We are teetering

[philphillips]

The One Word that currently sums Pompey up at the moment....inconsistency!! (I think its the same one we used last season!).

My take on this afternoon's home performance......

First Half.....loads of possession and attacking play but no end product, then all of a sudden one quick free kick, a defence that had switched off/defensive mistake and we find ourselves One Nil down.....very much against the run of Play at a point in the game when County were hanging in there defending for their lives! However full Credit to Pompey for battling back and we deservedly managed to equalise however Chaplin could and perhaps should have been registering a hat trick at that point!! (But wasn't due to some uncharacteristic finishing on his behalf!)

Half Time: At the break I felt confident that Pompey would go on to win the game based on the first half performance! (How wrong was I!).

Second Half: What the hell happened? Players went missing (most notably Roberts and Bennett), Doyle looked knackered, we looked a completely different team to the one that played so well in the first half (minus the goal return) and we struggled to put together any coherent passages of play. I would even say some players looked like they didn't want the ball or when they got it they wanted to get rid of it as quickly as possible and take no responsibility.......I sensed that County might take advantage (I don't think I was the only one) and sure enough another defensive mistake (and a possibly a wrongly timed substitution) saw County go back in front and despite some late pressure we lost the game!! I sensed the same old "shrug of shoulders" and quiet dissatisfaction (there were a few boo's) as I left the Park and wondered where, why and how it all seems to be going wrong?

Trying to stay positive....we are still in a play off position and as mentioned five points of an automatic slot so still loads to play for! Just get the feeling that Cookie needs to sort out the teams........inconsistency!! Something that he has (supposedly) been trying to do for some time now!! PUP.

[lovedeanblue]

Well said Phil. I've calmed down now, had a good evening out. Still bitterly disappointed at what went on today, County weren't that good but the record will show they won 2.1 whatever I or anyone else thinks. Over 17k in (kids for a quid helped swell the gate), how many will want to come back ? Haven't changed my mind, Cook isn't the man for us the way I see it but I can't see us changing the helmsman.....not yet.

[PompeyScarf]

What do people think is wrong with Cook? Is he so afraid of losing that as we were 1-1 at half time he decided we should try and cling on to that? If that's the case it doesn't help player confidence in their ability or help them to develop.

[lovedeanblue]

Where do I start, Too much tip, tappy football across the Park then back again. Plays his mates even when they are out of form, Doyle the master of 5 yard sideways passes. Not tactically very astute I would say, he doesn't seem to have a Plan B. Think most fans would agree pre season we needed to sign strikers who are capable of putting the ball in the net at this level. So we went out and signed Main and Smith ffs, plus Hunt who hardly got a chance before he was injured. Our defence is riddled with errors, we don't seem to have a defensive coach, If we have he isn't very good. We will never know the truth about Davies being allowed to go. He was adamant after that it was not that he wanted a 2 year deal. We are missing him sorely I would say and from what I saw Talbot, before he was injured, isn't a patch on him.

Borrowed this from facebook. Someone who claims to be an ex Pro posted this

'Sat behind Paul cook today, got to say he comes across on the touch line as a manger with out a tactical clue, too angry too aggressive, on his feet from the first whistle – Notts county came and set up to get beat, 1 upfront midfield 5 yards off our midfield let us have the ball – then you've got a hammer thrower, ratter, ball winning midfielder in Doyle having more of the ball than any player on the pitch, he played square 5 yard balls – Roberts supposed to be playing off Chaplin, ends up standing upfront, trying to win headers and run the channels not his game at all?? Anyone with any clue about football can see this today'

[PompeyScarf]

Oh dear. And I take it he's lapsed back into playing one up front?

[lovedeanblue]

Yep, at the end (when their player was correctly sent off) he sent Burgess up front with Main. Burgess, as one would expect ran around like a headless chicken. In all honesty we should have led at half time but as is so often the case we didn't. Then it all went pear shaped as they say. I can't see us finishing in the top 3, play offs at best. I hope I'm wrong of course. Change of topic I know but it did make me smile when I read MK Dons have put Barker (who remains with the club at the moment) in temporary charge while they seek a replacement for Karl Robinson who left yesterday. Be interesting to see how that goes but as is so often the case also SC is the 2.1 favourite with one major betting firm.

[Corkhead]

Agree with virtually everything that has been posted. We are either very good or total oomska. That was summed up in Satdee's match. Good period in the first half and quite possibly the most shambolic rabble I have seen at FP for some time in the second.

Crap summer recruitment has left us with a surfeit of midfielders and poor up front and the back. That resulted in us finishing with two midfielders at full back and a centre-half up front for the ***** last quarter of the game. Cook is a negative manager by nature. He is so frightened of playing two out-and-out strikers that he'd rather play a centre half there. Cook signed Smith so why not play him when he reverted to Plan B i.e. lumping the ball up front to Chaplin, Burgess and Roberts (what a forward line).

Why two holding midfielders yet again playing square 5 yard passes? How about going for it and replacing one of those with an out and out striker from the start? Just for a feckin change please. Just once?

As Phil says - the hallmark of a Cook team is inconsistency. Either excellent or crapola with nowt inbetween. Unfortunately that is not a recipe for promotion. And if he says "that's football" one more time I'll chuck the computer through the window because it wasn't feckin football it was pants.

Rant over until next month.