@Quarterman said:
Disappointing defeat but again we are just not ruthless enough and score enough when in the ascendency. For me, i absolutely hate it when people say you are in control of a football match when the scores are level, or one goal in it - you’re not. Only when, at a minimum, you’re two up, and even then not always. I still think we just are lacking a little bit, particularly out wide, and we’re play offs at best without reinforcements.
If we are to continue playing 3-4-1-2 we need more quality out wide. McCarthy was fantastic at right wing back in the last quarter of last season but he has shown pretty average form this season. Going forward he seems to be at best hitting and hoping crosses almost exclusively. Defensively he struggles. It was a real shame that effort towards the end didn’t go in as that could’ve kick started his form. For me, Horgan needs to come in for McCarthy on the right who has better quality on the ball. That would leave McCleary and Mehmeti (and Wheeler) to fight for the number 10 spot. I’m still not convinced by Obita but with more quality on the right and Obita’s link with McCleary (when fit) that looks ok.
JJ is a bit concerning for me too as when his set pieces are a bit off he is a bit of a worry at the back if the opposition target him and his set piece threat doesn’t offset that. I am certainly not fighting him off as generally he’s been great since the switch to a back 3, but recently he has struggled.
We went pretty agricultural (understatement) today in the last 15 minutes and probably should’ve scored but it certainly wasn’t attractive to watch. It still worries me personally that we are so one dimensional at times from the bench, with our only option seemingly being Bayo on for 15 minutes and belt it forward repeatedly. But I do understand it can be very effective and it’s just not my cup of tea.
Anyway, in summary, let’s hope McCleary is back soon!
This is a fantastic summary.
Without being to reactive or revisionary, I'm not sure 352 is the best for us.
We don't create a lot without McCleary. That's seen by how most of our goals are either from him, or a set piece. 352 requires fullbacks that cross well, and Jmac and Obita have really struggled with it.
Add to that how badly we defend in it, with people back but not sure what to do or who to mark, and you do wonder.
It seemed we started playing it to get a few 10s in and Fred last season, i don't think we should carry on.
@Quarterman said:
Disappointing defeat but again we are just not ruthless enough and score enough when in the ascendency. For me, i absolutely hate it when people say you are in control of a football match when the scores are level, or one goal in it - you’re not. Only when, at a minimum, you’re two up, and even then not always. I still think we just are lacking a little bit, particularly out wide, and we’re play offs at best without reinforcements.
If we are to continue playing 3-4-1-2 we need more quality out wide. McCarthy was fantastic at right wing back in the last quarter of last season but he has shown pretty average form this season. Going forward he seems to be at best hitting and hoping crosses almost exclusively. Defensively he struggles. It was a real shame that effort towards the end didn’t go in as that could’ve kick started his form. For me, Horgan needs to come in for McCarthy on the right who has better quality on the ball. That would leave McCleary and Mehmeti (and Wheeler) to fight for the number 10 spot. I’m still not convinced by Obita but with more quality on the right and Obita’s link with McCleary (when fit) that looks ok.
JJ is a bit concerning for me too as when his set pieces are a bit off he is a bit of a worry at the back if the opposition target him and his set piece threat doesn’t offset that. I am certainly not fighting him off as generally he’s been great since the switch to a back 3, but recently he has struggled.
We went pretty agricultural (understatement) today in the last 15 minutes and probably should’ve scored but it certainly wasn’t attractive to watch. It still worries me personally that we are so one dimensional at times from the bench, with our only option seemingly being Bayo on for 15 minutes and belt it forward repeatedly. But I do understand it can be very effective and it’s just not my cup of tea.
Anyway, in summary, let’s hope McCleary is back soon!
This is a fantastic summary.
Without being to reactive or revisionary, I'm not sure 352 is the best for us.
We don't create a lot without McCleary. That's seen by how most of our goals are either from him, or a set piece. 352 requires fullbacks that cross well, and Jmac and Obita have really struggled with it.
Add to that how badly we defend in it, with people back but not sure what to do or who to mark, and you do wonder.
It seemed we started playing it to get a few 10s in and Fred last season, i don't think we should carry on.
Also, taking Mehmeti off was a baffling choice.
We had loads of chances after he went off. We'd hardly had any in the second half up until that point
@Quarterman said:
Disappointing defeat but again we are just not ruthless enough and score enough when in the ascendency. For me, i absolutely hate it when people say you are in control of a football match when the scores are level, or one goal in it - you’re not. Only when, at a minimum, you’re two up, and even then not always. I still think we just are lacking a little bit, particularly out wide, and we’re play offs at best without reinforcements.
