One point gained today

[D.Boon]

Was how i saw the game.

 

Portsmouth had the chances to win by a couple of goals today. I was glad to hear the final whistle because that game looked liked it was just a matter of time till they scored.

 

Very, very dissapointing performance today.

 

Midfield of Sissoko and Alonso looked pedestrian and the difference between Crouch and Torres looks massive in terms of goal threat.

 

We are still unbeaten though and cant play much worse than that again this season.

 

And can someone tell Pepe to stop kicking the fecking ball straight back to their keeper....infuriating.

[Gunga Din]

2 points lost i'm afraid. if we are serious about winning the league, this is the sort of game we have to win. year after year you come on here after a result like this and people are trying to play it up as a point gained. its not, its 2 lost. if the players are tired they shouldnt be on the bench, if they arent, then play them from the start and take them off after they have given their all. we have Birmingham at home next week, why not rest players then. i'm so frustrated after that today, i really am, a win today really would have given us a great platform to build on.

[Guest Snorky]

Too early in the season to start a postmortem.

[D.Boon]

2 points lost i'm afraid. if we are serious about winning the league, this is the sort of game we have to win. year after year you come on here after a result like this and people are trying to play it up as a point gained. its not, its 2 lost. if the players are tired they shouldnt be on the bench, if they arent, then play them from the start and take them off after they have given their all. we have Birmingham at home next week, why not rest players then. i'm so frustrated after that today, i really am, a win today really would have given us a great platform to build on.

 

At the start of the day yes 2 points lost. But seeing how badly we played i think we escaped with a point.

 

I entirely agree it wasnt good enough by players and manager today

[Guest Sabre]

We looked absolutely knackered out there. Alonso was poor today, Sissoko offered nothing substantial going forward and hardly touched the ball. Our wingers offered very little and we didn't have a threat upfront. We were lucky to come away with a point.

[Zoob]

We looked absolutely knackered out there. Alonso was poor today, Sissoko offered nothing substantial going forward and hardly touched the ball. Our wingers offered very little and we didn't have a threat upfront. We were lucky to come away with a point.

 

I'd agree with that. It was like we'd just played 90 mins right before KO, that's how tired our players looked.

 

Portsmouth is a difficult place to play. Chelsea have won there on their last 2 vists, Arsenal have drawn their last 2 visits there, and the Mancs have won only once in their last 3 visits. Given how poor we were, and given how decent Portsmouth are at home, a point isn't the worst result.

[Guest spk]

1 point does it for me. portsmouth are a real bogey team for the big clubs - old harry's outfits have a habit of overturning them on the day.

 

the thing to take away from this though is how dissapointing a performance it was. while things picked up later on when gerrard and torres joined the fight, at the end of the day we didnt deserve three points.

[psl]

2 points dropped. The Mancs had an early kick off away and won, so did Arsenal. We really need to win these games. Anyway, onto the next challenge.

[Guest Sabre]

Portsmouth only lost there twice last season. Yes, we were excited about being top and our early season form perhaps gave us the feeling that we would turn them over, but with the international break and the lack of time that Rafa had, we played exactly how I thought we would - grafting and hoping for a break. Voronin could have had two or three goals, that pass from Torres being the clearest...just one of those days

[Guest RedIsMyColour]

s*** performance but you have to drop points sooner or later.

 

We have been brilliant thus far this season and the players were tired after Internationals. Not many teams will win at Fratton park this season.

 

Not many teams will win at Villa park either. We did. Chelsea never.

 

Still plenty to be positive over. One bad performance means nothing in a season of 38 games.

[Leo No.8]

It wasn't brilliant but I'll take a point there.

 

In my opinion though, if he'd have started Torres we'd have won the game. As I said beforehand we're a bit ponderous going forward without Gerrard or Torres so I'd have played at least one of them from the start.

 

If the league is our priority that should have been the case.

Edited September 15, 2007 by Leo No.8

[Lee W]

If we are serious about winning the League it might help if our best team is picked for difficult games like this for a start.

 

2 points dropped.

Edited September 15, 2007 by Lee W

[Sion]

2 points dropped. Portsmouth can play much better than that at home, they were there for the taking, we didn't take.

 

However, we play Birmingham at home next week whilst Chelsea play United so we could gain any lost points back on at least one of them then.

[Guest Sabre]

Rafa makes his decisions and the team he put out did have enough to win this game - yeah we didn't create many clear chances and Torres/Gerrard would have made a bigger difference out there but Pompey defended well and didn't give us much.

[Guest Cyador]

Pleased with a point, would have been delighted with the win, but fratton parks a really tough place to go.

 

I agree, it wouldn't been nice to see gerrard, torres start, but honestly what did you guys expect? They were both heavily involved in the internationals and were never, ever gonna start. Would have gone against everything rafa believes in.

You're having a laugh if you thought they were gonna start.

