If that's the case then its quite worrying and doesn't bode well for the rest of the season. Personally I'd love Neil Warnock!
Some seem to be forgetting that this side is currently 4 points of the playoffs with a game in hand. Why are some of you hitting the panic button because we've been knocked out of the Paint Pot?
I think it's more to do with 'how' the players performed last night, they didn't seem to have much fight in them from all accounts and the defence was a bit shambolic......... again.
Tbf, I'd say even our relatively positive results recently have merely been papering over the cracks.
Totally agree, I was one of the 619 travelling fans, I took time off from my business and made the journey having missed the Oxford game....... disappointed is an understatement! Its a 6 hr drive home for me, thinking all the way home of the many other things I could have been doing, take the missus out for dinner, spend time with my lovely kids, go to gym, even stay at work.......but no I go to footy, when work and time allows.......why? Because I love my club......and I understand that some robbing B*******S nearly took it form us and left us with nothing! That drive home nailed it home again, whilst talking with my Dad, it sinks in.....we have a squad of every one elses cast offs, players with out clubs and players not required........what can we realistically expect? For me, it should be desire, passion and commitment, last night i did not see too much of that. what i saw was an unbalanced side, a side that looked second best in everything.........I dont know what the answer is......so I will settle for stability and second tier survival, dont get me wrong, if we make play off status, bring it on..........but are we ready for that yet........I think not! PUP, BP
I don't think we should ever underestimate how many times and how close we were to losing our club over the last couple of years, and by the skin of our teeth several times. I know most fans want to move on from the 'grateful to still have a club' - but frankly it's going to take a lot longer than a few months to get back on our feet. And even longer to get a really stable squad together. Back in the early summer Guy said that most of his favoured targets had already gone to other clubs. He chased Ricky Holmes for quite a while (injury being the problem there) - but if most (or probably all) his preferred targets were gone then we have a squad of second and third choices. What we are lacking, I think, are the leaders on the pitch, expecially in defence. Ertl and Connolly have leadership qualities and Ferry has shown potential leadership qualities, although Johnny Ertl seems to be suffering a lack of confidence - the rest are what they are............... My personal view is that we are now in the right place, at the right time, and with a real chance to build the club from the ground upwards. Sure, it's disappointing to concede goals so early in the game, but our biggest problem is our own lack of patience. I still think Guy will come good. He isn't an arrogant man like Cotterill (or Warnock even) A 6 hour drive home BP shows commitment beyond the call of duty
Agree, 3rd eye - last season we had both Ricardo Rocha and Gabor Gyepes providing leadership in defence. This season we don't really appear to have one defender who will take command of the other players with regards to keeping their shape at all times. Sonny Bradley could possibly be that player in time - probably in a season or two though. Poor old Guy must feel his players are letting him down. He needs to get a bit tougher with them. We could do with Ric Rocha coaching the defence, he would soon get them sorted out......
To be totally honest Wooperts, I wasn't a fan of Guy being given the job, for a several reasons. One being that he is such a Pompey legend that when it all goes tits up we will inevitably lose him, that's just what happens. Another is that for a long time now there seems to be a problem with the players coming out of the starting blocks, (remember the championship year when the team only ever played half a game) and there is only one constant there, Guy as head coach. I have no idea if he, or his coaching/warm-ups are the reason, but this does seem to be a long term problem and he is the only common denominator. Actually, that's not quite true, we went on a good run of games when Stuart Gray was his co-manager. I do think he has made a pretty basic error this time though, by not appointing a seasoned assistant manager. Andy Awford was the tough guy last season, Guy and Steve Allen are just too nice. Having said that, I still think Guy will come good, given time. As you say, all we need is one Rocha type player to marshall the defence, and a decent coach for them.