If we are to continue playing 3-4-1-2 we need more quality out wide. McCarthy was fantastic at right wing back in the last quarter of last season but he has shown pretty average form this season. Going forward he seems to be at best hitting and hoping crosses almost exclusively. Defensively he struggles. It was a real shame that effort towards the end didn’t go in as that could’ve kick started his form. For me, Horgan needs to come in for McCarthy on the right who has better quality on the ball. That would leave McCleary and Mehmeti (and Wheeler) to fight for the number 10 spot. I’m still not convinced by Obita but with more quality on the right and Obita’s link with McCleary (when fit) that looks ok.
JJ is a bit concerning for me too as when his set pieces are a bit off he is a bit of a worry at the back if the opposition target him and his set piece threat doesn’t offset that. I am certainly not fighting him off as generally he’s been great since the switch to a back 3, but recently he has struggled.
We went pretty agricultural (understatement) today in the last 15 minutes and probably should’ve scored but it certainly wasn’t attractive to watch. It still worries me personally that we are so one dimensional at times from the bench, with our only option seemingly being Bayo on for 15 minutes and belt it forward repeatedly. But I do understand it can be very effective and it’s just not my cup of tea.
Anyway, in summary, let’s hope McCleary is back soon!
This is a fantastic summary.
Without being to reactive or revisionary, I'm not sure 352 is the best for us.
We don't create a lot without McCleary. That's seen by how most of our goals are either from him, or a set piece. 352 requires fullbacks that cross well, and Jmac and Obita have really struggled with it.
Add to that how badly we defend in it, with people back but not sure what to do or who to mark, and you do wonder.
It seemed we started playing it to get a few 10s in and Fred last season, i don't think we should carry on.
Also, taking Mehmeti off was a baffling choice.
We had loads of chances after he went off. We'd hardly had any in the second half up until that point
Because we then brought Bayo on and lumped it up. Which is fine. But Mehmeti would be perfect to pick up on loose balls, and gets the ball down and has the ability to pick a lock and win penalties.
We cannot be reliant on one player (although I acknowledge how Important having a 10 as outstanding as McCleary is). Otherwise, I agree with everything you say @Quarterman I wasn’t actually at the game but from the commentary and subsequent comments on here, I reckon you’ve summed it up very well.
@micra said:
We cannot be reliant on one player (although I acknowledge how Important having a 10 as outstanding as McCleary is). Otherwise, I agree with everything you say @Quarterman I wasn’t actually at the game but from the commentary and subsequent comments on here, I reckon you’ve summed it up very well.
We had quite a few chances late on, but all from a type of desperation long ball power play.
With McCleary we can take it to the opposition quality wise a lot more.
Having said that, quite a few times we hasd Scowen in acres yet insisted on banging crosses in from angles miles out.
Sometimes GA has a plan and sticks to it. Even if it’s not working. Today it wasn’t working. Their defenders were legitimately or otherwise smothering Vokes and Hanlan. This should have been tweaked. Putting Hanlan wider. Putting Mehmeti closer to Vokrs instead. But we just kept on hammering in the same diagonal crosses from deep. And it didn’t work.
If we had played with the attacking abandon we did in the last ten in the first ten of the second half we might have got something from the game. Disappointing as 1-1 would have been fair. They had two exact same chances before they scored. I thought scorer was offside but I'm not a ref or a lino.
@micra said:
It’s sad if the absence of one player, however talented, should make as great a difference to the general approach as it seems to have done.
In theory, but when you look at Aston Villa since they lost Grealish, there is definitely a strong correlation to losing your best player and playing at less than your best.
Hanlon and Mehmeti played well...just need to be ruthless. Wheeler and Bayo made a difference when they came on. Cowley has made Pompey look like a lower league side at least so might be successful this year. Them and their players constant barracking of the officials was irritating.
@micra said:
It’s sad if the absence of one player, however talented, should make as great a difference to the general approach as it seems to have done.
He's our best player by miles, of course it makes a difference if he's not available
That’s the most frustrating game I’ve seen the Tranmere Rovers replay in November 2019.
Portsmouth absolutely did a number on us today. Aided by the weakest refereeing performance in many a year from Neil Hair. Nevertheless we conspired in our downfall and it’s quite clear we won’t be troubling the Championship again any time soon.
Loved the irony of them singing ‘my garden shed is bigger than this’. I’ve got family living in Portsmouth and I don’t think you’ll ever find a place with so many terraced houses with such small gardens that you would actually fit a shed into in the first place.
