TrueBlueArmy Forums

It's good to watch, the confidence is up, goals are coming from across the team.

When did it turn?

What changed?

Player power at being shackled? Eisner anger and frustration at negative style of play?
Not an accident by any means.

The salary cap making it essential to get promoted this year, both for the club and the players whose contracts are up.

(15-12-2020, 12:35 PM)TBP Wrote: [ -> ]The salary cap making it essential to get promoted this year, both for the club and the players whose contracts are up.

Thats the same for 80% of the teams in our league. More likely to cause extra pressure and failure later in the season than anything else. 

The truth is probably that nothing changed. More likely that the team has evolved and progressed as teams often do when the manager knows what he is doing and has the courage of his convictions that the players are good enough despite a few bad results and resists knee-jerk reactions to defeats. 

I don't think I would swap our squad for anyone else's in this league. Two more wins this week and we will be top at Christmas.

Not sure it is good to be top so early..better to be the sniper than the sniped.

Nah sod it ,go for it

I get the feeling we'd be better defending top rather than chasing it.

>The truth is probably that nothing changed. More likely that the team has evolved and progressed as teams often do when the manager knows what he is doing and has the courage of his convictions that the players are good enough despite a few bad results and resists knee-jerk reactions to defeats. <
What nonsense Deepblue, take off the blue tinted specs. This is more or less a weaker team than last season,however it all changed when Jackett was backed into a corner at the beginning of the season. He realised that if t wasn't for covid and next to no income coming into FP he'd be sacked, he'd lost the dressing room, lost the majority of fans even the Eisners went quiet on twitter as they couldn't defend him. He knew something had to give, so changed tactics to 442, credit to him for that but I still want him gone end of season.

I am in the thanks now f'cough camp over KJ too.

As for what turned, I think it starts with Naylor. He's turned into a Tier 3 Stevie G

Let's wait until tonights performance before we go overboard

(15-12-2020, 04:42 PM)scumslayer Wrote: [ -> ]I am in the thanks now f'cough camp over KJ too.

As for what turned, I think it starts with Naylor. He's turned into a Tier 3 Stevie G

I agree that Naylor has been the talisman. I thought the thing we were missing from previous years is a Michael Doyle figure. I think Naylor has stepped up both his own game and his leadership on the field. I wonder what we might have done with him in the play-offs this year, surely one of the craziest decisions of any manager I can remember.

(15-12-2020, 03:22 PM)DeepBlue Wrote: [ -> ]

(15-12-2020, 12:35 PM)TBP Wrote: [ -> ]The salary cap making it essential to get promoted this year, both for the club and the players whose contracts are up.

Thats the same for 80% of the teams in our league. More likely to cause extra pressure and failure later in the season than anything else. 

The truth is probably that nothing changed. More likely that the team has evolved and progressed as teams often do when the manager knows what he is doing and has the courage of his convictions that the players are good enough despite a few bad results and resists knee-jerk reactions to defeats. 

I don't think I would swap our squad for anyone else's in this league. Two more wins this week and we will be top at Christmas.

Just because it applies to other teams doesn't stop it being a motivator for Pompey.

(15-12-2020, 04:21 PM)bluetagagain Wrote: [ -> ]>The truth is probably that nothing changed. More likely that the team has evolved and progressed as teams often do when the manager knows what he is doing and has the courage of his convictions that the players are good enough despite a few bad results and resists knee-jerk reactions to defeats. <
What nonsense Deepblue, take off the blue tinted specs. This is more or less a weaker team than last season,however it all changed when Jackett was backed into a corner at the beginning of the season. He realised that if t wasn't for covid and next to no income coming into FP he'd be sacked, he'd lost the dressing room, lost the majority of fans even the Eisners went quiet on twitter as they couldn't defend him.  He knew something had to give, so changed tactics to 442, credit to him for that but I still want him gone end of season.

Which is it then ? More weaker or less weaker than last year, you can't have both.

