A familiar adage, but tonight - the overall performance, tactics and yes the result will either signal a marked sea change in our season - or an unremarkable end to finish eight or ninth !
Since Sunderland the Cowleys have had very ample time to assess our strengths measure our weaknesses, and plan a strategy to start a remarkable winning run.
If we can achieve a confidence boosting win tonight then we can move forward to Oxford on a high, bolstered by the special support of the blue army.
We hope.....
You reckon we’ll finish 8th or 9th? Wow that is optimistic. More like 13th or 14th. I cannot see how on earth we are going to create chances let alone score the goals needed to propel this team up the league table.
We should get a poll going now…where will Pompey finish come the end of the season?
Tonight won't be like any night - Rubettes.
We'll miss the play-offs sadly unless we start scoring in the first 30 minutes of each game.
Before a ball was kicked I thought we would finish 9th so I will stick with that despite current form suggesting more like 11th but of course the last few hours of the transfer window could be unexpectedly exciting!
The players have shown that they are capable of going on a decent run but I think we are just a bit too far away to be able to secure a spot. No doubt we'll flirt with 6th without actually obtaining it.
Taking the emotion out of it, results have been poor but the way we have lost & drawn games shows that there is some hope for next year. Converting those periods of dominance is what we all know needs to be done. At least there have been periods of dominance! Sunderland, Sheffield Weds, MK, etc all should have been wins.
As long as we never again see performances like Rotherham & Ipswich we'll be ok.
Plenty of work to do though.
(31-01-2022, 12:07 PM)Pedalo_menders Wrote: [ -> ]The players have shown that they are capable of going on a decent run but I think we are just a bit too far away to be able to secure a spot. No doubt we'll flirt with 6th without actually obtaining it.
Taking the emotion out of it, results have been poor but the way we have lost & drawn games shows that there is some hope for next year. Converting those periods of dominance is what we all know needs to be done. At least there have been periods of dominance! Sunderland, Sheffield Weds, MK, etc all should have been wins.
As long as we never again see performances like Rotherham & Ipswich we'll be ok.
Plenty of work to do though.
As with Pompey its the hope that kills me.
Yes I hope we can go on a decent run.
Hope for next year? This reminds me of many, many tournaments England have been knocked out of since (probably 1966 TBH) that "the youngsters coming through, bodes well for the future". Never really happened until the last Euros did it?
How long are we going to wait for at least a decent side, with a bit of passion for our club?
Just out of interest, for tonights game, how many of the starting 11 will be on loan?
For FFS lets have a decent performance and three points tonight.
Preseason, I had us down to finish 12th so we're doing better than I expected. I'm not happy at that but the owners are not interested in this club being anymore than L1 regulars. We are the Bradford of L1.
(31-01-2022, 01:32 PM)Cleaver Greene Wrote: [ -> ] (31-01-2022, 12:07 PM)Pedalo_menders Wrote: [ -> ]The players have shown that they are capable of going on a decent run but I think we are just a bit too far away to be able to secure a spot. No doubt we'll flirt with 6th without actually obtaining it.
Taking the emotion out of it, results have been poor but the way we have lost & drawn games shows that there is some hope for next year. Converting those periods of dominance is what we all know needs to be done. At least there have been periods of dominance! Sunderland, Sheffield Weds, MK, etc all should have been wins.
As long as we never again see performances like Rotherham & Ipswich we'll be ok.
Plenty of work to do though.
As with Pompey its the hope that kills me.
Yes I hope we can go on a decent run.
Hope for next year? This reminds me of many, many tournaments England have been knocked out of since (probably 1966 TBH) that "the youngsters coming through, bodes well for the future". Never really happened until the last Euros did it?
How long are we going to wait for at least a decent side, with a bit of passion for our club?
Just out of interest, for tonights game, how many of the starting 11 will be on loan?
For FFS lets have a decent performance and three points tonight.
Every chance of all 5 loan players playing tonight. I've no problem with using the allowed loan spaces to improve the team rather than fill the squad like Jackett mostly did.
I don't see any difference between having for instance Williams on a one year permanent contract and Romeo on a one year loan. Loan players are still our players, even if some of them will only be here for short time, and deserving of the same support.
I agree. Sadly though, so many recent loanees have been uninspiring. In fact more than can even be recalled to mind. When Connor Ronan turned up here was there some hopeless full back with a French name that came as well?
(31-01-2022, 03:53 PM)ForeverPompey Wrote: [ -> ]I agree. Sadly though, so many recent loanees have been uninspiring. In fact more than can even be recalled to mind. When Connor Ronan turned up here was there some hopeless full back with a French name that came as well?
Leylandes (sp?) from Wolves ?
Conor Ronan looked brilliant in his first game but never reached anywhere near those heights again. He's still on Wloves books but going out on loan every season, currently at St. Mirren.
That's him!! I remember Ronan's first game. Looked the business, but never again.