The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

[areNOTwhatTHEYseem]

Today's game was a real mixed bag, wasn't it?

 

There were some really positive aspects to our play, but also some pretty worrying signs...

 

The good:

 

Dele Bashiru is really starting to show signs of fulfilling his massive potential and he looked very confident today. Those two goals were something special and hopefully a sign of things to come from him this season. In full flow, not many at this level can live with him.

 

Some of our attacking movement in the first half an hour was lovely - Windass, Gregory, Dele Bashiru, Bannan, Byers, Johnson and Hunt were playing some great stuff and looked like they could create chances at will.

 

The bad:

 

We seemed to take our foot off their neck around the 30 minute mark, for some reason - rather than pushing home our advantage and looking to kill them off, we seemed content to go in at half time with a single goal lead. They were struggling to contain us in that opening period and would have been relieved to go in at the break and be given the opportunity to regroup at just one down.

 

The ugly:

 

Our defending was criminal in those first twenty minutes of the second half, and the fact that we failed to either cut out the crosses at source or put in a meaningful challenge for the ball in the box was really, really concerning.

 

Johnson seemed to be getting bypassed quite easily during that period of play, which in turn dragged the centre backs out of position. I did wonder whether a switch to a back four might have been in order, just to stem the flow and allow us to defend those wide areas more effectively.

 

It didn't happen of course, and we took the point in the end, but it does feel a bit like two points dropped, doesn't it?

 

Overall, there are signs that we could be an attacking force to be reckoned with in this division, but unless we find a way to address our soft core, either via coaching, a change of personnel, or a tweak to the system when teams are repeatedly getting joy down our flanks, then all our good attacking play is likely to count for naught.

 

It's not panic stations just yet of course, but there's clearly plenty of work to be done.

[jonnyowl]

Fully agree.

 

Dele-Bishiru just needs to learn when to pass the ball a bit earlier rather than keeping hold of it for too long.

 

Clearly there is plenty of work to be done, but for a team that is expected to be in the top two, it should have been done by now.

 

 

[Morepork]

It's a fair post but as you'd expect the ugly really does seem to take precedence when reflecting on the entire performance. Not so much because the defending was so poor or that the individual errors were so rudimentary but because they form part of a consistent pattern we've seen for three seasons.

 

Somehow, something we are doing on the training ground seems to instill in our players the ability to consistently make the most basic individual errors. No manager, whatever his other qualities may be should be allowed to continuously pass off these errors as being unexplainable.

 

It's day one of the season and the old spectre has already reared its ugly head.

Edited July 30, 2022 by Morepork

[TheEnchanter]

I think we all wanted to hit the grouns running and not have a team thats gelling like we did at the start of last season however we actually only have 13 players remaining from last season and have 8-9 new ones. Therefore I do think we will take time to gel in defence. Attack looks good though and I think we'll bring in more players in both defence and attack. 

 

Bit of a mad start to the season but so so early. 

[meggoisgod]

Soft underbelly since 1867

Sort that defence and we are going up

[areNOTwhatTHEYseem]

57 minutes ago, Morepork said:

It's a fair post but as you'd expect the ugly really does seem to take precedence when reflecting on the entire performance. Not so much because the defending was so poor or that the individual errors were so rudimentary but because they form part of a consistent pattern we've seen for three seasons.

 

Somehow, something we are doing on the training ground seems to instill in our players the ability to consistently make the most basic individual errors. No manager, whatever his other qualities may be should be allowed to continuously pass off these errors as being unexplainable.

 

It's day one of the season and the old spectre has already reared its ugly head.

 

One way or another, our defensive frailty needs sorting. Whether that's via recruitment, coaching, or something else, I don't know.

 

But we simply can't afford for all our attacking threat to go to waste because we keep leaving the back door open at the other end of the pitch.

[Daz]

1 hour ago, areNOTwhatTHEYseem said:

The bad:

 

We seemed to take our foot off their neck around the 30 minute mark, for some reason - rather than pushing home our advantage and looking to kill them off, we seemed content to go in at half time with a single goal lead. They were struggling to contain us in that opening period and would have been relieved to go in at the break and be given the opportunity to regroup at just one down.

 

 

This has been a feature for the past few seasons and it’s either fitness, attitude or coaching.

