Post-Match Wash Up Pompey

[rodo]

seen it all tonight ****e game really really bad then the saw the sight of a red smacking another red cos he was bein over enthusiastic in urging the lower centenary to get behind the team

[Shaggy]

seen it all tonight ****e game really really bad then the saw the sight of a red smacking another red cos he was bein over enthusiastic in urging the lower centenary to get behind the team

Wonderful.

[rodo]

sad thing is the lad who got smacked was the one that left

[brightred]

I feel sorry for Rafa

The summer signings have obviously not paid off.

I can't understand why he bought Pennant though. If he's not good enough for Arsenal then what is he doing here?

This a bad season- where do go from here

[Graybach]

It's not just the loss of two points that bothers me about tonight, it's the performance again. Terrible. Entertainment value? a Family Fortunes X from me. I can't even be arsed listening to Rafa in interviews anymore.

Allright mate, where did you watch? I've read this thread and think I must have watched a different match. I could only watch the 'highlights' on Football First and although I realise it was edited it didn't look that bad too me.

Before everyone starts I agree it was a bad result, another two points dropped that should be in the bag but I just didn't see as bad as the rest of you. I can appreciate I could have got it wrong if i'd seen all the match.

Biggest problem I've got is that we just don't seem to create anything for our strikers. When was the last time they had clear cut chances or put through one-on-one?

Plus points???? Agger! The lad just gets better and better, can't believe he's just 21. Carra wasn't bad in midfield. Still difficult to beat at home.

I'm convinced, even with the injuries, we're gonna go on a decent run.

[alunevans]

I thought for the first hour it was an improvement on PSV and City. We at least kept it on the floor. Lacking creativity sure, but we were lacking that when aimlessly hoofing it.

Taking off Crouch was a very bad decision in my view. Kuyt looks a little out of sorts, but things stick to Crouch. I felt once he was off the whole pattern of play disintegrated.

Nobody could really argue with Garcia being dragged off. Abysmal display. But thought it was odd that the untested kid replaced him rather than Guthrie who has both played and impressed (and impressed again when he came on later).

Pennant being replaced when we needed a goal is perhaps another example of Rafa realising what some of us warned in the Summer. He's just not very good.

Bright spark again was Guthrie. I really like this kid.

First hour I wasn't massively unhappy with. Last half hour wasn't very good at all really. Felt Gerrard was unnecessarily deep again.

Rafa's decision I felt weakened us. Too often really I feel Rafa makes decisions that weaken us. Worrying that.

Overriding observation though is how blunt we look in attack.

[Bob]

seen it all tonight ****e game really really bad then the saw the sight of a red smacking another red cos he was bein over enthusiastic in urging the lower centenary to get behind the team

[vonk]

You are lucky you didn't see it all. Just watched it in it's entirety. Worst performance in a long time. The most galling part was everyone and his dog knew after 10 minutes that Pompey were here for a point. 80 (+5) minutes later they left with one. A couple of points:

- Why, when the opposition have a lone striker do we play 4 across the back... and if we do then what the hell were Riise and Finnan doing? They should have been camped in the Portsmouth half!
- Riise was rubbish. He has been for a while. The odd goal but he is not comfortable on the ball. Aurelio must come in.
- Pennant was worse than rubbish.... but at least he seemed to try for about 15 minutes. It's not his fault, it's Rafa and the boards. He is not good enough to place for a top team and they should have seen this. Feel for him now as his confidence is shot after tonight.
- Garcia: Should be playing behind the two strikers. He was crap tonight because he's not a winger.
- Hyypia: Someone should tell him when Crouch went off that it was time to give up the long ball. He is too slow.
- Carra: Was the wrong choice for central midfield in this game. He can't hit good forward passes. He kept reverting to type leaving us with 5 defenders vs. ONE STRIKER!!! They played 5 in midfield, so should we!
- Crouch: One bit of skill in minute 3, then back to crap. Never takes a chance, barely won a header all night. Can't hold the ball up. I'd have had a half-fit Robbie before him. Sorry, he scores but we need more up front, not that...
- Kuyt: Did much better. We appreciate the running but he is starved of service.
- The Team: What I don't get is the apparant lack of urgency. If I see another 5 minutes of passing the ball across the back with 10 minutes left I'll break my tv. It's driving me nuts. 10 minutes left at home and we are trying to draw them out? They might as well have announced it on the tannoy that Portsmouth were not going to try to attack. All in all... we are average. We didn't make James make a save! Final third we are clueless. The whole club needs another revolution. I'd keep Gerrard, Pepe, Agger, Carra, Finnan, Garcia(for big games), Momo, Xabi, Kuyt, Aurelio and the rest....good luck.

[Bob]

[QUOTE=vonk;175526]You are lucky you didn't see it all.
Most people have access to streams - i missed the first 15 mins of tonight's game, but that's a rarity!!!

