Match Day Thread Oxford v Pompey - Play-off Semi Final 2nd. Leg

Next season is going to be mental. Ipswich surely cannot continue to be as abyssmal as they were this season, Sunderland must surely improve, whoever comes down from the Championship is likely to be near the top of League 1. If "Boro come down, it should spice up Sunderland. Barnsley are a yoyo team. Luton, we don´t know about. Wigan may have their better players taken - Jamal Lowe, for example. Even Cook!!!

With some smart signings and keeping the like of Phil Brown, I feel PFC will be a good contender again. We just need to improve our striking, keeping possession and shore up the defence.

 

I just wanted to chuck a four nothing joke in tbh. It's been a while

 

The game was in the middle of the night in Oz so I recorded it and got up early to watch -before I heard the result. The trouble is when recording that the channel does not anticipate extra time and penalties so I missed the second half of extra time and the penalties. Perhaps this was just as well. When my recording came to an end I had to get "the Snooze" on the internet to receive the bad news.
I thought the selected team was just about right. Including Williams in place of Cannon meant that our three 'pacest' forwards were included which I thought was a positive attitude.
Morris & McGeehan did enough in the first leg to justify their start..
In the event the mid field failed to duplicate their performance in first 30 minutes of the first leg. This is not a selection criticism but a comment in hindsight.
Again in hindsight Close and Naylor may feel badly done by. Their weaknesses as a midfield pairing were bound to be exposed over the course of the season ( or most of it) they played together.
In the longer run I think Naylor would be a better defensive mid-fielder than McGeehan although i would not be unhappy to see McGeehan signed up for next year.. The comparison of Close and Morris is more marginal and interesting. Both are good positionally but are poor 50 -50 ball winners. Morris is slightly stronger on the ball when retaining possession. Close on the other hand has a good shot and has scored useful goals. We have not seen enough of Morris to judge him in this department.
Burgess deserves special mention and will be missed. The Clarke- Whatmough partnership looked very strong at the beginning of last season and Burgess was on the outer. Events have changed that and he has become the most constant force in the centre of defense. I will be sorry to see him go. It is indicative of the transience in the game that in the play-offs he was the sole remaining member of the 2nd Div winning team. My impression is that he is much respected as a person as well as as a footballer. I wish him well.
Whatmough starts the next season on a 'last chance' basis with regard to his durability rather than his talent. I hope he stays injury free. Clearly we need another central defender. I an uncertain that Raggett is the answer although, again, I would not be entirely sorry if he signed permanently. Early in the season Woops made the comment that Raggett always seemed to have a mistake in him. Since then he appears to have turned things round but in the play-offs I saw a couple of mistakes which, in the event, were not capitalised on but would make him vulnerable to 'a run of bad luck' when he was not getting the run of the ball.
I was interested in Ides comment re the lack Championship quality players in the current side as compared to when Pompey were last promoted from the 3nd tier. It is difficult to follow the game from afar but my sense is that the 'quality gap' between the championship and Ist division has, in general terms, got wider since those times.Is this consistent with the impressions of others?

 

Another season in League 1. It gives Pompey a better chance to build a squad, not only to get promotion but also more than survive in the Championship. For much of my life, Pompey have been in the Championship, and often in the lower half. At least in League 1, we are challenging for success, and that process alone can lead to changing the mindset of the club from top to bottom, both on and off the field. To get where we want Pompey to be, is a building process. It means strengthening our youth set up, our scouting, system, the playing squad, which to my mind has cost less to assemble that the 1983 promotion side. It means creating a ground fit for the 21st century.