 

Does my head in, I don’t expect us to dominate every minute of every game but the 30 minute switch off is regular and frustrating.

[Southie_Owl]

1 minute ago, Daz said:

 

This has been a feature for the past few seasons and it’s either fitness, attitude or coaching.

 

Does my head in, I don’t expect us to dominate every minute of every game but the 30 minute switch off is regular and frustrating.

Yes it happens more often than not.  Even last season when we were winning by as much as 3-0 at Accrington and Mk dons we clung on to 3-2 wins at the end.  We were 2-0 up at Wimbledon and drew 2-2.  
 

We just seem to have an issue with making games comfortable despite dominating most games 
 

[Marro]

1 hour ago, areNOTwhatTHEYseem said:

Today's game was a real mixed bag, wasn't it?

 

There were some really positive aspects to our play, but also some pretty worrying signs...

 

The good:

 

Dele Bashiru is really starting to show signs of fulfilling his massive potential and he looked very confident today. Those two goals were something special and hopefully a sign of things to come from him this season. In full flow, not many at this level can live with him.

 

Some of our attacking movement in the first half an hour was lovely - Windass, Gregory, Dele Bashiru, Bannan, Byers, Johnson and Hunt were playing some great stuff and looked like they could create chances at will.

 

The bad:

 

We seemed to take our foot off their neck around the 30 minute mark, for some reason - rather than pushing home our advantage and looking to kill them off, we seemed content to go in at half time with a single goal lead. They were struggling to contain us in that opening period and would have been relieved to go in at the break and be given the opportunity to regroup at just one down.

 

The ugly:

 

Our defending was criminal in those first twenty minutes of the second half, and the fact that we failed to either cut out the crosses at source or put in a meaningful challenge for the ball in the box was really, really concerning.

 

Johnson seemed to be getting bypassed quite easily during that period of play, which in turn dragged the centre backs out of position. I did wonder whether a switch to a back four might have been in order, just to stem the flow and allow us to defend those wide areas more effectively.

 

It didn't happen of course, and we took the point in the end, but it does feel a bit like two points dropped, doesn't it?

 

Overall, there are signs that we could be an attacking force to be reckoned with in this division, but unless we find a way to address our soft core, either via coaching, a change of personnel, or a tweak to the system when teams are repeatedly getting joy down our flanks, then all our good attacking play is likely to count for naught.

 

It's not panic stations just yet of course, but there's clearly plenty of work to be done.

Hopefully FDB will kick on and fulfill his potential this season.  He had a good game today.

[areNOTwhatTHEYseem]

3 minutes ago, Marro said:

Hopefully FDB will kick on and fulfill his potential this season.  He had a good game today.

 

And doubled his goal tally from last season in the first game of this one!

 

All the raw attributes are there for him to become a very, very good player. The signs of him starting to put it all together are just beginning to show.

 

I know we had someone on here saying we should release him on a free a couple of weeks ago, but I for one really hope we manage to tie him down to a long term contract...

[Morepork]

14 minutes ago, areNOTwhatTHEYseem said:

 

One way or another, our defensive frailty needs sorting. Whether that's via recruitment, coaching, or something else, I don't know.

 

But we simply can't afford for all our attacking threat to go to waste because we keep leaving the back door open at the other end of the pitch.

 

14 minutes ago, Daz said:

 

This has been a feature for the past few seasons and it’s either fitness, attitude or coaching.

 

Does my head in, I don’t expect us to dominate every minute of every game but the 30 minute switch off is regular and frustrating.

 

100%

 

I can be pragmatic...... for me it's not that we've drawn or even that we've conceded three to be honest. Its the manner of the goals we give away, so soft, so cheap, we just don't make teams work hard for them. I said in the OMDT, you won't see any team concede three softer goals than that all season, criminal how basic the errors were.

[Morepork]

15 minutes ago, Marro said:

Hopefully FDB will kick on and fulfill his potential this season.  He had a good game today.

 

He has some great attributes, if he can improve his decision making I think he'll take a huge stride forward. Two exceptional finishes today but the I'd imagine the xG was pretty low on those and there was at least one other time where he shot when Baz was screaming for the ball on the edge of the box. That being said, nobody will mind while they are flying in.....

