Well, the performance wasn't great... reflected in how quiet the park was in the first half. There were a couple of good opportunities which could have been buried and that would have given us some breathing room at 1-0 but we did seem to gift the ball. A lot of unforced errors (to use a tennis term) when making passes which really shouldn't have been missed. Jamal's was definitely a red card imo, though theirs looked like a yellow from where I was sat. Though tbf, I was sat at the back of the North Stand upper so I couldn't see much. Also, who was the red head/ginger player on the ring, who was playing on the left hand side (if you were looking towards the Fratton End) in the second half? He seemed to be pretty good.
Good game and win today. Rochdale came to attack, not defend, and were quite a handful. A hard tackling side, but the difference between the two teams as someone said earlier, was Brett Pitman. He reads the game very well, and never gives up. He linked up well with Conor Chaplin. Quite impressed with Drew Talbot playing at left back in the second half. I think he is the player you are referring to Lapras. Jack Whatmough played really well along side Christian Burgess in the centre of defence. Losing Tareiq Holmes-Dennis through injury was a blow, and Jamal Lowe's red card means we will lose him for the next three matches. I disagree with you on both counts, Lapras, with regards to the two red cards. The Rochdale player brought down Chaplin from behind when he was about to enter the penalty box with only the keeper to beat, but I thought the challenge from Jamal Lowe was a 50/50 one, and only warranted a yellow card at the most. Their player made the most of it to my mind. Still, at the end of the day, we start the season with a win, three points, and a clean sheet for new young keeper Luke McGee (who hardly had anything to do in the game, as we restricted them to just one shot on target in the entire match!!) Great atmosphere, and nice to see the noisy enthusiastic pre-match greetings for both Michael Eisner and his entourage, and new manager Kenny Jackett. It was strange not having a loud Scouser "effing and blinding" on the sidelines to players and officials alike
From where I was sat, it looked like Connor wasn't taken down by the last man, but it was literally on the other end of the stadium from me so not the best view. Terrible news, my gf says she doesn't want to go to the Walsall game because Fratton Park is too loud. I might go on my own tbh...
18.000+ is pretty good. Bradford an impressive 20.000+.If only Fratton Park had not been so neglected after the Venables regime, FP could have been prudently redeveloped. I suspect anys serious modifications will be undertaken at the end of the season. If FP is to be developed, a New North Stand could be erected behind the present one.
I thought today was a decent start against a decent side - to be fair to them for 10 men for a lot of the game they worked very hard. We over played some of the passes after going 1-0 up and against 11 I think we would have been punished. Pitman will rightly get plaudits for both goals and both very well taken. Many of the performances were good - for me Jack Whatmough stood out - he looked back to his pre injury best - calm in possession and solid alongside Burgess. Lots to enjoy, lots to work on - hey it is day one. A good 7 out of 10 for me. Crowd excellent.
Good reception these guys got - I think we'll be ok with them. They talk sense (so far). BTW make sure you check out the prediction league by Anti - more the merrier. Majr - well done see you are on board - Lapras c'mon - you know you want too. It's only a bit of fun no cash....if you need that go to Sky's Super Six which for a freebie is also no bad thing....can't believe I have typed Sky and no bad thing in one sentence actually.
