[Pedalo_menders]

Well it isn't Stoke or Cardiff ffs

1: QPR?
2: Plymouth?
3: Coventry?

It's going to be a long fooking slog this season but don't give up.

[TitchfieldBlue]

None. We are the worst team in the league, but we will still get the odd win here and there.

Coventry are miles better than us.

QPR and Plymouth will finish above us too.

[Prickles]

Too early to say. Lots of sackings, signings, injuries and swings in form to happen all over the country yet.

[Bedhamptonblue69]

On recent performances I can’t see anyone worse than us. Just look at our defensive record . Awful

[Cressers]

Are there three teams worse than us?

[Sharpe*]

The one good thing is a couple of wins can propel a team up the league.

The bad is I don't see us getting a couple of wins on the bounce.

JM must focus on us being difficult to beat.

Start at the absolute basics.

[DeepBlue]

Are there three teams worse than us?

Not at the moment. clearly not. 

But it's only October and we have the capacity to improve and other teams have the capacity to decline. Ask the question again in February/March.

I doubt many teams would cope any better than we have with the loss of players through injury and surgery ithat we have had to endure and although we should be worried by the performance level against Stoke & Cardiff we should equally still be encouraged by the fact that the likes of Leeds, Middlesbrough, Luton & Sheffield Utd were no better than us on the day.  

Get back to those levels with a fit squad and we can still be OK.

[Kingo]

Are there three teams worse than us?

Anywhere?

[TitchfieldBlue]

Are there three teams worse than us?

Not at the moment. clearly not. 

But it's only October and we have the capacity to improve and other teams have the capacity to decline. Ask the question again in February/March.

I doubt many teams would cope any better than we have with the loss of players through injury and surgery ithat we have had to endure and although we should be worried by the performance level against Stoke & Cardiff we should equally still be encouraged by the fact that the likes of Leeds, Middlesbrough, Luton & Sheffield Utd were no better than us on the day.  

Get back to those levels with a fit squad and we can still be OK.

Middlesbrough and Leeds no better than us on the day????

They battered us. You need glasses.

[Prickles]

We played on the counter and invited pressure. Batter is for fish.

[Hammie]

One team always improves and climbs away, at present that looks like being Cardiff with a change of manager.
Another falls into trouble from mid table, often after their manager gets poached.
But we really look like a team with a soft belly at the moment. I always look at goal difference more than league position until about Easter. That suggests we are in big trouble unless we can find a set up that is far more solid.

I hope that Mouse can do that but he needs to show some steady improvement quite soon, the crowd can easily turn.

[DeepBlue]

One team always improves and climbs away, at present that looks like being Cardiff with a change of manager.
Another falls into trouble from mid table, often after their manager gets poached.
But we really look like a team with a soft belly at the moment. I always look at goal difference more than league position until about Easter. That suggests we are in big trouble unless we can find a set up that is far more solid.

I hope that Mouse can do that but he needs to show some steady improvement quite soon, the crowd can easily turn.

With the squad they have got Cardiff should never have been down in the bottom three in the first place.  In Colwill they have one of the best players in the division, already valued at 10m plus, and I wouldn't be surprised if Robertson didn't join him in that sort of valuation in a year or two. 

QPR have got major problems off the pitch and will probably continue to struggle, and I'll be surprised if Oxford, Derby & Plymouth maintain their bright start.  Sheff Wed & Coventry look vulnerable too. 

We can compete with the likes of these teams but only if people keep the faith. Outbursts of mass bedwetting at an away  defeat just 3 days after celebrating the turning point of the season with an away win do not help. 

Some people seem to have forgotten how to take defeat.

[farq2]

One team always improves and climbs away, at present that looks like being Cardiff with a change of manager.
Another falls into trouble from mid table, often after their manager gets poached.
But we really look like a team with a soft belly at the moment. I always look at goal difference more than league position until about Easter. That suggests we are in big trouble unless we can find a set up that is far more solid.

I hope that Mouse can do that but he needs to show some steady improvement quite soon, the crowd can easily turn.

