Michael Pantling synes formsvikten er bekymringsverdig, men han understreker at det fortsatt er tid igjen av sesongen til å rette opp i det.

MENINGER: Michael Pantling er fortsatt den av våre medlemmer som ser Pompey live oftest. Nok en gang deler han sine tanker om Pompey med oss. Dette innlegget ble skrevet i forrige uke, men er fortsatt like aktuelt. Dessverre.

LES OGSÅ: Håper ingen lurer Jackett bort!

Whilst it was always likely to happen at some time, this dip in form is longer and more serious than I had imagined or hoped for. Luckily, there is still time to fix it.

Pompey were all over the place against Gillingham, tremendous against Norwich, competent against QPR at Fratton, competent against Doncester at Fratton and slightly improved away at Plymouth.

Savner Ben Thompson

The main difference from last year in my opinion is the loss of Ben Thompson and the lack of form of Curtis and Lowe. Andre Green scored a few key goals but on the whole only played a bit part.

Of course the loss of Whatmough is very unfortunate but Burgess (bildet) has been ok except for the mistake against Doncaster – he is not a bad player but now we have no experienced Centre Back as cover. I’m sure Greg Halford would have liked to return but there must be questions about his fitness and presumably wage expectations.

Close is saying he can fill the void left by Thompson and if it was only down to skill levels I would agree but Thompson offered much more with his drive and determination to get those around him going.

We have also been over reliant on Evans who like Curtis and Lowe looks like he could do with a short rest.

Thankfully, we have brought in some new players – Bogle did well against both Doncaster and Plymouth but there must be some fitness issues if he went off with cramp. Hawkins was unable to do much as his replacement.

Morris looked good against Plymouth and Casey seems a good investment.

I am not sure what Jacked will do against Bristol Rovers – I hope he will start with Isgrove and Soloman-Otabor with Curtis and Lowe on the bench and maybe Vaugah on in place of Evans.

Play-offs = casino

I still think we have the depth of squad to get through this and gain automatic promotion – ending up in the play-offs would be like going to the casino.

I was sad to read of the death of Mick Kennedy – a key player in the mid 1980s and one who typified the fighting spirit of a close knit team (sometimes too literally)  – he will be missed by anybody who saw Pompey in that era.

Mick Kennedy