naios wrote:

I'm suddenly overcome with this thought.... sack Megson. Not sure where that came from, but it just him me out of the blue.

That's a very original thought and I'm sure it will help Davies and Gardner to a speedy recovery.

Quote:

Lets not try and fool ourselves, we're in big trouble now.

You're a melodramatic feck. I don't know what world you're living on if you think this is 'big trouble'.

Anyway, while we were shite, having seen the goal I can conclude that we've been robbed of a point. Shit happens I suppose.

TANGODANCER wrote:

naios wrote: I'm suddenly overcome with this thought.... sack Megson. Not sure where that came from, but it just him me out of the blue. That's a very original thought and I'm sure it will help Davies and Gardner to a speedy recovery.

Cheers Tango. I just got in knowing nothing about the game and saw that and nearly had a heart attack.

Anyways, seems as though we had another one of those games where we just didn't turn up. This season we seem to have forgotten how to draw games. Only West Brom have lost more. Today a draw would have been perfect to keep a little momentum going, but like all too often this season we were unable to get anything.

Isn't Mark Davies due back soon anyway? Sure I read an optimistic 'back in time for Villa' somewhere. Obviously lets not risk the lad, but if we could have him for the Hull game? Cos yeah, 3 immobilisers in the middle aint gonna cut it. We may even have to resort to a 442 with Rigarigariga....?

Disappointing result really, but the worst bit is definitely Ricardo's injury. Creativity from open play must have really been zilch after that.

Lets not press the panic button just yet, but we do need another win or two, and lets face it, if we harbour ambitions of finishing above dross like Stoke, Blackburn, Sunderland (and we f*ckin should!!) then we need to pick up some more points. A point today would have done nicely....still back down to a bump after showing some fight and bottle I suppose. We need to be able to grind more results out.

Lack of subs is annoying as well, though perhaps the fact he changed the team around meant he decided to limit substitutions.......

officer_dibble wrote:

Isn't Mark Davies due back soon anyway? Sure I read an optimistic 'back in time for Villa' somewhere. Obviously lets not risk the lad, but if we could have him for the Hull game? Cos yeah, 3 immobilisers in the middle aint gonna cut it. We may even have to resort to a 442 with Rigarigariga....? Disappointing result really, but the worst bit is definitely Ricardo's injury. Creativity from open play must have really been zilch after that. Lets not press the panic button just yet, but we do need another win or two, and lets face it, if we harbour ambitions of finishing above dross like Stoke, Blackburn, Sunderland (and we f*ckin should!!) then we need to pick up some more points. A point today would have done nicely....still back down to a bump after showing some fight and bottle I suppose. We need to be able to grind more results out. Lack of subs is annoying as well, though perhaps the fact he changed the team around meant he decided to limit substitutions.......

Already been pressed I'm afraid.

Just to say I had a really good walk up winter hill in the sunshine... Timed nicely... off at 2.00, back to the car at five to five. Didn't switch on the radio, went to spend £100 at asda (how the feck do i manage that?), got home at 6.30, went to football365 to discover we'd lost...

and felt so glad I went for the displacement option rather than sweat over the radio or some blurry stream...

For the rest of the season I'm going to do anything other than follow the game when we're away... movies, theatre matinees, walks, whatever... it just feckin destroys me... Wierd - I really like being in the crowd at away matches - but otherwise...

officer_dibble wrote:

Isn't Mark Davies due back soon anyway?

16th of May is the latest date.

Solito34 wrote:

TANGODANCER wrote: DJBlu wrote: TANGODANCER wrote: If Davies had done what Kanu did with Jussi he'd have got a card. Blatant foul and got away with it. We never looked worth more than a point, but we should have got one. Total fluke goal. Still don't change the fact we were shit Tango. Had we even turned up we could have put 3 past them today. Totally nervous, crowd quiet. What's to change? If Jussi hadn't been on form for most of the game it could have been a rout the other way. We were too deep all the game and invited them on to us far too much. Hraidersson got away with murder with his clogging though and why either Davies or McCann got yellows is baffling. Gardner's injury changed the whole game, unfortunately. It was Megson's negative substitution that changed the game rather than the injury.Megson chose to replace Gardner with a defensive player,there were attacking options on the bench he could have used instead,the obvious one Smolarek. It was a similar situation to the Newcastle away game when Elmander was injured early on and Megson replaced him with McCann. Two matches that Megson replaced attacking players with defensive players at 0-0 and we went on to lose 1-0.

