Jack

The last couple of away games have massively exposed a couple of the club’s biggest blind spots. Our goalkeeper and defence are absolute garbage, and we’ve got another manager whose tactical preference is for the goalkeeper and defence to have as much possession as possible. It’s absolutely bonkers

What’s Che Adams up to these days? The ball just doesn’t stick up top when we’re under pressure, and the less said about our back 5/6 the better. Bazunu, Stephens, Manning, Fraser all absolutely miles off being good enough for a promotion push

With Manning and Fraser in a back 5, that was always going to be happen. Fucking sick of Manning, yes he’s got a decent shot but can’t defend for shit, shocking in possession today and too slow to ever get back into shape defensively.

Yep. We need to work on another system and try to dominate the midfield more. 90% of our possession today was fucking about at the back and we just jet putting ourselves in the shit

We’ve done loads of that today. Russell Martin would approve

Determined to get the ball back to the back 5 at every opportunity. So shit when chasing the game. Get the extra man in midfield FFS and make the mistakes in their half

Can’t stop a cross, can’t win a header, don’t have a goalkeeper capable of helping out. Shite

Couple of bits on Matsuki in the media this week but Aribo still getting into the squad ahead of him. Hope that changes very soon, pretty sick of him lumbering around the pitch doing very little

Imagine it’ll be Fraser for Fellows and otherwise unchanged. I don’t like it but can’t see Eckhert changing formation and we haven’t got a fit RB anyway. Can’t see it being a 4, especially with either Edwards or Captain shoehorn having to play there

Was saying this the other day, such a shame we’ve dropped so many points against dreadful opposition thanks to a manager who wouldn’t play his best players

0-6. No need to sit back 2nd half as there’s no midweek game. Tonda knows we can’t defend for shit so just go for the throat and keep them picking the ball out of their net. Fellows to finally start scoring some goals

Fuck me. Reckon the club did the recruitment for the advisory board on the bingo bus one day? That lot wouldn’t know a thing about a proper away day

Having a half decent, half commanding GK will have a significant impact on an already suspect defence. Someone to come for a cross and command his area means less errors, less confusion, more confidence. Macca is far better at that, if only he could pass the ball. That passage of play before their 2nd goal last night surely highlights the need for a more competent #1 keeper, before you even look at the shots that go through him

It seemed pretty clear we came out 2nd half to nullify the game, as has happened a fair bit recently, and it was reflected in the crowd. It’s a shame because at 3-0 up you’d hope it’d be a party in there, but it was going to be boring at best with no goals conceded, and tense at worst with goals conceded. Good noise at the end to get us over the line but it’s been really flat there recently even with the decent form

Neither Fraser or Manning were able to stop the crosses from coming in either so I’d have taken the height and defensive instinct in that situation. Very ropey subs last night. We were getting overrun and needed to see it out, 5’2 Fraser against a physical side, plus Aribo and Romeu when really we needed some legs in the middle. But got there in the end and the first half was top class. Sure Tonda will keep learning from these, if we make mistakes and still get the 3 points then it can be a positive if he learns from it

Biggest test so far, you could say

100%. I think that was an arrogant 2nd half performance to think we could just knock it about and see the game out. We need to find a way of stopping a hundred crosses coming in because we’re pretty hopeless at defending them. Not at all convinced by Quarshie, especially playing next to Manning as they just ping shit passes at each other and Baz. Would’ve been happy to see Stephens on and I don’t rate him either

Moi Elyounoussi. Most unbelievably average footballer somehow getting starts every week in a decent side

Yeah could be anoter new test for Tonda - seeing how he deals with a side that want us to have more of the ball and play on the break. I still feel it’s where we’re most vulnerable, always prone to mistakes from sloppy possession

This is far worse than I realised at the time from the opposite end. It was a good hit but with positioning like this, it’s no wonder Baz gets routinely done by a shot nowhere near the corner of the goal. He made a couple of decent stops, but as others have said, just lacks the positional sense and ability to command his area to ever be good at this level.

Boring but very winnable. Handful of all Prem ties, not the worst draw ever

Pompey then

So many managers have persisted with Manning, they must be fully aware of how dire he is defensively and come to the conclusion that it’s a risk worth taking with what he offers in the other half of the pitch. I’m not convinced myself and it’s one of the first positions I want us to strengthen, as I’m not sure Welly is up to it either. Especially with Captain Jack at LCB, imagine what Fellows does to those 2 in training games. It’s ok against sides where we’re mostly on top but I worry about it against better sides. Fully agree on Aribo, ship him out on a free ASAP and get him off the wage bill. Useless

Really enjoyed Tonda hoofing the ball into the stand in injury time. The more calculated shithousing we can add to our game, the better. We’ve been too soft for too long. …as long as it’s not Stephens tasked with the shithousing as he’s too likely to get sent off

Imagine we’ll lose this, purely because everything Sport Republic touch turns to shit. Happy to be proved wrong