Just watched it in it's entirety. Worst performance in a long time. The most galling part was everyone and his dog knew after 10 minutes that Pompey were here for a point. 80 (+5) minutes later they left with one. A couple of points:
Agree

- Why, when the opposition have a lone striker do we play 4 across the back... and if we do then what the hell were Riise and Finnan doing? They should have been camped in the Portsmouth half!
Disagree. Sorry pal, four across the back is nigh on a must. Changing it through a game is nigh on tactical suicide!!! Your vitriol for Riise and Finnan is stupid at best
- Riise was rubbish. He has been for a while. The odd goal but he is not comfortable on the ball. Aurelio must come in.
Are you effing wise. Riise is nigh on second place for me in the POTS. Ok, thta may be exacerating things, but watch us play without him. He's our best LB by a country mile buddy - and well to suggets Aureilio well...
- Pennant was worse than rubbish.... but at least he seemed to try for about 15 minutes. It's not his fault, it's Rafa and the boards. He is not good enough to place for a top team and they should have seen this. Feel for him now as his confidence is shot after tonight.
Agree, though to be fair his confidience was shot long before now. I can't see even a Championship player in him, abiet he has a cracking cross on him - if he has space
- Carra: Was the wrong choice for central midfield in this game. He can't hit good forward passes. He kept reverting to type leaving us with 5 defenders vs. ONE STRIKER!!! They played 5 in midfield, so should we!
[agree]He's a square-ball midfielder-he'll admit that hiself. Good thing he's a cracking CD then [/agree]
- Crouch: One bit of skill in minute 3, then back to crap. Never takes a chance, barely won a header all night. Can't hold the ball up. I'd have had a half-fit Robbie before him. Sorry, he scores but we need more up front, not that...
[agree]No sure on this, as i said though.. I've seen more movement from Stevens Hawkins than i did from those pair. [/agree]
- Kuyt: Did much better. We appreciate the running but he is starved of service.

Post More vonk and welcome :handshanke:

[vonk]

Cheers mate. Good swapping thoughts on here. Some good discussions. I may have been a bit hard on the full backs but I thought they should have got forward much more. I'd like to see more of Aurelio. He has a great cross on him, that one vs Gala was quality. Our biggest problem now is the confidence and morale of the squad. We need to thump someone away (Wigan??) to get the lads up for it again. The heads are down.

[Ron_Mexico]

well it seems we played like a team of eunuchs again.

i was all set to watch the Reds murder pompey after a long **** day, im so glad i checked this site first.

ended up dislocating my shoulder twice in my own game, ****ing **** day

i think its unfair to bash pennant so much, aye he's been poor but so has the lot of em. to expect a young signing to settle so fast and make a big impact when the rest of the team is playing ****e is unfair to the lad. hes trying and wants it so much even the simple things are difficult at the moment. he was signed because we couldnt land our top target and i think everyone should keep that in perspective when they slate the lad

the manager deserves some criticism, his unwillingness to change from his negative tactics even at home is just ****ing scary imo. we will never win the prem when the tactic for the majority of our games consists of trying to keep the other team from beating us. its plain to see the team is bereft of confidence, and you wont gain confidence playing negative football. rafa is so stubborn i dont see it changing

[desertscouser]

We're sh!te,it's simple as that and this season is going to be a real struggle. The fact that we're 16 points behind United speaks volumes for me. Its an embarrassment and I have a feeling that by the end of the season we could be many more points behind them.

We need to ensure that we finish in the top 4, that's the absolute bare minimum target....thankfully due to the fact that everyone else in the premiership apart from United and Chelsea are average to poor it's very achievable.Then we have to hope that we pick up one of the cups as well as going as far as possible in the Champions League.

Rafa has to ensure that this season does not turn out to be a complete and utter disaster. The sign of a good manager is how he turns a struggling team around. Time to find out whether Rafa is up to the task.

[Sydney Vicious]

It's not just the loss of two points that bothers me about tonight, it's the performance again. Terrible. Entertainment value? a Family Fortunes X from me. I can't even be arsed listening to Rafa in interviews anymore.

This is key. He seems to lack any kind of passion, and as someone else said, he says a lot of words, with no content.

Very depressed about the football at the mo

[tomasjj]

Positives from last night:

- The first half. We went forward with intent, and I sensed we could score more than 2.

- Carra in his new midfield role. He looked very assured there.

- We didn't concede, and Pomps never looked like scoring.

- Gerrard was very good in the first half.

- Finnan and, hold your breath, Pennants interplay down the right. They managed to get tons of crosses into the box from the right. Ok, the quality of the crosses was variable, but they created 4 times as much as the left side with Riise and Luis.

Negatives:

- The second half. No movement, intent or creativity. We didnt look like scoring. ****e.

- Kuyt and Crouch had a stinker, and actually Luis was the one who looked like scoring, together with Stevie.

- Gerrard disappeared in the 2nd half.

- We threw away 2 points!!! No matter if Pompey had a 5-4-1, we should be able to break them down at home. It seems like teams have found us out. Boro, City and now, Pompey try to sit back and soak up our pressure...and many teams manage to keep us at bay. Rafa needs to make some moves.

- Rafas post match....reminiscent of Houllier days...

[tomasjj]

seen it all tonight ****e game really really bad then the saw the sight of a red smacking another red cos he was bein over enthusiastic in urging the lower centenary to get behind the team