Portsmouth 0 Stoke 1: Neil Allen's verdict- Cracks are now chasms as Blues boss faces huge selection decisions
The Blues slipped to successive Fratton Park defeats on Saturday following a 1-0 loss
They started off as cracks, minor imperfections largely inconsequential amid a series of solid team results. Worryingly, now the fractures are widening.
While John Mousinho continues to hammer furiously away, rather like the proverbial whack-a-mole, other problems irritatingly keep popping up elsewhere.
Granted, the Josh Murphy headache has been resolved, or at least partially following his welcome return to action against Stoke following a nagging ankle ligament injury.
With a six-game absence driving home the left winger’s irreplaceable worth to the side, as if there was any doubt, his 23-minute cameo represents the first tentative steps back into the first-team.
Predictably, his third touch conjured up the Blues’ best chance of Saturday’s Championship clash. Crucially, Makenzie Kirk was unable to capitalise - and minutes later the Potters claimed their match winner.
Yet while that gaping hole appears to have now been plugged, leaks elsewhere have increased in their ferocity and can no longer be passed off as mere blips.
Colby Bishop’s concerning form and ongoing goal drought along with Conor Chaplin’s positional conundrum and the continual failure to get the best out of his talents are now Mousinho’s chief problems.
What were once slight concerns wholly evident at the start of the month, have developed into glaring selection issues as we leave October on the back of successive Fratton Park defeats.
No crisis at Portsmouth
Certainly this is no crisis. Pompey are four points above the Championship relegation zone and, over the last four fixtures, have encountered three of the top five plus Leicester City. As ever, context is everything.
On paper, this period was always going to be tough for Mousinho’s men. Indeed, barely a week ago, we were hailing an eye-catching King Power Stadium point off the back of barging Middlesbrough off the top of the table.
Indeed, had the otherwise impressive Kirk steered his shot from Murphy’s 68th-minute cross a fraction either side of the keeper from six-yards out, the Fratton faithful could well have been celebrating victory this weekend. Such fine lines.
Yet that would have merely been papering over cracks elsewhere in Mousinho’s side. Notably concerning Bishop and Chaplin.
Admittedly, it was a lacklustre team performance in the first half and, while undoubtedly improved from the start of the second half, after Stoke took the lead against the run of play, the hosts disappointingly fell away.
Once the unfortunate Hayden Matthews diverted Sorba Thomas’ left-wing cross into his own net on 70 minutes, Pompey never remotely suggested they were capable of an equaliser and the Potters cantered to their 1-0 victory.
Nonetheless, scratching beneath the surface of a fifth Fratton Park defeat before November and there are ongoing positional problems which have become increasingly in need of addressing with every passing game.
Chief problems for Mousinho
Bishop, the Blues’ leading scorer for three straight seasons, has now gone more than two months without a goal. At nine games, this is by far his longest period failing to find the back of the net in Pompey colours.
In addition, with form and confidence having understandably dipped, on Saturday against Stoke he was asked to play just behind full debutant Kirk, in a surprise front-line partnership implemented by Mousinho.
Regardless of that tactical switch, Bishop once more came up blank and the pressure continues to mount on a player whose game, more than anyone in the squad, has suffered in the absence of Murphy.
Without a shot in his previous three appearances combined, how he would have relished being supplied with that second-half left-wing cross which his attacking team-mate couldn’t manage to capitalise on.
The Conor Chaplin conundrum
As for Chaplin, the prodigal son remains without a goal or assist seven games into his popular homecoming. Crucially, of those appearances, just two have involved the 28-year-old playing in his favoured number 10 role.
Rather John Swift and now Bishop have been preferred there over the last five matches Chaplin has been available for. Not unreasonably, many thought Stoke would represent his return to the position with Swift suspended and Adrian Segecic injured - we were all wrong.
The Ipswich loanee has instead been operating on the right flank, more of an inverted winger cutting inside than an out-and-out wideman hogging the touchline, drifting past full-backs and delivering crosses.
However, it is not proving a success. Nothing to do with effort, endeavour, commitment or energy, of course, merely for the fact it isn’t bringing out the best out of a talented goalscorer who possesses wonderful finishing ability.
With Murphy now back in the frame, opening up the prospect of Minhyeok Yang switching over to the problematic right wing, Mousinho must find somewhere else for Chaplin to thrive or initiate the previously unthinkable, dropping him to the bench.
Big calls to make, huge holes to fill - and Birmingham City to come.