I'd say not a bad day but a fair day. Sussex getting stuffed again, by Slurrey which isn't nice at all.
Amazing to read some of these comments. The draw was a fair result at the end of the day. Saints rode their luck and whilst they were below average and put in a display that was a shadow of what tey have been capable of, I was shocked how good Portsmouth were. In fact, I feel that was perhaps the best performance put in by a visiting side this season. From the kick off, Portsmouth wanted the game more. Their midfield controlled the game and I felt the defence had the measure of Lambert and Sharpe for most of the match. They can could themselves unfortunate to have conceded two goals as they looked solid for most of the game. Ashdown also pulled off some exceptional saves. For me, the best player on the park was Chris McGuire who looked a fantastic acquisition. Allan also looked like a tiger in midfield. I think Portsmouth's players performed better man for man / position for position in this game than the saints players. Portsmouth wanted the win more and we had no answer for their passion and grit. Simply put, we were prevented from playing our passing and cultured football but a good , old-fashioned English style of football that transferred the match into a cup tie atsmosphere. As for Saints, we only played well for odd spells throughout the game. I thought Shap's first goal would see Pompey crumble but the equaliser saw the first half conclude at a score which reflected the fact that Pompey dominated the first 25 minutes. McGuire should have scored in the second half but we started to move up a gear and for a moment I thought it looked like we would take control. The second Saints effort did look offsite but I understand that it now looks like being an own goal and should therefore have stood. Seems like a good call by the referee. As for the last-gasp equaliser, I think that this is worthy of a new thread as to what the best goal evr scored at St. Mary's. It was a fantastic strike which evern Gordon Banks on kryptonite would have failed to save. Shame we dropped two points so late in the day (thanks diots who ran on to the pitch) but it was a magnificent goal by anyone's standards. A draw was probably the correct result. I felt that Portsmouth's performance was hugely impressive and demonstrative as to why they will not get relegated. They have a "never say die" attitidue and fought tooth and nail during this game. On the evidence of this afternoon, the gap in the league between the two teams does not seem at all representative. Saints could really do with some "Pompey Passion" to get us over the line to an automatic promotion place. In conclusion, I am hugely disappointed that we didn't take all three points but even though they only got a draw,I think Portsmouth fans definately deserve the bragging rights after a dogged and determined display . On this evidence, I truly believe that Southampton and Portsmouth will be plasying in the same league next season.
I am LIVID at those who booed Guly/cheered when he went off today. I was going to make a thread about it but it isn't worth my time - disgraceful supporters claiming he's **** from the whistle who clearly no nothing about support, then continuing to be an embarrassment through the game. Anybody who thinks he is a bad player clearly doesn't understand the game - today wasn't his best performance but he was far from the worst player out there - but to boo him from the start... hopefully just fans for whom this was their first game of the season.
I am actually happy enough, because some barsteward told me that Saints had lost 3.1, so obviously I was devastated, could scarcely drag myself around work, and knew that my world had ended. Even getting a draw in such a horrible way is miles better than losing two games in the row. Sorry for the fans there because it must have been dreadful, but for me it lifted my spirits no end. Two good things: 1. Sharp is scoring 2. Still in our own hands 3. didn't cut any more off the GD Understand Lambert didn't look fit and Spiders is injured...any news.
Spider went off after about 3 mins (still managed to get booked though!). Have heard that his season is over.
Amazing that fans think booing makes you play better...especially awful because it seems to be aimed at only one player. If we want promotion, we muct all be in it together. Demoralizing a player does not help. If we get promoted, everyone has contributed...remember Guly's 11 goals.
How can Pompey have the "bragging rights" after two draws this season?...just because they never got well beaten as expected? Saints are still top of the league and four points clear of West Ham with only five games to play, Pompey are still five points from safety, the odds are still favourable that the teams will be two leagues apart next season. Credit to Pompey today for a commited performance and two very good goals, but in no way were Saints second best today and would've won on another day IMO...to say that we won't get promoted on one game is a little naive I think.