I would argue the squad is stronger than last year ... 

in goal we now have two decent keepers, last year we had one and one unpoven prospect. 

in defence Thompson & Mnoga are much better at right back than Bolton or McCrorie, Whatmough is at least as good as Burgess, Raggett this year is better than Raggett last year, the Whatmough/Raggett combo looks marginally stronger than the Burgess/Raggett combo did. Pring is at least as good cover for Brown as Haunstrup was. Rasmus is better first choice centre back cover than Downing.  Overall, stronger in defence than last year. 

in midfield Naylor is better than naylor was, Cannon is better than Cannon was, Close is the same, Morris is available which he wasn't for most of the season. Overall certainly no weaker  than last year. 

up front Marquis is doing better than last year, and those that argue we haven't replaced Pitman & Hawkins are missing the fact that neither contributed anything last year and in Hiwula we have a different sort of backup than we had.  Jacobs is potentially the best forward at the club and we have yet to see much of him. Harness & Williams look more consistent this year, certainly they are no worse. So the front 4 (thats the two wide men and the front two in 442 or 4411, or the 3&1 on the 4231)  this season have a lot more variety and depth than last year and we are looking more flexible in formations. So, overall better off up front. 

the fringe youngsters like Bell, Teggart, Stanley etc are all a year older and better placed to fill in if they have to.

I cannot see any argument that the squad is weaker than least year. 

If you think it is then please feel free to explain why you think that.

Marquis goals have dried up. Without them we will struggle to win enough games as you can’t expect Naylor etc to keep scoring. I would have thought this years squad is comfortably better than last year apart from missing Burgess.

(15-12-2020, 06:43 PM)DeepBlue Wrote: [ -> ]

(15-12-2020, 04:21 PM)bluetagagain Wrote: [ -> ]>The truth is probably that nothing changed. More likely that the team has evolved and progressed as teams often do when the manager knows what he is doing and has the courage of his convictions that the players are good enough despite a few bad results and resists knee-jerk reactions to defeats. <
What nonsense Deepblue, take off the blue tinted specs. This is more or less a weaker team than last season,however it all changed when Jackett was backed into a corner at the beginning of the season. He realised that if t wasn't for covid and next to no income coming into FP he'd be sacked, he'd lost the dressing room, lost the majority of fans even the Eisners went quiet on twitter as they couldn't defend him.  He knew something had to give, so changed tactics to 442, credit to him for that but I still want him gone end of season.

Which is it then ? More weaker or less weaker than last year, you can't have both.

I would argue the squad is stronger than last year ... 

in goal we now have two decent keepers, last year we had one and one unpoven prospect. 

in defence Thompson & Mnoga are much better at right back than Bolton or McCrorie, Whatmough is at least as good as Burgess, Raggett this year is better than Raggett last year, the Whatmough/Raggett combo looks marginally stronger than the Burgess/Raggett combo did. Pring is at least as good cover for Brown as Haunstrup was. Rasmus is better first choice centre back cover than Downing.  Overall, stronger in defence than last year. 

in midfield Naylor is better than naylor was, Cannon is better than Cannon was, Close is the same, Morris is available which he wasn't for most of the season. Overall certainly no weaker  than last year. 

up front Marquis is doing better than last year, and those that argue we haven't replaced Pitman & Hawkins are missing the fact that neither contributed anything last year and in Hiwula we have a different sort of backup than we had.  Jacobs is potentially the best forward at the club and we have yet to see much of him. Harness & Williams look more consistent this year, certainly they are no worse. So the front 4 (thats the two wide men and the front two in 442 or 4411, or the 3&1 on the 4231)  this season have a lot more variety and depth than last year and we are looking more flexible in formations. So, overall better off up front. 

the fringe youngsters like Bell, Teggart, Stanley etc are all a year older and better placed to fill in if they have to.

I cannot see any argument that the squad is weaker than least year. 

If you think it is then please feel free to explain why you think that.

Certainly .

It's only your opinion M'nonga is better than McCrorie or Bolton, personally I don't think he is, although he's still got a lot to learn.
The 2 new fullbacks are average and not any improvement on what we had/have.

No decent third permanent centre-back this season, last year we had Burgess, Raggett, Downing and Jack, now we've just got Jack, Raggett and Downing and Rasmus (on loan, who is not as good as Burgess). As for Raggett improving,well, thank goodness, he could hardly get worse than when he arrived.

Midfield is the still the same (average) other than Naylor who has proved he's better at CM than DM.

I see no improvement in Curtis ( he's still good but inconsistent) .

Marquis and Harrison are as average as they were last season, although IMO Hiwula is an improvement on Hawkins, if he ever gets the chance to show it. KJ still doesn't know his best 2 wide player or his best striking partnership.

