Agree or disagree?: Portsmouth faithful share verdicts on John Mousinho claim in aftermath of Derby defeat
Pompey fans have been debating whether the Blues are ‘playing well’ following John Mousinho’s verdict in the aftermath of Monday night’s Fratton Park defeat at the hands of Derby County.
‘I don’t think we are playing poorly, but we aren’t picking up results and we need to change that.’
That was Pompey boss John Mousinho’s honest assessment after witnessing the Blues drop further into relegation trouble following their 1-0 defeat to Derby County on Monday night.
It was the Fratton Park side’s fourth consecutive home match they have lost and their ninth PO4 defeat of the season in total as Fortess Fratton continues to be conquered on too many occasions by opposition teams this term.
However, those stats are accompanied by an anomoly. Pompey have been dominating possession in the recent games they’ve played and can count themselves unlucky not to have more points in the bag with just nine matches remaining.
But does dominating posession and racking up corners each match day count as ‘playing well’ if there’s no end product and no goals to celebrate?
That’s basically what we asked our followers on Facebook in the wake of Mousinho’s verdict at the full-time whistle on Monday night.
Here’s how they responded when the question was posed: Do you agree or disagee with the Pompey boss’ view that the Blues aren’t playing poorly?
Pompey fans’ verdict on the team’s performance
Not all responses are included, but the following represent a fair representation of the views shared.
Duncan Wall: Definitions - what is the purpose of a football team? To score more goals than your opponents, ergo if you cannot score a goal you are in fact playing poorly.
Lizzie Lammas: It doesn’t matter how well we are playing in a match, when we can’t score, so we lose! When we look back at games we remember losing them and not how well we played!
David Harrison: He should have gone to Specsavers.
Clark Davies: He (Mousinho) is right, but goals have been a problem from the start of the season. Nothing wrong defensively in terms of goals conceded but just never look like getting one or two goals up in a game, and the resultant confidence that then spreads through the team.
Sue Priest: Disagree, can’t win games if we don’t score.
Robert Holdcroft: If it was just about possession we would be doing alright but you don't just win games with possession. We need goals we obviously cant just Magic up a red hot striker. So ultimately we need to change tactics.
Andrew Whitehorn: Football is a simple game. Defend your goal well and score goals, neither which we have been very good at this season, hence our current position.
Chris Barter: For the number of shots and corners, to a degree he is right. Let's be honest, losing Murphy and Chaplin’s lack of form would hurt anyone with our budget. Eisners are pushing their luck and we are paying for it where it matters ? Scoring goals!
Jason Cromey: Agree we aren’t playing poorly. We get possession, pass it round, win duels, get corners, get it into the box, it's just tryna find the goal. It's the players really, should’ve kept most of them back in league 1 and league 2.
Faz Forhad Ahmed: Agree 100%. We just can’t score. I still believe Mousinho’s the man to get us out of this.
Klaas Fekkes: If you don't win you play poorly. Tactics are crucial and can make the difference.
Pat Pattinson: Not playing awful until final 3rd.No decent striker means Div 1 and our 3 strikers will walk.
Mike Hurdle: Wouldn’t say we are playing poorly. We’ve been average with goals against, we are not scoring goals. We are getting into good positions, the final ball is poor.
Geoff Chesters: Let's face it the only thing that matters now is results no matter how well or bad we play.