Powell stuff is stupid -

the cross for the first goal from Taylor Moore not clearing - and Oxley doing nothing in the 6 yard box - the second from Mantom giving them the ball in midfield ,,,

should not have bothered with Luton ...

 

[Rayleigh boy]

oh - and are all the Robinson and MacCoalsky haters really surprised that we only play one up front -

i don't think we have Messi in the reserves

 

[tallboyblue]

On paper the lineup appeared a reasonable side injuries apart. Are the players confused by constant changes in formation or is it the management team who are confused.

 

[HypoTypo]

Let's face it, we were never going to beat Pompey today. They have only lost one game all season so a loss was only expected today.
However, you can handle a loss to the table leaders if we tried hard but what most people who went today cannot accept is a total lack of effort by the players.

As for playing better in the 2nd half, I don't think so. Pompey just dropped down a gear and paced it which made us look better.

Powell Out - NO.
What difference would that make when another manager would have the same issues with team selection, injuries and lack of funding.

 

[Lord Football]

I wasn't expecting much today, so I wasn't disappointed.

Kicking with a massive advantage of wind and rain on our backs, we started fairly brightly. Then we conceded. We conceded because Portsmouth play the ball out to their wingers, get decent crosses in and have people who can finish them. It is dead simple. They did it twice today. Annoyingly my Portsmouth mate also told me that's what they'd do. He also said they'd sit on a lead and be happy with 2 goals. He didn't give me the lottery numbers.

And that was the game.....

So to us.... first half we were pretty dreadful. I was lucky enough not to be at Wimbeldon - so this was as bad as I'd seen us play. Dieng looked disinterested, Mantom not able to pass to a orange shirt. Bunn, lots of effort but no end result. Elvis not sure whether to bomb down the wing or hang back, so did neither. We resorted to smashing long balls up to Hopper, who clearly wasn't there. Portsmouth, they had a couple of massive centre backs. You know the rest.

Second half was better. We didn't bother with the pointless long ball stuff. We kept the ball on the deck. We passed, mainly, to the right coloured shirt. We didn't however, have the guile to create a decent chance. Portsmouth defended well, not allowing us any space. They didn't really threatened much, might because they didn't need to. Even so, they still had a couple of attempts more than we did.

"Worst team we've seen here all season" said one Pomponian on the way back to the coaches.

The January window cannot come fast enough.

 

[HypoTypo]

"Worst team we've seen here all season" said one Pomponian on the way back to the coaches.

Yup ..... He wasn't the only one to say it either.

 

[Benfleet A1]

I don't want to look at the table, it depresses me and even more so the thought of relegation but where are we in the league. Be gentle as I can't face another couple of years in league 2. 40+ years of supporting and loveing the same team will do that to you.

 

[AndyT]

9 points above the drop zone and 9 points off the play-offs, so not doing terribly.

The same return in the 2nd half of the season and we will get 57 points.

 

[nick12]

While walking to the coach home I passed a group of Pompy supporters, one said "that was the worst team we have seen at Fratton Park this season"

I think that says it all.