Gaffer For A Day: Marko Milovanovic is a huge loss for Portsmouth, Colby Bishop has lost his mojo
Gaffer For A Day Graham Butterworth, aged 44 from Southsea, assesses Pompey’s goalless draw at Charlton...
How did Pompey perform?
I really wanted to see how we’d show up against a strong Charlton that hadn't scored in the last two games. They are also a solid side under Nathan Jones and very difficult to score against.
I was expecting to see a bit more ambition, hunger and desire from Charlton, even though they actually came out of the blocks much better than us. In that first half-half, we were lacklustre.
Something really needed to change at half-time - and it did. Thankfully we saw a different Pompey side in the second half. Forgive the cliche, but either team could have nicked it.
Who stood out for you?
Conor Shaughnessy was my man of the match. He was dealing with a very awkward striker in Miles Leaburn, yet was composed and very assured, providing confidence at the back.
In the opening four games we lacked any defensive shape, now we’re starting to see something with Benjy Arthur as a partnership. I do rate Regan Poole, but Shaughnessy and Arthur are a touch above him.
We weren’t really tested that much, but when he’s on form he provides real maturity and that confidence at the back - and he was great against Cardiff as well.
The game off he had against Derby was necessary because he has come back a different guy. What concerns me is he is fairly injury prone, so we really need to look after him.
What are your thoughts on Rocco Shein?
He’s a player with potential and I think he’ll be very good for us. At the moment, though, he is lacking that accuracy, he spends too much time on the ball when we really need to be releasing players down the flank.
When we start to get a bit of forward momentum he hesitates - and that hesitation is the thing which really takes the spark out of our attack. I don’t think it’s lack of will, it’s just lack of that final urgency, that final accuracy,
Rocco has a good presence, but we need to give him time as I do think there’s a player there that will justify that £2m price tag. However, he holds onto that ball for that split-second too long and in the Championship those are the inches which really count.
He’s also trying to develop this partnership with Marlon Pack in the middle because Shein and Ebou Adams don’t operate well together, while we lack any shape without Pack on the pitch.
How much of a blow was it to lose Marko Milovanovic?
It was huge not having him available against Charlton. Despite having these exciting players on the wings, the distribution wasn’t great. It’s not just Bishop's fault, there was no real delivery or enterprise shown by Abu Kamara and Tyrese Shade.
Marko can run off the shoulders of defenders, he finds space, whereas Colby doesn't. Marko can also sometimes venture outside the box to be that target man and hold the ball up so things can happen around him.
He asks many more questions than Colby does. I thought Shade may have had the last 20 minutes to offer a different challenge down the middle, yet that didn’t happen. Unfortunately, Colby has lost his mojo.
Daniel Bielica - 7
Terry Devlin - 7
Conor Shaughnessy - 8
Benjy Arthur - 7
Jayden Meghoma - 7
Marlon Pack - 7
Rocco Shein - 5
Abu Kamara - 6
Adrian Segecic - 6
Tyrese Shade - 6
Colby Bishop - 5