@Quarterman said:
Throw in rule is fine. It’s not difficult or complicated. Thompson just has a very odd (illegal) technique. Good thing to stop it though as we show zero threat from it.
It's not complicated, just unnecessary imo as I don't think you gain any advantage from having a foot up. And you should be fine to have your feet touching the line rather than behind.
You can have your feet on the line, Curtis lifts his heels and jumps as he throws and that can catch him out.
Law 15 - ..."stand facing the field of play; have part of each foot on the touchline or on the ground outside the touchline..."
Ok here goes, will be interested to see people putting a good spin on this as I thought that was pretty awful. Had a Portsmouth mate with me today who thoroughly expected a defeat as they havnt been playing well and were missing important players. First 20 we were fine playing well, the penalty miss was he defining moment, we score that and we probably win the game. From that moment on they gained moment and we lost it. Last 10 we were good again and not sure how we didn't score at the end there. I love McCarthy but he does seem out of sorts, MoM, really ? The midfield for me was non existent today, not impressed at all, I know a lot of people love Thompson but I find in times of trouble he just kicks it in the air in hope. Also Hanlon is good, but has maybe been hyped too much imo... at the beginning of the season, we had Vokes with McCleary and Horgan on the wings, I know Gmac is injured but get Horgan back in the team !!
As for the atmosphere, I thought it was great today !? Busiest the terrace has been all season I think and a good buzz about it... but I guess you know who will be on soon to tell us otherwise and that we are missing the drum
@HolmerBlue said:
Ok here goes, will be interested to see people putting a good spin on this as I thought that was pretty awful. Had a Portsmouth mate with me today who thoroughly expected a defeat as they havnt been playing well and were missing important players. First 20 we were fine playing well, the penalty miss was he defining moment, we score that and we probably win the game. From that moment on they gained moment and we lost it. Last 10 we were good again and not sure how we didn't score at the end there. I love McCarthy but he does seem out of sorts, MoM, really ? The midfield for me was non existent today, not impressed at all, I know a lot of people love Thompson but I find in times of trouble he just kicks it in the air in hope. Also Hanlon is good, but has maybe been hyped too much imo... at the beginning of the season, we had Vokes with McCleary and Horgan on the wings, I know Gmac is injured but get Horgan back in the team !!
As for the atmosphere, I thought it was great today !? Busiest the terrace has been all season I think and a good buzz about it... but I guess you know who will be on soon to tell us otherwise and that we are missing the drum
When Hanlan joined us the consensus was that he fell over a lot and needed a lot of chances to score goals. Today was the perfect example of that. He may have been unfairly handled by the defenders at times but needs to show more strength if he’s going to take on the defenders or more intelligence to keep away from them.
Three very attacking players missing today. And it showed
@HolmerBlue said:
Ok here goes, will be interested to see people putting a good spin on this as I thought that was pretty awful. Had a Portsmouth mate with me today who thoroughly expected a defeat as they havnt been playing well and were missing important players. First 20 we were fine playing well, the penalty miss was he defining moment, we score that and we probably win the game. From that moment on they gained moment and we lost it. Last 10 we were good again and not sure how we didn't score at the end there. I love McCarthy but he does seem out of sorts, MoM, really ? The midfield for me was non existent today, not impressed at all, I know a lot of people love Thompson but I find in times of trouble he just kicks it in the air in hope. Also Hanlon is good, but has maybe been hyped too much imo... at the beginning of the season, we had Vokes with McCleary and Horgan on the wings, I know Gmac is injured but get Horgan back in the team !!
As for the atmosphere, I thought it was great today !? Busiest the terrace has been all season I think and a good buzz about it... but I guess you know who will be on soon to tell us otherwise and that we are missing the drum
Horgan of course had to miss today off on international duty, but yes, without him and McCleary our class drops immensely.
But today was the classic scenario of the finest of margins.
Pen miss, potential offside goal, that their man almost managed to miss, and all those chances at the end.
Any other day that wouldn't have ended with a defeat.
However, defeat it was, and a crap run recently for sure, almost Christmas-esque!
As an aside, I decided on some market research and tried a steak and ale pie at half time. I joined the queue then saw the price, £7, and left the queue! But I was still hungry so changed my mind and rejoined the queue and bought said pie. Was it any good…yes it was really good to be fair, but it seemed to have suffered a bit from hanging around and not being bought syndrome. £5 is acceptable for such a good produce, £7 is not, and I won’t buy another at that price.
I enjoyed the game.
Poor crossing is really costing us. We delay too long and hit flat balls that fail to beat the first man. Major problem when we’re relying on McCarthy and Obita to be the main channels for delivering balls into the box.
