Match Day Thread Luton Town v Pompey - FA Cup 1st Round

I'm not saying Chaplin isn't a good player, or even a very good player, but the way people harp on about him on social media, you'd think he was the next Messi or something. I suppose Pittman was recovering from injury, but he seems to be the only person in the squad able to create a chance from nothing.

 

Not what the doctor ordered. Dumped out of the cup. It is going to be a long winter with the play-offs looking way beyond this current side which looks lower to mid-table in reality without the presence of a fit Brett Pitman.

 

The match was televised in Australia. Only the second Pompey game this season I've had a chance to see.
I thought Pompey were very poor in the first half. Hard to see where the problem was but Luton had the better of possession by some margin. Pompey never seemed able to create time on the ball. I know the mid field players and Close in particular, get blamed for getting less than there share of 50-50 balls but there seemed to be few 50-50 balls to contest. Luton played the ball out of their defence whilst Pompey appeared to play too many hopeful long balls out of the back line. Although not having a particularly good half Close looked like the only player trying to retain possession and create build up play.

True Lapras Pitman did get on the end of a couple of long balls and turned them into shooting opportunities.

The Luton goal was very well executed and it would be difficult to blame defenders for it.

Pompey did improve a little in the early second half and I was surprised when Pitman and Kennedy were taken off. However, in the last 30 minutes things improved greatly. The mid field came into the game more and I thought Chaplin took up positions that allowed the ball to be played forward along the ground more.

I am not sure about Thompson being sent off. I thought his first half foul was a distinctly pink yellow and he was slightly lucky to remain. Onn the other hand I did not think his second half foul warranted a yellow.

McGee made a couple of impressive saves later on when Pompey were chasing the game and were therefore understandably open at the back.

Overall a reasonable second half but it is difficult to win games when you do not 'turn up' for the first half.

 

Now the side can concentrate on delivering better results in the League without the distraction of a cup run. It hurts though being out at such an early stage. The honeymoon of getting promotion as Champions, and welcoming Eisner and KJ as part of PFC going forward is over. Now everyone needs to graft and perspire the meet fans expectations. For me it is the play-offs.

 

Interested on your view of Ben Close PDU - I think he is a really tidy, decent player - he is not in that position to be a David Batty/Michael Doyle - I'm pretty sure he's just turned 21 and so is definitely still building on strength etc - he keeps possession well and looks to thread passes - he reminds me of Ray Wilkins/Richard Hughes - I do think he needs somebody in there with him as a minder-cum-enforcer to allow him to link up defence to attack - whenever him an Chaplin are on the pitch they seem to know what the other is going to do so I hope he doesn't get moaned out of the team by our fans - he is of course as much "one of our own" as Conor - both Pompey born and bred.

 

And just to add insult to injury, Luton get a nice interesting draw in the 2nd round which may even be on TV. Of course, had we been in it we would have gotten someone like Wycombe or Stevenage away. Bleh.

 

I agree Eastney - on the strength of watching just that last game - that close and Chaplin seemed to combine well.
As Lapras has said Pitman did create a couple of chances out of very little (hopeful long balls). The problem in the first half appeared to be that too much faith was placed in him doing so. The Pompey back four (and goalkeeper) played too many long balls to the Hawkins/Pitman targets in the first half effectively cutting out the mid field. We have to admit that this may have been to the credit of Luton for marking our mid fielders tightly directly Luton lost possession. However, apart from creating few chances the long balls mean a quick loss of possession and more constant pressure on the defence.
When Chaplin came on for Pitman we had lost one robust target man. As a consequence it appeared we were more prepared to play through the mid field and we got a better percentage of possession and, in my opinion looked 'more likely.' This seemed to be because Chaplin was more inclined to drop back and look for the pass. Also I thought Bennett 'looked' for the ball more than Kennedy who tended to stick to his wing. Of course the other explanation may be that Luton were tiring and allowing more space.
From reading the reports each week I had the impression that Burgess & Clarke both liked to play the ball out of defence but this was not evident in the first half.
I was, however, impressed with them both defensively against some robust Luton forwards.