Saturday was a big Pompey day for me. In the afternoon I watched a replay of the Fulham U21 game and then stayed up to see the Cheltenham game which commenced at midnight local time. I took a few positives from the Fulham game. We had a back four that would not be out of place in League 1. I thought that Stevenson showed he was a worthy deputy for either Peck or Morrel. The early pace of the game appeared to be a little too much for Devlin's first touch but I was impressed by the number of touches he had indicating he must have been positioning himself well. His high level of involvement was something that has been missing from some of the 'first team' forwards lately - I think he has potential. Paddy Lane also had a high level of involvement, and I thought it should have warranted his inclusion in the starting eleven on Saturday. The goalkeeper attracted some critism for Fulham's 2nd goal but he got a poor back pass and such goals have to be accepted as the occasional downside of playing out from the back.. The big downside was that the forwards did not contribute to the scoreline. And so it was again on Saturday with largely different forwards!! Hitherto Karma has had a lacking level of contribution to my mind and so it was on Tuesday until he went to a more advanced position where he got a couple of chances - which he missed - but at least got in a position to miss them. On Saturday I was disappointed by the omission of Lane and Morrison from the starting team. Lane is a winger. Despite having a good cross Sparkes is not a winger. Whilst I have an aversion to loan players I thought it was already clear that Morrison is head and shoulders above any competitors for the attacking mid field position and we seem to play better with three in mid field rather than 2. Whilst Karma did up his level of involvement on Saturday at the end of the match I still felt Lane and Morrison should have started. (conjecturally, if Morrison did get us promoted this year & Man city continue to import stars from all over we could get another season out of him in the Championship - or even a chance to sign him!). Our lack of goals is written clearly in the number of clean sheets and draws we achieve. Todate Whyte and Saydee have not provided many answers, We seem too reliant on long crosses into the box to Bishop but the return on this tactic is insufficient when we are up against a couple of big centre halves. we need: a) More passes into the box from the mid field and b) Wingers that can dribble into the box more frequently than is currently happening. I think Morrison is our best chance of achieving a) and Lane and Karma currently our best chance of achieving.b). They would be in my next starting line up. With a three man mid field I would also like to see more interchange of roles between Morrison, Pack, and Morrell. As Ides implies Peck and Morrell have become too stereotype in their roles. A three man mid field may allow for a little more inovation. PUP
My mistake !! we played Stevenage - not Cheltenham. Clearly they did not leave much of an impression on me!!
