[Wightblue]

There are posters on this board who insist that Marquis is still one of the best strikers in the division, nothing like actually looking at the numbers about a quarter way through the season to see the truth, so:

Stockton - Morecambe  9 goals, 1 assist from 10 games
Hardie - Plymouth  7 goals, 1 assist from 10 games
Smith - Rotherham 7 goals, 1 assist from 10 games
Bonne - Ipswich 7 goals, 0 assists from 8 games
Stewart - Sunderland 7 goals, 0 assists from 9 games
Scully - Lincoln 6 goals, 3 assists from 10 games
Twine - MK Dons 6 goals, 2 assists from 10 games

I doubt that all/any of the above will keep their impressive starts going all season long but a decent early haul is helpful towards a 20 goal season (or 15 in the season which a lot of Marquis fans deem acceptable).

I am not aware (and can’t be bothered to look) as to how much the above list cost in transfer fees to their current clubs but probably not as much as Marquis.

I don’t for a moment suggest that any of the above are better than Marquis…..it’s just that they score more goals ! 

Johnny still has another 30+ games to find his shooting boots (or did he leave them in Doncaster ?) and get his and Pompey’s dismal season kick-started, really great place to start is Fratton Park on Saturday ! He might even hear “ there’s only one Johnny Marquis” ring out from the Fratton End.

[Hammie]

Hardie certainly looked good yet scored very few last season.
Trouble is apart from Pitman, we've had not better goal wise than Marquis in what feels like many years now.

[Northstander]

Smith still finding the net for Rotherham, when he was here I thought he was useless

[bluetagagain]

Pitman wasn’t call that tbh, flattered to deceive IMO. Marquis was crap when he was here on loan and worth a fraction of £1M we supposedly paid for him. Only ever played well at Donny because he had Coppinger behind him. Totally useless and should’ve been binned at least 2 seasons ago.

[scumslayer]

Millers fan I know can't understand why we villified Smith and thinks they will sell him for over a million in Jan

[exgaffer]

Pitman wasn’t call that tbh, flattered to deceive IMO. Marquis was crap when he was here on loan and worth a fraction of £1M we supposedly paid for him. Only ever played well at Donny because he had Coppinger behind him. Totally useless and should’ve been binned at least 2 seasons ago.

Pitman was a goal scorer Bta, perhaps you’ve forgotten what one of those is.

[exgaffer]

Smith still finding the net for Rotherham, when he was here I thought he was useless

Smith was a good player for us but we didn’t play him the right way, Rotherham obviously do and you just know he will score against us.

[Jizbag]

Pitman wasn’t call that tbh, flattered to deceive IMO. Marquis was crap when he was here on loan and worth a fraction of £1M we supposedly paid for him. Only ever played well at Donny because he had Coppinger behind him. Totally useless and should’ve been binned at least 2 seasons ago.

Flattered to deceive!! Bloody hell, he was the classiest player we've had in years. And knew where the net was. That was his job...to score goals.

[BilltheCat]

He might even hear “ there’s only one Johnny Marquis” ring out from the Fratton End.

Whilst he is constantly slagged off on this Board the vast majority of fans who attend games always give him a positive reception.

Maybe they can see first-hand the amount of effort he puts in every match.

I'm not a massive fan of his (in fact when he was on-loan from Millwall I actually cheered his substitution) but I can't fault his work-rate.

[Hammie]

Maybe this high press thing means that he uses all his energy running around.
Whereas the likes of Pitman, Prosinecki and Micky Quinn had a nice sleep until the ball came to them and then...

Whammo! Boing! Net bulges! Goalkeeper shouts at defenders!

[BilltheCat]

His work-rate was as high under Jackett, actually.

[Hammie]

Yep. Whittingham regularly commented on his being everywhere on the pitch except where a goalscorer does the business. Which for most is the 6 yard box, he hardly gets any from that range.

[bluetagagain]

>Pitman was a goal scorer Bta, perhaps you’ve forgotten what one of those is. <
Probably lol, but he only did it for one season,then he became unfit and overweight.
I would hardly call Pitman classy. Jed Wallace was a hell of a lot classier IMO.

I agree with the Marquis work rate comments but as Whitts says ,he's everywhere except where he's meant to be-in the box.