As for the fringe youngsters being a year older so is everyone you eejit ,they'll only ever play in the Meaningless Cup games.
We were/are  always flexible in formations as long as its KJ's beloved 4231. He was only forced into 442 because he would've been sacked if it wasn't for Covid and the club losing money.

So other than replacing Hawkins for Hiwula ( who is only here until Jan - so far ) and gaining Jacobs ( who we haven't had a chance to judge) for Pitman, nothing has changed and we're actually a permanent CB worse off.

You really are blinkered Deepblue.

I watch virtually every game and bar the first 3 or 4, this season is much more entertaining and we’re doing better. I also believe the squad is stronger and Raggett is like a different player. He still runs like a duck but wins virtually everything in the air and is a real threat at set pieces. The worst game since the first 3 was Blackpool, I reckon because Kenny reverted to type and played one up top and they looked knackered. It’s gonna be a long hard slog and there are loads of teams within 6 points but we’ll be there or thereabouts, I hope!

(16-12-2020, 04:52 PM)dsmg Wrote: [ -> ]I watch virtually every game and bar the first 3 or 4, this season is much more entertaining and we’re doing better. I also believe the squad is stronger and Raggett is like a different player. He still runs like a duck but wins virtually everything in the air and is a real threat at set pieces. The worst game since the first 3 was Blackpool, I reckon because Kenny reverted to type and played one up top and they looked knackered. It’s gonna be a long hard slog and there are loads of teams within 6 points but we’ll be there or thereabouts, I hope!

I agree we're playing better ( mainly due to NOT playing 4231) and Raggett is carrying on from the end of last season. I'm chuffed we're in the promotion 'zone' and playing well ( and hope it lasts),but all things being Pompey I'm taking it game by game.

(16-12-2020, 03:58 PM)bluetagagain Wrote: [ -> ]

(15-12-2020, 06:43 PM)DeepBlue Wrote: [ -> ]

(15-12-2020, 04:21 PM)bluetagagain Wrote: [ -> ]>The truth is probably that nothing changed. More likely that the team has evolved and progressed as teams often do when the manager knows what he is doing and has the courage of his convictions that the players are good enough despite a few bad results and resists knee-jerk reactions to defeats. <
What nonsense Deepblue, take off the blue tinted specs. This is more or less a weaker team than last season,however it all changed when Jackett was backed into a corner at the beginning of the season. He realised that if t wasn't for covid and next to no income coming into FP he'd be sacked, he'd lost the dressing room, lost the majority of fans even the Eisners went quiet on twitter as they couldn't defend him.  He knew something had to give, so changed tactics to 442, credit to him for that but I still want him gone end of season.

Certainly .

It's only your opinion M'nonga is better than McCrorie or Bolton, personally I don't think he is, although he's still got a lot to learn.
The 2 new fullbacks are average and not any improvement on what we had/have.

No decent third permanent centre-back this season, last year we had Burgess, Raggett, Downing and Jack, now we've just got Jack, Raggett and Downing and Rasmus (on loan, who is not as good as Burgess). As for Raggett improving,well, thank goodness, he could hardly get worse than when he arrived.

Midfield is the still the same (average) other than Naylor who has proved he's better at CM than DM.

I see no improvement in Curtis ( he's still good but inconsistent) .

Marquis and Harrison are as average as they were last season, although IMO Hiwula is an improvement on Hawkins, if he ever gets the chance to show it. KJ still doesn't know his best 2 wide player or his best striking partnership.

As for the fringe youngsters being a year older so is everyone you eejit ,they'll only ever play in the Meaningless Cup games.
We were/are  always flexible in formations as long as its KJ's beloved 4231. He was only forced into 442 because he would've been sacked if it wasn't for Covid and the club losing money.

So other than replacing Hawkins for Hiwula ( who is only here until Jan - so far ) and gaining Jacobs ( who we haven't had a chance to judge) for Pitman, nothing has changed and we're actually a permanent  CB worse off.

You really are blinkered Deepblue.

Not much point arguing if you  cannot read what I write.  I said Johnson & Mnoga made us stronger at right back, not that Mnoga as an individual was.  If you cannot see that Johnson is better than Bolton or McCrorie then you can't be watching the same games as I am, but to suggest he is worse is absurd. 