We never had control of the midfield. It didn't help that Morgan got a nasty injury. Although Hammond and Cork did plenty of running, there was very little inspiration between the pair. We didn't dominate the midfield, which we should be doing at home.
Saints alive Well, I think if Saints lost that game 3-2 you couldn't have complained. Putting the game into the context at how frequently we have won at St AMry's this season and Pompey's lowly position most people would have had this game as a walkover. The reality was that Pompey came to the game with a game plan and they expertly carried that out, nullifying our midfield for swathes of the game. As I said, McGuire made Lallana look very ordinary today. Portsmouth are something of a bogey team for Saints and we have failed to beat them during the last four occasions. They seem to raise their game whenever we play they whereas despite the technical superiority in many instances, we seem to have no answer to their passion and belief. It is an oftenquoted comment on these threads that Pompey will never die and I would suggest that today's performance very much illustrates that we write our rivals off very much at our own peril. They will always trump us, I'm afriad, as they seem to want the result more.
I normally agree with Ian Thumwood, but I certainly didn't think that Pompey bossed the game or that we were lucky to get a draw. I agree that their 2 goals were very good indeed, but bearing in mind how many saves their keeper made and how did Fonte miss that chance in the second half? No, a draw was a fair result but I doubt that we will end up in the same division next season as he suggests.
Totally agree but then the attitude of a lot of people on here is similar towards Guly. This was what happened to Puncheon and led to a big headache, plus we need players like Guly to be confident as we may require them later in the season to produce the goods when we have a lot of injuries.
But the point is that over the WHOLE season, Pompey haven't performed and we have, the table does not lie, local derbies are notoriously hard to predict, but I would much rather be in our shoes than theirs, wouldn't you?
To be fair though, Pompey played three CMs for a large part of the game (they did seem to revert to more of a 4-4-1-1 later in the game). It's not easy to get a grip of the midfield in that situation, when you're 2 vs 3 in the middle. The last 30 mins against Donny showed that it can be overcome by ditching one of your strikers (in our case, it was Lambert, and we went from 0-0 to 2-0) and matching the opposition up in midfield, but I hardly blame Adkins for not doing that here. Firstly, because I wouldn't have wanted to see Sharp or Lambert subbed. Secondly, because we didn't have a third natural CM to turn to due to Morgan's early injury.
Adkins on OS positive as usual..point gained, top of the league. Contentious for Adkins (translation in brackets): We kept 11 players on the pitch and avoided retaliation (Pompey played dirty) You would hope the ref would have done his job (got no protection from ref as usual) In defence of the ref, he saw the ball come off a Pompey player so Sharp not offside. Adkins said Morgan's injury is a bad one...strapped up and will be assessed when swelling gone down, but has deep stud marks on knee.
Adkins also pointed out that the team would have liked to give us bragging rights in the local derby, but pointed out that, although there have been 2 draws, we are top of the league and they are down the bottom.
Look at it another way, Reading fans yesterday would have been euphoric, top of the League, the main opposition have a less than convincing game and no longer are the Royals at the top, how frustrating must that be, makes next Friday even more juicy.
Looking at the BBC Stats we had 54% possession, 14 attempts, 7 on target, Pompey 8 shots, 3 on target. Saints had 9 corners they only had 3. We commited 7 fouls, them 12. You can make statistics say what you want but these suggest we had the better of the game,
Agree with the booing etc at the game is wrong, but that's why most people only voice their opinions on forums such as this.
We weren't at our best today, but I feel aggrieved at us throwing it away in the dying seconds. Should've kept our heads and seen it out. Oh well. Sharp doing his bit for the team, good to see. I almost lost myself during our second goal celebrations, which were tragically cut short by Norris, who is one player for them you don't want to let take aim and shoot under no pressure. [video=youtube;bPjFhL-vjC0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPjFhL-vjC0&feature=youtube_gdata_player[/video]