With the squad they have got Cardiff should never have been down in the bottom three in the first place.  In Colwill they have one of the best players in the division, already valued at 10m plus, and I wouldn't be surprised if Robertson didn't join him in that sort of valuation in a year or two. 

QPR have got major problems off the pitch and will probably continue to struggle, and I'll be surprised if Oxford, Derby & Plymouth maintain their bright start.  Sheff Wed & Coventry look vulnerable too. 

We can compete with the likes of these teams but only if people keep the faith. Outbursts of mass bedwetting at an away  defeat just 3 days after celebrating the turning point of the season with an away win do not help. 

Some people seem to have forgotten how to take defeat.

Nothing to do with accepting defeat ,it was the manner of the defeat.The game was lost in 10 mins, and on another night they may well have scored more than 6

[Jizbag]

One team always improves and climbs away, at present that looks like being Cardiff with a change of manager.
Another falls into trouble from mid table, often after their manager gets poached.
But we really look like a team with a soft belly at the moment. I always look at goal difference more than league position until about Easter. That suggests we are in big trouble unless we can find a set up that is far more solid.

I hope that Mouse can do that but he needs to show some steady improvement quite soon, the crowd can easily turn.

With the squad they have got Cardiff should never have been down in the bottom three in the first place.  In Colwill they have one of the best players in the division, already valued at 10m plus, and I wouldn't be surprised if Robertson didn't join him in that sort of valuation in a year or two. 

QPR have got major problems off the pitch and will probably continue to struggle, and I'll be surprised if Oxford, Derby & Plymouth maintain their bright start.  Sheff Wed & Coventry look vulnerable too. 

We can compete with the likes of these teams but only if people keep the faith. Outbursts of mass bedwetting at an away  defeat just 3 days after celebrating the turning point of the season with an away win do not help. 

Some people seem to have forgotten how to take defeat.

Did you watch the game? Did you see how utterly shit and devoid of ideas, competitiveness and sheer pride in the shirt we were

[DeepBlue]

Yes, I watched the game. I saw a team derailed by a stupid early own goal, then deflated by a second soon after, virtually killing the game dead. They were then totally disprupted by not one, not two, but three separate injuries within the first half.  Somehow they kept the score to 2-0 until half time and then came out in the second half half and put on a performance that was 100% better than the first, and had both halves been  like that would have given them a decent draw. 

Two away games in 4 days returning 3 points. Not a disaster. If we win on Friday the truth is that it will still have been a good week, despite the disappointment of last night.  But that is a big ask and that task will be much harder if they do not have the full support of the fans . Fans over-reacting to two bad performances out of eleven games become part of the problem, not the solution.

[TiHKAL]

It pains me to say it having experienced it ourselves, but there’s got to be some sort of financial implosion and points deduction for one or two hasn’t there?

[66zoolane]

It pains me to say it having experienced it ourselves, but there’s got to be some sort of financial implosion and points deduction for one or two hasn’t there?

That's definitely one thing we never need worry about, including through the lockdowns and everything else, we've never had a single moment we ever felt threatened. That sort of stabilty is something the ownership have never given us any reason to doubt.

That said, if we need spend more in January, it has to make much more financial sense rather than to go back to L1. With TV deals etc, it'll cost us a lot more not being in the Championship.

I'm always over-optimistic, but there are plus points in that the squad have character - those opening games the EFL dealt us, which were never going to yield many points, none on paper, but we took 4.

The team fight - after the first 10 minutes baptism of fire at Leeds, we could've crumbled...but we went 2-1 up. We got a pasting at Stoke, but that pasting happened in just 10 bad minutes either side of half-time, and we stabilised it - Scum would've been looking at 9. That game's the main reason for our GD - otherwise it's about normal amongst other lower table teams. 
We could've been demoralised after that, but we've never looked it. 

Then, 2-0 down at Cardiff early, and we stabilised that too - it wasn't a thrashing because we had the character to stop a flood, and we looked okay in the second half.

We won away at the weekend!

[Lawrence]

Yes, I watched the game. I saw a team derailed by a stupid early own goal, then deflated by a second soon after, virtually killing the game dead. They were then totally disprupted by not one, not two, but three separate injuries within the first half.  Somehow they kept the score to 2-0 until half time and then came out in the second half half and put on a performance that was 100% better than the first, and had both halves been  like that would have given them a decent draw. 