[debram]

1 hour ago, areNOTwhatTHEYseem said:

Today's game was a real mixed bag, wasn't it?

 

There were some really positive aspects to our play, but also some pretty worrying signs...

 

The good:

 

Dele Bashiru is really starting to show signs of fulfilling his massive potential and he looked very confident today. Those two goals were something special and hopefully a sign of things to come from him this season. In full flow, not many at this level can live with him.

 

Some of our attacking movement in the first half an hour was lovely - Windass, Gregory, Dele Bashiru, Bannan, Byers, Johnson and Hunt were playing some great stuff and looked like they could create chances at will.

 

The bad:

 

We seemed to take our foot off their neck around the 30 minute mark, for some reason - rather than pushing home our advantage and looking to kill them off, we seemed content to go in at half time with a single goal lead. They were struggling to contain us in that opening period and would have been relieved to go in at the break and be given the opportunity to regroup at just one down.

 

The ugly:

 

Our defending was criminal in those first twenty minutes of the second half, and the fact that we failed to either cut out the crosses at source or put in a meaningful challenge for the ball in the box was really, really concerning.

 

Johnson seemed to be getting bypassed quite easily during that period of play, which in turn dragged the centre backs out of position. I did wonder whether a switch to a back four might have been in order, just to stem the flow and allow us to defend those wide areas more effectively.

 

It didn't happen of course, and we took the point in the end, but it does feel a bit like two points dropped, doesn't it?

 

Overall, there are signs that we could be an attacking force to be reckoned with in this division, but unless we find a way to address our soft core, either via coaching, a change of personnel, or a tweak to the system when teams are repeatedly getting joy down our flanks, then all our good attacking play is likely to count for naught.

 

It's not panic stations just yet of course, but there's clearly plenty of work to be done.

All spot on, not much different to last season really. 

[Marro]

9 hours ago, areNOTwhatTHEYseem said:

 

And doubled his goal tally from last season in the first game of this one!

 

All the raw attributes are there for him to become a very, very good player. The signs of him starting to put it all together are just beginning to show.

 

I know we had someone on here saying we should release him on a free a couple of weeks ago, but I for one really hope we manage to tie him down to a long term contract...

Totally agree

[areNOTwhatTHEYseem]

18 hours ago, Morepork said:

100%

 

I can be pragmatic...... for me it's not that we've drawn or even that we've conceded three to be honest. Its the manner of the goals we give away, so soft, so cheap, we just don't make teams work hard for them. I said in the OMDT, you won't see any team concede three softer goals than that all season, criminal how basic the errors were.

 

Yep, we always seem to have to work so hard for our goals, yet our opponents' goals are gifted to them more often than not.

[SiJ]

13 minutes ago, areNOTwhatTHEYseem said:

 

Yep, we always seem to have to work so hard for our goals, yet our opponents' goals are gifted to them more often than not.

Said this in another thread. 

 

The more I think about the Portsmouth goals, the more annoyed I get. 

 

They were about as close to being like for like as you could hope for. Portsmouth probably couldn't believe their luck. 

 

I mean, surely someone, the manager, a coach, a player or all three can see that after they've scored two goals in the exact same circumstances? 

[areNOTwhatTHEYseem]

3 minutes ago, SiJ said:

Said this in another thread. 

 

The more I think about the Portsmouth goals, the more annoyed I get. 

 

They were about as close to being like for like as you could hope for. Portsmouth probably couldn't believe their luck. 

 

I mean, surely someone, the manager, a coach, a player or all three can see that after they've scored two goals in the exact same circumstances? 

 

I said almost exactly the same as we left the ground yesterday.

 

For it to happen once is sloppy; twice is poor; but three times in twenty minutes?

 

That's simply ridiculous.

 

And unless we sort it out, it's the kind of thing which will cost us automatic promotion.

[SiJ]

5 minutes ago, areNOTwhatTHEYseem said:

 

I said almost exactly the same as we left the ground yesterday.

 

For it to happen once is sloppy; twice is poor; but three times in twenty minutes?

 

That's simply ridiculous.

 

And unless we sort it out, it's the kind of thing which will cost us automatic promotion.

Yep. 

 

Pompey won't score three easier goals all season. 

 

We went from looking comfortable to effectively scraping a point.