I can hardly believe we went into the season with 2 strikers plus Hiwula on loan!
Thinking we badly need a Sunderland equaliser
time to accept this season is done. this team is not good enough for promotion. Sign the Cowleys and let them start signing up the existing player they want to keep and making space for the new ones hey want too.
Away to Crewe next who are 6 down at home...
Daniels, maybe help him to improve now
Everybody up get a corner or something
(10-04-2021, 03:44 PM)Jizbag Wrote: [ -> ]I can hardly believe we went into the season with 2 strikers plus Hiwula on loan!
Exactly. And two of those are effectively the same player in terms of ability and style.
wishing I hadn’t bothered with ifollow today as now I can see how poor we are. Anyone feel promotion via the play offs this year isn’t worth achieving as the team is simply not good enough?
77% possession, 2 shots on target (6 on target by Burton) and defeat. Anyone care to speculate where the squad is in desperate need of attention in the Summer?
(10-04-2021, 04:09 PM)blueinbrum3 Wrote: [ -> ]77% possession, 2 shots on target (6 on target by Burton) and defeat. Anyone care to speculate where the squad is in desperate need of attention in the Summer?
Hmmmm tricky one !!
Jackets real legacy is the squad he has left us with, no balance with no chance of an option b or c. Some serious rebuilding to do in the summer even if we do make the playoffs. If by some freak we go up through the playoffs we would need one hell of an overhaul in the summer to survive in the Championship.
As has been commented on earlier we are short of physical presence up front with Harness and Williams too lightweight which was all too clear today. All season we have desperately lacked a proper strong central striker. Curtis is not the answer and is happier with the space he get playing down the left. We have Marquis available now but he doesn't have the physical presence we need. This problem is a reflection of Jackett's poor recruitment in that area. We are up to our eyes in midfield players (Naylor, Close, White, Byers, Cannon, Morris, Jacobs) but have no back up strikers.
the flaw to playing one up front and recruiting to match has been there for us all to see for years now.
Passing, crossing and decision making in the final third all garbage today.
(10-04-2021, 04:10 PM)ForeverPompey Wrote: [ -> ] (10-04-2021, 04:09 PM)blueinbrum3 Wrote: [ -> ]77% possession, 2 shots on target (6 on target by Burton) and defeat. Anyone care to speculate where the squad is in desperate need of attention in the Summer?
Hmmmm tricky one !!
Forgot to include 12 corners which came to nothing and The News text report which included 6 ‘chances’ none of which were taken! A pretty bad day at the office in statistical terms and in reality.
We need some good passers in the squad. I'd let Naylor go, his passing is woeful, not convinced about Harness either. Daniels is shocking despite his goal. We looked clueless against a determined Burton side who bullied us around.
Since JFH arrival Burton have been transformed into one of the better League 1 teams and will be difficult for most teams to beat, they played us of the park today.
I don’t think any Pompey player had a decent game today and when the whole 11 play poorly down the tubes we go.
The Games away at Crewe, MK Dons and Swindon will see Marquis back but nothing much else that is new amongst the players, it’s up to The Cowleys to work some magic amongst them.
The only saving grace today is that some of our playoff rivals also stuttered and we still remain handily placed for the playoffs (the autos have surely disappeared).
I agree with those who suggest we are now reaping the awful consequence of Jackett and Catlins recruitment policy - whatever it was.
I'm expecting some rotation from now on. We will make the play offs doing that and it will give the Cowleys proper game time to assess who they want to keep long term.
What disappoints me is the lack of improvement over the 5 games. Arguably we are poorer now than in their opening 2 games. This surely points to this group of players being basically unfit for purpose and unable to learn some basics of movement and passing. No strikers is both unfortunate and the consequence of what went before. Yes I think we will sneak into playoffs but winning them is unlikely and probably unwise.
For me the most disappointing thing about yesterday, defence aside, is that only Close looked like half a footballer, the rest were an embarrassment. Basic skills like passing and control were non existent as were knowing when to play the ball and movement off the ball. It looked very poor. And as for Daniels, he looked like he had two left feet. Surely these players aren't as bad and unmotivated as they looked? But there have been too many of these performances this season for it to be otherwise. Radio only for me Tuesday - I can't wait for this season to finish.
Agree about Close. White and Byers are 2 other players who can actually play a bit by that I mean they can pass and control the ball where many can’t do the basics. I have never known a Pompey team that so many players first touch is dreadful. For me Williams Harness and Cannon are so overrated. All 3 drifted in and out of the game yesterday as they do most games. It’s no use occasionally showing some brilliance when majority of games they have no influence. Trouble is there is not chance of dropping all 3 as we have so many injuries.
Curtis is so frustrating some days like yesterday he looked like a Sunday league player, he definitely is not a central striker.
The last two games have shown to me that teams have sussed the way the Cowley's like to press high and we didn’t have plan b. To cap it all we are no where near good enough and this points to very bad player recruitment over many years. At the end of the day I think the squad we have are just not good enough and it doesn’t matter how good the Cowley’s are you can’t polish a turd as the saying goes.
Poor first touch is going to be written on most of their headstones one day! Daniels is terrible. Looking forward to seeing the Cowleys assemble their own squad this summer and we will be top 2 contenders I think... or hope...
I thought Burton played superbly and had their tactics spot on. They were too good for us. Even if we'd played to our potential the result may not have gone our way.
Sometimes you get outplayed anyway and if a couple of players aren't at their best then this will happen.
On the positive side is was not a spanking, late in the game we showed a lot of improvement. Changes in personnel were quick and positive.
Whilst it's a dose of realism that the playoffs are our likely destination and dreams of automatic are unrealistic it's not over yet by a long way and this team with this management has at least as good a chance in the playoffs as any other up there.