[DeepBlue]

Yep. Whittingham regularly commented on his being everywhere on the pitch except where a goalscorer does the business. Which for most is the 6 yard box, he hardly gets any from that range.

Really ?  I'd wager a very high percentage of his goals in his career are from within the six yard box , certainly most them for us have been. 

He is just chronically out of goalscoring form at the moment, the sort of run most strikers go through sometime during their careers. He will emerge from it eventually and if he keeps getting played he will probably be our top scorer this season but it looks like he'll likely finish on less than his 18 last season with the start he has had.

[Pedalo_menders]

Marquis getting 15 goals this year would mean he needs to average around a goal every other game. Can't see him doing that.

Pitman was head and shoulders above the other strikers we had. He was brave enough to point out Kenny obvious failings and paid the price.

It's been a long time since we had a traditional 2 striker pairing. Too long.

[Hammie]

2 striker pairing
spot on

[mikey393]

Pitman, was a Class Act. Instictively knew where the goal was & stuck it in the Onion Bag. Marquis isn't fit to lace his boots! Work Rate means Nothing if you're Not Scoring Goals, end of.....

[BilltheCat]

Go back and have another look at our second goal against Charlton.

[BilltheCat]

Pitman, was a Class Act. Instictively knew where the goal was & stuck it in the Onion Bag. Marquis isn't fit to lace his boots! Work Rate means Nothing if you're Not Scoring Goals, end of.....

And today?

[exgaffer]

Pitman, was a Class Act. Instictively knew where the goal was & stuck it in the Onion Bag. Marquis isn't fit to lace his boots! Work Rate means Nothing if you're Not Scoring Goals, end of.....

And today?

One swallow doth not a summer make   .

Marquis played very well today and deserved his goals, to be considered as a good striker though he needs to keep it going. I hope he does.

[dsmg]

Too right Gaff. Two poacher's goals today, which is what he's good at. Needs to recover his confidence, get his first touch back and stop straying offside! Really pleased for him as he seems a good bloke (came across really well in an interview during lockdown, trying to help people) and has obviously been suffering lately. He's also had two excellent assists in the last three games so let's hope for the sake of the team that he pushes on from here. We really seemed up for it yesterday which Sunderland strangely didn't. Perhaps they thought it would be a walk in the (aqua) park.

[muschi]

I can only endorse billy the pussy's comments.

Most people criticising JM clearly don't understand the role of the lone striker, scoring goals is about 15% of the job, the rest is hard unselfish work, unsettling defenders, holding the ball up while waiting for midfielders getting into goal scoring positions.  

All strikers have barren spells, Whitingham scored 49 one season, not many after that being a prime example. Once a striker starts scoring defenders give them more attention, it gets harder and confidence is lost. Thankfully the FP crowd stay behind JM message boards bring a more extreme reaction.

How many players get hounded out of FP only to show their true worth elsewhere? The list is endless.

Last season Raggetino was the worst defender in the world, this year the new Bobby Moore, no one mentions thr carp partneers he has at times particularly Christianson whose posional sense was appalling.

[Theyak2]

Smith still finding the net for Rotherham, when he was here I thought he was useless

Smith was a good player for us but we didn’t play him the right way, Rotherham obviously do and you just know he will score against us.

Smith has proved to be good for Rotherham. He was absolutely garbage here at fratton and was responsible for the worst miss in history vs Notts County at home when he missed off target from less than a yard.
It's all opinions and gaffer may have a point but Smith for me is in the same breath as Baird and Mccarthy, both good at previous clubs but shit here

[Wightblue]

Didn’t Marquis have a purple patch last season ? Something like 7 from 8 or 9 ?

Needs to get on another similar run

[PompeyBlue15]

Marquis getting 15 goals this year would mean he needs to average around a goal every other game. Can't see him doing that.

Pitman was head and shoulders above the other strikers we had. He was brave enough to point out Kenny obvious failings and paid the price.

It's been a long time since we had a traditional 2 striker pairing. Too long.

If marquis plays nearly every game (which it looks like he may do) then he'd need one in nearly every three games. Which after yesterday he's at for this season despite him being poor for the majority of it. Let's hope this can spark a bit of confidence for him as I thought his all round game was brilliant yesterday. A fine touch and assist for the Lee brown goal too.