And you can disagree with individuals all you want, but in none of the positions did you claim we were worse, except perhaps in defence based for some reason on the logic that Rasmus is only on loan. And Jack was injured last year, so that blows your argument. But the facts are that we are conceding considerably fewer goals than at this stage last season so to claim we are worse is a bit hard to justify. Or to be more precise just plain wrong, as proved by events. 

And we are now in the automatic spots, something we never really looked like achieving last year. So good luck trying to argue that that makes us worse. Not quite sure why thinking that is an improvement makes someone blinkered - the only ones who are blinkered are the ones who cannot see what is happening in front their eyes or read a league table without their anti-Pompey blinkers on .

Deep we'll have to agree to disagree, I don't think Johnson is any better than what we have but I don't think he's any worse, so IMO we're no better off. Rasmus is not as good as Burgess, so we are worse of in central defence. Midfield is the same as it was but we're playing better tactics enabling Naylor to score more (he's always been our best central midfielder),the rest of our central midfield is the same - poor to average. Attack wise we're the same as last season although to be fair that could change as we haven't we haven't had time to judge Hiwula ( not sure if we will) and Jacobs. Maybe we're not worse/weaker than last season (except at CB) but surely the whole idea is to improve the squad ( which i don't think we have-yet) not stay stagnant. Of course I'm pleased with our results and league position ( who wouldn't be?) which i believe is due to playing 442, and not under achieving as we have done the last 2 seasons due to Jacketts stubbornness in insisting on 4231.

(16-12-2020, 11:04 PM)bluetagagain Wrote: [ -> ]Deep we'll have to agree to disagree, I don't think Johnson is any better than what we have but I don't think he's any worse, so IMO we're no better off. Rasmus is not as good as Burgess, so we are worse of in central defence. Midfield is the same as it was but we're playing better tactics enabling Naylor to score more (he's always been our best central midfielder),the rest of our central midfield is the same - poor to average. Attack wise we're the same as last season although to be fair that could change as we haven't we haven't had time to judge Hiwula ( not sure if we will) and Jacobs. Maybe we're not worse/weaker than last season (except at CB) but surely the whole idea is to improve the squad ( which i don't think we have-yet) not stay stagnant. Of course I'm pleased with our results and league position ( who wouldn't be?) which i believe is due to playing 442, and not under achieving as we have done the last 2 seasons due to Jacketts stubbornness in insisting on 4231.

Do you really think Whatmough is worse than Burgess ???  IMO he is better and first choice backup Rasmus is better than last years first choice backup Downing. We are better at CB, we are better at FB because by any measure Johnson is better then Bolton. We are conceding fewer goals per game so the defence is proven to be better. 
You agree we are better in MF, and earlier you seemed to agree we are better up front. 

We are better than last year on paper and we are doing better on the pitch. We are in the top 2, what more evidence do you want ?

(17-12-2020, 01:44 PM)DeepBlue Wrote: [ -> ]

(16-12-2020, 11:04 PM)bluetagagain Wrote: [ -> ]Deep we'll have to agree to disagree, I don't think Johnson is any better than what we have but I don't think he's any worse, so IMO we're no better off. Rasmus is not as good as Burgess, so we are worse of in central defence. Midfield is the same as it was but we're playing better tactics enabling Naylor to score more (he's always been our best central midfielder),the rest of our central midfield is the same - poor to average. Attack wise we're the same as last season although to be fair that could change as we haven't we haven't had time to judge Hiwula ( not sure if we will) and Jacobs. Maybe we're not worse/weaker than last season (except at CB) but surely the whole idea is to improve the squad ( which i don't think we have-yet) not stay stagnant. Of course I'm pleased with our results and league position ( who wouldn't be?) which i believe is due to playing 442, and not under achieving as we have done the last 2 seasons due to Jacketts stubbornness in insisting on 4231.

Do you really think Whatmough is worse than Burgess ???  IMO he is better and first choice backup Rasmus is better than last years first choice backup Downing. We are better at CB, we are better at FB because by any measure Johnson is better then Bolton. We are conceding fewer goals per game so the defence is proven to be better. 
You agree we are better in MF, and earlier you seemed to agree we are better up front. 

We are better than last year on paper and we are doing better on the pitch. We are in the top 2, what more evidence do you want ?

