Gaffer For A Day: Neither Portsmouth or Blackburn deserved to win - but we are definitely staying up
Gaffer For A Day, Rob Withers, aged 30 from Leeds, assesses Pompey’s 1-1 draw at Blackburn...
How do you assess Pompey’s performance?
I was always optimistic about getting a result at Blackburn, but neither side wanted to go 1-0 down early doors, it was almost like a chess match.
Our defence and midfield were excellent, but, once again, it was about the lack of attacking options. I don’t think I saw Milli Alli leave the touchline in the first half.
Perhaps he’s tired because he didn’t have the excitement he showed at Hillsborough when he got the ball and took his man on, really going for it. Although he was slightly better when switched to the right on Saturday.
Ultimately, bringing Harvey Blair onto the left was not the right decision in terms of the context of the game. That cross from Ryoya Morishita should have been stopped, whether it be a tactical foul or whatever.
However, it was definitely a fair result as neither team deserved to win. Yet, in the context of the game, a point away from home is useful.
Who stood out for you?
Marlon Pack brings a calmness to the team, he controls play well, almost in a quarter-back role.
We grew into the game and were able to neutralise any sort of threat after Yuki Ohashi’s early chance - and Marlon was central to that. I would offer him a new contract.
Last week he gave a very honest interview saying he won’t retire and still has plenty to give - and you have to say he’s showing that. He can definitely still perform in the Championship.
It’s a gruelling season, with a huge amount of games to play, it can take its toll, which is something we have to manage with Marlon going forward. But he still has so much to give to this football club.
The fans were supportively singing Colby Bishop’s name, were you involved?
Definitely, I am a big fan and everyone is there to support him. John Mousinho backs Colby and it’s not a great picture if people turn on him in games. You don’t want to have a pop at your main striker.
I know a lot is talked about concerning what he brings, but four or five times on Saturday he flicked the ball on and nobody was in the right position to collect it, especially Conor Chaplin.
Colby is going through a rough patch, the stats don’t look good, but he remains central to the way we play and also has an important leadership role, along with Pack, Regan Poole and Ebou Adams.
Although he’s not scoring goals, he always goes out there doing his best and I would continue with him in the starting XI, he’s central to the way we play.
Jacob Brown came on and assisted in Connor Ogilvie’s goal, but we must stick with what we know at the moment, we don’t want to make too many drastic changes.
Do you think Pompey will stay up?
I believe we will. We still have Leicester City and Oxford United to visit Fratton Park and I also fancy us to pick up a few points like we did at Charlton and Millwall, where we aren’t favourites.
I think 51 points will be enough this season, so you’re looking at 11 more points from our final 11 matches to see us through. There are an exciting few games coming up.
However, we must learn from Saturday. The players need a change in mental attitude when in that position again, we have to grind the result out.
We didn’t win at Blackburn, we didn’t lose, it’s positive going forwards - but it also cannot happen again.
Nicolas Schmid - 6
Terry Devlin - 7
Regan Poole - 7
Connor Ogilvie - 7
Zak Swanson - 6
Marlon Pack - 8
Ebou Adams - 7
Gustavo Caballero - 6
Conor Chaplin - 6
Milli Alli - 5
Colby Bishop - 6
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