Never seen that before

William the White wrote:

Just to say I had a really good walk up winter hill in the sunshine... Timed nicely... off at 2.00, back to the car at five to five. Didn't switch on the radio, went to spend £100 at asda (how the feck do i manage that?), got home at 6.30, went to football365 to discover we'd lost... and felt so glad I went for the displacement option rather than sweat over the radio or some blurry stream... For the rest of the season I'm going to do anything other than follow the game when we're away... movies, theatre matinees, walks, whatever... it just feckin destroys me... Wierd - I really like being in the crowd at away matches - but otherwise...

I did similar. Stepped on the cricket field at half 12 and stepped off at 8 when I lLooked at my phone where there was a message waiting saying '1-0 Portsmouth, sounded like Jaakelainen stick'. Much less stressful way to spend the afternoon - although mine also ended in defeat and a broken toe. Painful.

Tombwfc wrote:

Quote: Lets not try and fool ourselves, we're in big trouble now. You're a melodramatic feck. I don't know what world you're living on if you think this is 'big trouble'. Anyway, while we were shite, having seen the goal I can conclude that we've been robbed of a point. Shit happens I suppose.

If we keep performing like that we are in trouble. It will only take another two losses or loss and draw to find that we're right in the thick of danger again. We are too inconsistent. Having been to the game and seen how shocking we were, Pompy fully deserved their goal and win after having hit the post and had numerous attempts on target.

We showed nothing going forward and it was another no show. Lets not kid ourselves the performance was awful, along with the tactics and game plan. No wonder our away following is dwindling. If the team can't be bothered, then why should the fans?

As for the ground, no beer 2 kiosks and very little room to move on the concourses. Im surprised health and safety allow that many fans to be in such a little space, especially directly behind the seats. Good to meet Enfield White again- Post up the tshirt design, it's something special.

Quote:

Bolton manager Gary Megson has expressed his disappointment at the display which saw his side lose 1-0 to Portsmouth. The Trotters were second best throughout the afternoon and barely had a shot on goal before Kanu claimed all three points for Pompey late on. The day had begun with Bolton fans confident of reaching the magic 40-point mark, but it instead ended with renewed fears over the prospect of securing survival. "It was a poor result for us," Megson conceded to Sky Sports News. "The performance was not good enough, not coming up to the standard that we've set for most of the time this season and certainly not what we need at this stage of the season. "It's purely and simply about results and for the life of me and probably everybody else I thought that was going to be a 0-0, and yet we've probably been responsible for our own downfall." Indeed, Bolton conceded late on in rather bizarre fashion as a whipped corner was bundled in over the body of Jussi Jaaskelainen by substitute Kanu. Infuriated by the manner of the goal, Megson concluded: "It's a poor corner, there's no height on it and for it to go in like that is just not what I would expect."

He's right that it wasn't good enough, but he's wrong about the standard we've set for most of the time this season...certainly not away from home. We've not won an away match this year! That's pretty poor for a team that talks about top ten finishes etc.

We need to sort that out and if we can do so, we could probably stop worrying about relegation every season again.

Looked like the performance of a side already on the beach, that's it really. Rubbish.

If the pressure is back on when we play Sunderland and Hull at home we'll get a win to see us through.

Massively frustrating game.
Yet again, we're pushovers away.

Pompey looked there for the taking but what happened was entirely predictable.
Megson has no idea how to set teams up to play away from home.

At home we start games strongly and go out to win the game - hence early goals. Away from home the tone is set from the start - over cautious, inviting teams onto us, very little attacking intent.

In the 2nd half when we did push forward a bit more, Pompey created much less than the did in the first half but got a bit of a freak goal. Why Megson insists on waiting to come out and play more after 45 mins, when in many games the damage has been done by then is beyond me.
He doesn't learn from what's happened in other games.

I'm no Megson hater. I think his intentions are good, he's slowly trying to get us to play more football and building a new team with some good young talent but the more of these such games you see, the more it becomes obvious that tactically he's simply not good enough.