Deep, nowhere have I ever stated Jack is worse than Burgess. We had 4 centre backs last year, 3 of them remain. We added Rasmus to replace Burgess who IMO isn't as good therefore IMO we are weaker in the CB position. I have never said we are better in midfield, I said we are the same ( poor - average) although due to a tactical switch to 442 Naylor is scoring more. We maybe 2 players weaker up front as its too early to assess Hiwula or Jacobs.
Of course we are playing better than the last 2 seasons ( thank goodness as the standard of football was shocking), again IMO this is due to a switch in tactics and not Naylor becoming Messi or Curtis becoming Ronaldo. Its due to the effect the team are allowed to attack playing 442 and not being as negative since KJ came onboard.
IMO the evidence points to us being more successful due to a switch to 442 not the players all of a sudden becoming worldbeaters.
As regards Johnson, its a matter of opinion, I always thought Bolton was made a scapegoat on many occasions.

(17-12-2020, 04:32 PM)bluetagagain Wrote: [ -> ]Deep, nowhere have I ever stated Jack is worse than Burgess. We had 4 centre backs last year, 3 of them remain. We added Rasmus to replace Burgess who IMO isn't as good therefore IMO we are weaker in the CB position. I have never said we are better in midfield, I said we are the same ( poor - average) although due to a tactical switch to 442 Naylor is scoring more. We maybe 2 players weaker up front as its too early to assess Hiwula or Jacobs.
Of course we are playing better than the last 2 seasons ( thank goodness as the standard of football was shocking), again IMO this is due to a switch in tactics and not Naylor becoming Messi or Curtis becoming Ronaldo. Its due to the effect the team are allowed to attack playing 442 and not being as negative since KJ came onboard.
IMO the evidence points to us being more successful due to a switch to 442 not the players all of a sudden becoming worldbeaters.
As regards Johnson, its a matter of opinion, I always thought Bolton was made a scapegoat on many occasions.

Which bit of Jack Whatmough was not avaiable last season are you struggling with ? He is in effect a replacement for Burgess. Rasmus is a replacement as first choice back-up for Downing, who is also still there. How on earth can that make us weaker at CB ????

Deep and Bluetag, think your somewhat over complicating matters arguing about whose better than last year and whether we are stronger overall

We’ve looked much better when our 4-4-2 is allied to a high pressing game such as we played in away games at Sunderland, Lincoln and Ipswich and at home to a lesser extent against Peterborough. When we play that style of game we look so much better than last season and our back four look comfortable simply because we spent the majority of those games camped in the oppositions half and making their back four look all at sea. 

When however we revert to type I.e. Jacketts defensive mode such as Donny and Charlton at home and the deplorable display at Blackpool we look as bad as at anytime since Jackett took over.

Whether Harrison is better or worse than Hawkins doesn’t matter that much, both are non-scoring strikers and who don’t create enough for others to warrant a place in the side (and Hiwula doesn’t look like getting a look in). Johnson isn’t better than Thompson but neither were McCrory or Bolton but I doubt that Johnson is capable of stepping up to the required level.

Naylor’s recent goal scoring exploits have been a huge bonus but not one that is guaranteed to continue, Williams, Harness and Curtis may chip in with a few goals but unless Marquis does become a potent goal scorer (and he seems to be going off the boil at the moment) and Harrison turns into the real deal, I think we may well miss out on an automatic place i.e. we aren’t defensively good enough to turn 1-0 leads into  1-0 victories. We need 2 of Marquis, Harrison or Curtis to score 40/45 goals between them, big ask on current scoring records

Really do hope I am proved to be wrong, L1 is likely to turn into a glue-pot next season and we might remain stuck in it, the wage cap will probably prove to be the great leveller that the mainly smaller clubs who voted for it intended it to be.

Deeps this is my last reply on this subject. Jack has been with us for years, just because he was injured most of last season doesn't mean he wasn't here FFS, stop being so pedantic. Burgess left and Rasmus joined, everyone else was here. If you can't grasp that then thank god this isn't anything academic you have to get your head around.

Well said Wightblue but FFS don't let Deep know you don't really rate Johnson.

Magnola got bloody murdered last time he started and was rightly subbed.

He's the future and he's going to be great but to say he's better than established pros already is more than getting carried away.

Agree, he's got something, a season loan to L2 club would do him wonders.