Clues from Pompey game

[super_pig]

i read with some interest Guy Whittinghams's comments on the Portsmouth game

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22133260

specifically
"We knew their strengths and weaknesses, we knew that on turnover we could get at them quick and our three goals came from that"

Bergen??

 

[super_pig]

bump

 

[sitwell]

Our back four are slower than a slow thing. Mcmahons convenient injury saved him from further embarrassing himself ,Collins is having his usual end of season loss of form ,Hill is having his career long loss of form and Higginbottom is dogshit. We (collins) missed Maguire massively and we need pace at full back. I simply dont rate our keeper either ,too quiet and no presence. Howard ,Maguire (maybe Collins) Macdonald and Miller would be the spine of my team next season and I would build around that ,try and get rid of the rest.

 

[super_pig]

actually i'm not sure what Whittingham is on about specifically. .i was hoping a few could englighten me.. i've noticed we don't win much second ball

 

[Revolution]

I think he means when United lose the ball you can score by counter attacking quickly, as we are too slow to do anything about it.

 

[Balham]

I think he means when United lose the ball you can score by counter attacking quickly, as we are too slow to do anything about it.

Spot on. Given Pompey's lack of budget I would imagine that Whittingham's viewing would have been the highlights of the Brentford game on the BBC but even then it's clear from Brentford's second that if you get the ball in behind our defence, we will struggle.

Maguire, Higginbotham, Collins, Hill, McMahon, Doyle, Robson, McDonald, Kitson, Porter and Long are all painfully slow in a straight line, let alone on the turn.

You can cope with the spine of the team being slow. Our problem is that the wide players in both defence and midfield are slow too.

 

[StarBlade]

Not sure there's much of a clue, only that of someone who likes to think he's mentally above others.

If he's that good that he just knows how to beat Top 6 teams by a single thought, Pompey would be a top team, regardless of administration points.

 

[sheffielder]

I have only seen us put pressure on the opposition having the ball in 1 game this season, Swindon. If the opposition push up against us then we are canon fodder. This has happened alot of times in the games at home, however due to 3rd division finishing and our young keeper George teams have not took advantage. We need to push up and put pressure on the ball. Murphy and Flynn especially need to push up and not sit on top of our own full backs.

Our players need to start earning having the ball because we don't do enough to win it at present

 

[Bergen Blade]

i read with some interest Guy Whittinghams's comments on the Portsmouth game

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22133260

specifically
"We knew their strengths and weaknesses, we knew that on turnover we could get at them quick and our three goals came from that"

Bergen??

The game is not on BP, but from the highlights they manage to get in behind us several times.

A general weakness with our current line up is that we play with two slow target men up front. This is especially a problem in an away game. With the opposition centre halves quicker than our strikers they don't have to worry about us getting in behind them. This means their team can aggressively close us down and and bomb forward with less risk when they win the ball.

Our full backs seemed to have gone awol several times on the chances they showed, maybe a bit surprising seeing as McMahon and Hill aren't known for being very attacking full backs. But if our attacking play suffered from a lack of pace and movement, maybe they tried to get forward more and thus were caught out when our attacks broke down.

 

[Living In a Fantasy World]

"Our back four are slower than a slow thing."

Our back four are slower than a sloth?