Gaffer For A Day: A lot aren't happy, but Portsmouth's transfer window isn't terrible so far
Gaffer For A Day Gav Jones, aged 35 from Copnor, assesses Pompey’s 3-0 win over West Brom...
What more do you want from the transfer window?
It has been all right, it hasn’t been excellent and a lot of people aren’t happy with it. While obviously there's room for improvement, I don’t think it has been terrible.
Ebou Adams has been an absolute steal, he’s the enforcer we need in the middle of the park, he is tenacious and strong, while Millenic Alli is exciting and forward-thinking all the time. He has also been a good player to bring in.
We definitely need another striker, especially now Colby Bishop has gone off injured. He left the ground in a protective boot, so you don’t know how serious that’s going to be.
Makenzie Kirk is only a youngster, he might take a bit of time to adapt to the Championship. We need someone with a bit of Championship experience if possible, but strikers are the hardest players to find, especially with 24 hours left.
Maybe a left-back too. Connor Ogilvie is excellent, he’s straight into the team every time, but I’m worried if anything happens to him again. Does Zak Swanson want to keep playing left-back?
What do you make of the Callum Lang situation?
It’s a hard one because he’s an excellent player and a fans’ favourite, we all love him and he’s been excellent for us since arriving from Wigan.
I know it’s cliche, but it’s true what they say, the best ability is availability - and 11 games in 11 months is tough. As long as we reinvest the money and get an adequate replacement, I‘ll be happy.
It has always been about keeping Lang fit, he definitely has the qualities, he’s one of our stand-out performers and at the level of Championship football. But it’s a tough decision because he picks up so many injuries.
Mousinho says it’s down to the way he plays, you can't put a leash on him, he is 100mph all the time. Which is good, you want pressing in football. Ideally, I would keep him, but he keeps getting injured.
How do you assess Pompey’s performance?
That was the most dominant performance I have seen from us for quite some time. It’s probably the best performance of the season so far.
We limited West Brom to very little, they had one shot all game. Our back line looks solid, Regan Poole was his usual self after coming back from injury, while Zak Swanson seems to have a bit of a spring in his step.
Pompey thoroughly deserved that win, when you make the opposition fans turn on their managers and players that tells you everything. At the end, they were singing ‘You’re not fit to wear the shirt’.
We’ll stay up, we’ve got enough to stay up, definitely. It’s just depending on what happens with transfers, which can only strengthen us.
Who’s your man of the match?
It has to be Alli, who got a goal and an assist and just doesn’t stop. He’s not frightened to try to take his man on, he doesn't always get it right, but keeps going and going.
I didn’t know what to expect when we signed him, I’d never heard of him before, but as I’ve said to other Pompey fans, you can’t judge players until you have actually seen them play in a Pompey shirt.
All this stuff about he’s on loan from League One Luton, he can’t get in their team - you don’t know the reasons behind it, perhaps he has fallen out with the manager or whatever.
Alli gets people off their seats. It’s going to be difficult to be as good as Josh Murphy, but he does have Murphy attributes, such as putting crosses in early.
Nicolas Schmid - 7
Terry Devlin - 8
Regan Poole - 8
Connor Ogilvie - 8
Zak Swanson - 9
Andre Dozzell - 7
Ebou Adams - 9
Adrian Segecic - 6
Conor Chaplin - 8
Millenic Alli - 9
Colby Bishop - 7