Gaffer: Michael Eisner needs to fund more attacking players - or Portsmouth are in relegation trouble
Gaffer For A Day, Harry Bond, aged 25 from Milton, delivers his verdict on Pompey’s 1-0 defeat to Millwall...
How do you assess Pompey’s display?
Unfortunately, we decided to bring our away performances home. It felt lethargic, really flat, there was some creativity in the first half, but we were always reliant on Josh Murphy.
Matt Ritchie and Callum Lang were really quiet and struggled to get into the game, while Colby Bishop was man-marked by Japhet Tanganga and Jake Cooper, who did a fantastic job on him.
We looked lost. The front four all had an off-day at the same time, we had no idea what to do, while lacked attacking options from the bench.
When you want to bring on some firepower to change it, there’s nothing on the bench to be able to do that.
Ah yes, Pompey’s questionable strength in depth.
The issue we’ve got is you can’t rotate without losing the quality. The drop off from the starting XI to the bench is too big to be able to do what John Mousinho did against West Brom.
That comes down to funding. I know Rich Hughes and Mousinho have also said Michael Eisner has never said no to a player, but they are still only going for players within their budget.
Look at Hull and Luton. Hull have signed Matt Crooks and Louie Barry. Luton have parachute payments and have signed Kal Naismith, are about to get Wigan’s Thelo Aasgaard and have been linked with Richard Kone. They are doing something.
The signings we’ve made so far are good. Rob Atkinson has looked good, Isaac Hayden has been on and off, but not played in six months. Now we’re getting the defence back, signing Hayden Matthews and Conor Shaughnessy now fit.
It’s the front of the pitch which now needs work - and if we don’t do that then we’re going to be in relegation trouble.
We will be there or thereabouts anyway, but bringing in two or three quality attacking players will make life more comfortable. The gap in quality is currently so vast between the likes of Matt Ritchie to Harvey Blair or Callum Lang to Christian Saydee.
Who stood out for you against Millwall?
I’m going for Andre Dozzell, even though he was a second-half substitute. When he came on, he was probably the only person that tried to make some effort and change the way things were going.
A lot of the team seemed resigned to the fact the game was going to finish 1-0, yet Dozzell actually got around the pitch and attempted to make an impact.
His role was different from the previous games, he’s normally the one that sits and Freddie Potts goes forward, but it swapped when he came on. He won some headers and got stuck in, which is what we had lacked.
Murphy caused problems too, didn’t he?
Yes, it felt like he was the only way we could get anything. It was just give it to Murphy and hopefully something will happen.
He had Tristan Crama in his pocket, beating the right-back and getting past him, but it was his final ball into the box which let him down, his crossing was off.
The only thing he did find in the first half was that delivery when Bishop got his feet mixed up and should have done far better in front of goal.
Murphy was too frustrating, he rushed himself too much, taking it too quickly. There were occasions when he had time to pick a better pass, he was trying to pump it in too fast.
Wait a minute, aren’t you that guy from X?
Yes, I’m behind Pompey Patter, along with Russ and Daz. We chat live every Thursday at 8pm on X Space. It’s also on Spotify, Apple and SoundCloud on Friday mornings.
We’d love for people to give us a listen.
Nicolas Schmid - 6
Zak Swanson - 5
Hayden Matthews - 6
Marlon Pack - 4
Connor Ogilvie - 4
Freddie Potts - 4
Isaac Hayden - 4 (Andre Dozzell - 7)
Matt Ritchie - 5
Callum Lang - 5
Josh Murphy - 6