Pompey med i toppen trods nulløsning.

En nulløsning på Fratton Park var næppe det manager Paul Cook havde håbet på, men pointene udeblev for nogle af de andre tophold, og det gør at Pompey ligger nummer 4 med 12 point efter 6 kampe.
Et pointsnit på 2,00, det betyder oprykning.

Pompey stillede op i den sædvanlige 4-2-3-1 og der var ikke den store overraskelse i start XI, om end det store spørgsmål var om Tubbs skulle starte inde, det skulle ligaens topscorer fra sidste sæson ikke.

Er angreb styrken og svagheden?

Det siger lidt om luksusproblemer for manager Paul Cook, men også hvor Pompey kan få problemer, hvis den stærke trup ikke lykkedes.
Ligeså at spørgmålet er om Pompey taktisk skal flytte rundt i en kamp og spille med 2 angribere, for at gå efter en sejr.

Accrington Stanley havde læst på lektien og forberedt sig grundigt. Accrington los Pompey komme, men der var ikke meget plads, og Pompey der er gode i pasningsspillet forfaldt desværre til at slå de lange bolde.

Efter 0-0 ved pausen kom den første udskiftning, og det var Pompeykeeper Murphy der blev i omklædningsrummet mens Jones kom på banen.

Heldige Pompey

Pompey havde løse chancer her og der, men de store chancer, dem havde Accrington faktisk, så på en måde må Pompey både være tilfreds og utilfreds med 0-0.
Pompey skiftede de to offensive spillere ind mod slutningen i form af Chaplin og Tubbs, men det var uden succes.

På lørdag er det igen Fratton Park der ligger græs til når Barnet  kommer på besøg. Efter 0-0, mon Cook holder fast i sin start XI eller om han blander kortene lidt.

Pompey manager Paul Cook:

I thought Accrington were full value for the draw.

‘We weren’t at it and were disappointing.

‘That’s how it is sometimes.

‘We had creative players who didn’t play well.

‘But my job is to back them. You move to the next game and add the points up at the end of the season.’

Accrington Stanley manager John Coleman:

“I am happy with a draw because I know how difficult it is to come to places like this with 15,000 fans baying for blood.

“I applaud that and I had some banter with the some of the crowd and these are the games you want to play in. It’s just a pity we can’t play in front of a crowd like that every week and they can.

“We came here and had a game plan, we focused on our jobs and we had a couple of great chances. We didn’t come here to settle for a point. Some teams will come here to shut-up shop and go for a 0-0, we have come here and tried to win and we could have but a draw was probably a fair result.”

Kommentarer fra The News

I thought Doyle and Atangana were the pick of the bunch today. Both did excellent jobs of trying to keep the team moving in the right way today, despite so many around them having average or off days. Accrington’s overly-physical approach (that should have been clamped down on early) wasn’t appreciated by Bennett and also Evans to an extent and they both withdrew a bit after being unceremoniously dumped to the turf a couple of times. Had Jones not been forced to come on at half-time I feel sure that McGurk would have replaced Bennett during the second half but hey, it’s another point, and one more than we got at home to Accrington last season.

This was a poor, disappointing game, lacking in creativity and flair. Roberts had a poor game, Bennett is too lightweight, and one up front doesn’t work if there is no support for the lone striker. Lumping balls up to Stockley seems a waste of effort. Accy didn’t just park their bus, they looked dangerous going forward and kept us on our toes. In short, they were worth their point. I get the feeling there is no plan B when things don’t work out at home. I don’t want to get despondent but we could struggle against teams that are well disciplined at the back.

Thinks it’s fair to assume that Pompey’s strike force is going to come under increasing scrutiny by Paul C, especially given the rumoured targets on transfer deadline day. Would not be surprised to see him move into the loan market when it opens to bring in additional fire power

I was at the game today, I am getting a bit worried about Bennett he looked like he was struggling but when he did get the ball he did to much with it. For me so far I still cant understand why an experienced player like Doyle sits in midfield giving the ball to Atangana to try and thread the ball to the front men? Doyle should be doing that job with big nige sittting behind him hoovering up the balls that the opposition try and thread through. Davies has obviously been told not to go forward so much as he was extremely quiet for most of the game. At least we are still unbeaten and we have a whole week to work on the training ground. PTID

Teams have sussed us out… We need to mix it up a bit. There was no width today, the guys looked lethargic, they had heavy legs and Accrington moved the ball around quicker than us. We need to up our game and try 3 5 2… There’s no point having Tubbsy up top if he’s not playing off another striker. We also need more attempts on goal not just inside the 6 yard box but within the penalty area…

Accrington bullied us a bit in the early first half then stood firm against far too many high balls for me. Stockley is not going to score many if we are dropping high balls on his head closer to the wings than the penalty spot. If anything we may lack a little pace once Bennet goes off. We didn’t look capable of getting in behind them on either wing, we were playing far more wall passes in previous games. Chaplin certainly adds a spark when he comes on. Tubbs must be wondering if anyone is ever going to pass to him in the box. Bad day at the office, but at least we kept a clean sheet. incidentally Tubbs was a great save away from scoring the goal of the season!

League Two, Fratton Park, 5/9-2015

Portsmouth-Accrington Stanley 0-0

Pompey (4-2-3-1): Murphy (Jones 46); Davies, Burgess, Clarke, Stevens; Atangana, Doyle (c); Evans, Roberts, Bennett (Chaplin 66); Stockley (Tubbs 66)

Gule kort: Burgess, Davies

Bænken: Jones, Webster, Haunstrup, Hollands, McGurk,Chaplin, Tubbs

Tilskuere: 15,745 (91 away fans)