[Knox_Harrington]

2 points lost i'm afraid. if we are serious about winning the league, this is the sort of game we have to win. year after year you come on here after a result like this and people are trying to play it up as a point gained. its not, its 2 lost. if the players are tired they shouldnt be on the bench, if they arent, then play them from the start and take them off after they have given their all. we have Birmingham at home next week, why not rest players then. i'm so frustrated after that today, i really am, a win today really would have given us a great platform to build on.

Agree. Manager picked the wrong team and the wrong team played poorly. Torres should start 38 league games if fit this season. Front six were all poor.

 

As for bold I couldn't agree more. We most definitely have the squad to win at Pompey and get a point at Porto. That's the four point scenario that's acceptable this weekend, not vice versa. Two dropped anyway you dress it up and there's a few players who should be getting a dressing down.

 

EDIT: We have the squad and the manager to pick a first eleven at Portsmouth and then weaken for Porto away. The man is the best manager in European football by some distance. He's proven time and again he doesn't need a first eleven to get results in that competition. He still has a distance to go to prove the same in the league.

Edited September 15, 2007 by Knox_Harrington

[McBain]

Title winning teams may well win games like this true, but not every single one in the course of the year. You are allowed the odd slip up. The trouble is the nagging feeling i have is that there'll be more to come.

 

Play your strongest 11 every league game. I honestly thought Rafa had moved past this idea of trying to win every competition he enters. It cant be done. Prioritise the league and think of all the rest as simply a bonus

[Zoob]

Worth adding that we survived game where Mike Riley gave a pen against us. Now there's a nice change...

[Mike S]

I think he made a mistake not picking torres but can't really complain with the other selections. He couldn't hve anticipated that crouch (in particular), benayoun and pennant would be so ineffective. I thought voronin, alonso and sissoko played ok.

[charlie clown]

We looked absolutely knackered out there. Alonso was poor today, Sissoko offered nothing substantial going forward and hardly touched the ball. Our wingers offered very little and we didn't have a threat upfront. We were lucky to come away with a point.

 

 

the two players you mention there shouldn't be tired though - one of em hasn't played for two weeks, the other since last Saturday.

[Rimbeux]

2 points lost, pedestrian football, no evidence that the midfiled benefited from the rest, no pressing, no urgency to win the ball back, long ball nonsense, the very things that have underlined our high tempo start all missing. Pompey were so poor for 25 mins we must have thought is was going to be a walkover and didn't try and win the game.

 

This was something we should have left behind, sitting in on a 0-0, controling the game but not threatening, waiting for something to happen, basic tactical idea to exploit Crouch in the air, but nothing else to go to. All the more irritating because they looked so fragile when we bothered to get it down and play through them. This game could and should have been won in the first 25 mins with the right attitude, tactics and team.

[Knox_Harrington]

This was something we should have left behind, sitting in on a 0-0, controling the game but not threatening, waiting for something to happen, basic tactical idea to exploit Crouch in the air, but nothing else to go to.

Totally agree with that. I think Crouch was very poor but he wasn't helped by having it hit at him and asking him to do something when everyone's thirty yards away from him.

[JohnnyH]

2 points lost i'm afraid. if we are serious about winning the league, this is the sort of game we have to win. year after year you come on here after a result like this and people are trying to play it up as a point gained. its not, its 2 lost. if the players are tired they shouldnt be on the bench, if they arent, then play them from the start and take them off after they have given their all. we have Birmingham at home next week, why not rest players then. i'm so frustrated after that today, i really am, a win today really would have given us a great platform to build on.

 

Agree 100%. Rafa has got to stop gambling with our chances just to try and prove some point. We had no pace and looked bag because of it. One of Babel or Torres should have started and there is no way Gerrard could have been too tired to start the match.

 

Very very much 2 points lost and any efforts to say otherwise are the equivelant of putting your head in the sand.

[lawrie]

EDIT: We have the squad and the manager to pick a first eleven at Portsmouth and then weaken for Porto away. The man is the best manager in European football by some distance. He's proven time and again he doesn't need a first eleven to get results in that competition. He still has a distance to go to prove the same in the league.

 

Good food for thought that, I've never really though of it from that angle before

[David Hodgson]

2 points lost i'm afraid. if we are serious about winning the league, this is the sort of game we have to win. year after year you come on here after a result like this and people are trying to play it up as a point gained. its not, its 2 lost. if the players are tired they shouldnt be on the bench, if they arent, then play them from the start and take them off after they have given their all. we have Birmingham at home next week, why not rest players then. i'm so frustrated after that today, i really am, a win today really would have given us a great platform to build on.

 

 

Says what I feel.

 

We have an absolute right to expect much much more than that. Anyone who isn't sick after that and disappointed that we haven't won just doesn't view this club the way I do. I'm sorry, not trying to claim superfan status, just very very hurt by my team playing so very badly at a crucial stage in our current development.