DIPS wrote:

Tombwfc wrote: Quote: Lets not try and fool ourselves, we're in big trouble now. You're a melodramatic feck. I don't know what world you're living on if you think this is 'big trouble'. Anyway, while we were shite, having seen the goal I can conclude that we've been robbed of a point. Shit happens I suppose. If we keep performing like that we are in trouble. It will only take another two losses or loss and draw to find that we're right in the thick of danger again. We are too inconsistent. Having been to the game and seen how shocking we were, Pompy fully deserved their goal and win after having hit the post and had numerous attempts on target. We showed nothing going forward and it was another no show. Lets not kid ourselves the performance was awful, along with the tactics and game plan. No wonder our away following is dwindling. If the team can't be bothered, then why should the fans? As for the ground, no beer 2 kiosks and very little room to move on the concourses. Im surprised health and safety allow that many fans to be in such a little space, especially directly behind the seats. Good to meet Enfield White again- Post up the tshirt design, it's something special.

Obviously. If we keep playing like that we'll be in League One in two years time.

Needless to say, we won't keep playing like that. You've said yourself we're inconsistent.

Newcastle lost to Spurs so we are still 6 pts clear of relegation places. United gave it a real go in the second half with 3 strikers plus Alan Smith in midfield and came near to getting an equaliser. They played much better after Nolan was subbed off, however Spurs were a far superior team and should really have had a hatfull.

Update :- WBA also lost 4-2 at City (see tother Forum)

FD wrote:

Quote: "The performance was not good enough, not coming up to the standard that we've set for most of the time this season and certainly not what we need at this stage of the season.

Can travelling supporters expect an O'Neill-esque invite to dinner then?

FaninOz wrote:

Newcastle lost to Spurs so we are still 6 pts clear of relegation places. United gave it a real go in the second half with 3 strikers plus Alan Smith in midfield and came near to getting an equaliser. They played much better after Nolan was subbed off, however Spurs were a far superior team and should really have had a hatfull. Update :- WBA also lost 4-2 at City (see tother Forum)

Not a bad weekend for us considering we lost but it does go to show how important 3 points become when sides below us aren't getting any.

Bruce Rioja wrote:

FD wrote: Quote: "The performance was not good enough, not coming up to the standard that we've set for most of the time this season and certainly not what we need at this stage of the season. Can travelling supporters expect an O'Neill-esque invite to dinner then?

we can only dream...... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8006621.stm

DIPS wrote:

Tombwfc wrote: Quote: Lets not try and fool ourselves, we're in big trouble now. You're a melodramatic feck. I don't know what world you're living on if you think this is 'big trouble'. Anyway, while we were shite, having seen the goal I can conclude that we've been robbed of a point. Shit happens I suppose. If we keep performing like that we are in trouble. It will only take another two losses or loss and draw to find that we're right in the thick of danger again. We are too inconsistent. Having been to the game and seen how shocking we were, Pompy fully deserved their goal and win after having hit the post and had numerous attempts on target. We showed nothing going forward and it was another no show. Lets not kid ourselves the performance was awful, along with the tactics and game plan. No wonder our away following is dwindling. If the team can't be bothered, then why should the fans? As for the ground, no beer 2 kiosks and very little room to move on the concourses. Im surprised health and safety allow that many fans to be in such a little space, especially directly behind the seats. Good to meet Enfield White again- Post up the tshirt design, it's something special.

First time at Fratton Park (and probably my last)

What a shit hole of a ground, although I guess we've been spoiled recently. The seat allocation was f*cked up with the stewards directing people to seats that were already occupied. I witnessed two incidences which got quite heated.

It really does frustrate me sometimes that a team that can score three at Chelsea can be so ineffective against what was a poor Portsmouth side (apart from Kroncjaer (sp) and Johnson.

The Gardner injury was key to this result. We lack pace in midfield which gives us an outlet when we inevitably sit further and further back.

I can't believe more hasn't been made of the assault by Kanu on Jaaskeleinen for their goal, though.

I haven't seen us gain a single point in 'live play this whole season. I hope Sunderland changes that.

There was no assault on Jussi.

Kanu hardly touched him: Jussi went down softly looking for the free-kick that rightly didn't come.