Mehmeti drove me mad. Played pretty well in parts. But often too hesitant and too many poor choices.
My overriding concern, however, is that we’re just not compact enough. Big gaps between the defence-midfield-attack. Scowen and Thomson asked to do far too much work covering ground in midfield. At times we get pulled all over the place as a result, leading to some of the disorganised defending we’ve seen lately.
It wasn’t dreadful and we should have got a point. But we’ll certainly need to improve if we want to stay in the top 6.
@HolmerBlue said:
Ok here goes, will be interested to see people putting a good spin on this as I thought that was pretty awful. Had a Portsmouth mate with me today who thoroughly expected a defeat as they havnt been playing well and were missing important players. First 20 we were fine playing well, the penalty miss was he defining moment, we score that and we probably win the game. From that moment on they gained moment and we lost it. Last 10 we were good again and not sure how we didn't score at the end there. I love McCarthy but he does seem out of sorts, MoM, really ? The midfield for me was non existent today, not impressed at all, I know a lot of people love Thompson but I find in times of trouble he just kicks it in the air in hope. Also Hanlon is good, but has maybe been hyped too much imo... at the beginning of the season, we had Vokes with McCleary and Horgan on the wings, I know Gmac is injured but get Horgan back in the team !!
As for the atmosphere, I thought it was great today !? Busiest the terrace has been all season I think and a good buzz about it... but I guess you know who will be on soon to tell us otherwise and that we are missing the drum
When Hanlan joined us the consensus was that he fell over a lot and needed a lot of chances to score goals. Today was the perfect example of that. He may have been unfairly handled by the defenders at times but needs to show more strength if he’s going to take on the defenders or more intelligence to keep away from them.
Three very attacking players missing today. And it showed
I wonder whether Ainsworth now regrets the decision to play the game .We have probably paid Vokes a reasonable amount to come here but we are not going to get the best of him if we cannot cross the ball effectively. McCarthy and Obita clearly have their strengths but the crossing of a ball doesn’t appear to be one of them. Three points dropped today. Portsmouth were a poor side.
Comments
This is a fantastic summary.
Without being to reactive or revisionary, I'm not sure 352 is the best for us.
We don't create a lot without McCleary. That's seen by how most of our goals are either from him, or a set piece. 352 requires fullbacks that cross well, and Jmac and Obita have really struggled with it.
Add to that how badly we defend in it, with people back but not sure what to do or who to mark, and you do wonder.
It seemed we started playing it to get a few 10s in and Fred last season, i don't think we should carry on.
Also, taking Mehmeti off was a baffling choice.
In fairness it seemed to turbo charge him hearing that and he was massively unlucky not to score from his run. Twice!
Taking the bus in seemed a good idea, but 15mins of listening to their fans revelling in the win wasn't part of the plan.
Don't often win away apparently. Not surprised!
Losing our way a bit at the moment. As @drcongo said, we seem to go all out first 15-20 mins then run out of ideas until the system change on 70 mins.
McCleary will make a big difference but we may also need a few smart loan moves in Jan to freshen up a bit.
We had loads of chances after he went off. We'd hardly had any in the second half up until that point
Because we then brought Bayo on and lumped it up. Which is fine. But Mehmeti would be perfect to pick up on loose balls, and gets the ball down and has the ability to pick a lock and win penalties.
We cannot be reliant on one player (although I acknowledge how Important having a 10 as outstanding as McCleary is). Otherwise, I agree with everything you say @Quarterman I wasn’t actually at the game but from the commentary and subsequent comments on here, I reckon you’ve summed it up very well.
We had quite a few chances late on, but all from a type of desperation long ball power play.
With McCleary we can take it to the opposition quality wise a lot more.
Having said that, quite a few times we hasd Scowen in acres yet insisted on banging crosses in from angles miles out.
Sometimes GA has a plan and sticks to it. Even if it’s not working. Today it wasn’t working. Their defenders were legitimately or otherwise smothering Vokes and Hanlan. This should have been tweaked. Putting Hanlan wider. Putting Mehmeti closer to Vokrs instead. But we just kept on hammering in the same diagonal crosses from deep. And it didn’t work.
If we had played with the attacking abandon we did in the last ten in the first ten of the second half we might have got something from the game. Disappointing as 1-1 would have been fair. They had two exact same chances before they scored. I thought scorer was offside but I'm not a ref or a lino.
It’s sad if the absence of one player, however talented, should make as great a difference to the general approach as it seems to have done.
In theory, but when you look at Aston Villa since they lost Grealish, there is definitely a strong correlation to losing your best player and playing at less than your best.
