Last season we would have loved a win and 3 draws at some stage, but hope we get better as season progresses. A pundit at start of season said we would be at least in play offs and I thought probably not. Can’t see us relegated…there are worse teams…but be nice if Saints at least entertained us.
Well, not a bad result for either side but certainly a better one for Pompey than for us. All a bit anti-climactic
Not good enough we all know. First half utterly abysmal. I still think we need to give the team time with new players. As others have said, maybe one sub too many at the end as we had some momentum. Still was probably showing us he cared and was going for it. Bit naive perhaps. Personally I would have kept Azaz on, as he was growing into the game and we needed someone with a calm head. A bit of an anti climax all things considered.
It's the first time he has had the chance to play the system that he wants to play. Didn't win but didn't lose either. Not pretty I agree but I think things will improve.
If we want to be really positive, look at the improvement after just one half! We could be immense if we continue that trend!
No, a thousand times no. Got to give managers a chance. Frequently changing managers hasn’t helped us recently and costs money in pay offs.
Well said. It's easy to get overly emotional, myself included, but we do need to give it a bit of time. I think we have the squad.
Positives/ 4231 and long may it last Clean sheet Fellows looked great Jander looked excellent Azaz grew into the game Bench strength Negatives First half was poor Tactics didn’t match personnel in first half particularly Never really felt we had them on the ropes The referee was pants
I mean, sure, it's too early to be calling for Still to be sacked but there are reasons to be concerned. What bothers me more than results is the way he's persisted in playing long balls and crosses towards short strikers. There have been some good moments of play but nothing consistent and overall it hasn't been clear what he's trying to do or where the goals are going to come from. Today's second half was a bit better so that may come. We'll see.
I wanted to say something similar, so you beat me to it. I do think Jander looks like our missing piece. Both Downes and Charles don’t offer enough forward threat. I think we only need to start one of them, and that would be Charles for me right now.
Think Casper will replace Downes in time. Looks like he offers more, is more available. More of a Fernandes perhaps.
Hard to change formation and bring in new people into a game like this. Having said that no excuse for poor first 40 minutes. Better after that and can see growth but how many crosses do we put in the box to no one. Still look a striker short.
First rule of a Derby, don't lose. We were the much better team in the second half, but neither team really threatened the goal itself. First match playing Still's preferred formation as well. Looked good in parts, just need to keep using it going forward. Archer and Fraser were both excellent. On to the next game!
Very frustrating watch, need to see more of this tactical flexibility we’ve heard of and soon because so far all I’ve seen is us either piss around at the back with it (familiar!) or punt it up in hope that Archer will double in height and be able to turn water into wine! Really think that we have issues with Downes, THB & Stephens being so used to playing under Martins system still. They just don’t seem to have the urgency to hold a higher defensive line that we need if going to use Archer to press from the front. There’s too much space between attack & defence, too many backwards passes and not enough energy in central midfield to switch the play to play an attacking system based around wingers. Thought Fraser looked very average today & slow, not positive enough in taking players on, some half decent crosses but I really wanna see Azaz / Jander find a partnership in switching with each other freely in midfield to help us find wings better, through balls & more intricate 1-2s. Need to try some of the new players from the start next game for me!