Two away games in 4 days returning 3 points. Not a disaster. If we win on Friday the truth is that it will still have been a good week, despite the disappointment of last night.  But that is a big ask and that task will be much harder if they do not have the full support of the fans . Fans over-reacting to two bad performances out of eleven games become part of the problem, not the solution.

We are in a mess at the moment and moose has to step up and mould these players into a cohesive unit that work for each other. If he succeeds, there's still time. But something has to change because we're just drifting at the moment.

Millwall started tonight in 19th and are closing in on a win that would take them 14th. Like I said, still time.

[Pompey_in_Derby]

That's the spirit! This season has barely started and many on here are throwing their toys out of the pram! We've gone up a division and face teams with a budget 3 or 4 times bigger than ours. At the start of the season all of us (except a certain individual claiming to be from Titchfield) would have happily taken a situation where we have EIGHT times as many points as the scummers! Even an experienced Bobby Campbell found the challenge a tough one and that was before the parachute money distorted everything. Time to recreate the wall of noise as in the Bally era.

PUP

[Cliff Portwood gave me a lift]

It pains me to say it having experienced it ourselves, but there’s got to be some sort of financial implosion and points deduction for one or two hasn’t there?

That's definitely one thing we never need worry about, including through the lockdowns and everything else, we've never had a single moment we ever felt threatened. That sort of stabilty is something the ownership have never given us any reason to doubt.

That said, if we need spend more in January, it has to make much more financial sense rather than to go back to L1. With TV deals etc, it'll cost us a lot more not being in the Championship.

I'm always over-optimistic, but there are plus points in that the squad have character - those opening games the EFL dealt us, which were never going to yield many points, none on paper, but we took 4.

The team fight - after the first 10 minutes baptism of fire at Leeds, we could've crumbled...but we went 2-1 up. We got a pasting at Stoke, but that pasting happened in just 10 bad minutes either side of half-time, and we stabilised it - Scum would've been looking at 9. That game's the main reason for our GD - otherwise it's about normal amongst other lower table teams. 
We could've been demoralised after that, but we've never looked it. 

Then, 2-0 down at Cardiff early, and we stabilised that too - it wasn't a thrashing because we had the character to stop a flood, and we looked okay in the second half.

We won away at the weekend!

[Cliff Portwood gave me a lift]

I agree that the team didn't/doesn't capitulate. I didn't see anyone give up at Cardiff but I think it's a bit of a stretch to say we stabilised the situation. After those two dreadful goals Cardiff really should have gone 4-0 up. Any stability really came only when Cardiff backed off after the hour mark and our subs offered something going forward. There have been a few cricket scores in recent years but most teams take their foot off the pedal after 6! But I applaud your optimism.

[Cunninglinguist]

That performance was as bad, if not worse than Stoke. We were ripped apart by both teams and the Cardiff score would have been much higher but for a great performance by our third choice keeper (who looked very competent, after a nervy start). Yes we were rocked by an unfortunate own goal but the signs were already there in full view.

We are woeful in midfield and JM has to sort that out quickly. People keep saying that Pack needs help but we need 11 players to do their own job, not cover the shortcomings of one individual. This is the Championship, where players have to have skill and pace. It’s no place for passengers.

As to the crowd needing to keep the faith…Fratton Park is no place for the faint hearted. It’s not often an away following boos the team but it was deserved against Cardiff. I can take a defeat but I can’t stomach players than don’t give it all when it’s not going right. It’s usually the case that players get start getting booked when they get frustrated and start getting petulant. They barely raised a whimper on Tuesday.

[Rocketman]

Not being good enough or simply outplayed I can take. Not putting in the effort I can't take. If it's like that on Friday, I can see mass choruses of "you're not fit to wear the shirt" at the end. Hopefully it won't come to that, hopefully we see 190% effort from everyone. But ......

[Cunninglinguist]

We were assured that a repeat of the Stoke performance was not on the cards. It didn’t take long, did it?

[TitchfieldBlue]

This current pompey team would be mid table in league one. Awful side.