Hanlon and Mehmeti played well...just need to be ruthless. Wheeler and Bayo made a difference when they came on. Cowley has made Pompey look like a lower league side at least so might be successful this year. Them and their players constant barracking of the officials was irritating.
It's having Horgan out as well that doesn't help as suddenly you have two attacking mids who are quality for league one missing.
Meaning we only had the Bayo and Wheeler route on the bench meaning we doubled down on the high balls approach.
He's our best player by miles, of course it makes a difference if he's not available
That’s the most frustrating game I’ve seen the Tranmere Rovers replay in November 2019.
Portsmouth absolutely did a number on us today. Aided by the weakest refereeing performance in many a year from Neil Hair. Nevertheless we conspired in our downfall and it’s quite clear we won’t be troubling the Championship again any time soon.
The end is nigh.
I think Bayo should have been sent on earlier as we were being outclassed in the second half.
Loved the irony of them singing ‘my garden shed is bigger than this’. I’ve got family living in Portsmouth and I don’t think you’ll ever find a place with so many terraced houses with such small gardens that you would actually fit a shed into in the first place.
You can have your feet on the line, Curtis lifts his heels and jumps as he throws and that can catch him out.
Law 15 - ..."stand facing the field of play; have part of each foot on the touchline or on the ground outside the touchline..."
How about signing some loan players to freshen things up...a striker maybe????
Loan deadline is the same as the transfer deadline. The only players we could sign are those out of contract when the window closed.
And why would we need a striker anyway?
Because we've gone one game without scoring obviously. Do keep up
Ok here goes, will be interested to see people putting a good spin on this as I thought that was pretty awful. Had a Portsmouth mate with me today who thoroughly expected a defeat as they havnt been playing well and were missing important players. First 20 we were fine playing well, the penalty miss was he defining moment, we score that and we probably win the game. From that moment on they gained moment and we lost it. Last 10 we were good again and not sure how we didn't score at the end there. I love McCarthy but he does seem out of sorts, MoM, really ? The midfield for me was non existent today, not impressed at all, I know a lot of people love Thompson but I find in times of trouble he just kicks it in the air in hope. Also Hanlon is good, but has maybe been hyped too much imo... at the beginning of the season, we had Vokes with McCleary and Horgan on the wings, I know Gmac is injured but get Horgan back in the team !!
As for the atmosphere, I thought it was great today !? Busiest the terrace has been all season I think and a good buzz about it... but I guess you know who will be on soon to tell us otherwise and that we are missing the drum
When Hanlan joined us the consensus was that he fell over a lot and needed a lot of chances to score goals. Today was the perfect example of that. He may have been unfairly handled by the defenders at times but needs to show more strength if he’s going to take on the defenders or more intelligence to keep away from them.
Three very attacking players missing today. And it showed
Horgan of course had to miss today off on international duty, but yes, without him and McCleary our class drops immensely.
But today was the classic scenario of the finest of margins.
Pen miss, potential offside goal, that their man almost managed to miss, and all those chances at the end.
Any other day that wouldn't have ended with a defeat.
However, defeat it was, and a crap run recently for sure, almost Christmas-esque!
It seems that maybe we have just brought forward our usual post-Christmas slump in form.
As an aside, I decided on some market research and tried a steak and ale pie at half time. I joined the queue then saw the price, £7, and left the queue! But I was still hungry so changed my mind and rejoined the queue and bought said pie. Was it any good…yes it was really good to be fair, but it seemed to have suffered a bit from hanging around and not being bought syndrome. £5 is acceptable for such a good produce, £7 is not, and I won’t buy another at that price.
I enjoyed the game.
Poor crossing is really costing us. We delay too long and hit flat balls that fail to beat the first man. Major problem when we’re relying on McCarthy and Obita to be the main channels for delivering balls into the box.
Mehmeti drove me mad. Played pretty well in parts. But often too hesitant and too many poor choices.
My overriding concern, however, is that we’re just not compact enough. Big gaps between the defence-midfield-attack. Scowen and Thomson asked to do far too much work covering ground in midfield. At times we get pulled all over the place as a result, leading to some of the disorganised defending we’ve seen lately.
It wasn’t dreadful and we should have got a point. But we’ll certainly need to improve if we want to stay in the top 6.
I wonder whether Ainsworth now regrets the decision to play the game .We have probably paid Vokes a reasonable amount to come here but we are not going to get the best of him if we cannot cross the ball effectively. McCarthy and Obita clearly have their strengths but the crossing of a ball doesn’t appear to be one of them. Three points dropped today. Portsmouth were a poor side.