Brief Synopsis!!! (Portsmouth)

[The Doctor]

Who were the pundits/ commentators on sky? What did they make of us?

In the five mins before kick off, Guy Branson was the pundit. Got introduced and then went straight to the two mins silence! He then said he thoroughly expected Argyle to win comfortably as Pompey defence was poor.

At the end they went straight to the rugby without any analysis or review of the match.

True but the commentary team of Gary Weaver and David Prutton were generally very complimentary. I liked " the tide is turning for this proud football club and proud city". Love it

David Prutton. So that's who it was. He was VERY complimentary about Argyle throughout, but this is puzzling me because I am sure he has done Argyle games in the past and given the impression that he absolutely hates us.

 

[The Doctor]

I agree with all the praise for individual players in this thread so far but I just want to add a big shout out for Carl McHugh. He does the organising of the defence and looks, to me, like a really, really good player.

The thing about the current set-up of the defence with O'Connor (who IS superb) is that whenever a player gets beaten there is another player there immediately to cover (e.g. Nelson for Mellor, Hartley for Kellett, McHugh for Hartley or Nelson, O'Connor for everyone). What this means, for example, is that players can fully commit to win the ball (e.g. Hartley or Nelson step up to win a header) knowing that they have cover behind them. So it becomes very, very hard for sides to get through us.

 

[Josh Pope]

I agree with all the praise for individual players in this thread so far but I just want to add a big shout out for Carl McHugh. He does the organising of the defence and looks, to me, like a really, really good player.

The thing about the current set-up of the defence with O'Connor (who IS superb) is that whenever a player gets beaten there is another player there immediately to cover (e.g. Nelson for Mellor, Hartley for Kellett, McHugh for Hartley or Nelson, O'Connor for everyone). What this means, for example, is that players can fully commit to win the ball (e.g. Hartley or Nelson step up to win a header) knowing that they have cover behind them. So it becomes very, very hard for sides to get through us.

In terms of your second paragraph, I agree completely. I took a few minutes to watch the defensive warm-up which Wotton takes in detail, and it's very interesting. It appears, Wotts throws the ball in the air, one will shout and commit whilst another covers him and the remaining centre back drops a tad again. A good mechanism for covering, and if the ball went straight into the air again, a second centre back would be aboe to gain the momentum to jump and ideally win the second challenge.

Happens when the ball is on the ground too, lots of covering. Easy to see why we're so hard to get past when you watch us and note all the little details!

 

[Liam Vercoe]

I have no pre conceived opinion of Smalley and still thought he could've done much better, despite having a good chance saved. He barely ran for any balls, nor jumped for any headers, he only seemed to bother if he had the ball at his feet.

 

[Dan Ellard]

I have no pre conceived opinion of Smalley and still thought he could've done much better, despite having a good chance saved. He barely ran for any balls, nor jumped for any headers, he only seemed to bother if he had the ball at his feet.

Agreed.

 

[Dalton Is God]

I have no pre conceived opinion of Smalley and still thought he could've done much better, despite having a good chance saved. He barely ran for any balls, nor jumped for any headers, he only seemed to bother if he had the ball at his feet.

Agreed.

Also agree.

 

[Cobi Budge.]

Fair enough we are all going to have opinions and I've certainly not kept my defence of Smalley a secret.

Maybe he does need to work harder off the ball and do more to help defensively, but put him on the ball and he's a really decent player as he showed yesterday, he's got pace, power and intelligence.

Obviously Reid is better, but Smalley is a similar type of player and I'd rather have him than not have him.

 

[pastiesforlife]

Sorry looked everywhere, there was 10,300 at Home Park.
how many from the away team?
With Sky etc not bad turn out.

1,243 from Pompey. Pretty impressive for an early kick off and on tv.

 

[Green Flash]

Who were the pundits/ commentators on sky? What did they make of us?

In the five mins before kick off, Guy Branson was the pundit. Got introduced and then went straight to the two mins silence! He then said he thoroughly expected Argyle to win comfortably as Pompey defence was poor.

At the end they went straight to the rugby without any analysis or review of the match.

True but the commentary team of Gary Weaver and David Prutton were generally very complimentary. I liked " the tide is turning for this proud football club and proud city". Love it

David Prutton. So that's who it was. He was VERY complimentary about Argyle throughout, but this is puzzling me because I am sure he has done Argyle games in the past and given the impression that he absolutely hates us.

Could it be that he has no strong feelings about a league 2 club but complements us when we play well and when we play badly, not so much?

 

[Larry David]

Fair enough we are all going to have opinions and I've certainly not kept my defence of Smalley a secret.

Maybe he does need to work harder off the ball and do more to help defensively, but put him on the ball and he's a really decent player as he showed yesterday, he's got pace, power and intelligence.

Obviously Reid is better, but Smalley is a similar type of player and I'd rather have him than not have him.

I agree with Cobi. Also it's unfair to judge until he has had a decent run of games in the current side. Should the opportunity arise for him I think he will do a good job.

 

[pedro91]

Branston seemed to spend most of the time drinking something and talking to the Sky presenter Natalie!!!

 

[IJN]

Sounds like a good gig if you can get it.

 

[StevePAFC]

The thing that has struck me most about this season is the amount of belief the players have this season compared last season, how often last season did we seem too scared to play at home and bottle it in big games such as the Accrington, Exeter and Oxford matches which caused us to drop out and fall behind the play off places? I don't want to speak to soon but if we do get in to the automatic places I just can't see this current crop falling short and completely bottling it like last season's team.

Coyg

 

[Tyhee_Slim]

Can't prove it statistically - well, I could but can't be bothered, and I'm sure someone else on here will probably be maintaining a spreadsheet or something - but I'll wager that our disciplinary record and injury list are both hugely better than they have bern for ages.

Things like that are, for me, indicative of a team/squad that is doing well. It can sometimes be the crucial split second in decision making that makes the difference, but there's also the 'not wanting to be left out as you'll not get back in' factor.

As Steve Archibald once said (since nicked by a few other sportsmen) "Team spirit is an illusion sometimes glimpsed in the aftermath of victory".

This is not a criticism by the way, merely an observation, before some lamebrained forkwit accuses me of being a miserable git or some equally Wildean epithet.

Great to see - reminds me of the sort of spirit (or was it 'luck') that allowed us to have the Cocko/Wotton partnership in 01/02 and suchlike.

 

[Josh Pope]

Interesting you say that Tyhee, tagz always used to be great with stats and stuff, even if he was commenting a lot. Haven't seen him in ages, anybody know what happened or if he's ok?