3 changes to the team - Stockley, Chaplin & Hollands on the bench replaced by Tubbs, Doyle & Roberts Ryan Bird and Wes Fogden start for Yoevil
Pompey team v Yeovil: McCarey; Davies, Burgess, Clarke, Stevens; Barton, Doyle (c); Evans, Roberts, Bennett; Tubbs Pompey subs: Bass, Webster, Hollands, Tollitt, Naismith, Chaplin, Stockley.
Yeovil side: Krysiak, Smith, Dolan, Arthurworrey, Sokolik, Bird, Dickson, Fogden, Cornick, Roberts, Sheehan. Subs: Laird, Weale, Jeffers, Lacey, Allen, Howells, Bassett.
These are games we should be winning - not a divine right but games where we need to grind out a win. Over 70% possession says a lot.
Goalless draw says it all really. We camped in Yeovil's half for the last 45 minutes, but the ball would not go into the back of the net, despite us having 71% possession
Post match comments from Paul Cook. PompeyNewsNow™ @PompeyNewsNow 18m18 minutes ago Cook: "We did everything we could to win the game and in the second half it was a game we were never ever going to lose." #Pompey #PUP please log in to view this image PompeyNewsNow™ @PompeyNewsNow 20m20 minutes ago Cook: "Teams can set up how they want and I don’t disagree with it. But supporters are paying money to see an exciting game." #Pompey #PUP Cook: "They are not seeing too many at home, that’s for sure. It was difficult on the eye." #Pompey #PUP
Well if possession of the ball is the best means of defence the possession stats in recent games would suggest we are defending very well. Unfortunately defence only gets you halfway up the table. To be near the top you have to win. I have admired Cook's reluctance to change things round and stick to one system. Saturday's game was not the first where we have stuck to the system initially and only tried to be more attacking towards the end. It is being said we need to score first so teams have to come at us. Well all teams want to score first. Easier said than done. But if we want to do better at home perhaps we could start with 4-4-2 and change to 4-5-1 if necessary instead of the other way round. You have to risk a little to win but one win and two losses brings the same reward as three draws (and perhaps we lost to Exeter despite being cautious). The other comment that is becoming more frequent is that we need to bring in a striker. The implication is that we need someone who can fulfil the one up front position ie hold the ball up - and score goals. Well any team that has such a player is unlikely to let them go. It is more realistic to adapt our style to the squad we have. Stockley appears to be the best one up front option with regard to holding the ball up. Tubbs & Chaplin are perhaps better opportunity takers but lack the physical presence and McQuirk is some where in between. I feel the big target man role (Stockley) is not working. In large part this may be because it is easier to hit long balls to a big target man than it is to find penetrating passes to smaller men in the box but if the target man is out numbered it is not productive. It may be time try 2 man combinations of Chaplin Tubbs and McQuirk. I am sure if we need to revert to one up front Chaplin and McQuirk are capable of playing an attacking mid field role. The other point I would make is that it is preferable not to build thes ystem round a loan player (Stockley). If we keep getting these draws, particularly at home, Mr Cook will be walking a fine line between being admirably not panicked into changes and alternatively, being too dogmatic. Incidentally, would any one who went to the game care to comment on how Fogden played. I hope he has found a nitch at Yeovil. Naturally all of the above comment must be seen as 'nice problems to have' against the backdrop of the last two seasons.
You had to be there to believe it, they parked the bus and I think they only crossed the halfway line twice in the second half. No one could believe we had so much possession and near misses not to win. In truth we should have won at least 2-0 at Yeovil and there at times moderatley noisy supporters knew that. When they sang the Scummers song and held up a Scum shirt, the North Stand Lower(and part of the Upper) went completely bonkers.
Wes Fogden was average in midfield for Yeovil, pompeydownunder, he looks a bit frail to my mind. They are a very average team, who had no ambitions to win, just to draw and gain a point.
