Portsmouth 2 Morecambe 0 LIVE THREAD

[Born again Bill]

The goal scoring drought continues , we are now pretty much struggling for form in all positions on the pitch !

[halfwayprawn]

Hopefully it does unsettle us and we start playing as a team again with the ball on the ground and not a hoof ball team. January cannot come quick enough.

[halfwayprawn]

Wootten off with an injury so Delaney comes on but instead of going RCB he goes CB with O'connor going to RCB, hope this does not unsettle us to much.

Hopefully it does unsettle us and we start playing as a team again with the ball on the ground and not a hoof ball team. January cannot come quick enough.

[Keith]

Didn't expect anything from today's game, so not as disappointed as I would normally be. In fact, we didn't play *that* badly, certainly much, much better than against Sunderland (thankfully!)

But, we still conceded twice, the first being incredibly soft defending and the second being a complete lack of defending at all. We had one good shot on target in the whole game which was superbly saved.

Crap defending.
No goals scored.

That's real relegation stuff.

[parceldave]

The problem we have got compared to the beginning of the season is lack of composure all over the pitch , there was hardly any hoof ball when we started and now Cole is feeding on scraps . Only one win now out of eleven games is deffo relegation material . Even with five across the midfield today Pompey were able to pass the ball around so freely , i counted over 30 passes without us touching the ball at one point . When we do manage to get the ball forward the player with the ball has no support so has to try a shot , usually Cole . There are a few things that frustrate the hell out of me that help the opposition get settled , firstly it always takes us 10 mins when we get a throw-in , the goalkeeper always hangs on to the ball until the opposition get back before he usually kicks it out , very rarely does he throw it, we never leave a man up front when we are defending a set piece which makes it easier for their defenders . I could go on but all these things are helping our opponents .

[marky No.1]

Nine points from the next four games, minimum.

[Keith]

Nine points from the next four games, minimum.

I'm serious! We can't afford to drop points in any of the relegation battles if we want to remain favourites to avoid the drop. Crewe have won their two recent 'relegation' games. Beat us and they're only a point behind us. If Doncaster beat us, they are level on points. We deserve something from them after the referee robbed us at their place. Fleetwood are on the 'new manager bounce'. Beat us and they are five points ahead of us, with momentum.

We can't afford to slip up against any of them.

[marky No.1]

Of coursr you are right, but cant see 3 wins coming from anywhere, i have said elsewhere we need 2 wins from the next 3 home games, otherwise we become adrift, even draws wont help much

[Andy D]

Nine points from the next four games, minimum.

I'm serious! We can't afford to drop points in any of the relegation battles if we want to remain favourites to avoid the drop. Crewe have won their two recent 'relegation' games. Beat us and they're only a point behind us. If Doncaster beat us, they are level on points. We deserve something from them after the referee robbed us at their place. Fleetwood are on the 'new manager bounce'. Beat us and they are five points ahead of us, with momentum.

We can't afford to slip up against any of them.

we have goal keepers who undermine us no matter how well we play, now i can forgive goal keepers diving when shots are played right into the corners when stretching but today and recently the shots have been straight at our keepers just basic saves and saveable, and basically if we’d started the season with a L1 standard keeper we’d be mid-table now and safe easily.

[Little Shrimp]

Had a watch of the game now - did a good job of making it quite scrappy and stopping Portsmouth from playing. Think the first goal was the only time they properly cut us open, and that was on the break. Main issue is just a dozy moment at the back again. Portsmouth did that train thing from the corner and it looks like there was some confusion as to who was tracking who, which is massively disappointing. Maybe not helped by Wootton going off? Big shame that - thought he'd done alright.

Looked pretty devoid of ideas going forward unfortunately. While it's fine to make it scrappy and stop the opposition playing, we need to be able to take control of the ball at certain moments and actually string a bit of good attacking play together. Phillips bright though in that No10 role though, so probably worth another run-out in that formation against Fleetwood and hope they've gelled a bit more. Also coming up against a far weaker defence than Portsmouth's, who were very grizzly and did well to snuff out any moments that looked like they might develop into chances.

Would like to see us make more of the Gibson/Leigh combo down the left - think that could be one of our better attacking threats in that formation. Would also be massively considering Toums ahead of McCalmont if he's fit. McCalmont's a quality player but struggled to assert himself into the game with it being a bit more direct. Toums would probably be able to do that better - get his foot in, do a little spin and open up the pitch a bit etc.

[redrobo]

If only we could get our passing sorted then we could see a massive improvement in results. Portsmouth and quite a few other teams have passed the ball superbly but we appear to want to get rid as soon as we have it.

Yesterday's performance wasn't that bad but our passing could have been better. They won thanks to yet another corner routine at a time when we seemed to be on the ascendancy.

The next few games will go a long way to determining our season with or without the new signings that we sound to be after.

[fulwoodshrimp]

I returned from Portsmouth last night not feeling too despondent about our performance. We played with a lot of spirit against a strong Portsmouth side and have to accept overall they were the better side. There were two moments in the game that could have made a difference. There was a strong shout for a penalty in the first half when a Portsmouth defencer made a crude tackle in the box. A poor referee favouring the home side was unlikely to give us this. The second moment was in the second half when a strong shot was tipped onto the post by a brilliant save by the Portsmouth keeper. I feel the big lesson from this game was to focus on the other teams in the bottom 8 or so positions. These are the games we must get points out of. Any points against the top seven or eight teams are a bonus. I also feel we have to continue to focus on marking at set pieces. The second goal yesterday was a result of the goal scorer losing his marker at a corner. Overall though, lets encourage the team to keep fighting and bolstered by some decent signings in the transfer window we can stili survive to compete again in League 1.

[sandgrown]

Had a watch of the game now - did a good job of making it quite scrappy and stopping Portsmouth from playing. Think the first goal was the only time they properly cut us open, and that was on the break. Main issue is just a dozy moment at the back again. Portsmouth did that train thing from the corner and it looks like there was some confusion as to who was tracking who, which is massively disappointing. Maybe not helped by Wootton going off? Big shame that - thought he'd done alright.

Looked pretty devoid of ideas going forward unfortunately. While it's fine to make it scrappy and stop the opposition playing, we need to be able to take control of the ball at certain moments and actually string a bit of good attacking play together. Phillips bright though in that No10 role though, so probably worth another run-out in that formation against Fleetwood and hope they've gelled a bit more. Also coming up against a far weaker defence than Portsmouth's, who were very grizzly and did well to snuff out any moments that looked like they might develop into chances.

Would like to see us make more of the Gibson/Leigh combo down the left - think that could be one of our better attacking threats in that formation. Would also be massively considering Toums ahead of McCalmont if he's fit. McCalmont's a quality player but struggled to assert himself into the game with it being a bit more direct. Toums would probably be able to do that better - get his foot in, do a little spin and open up the pitch a bit etc.

for once I agree with your post.

spot on regarding Phillips and Toums, they are the best quality we have for now

[Keith]

There were two moments in the game that could have made a difference. There was a strong shout for a penalty in the first half when a Portsmouth defencer made a crude tackle in the box. A poor referee favouring the home side was unlikely to give us this. The second moment was in the second half when a strong shot was tipped onto the post by a brilliant save by the Portsmouth keeper.

To be fair, I thought the ref was generally quite decent. Of your 'two moments', I didn't think it was a penalty. However... ...I do think he got it wrong not giving their lad a second yellow for a very clear "tactical foul", stopping our breakaway attack. Going down to ten men, could have turned things around.

[redrobo]

Evidently their second goal was their FIRST headed goal of the season and the first from a corner since last season.