Ian Darke reveals timescale for Portsmouth to start taking notice of the Championship table
Ian Darke says Portsmouth should wait until the end of October to start taking real notice of the Championship table.
Pompey currently sit second-bottom of the league following a testing run of games against almost exclusively promotion favourites, and it gets no easier with unbeaten Sheffield United set to head to Fratton Park.
A more favourable run commences in October – on paper – or at least a block of fixtures from which John Mousinho and his staff can more accurately assess the team’s capabilities.
Speaking exclusively to Pompey News, TV commentator and Blues fan Darke said: “I think the true test will be the set of games against the teams more likely to be around lower-mid-table.
“As they say in every cliche, I’d say the time to start looking at the table is around the end of October.
“There have been two ways you can look at the season so far – the squad have been badly hit by injuries; and also that the team have played the likes of Leeds and Middlesbrough and got good away draws when they could easily have lost on the balance of play, and West Brom and Sunderland who were a cut above.”
Portsmouth bang up for Sheffield United test
Portsmouth can take a lesson from how they approached each of the home games so far this season – two of the side’s three defeats came at Fratton Park to the Championship’s current top two.
Luton Town were the first visitors to the South Coast back in August and dominated the early exchanges before seeing goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski sent off – from then on, the Blues rapidly grew in confidence and were gutted to come away with a goalless draw.
The Sunderland game was difficult to call heading into it and Pompey started well, but that was as good as it got because Regis Le Bris’ men turned it up a gear and cascaded to a straightforward win.
That put a dampener on how the West Brom game was approached – the league leaders showed exactly why they occupy their position in the league by putting Mousinho’s men to the sword.
But this time, despite Sheffield United’s unbeaten record so far, there is a new-found confidence that the team can edge them out for their maiden win, and the atmosphere as Saturday afternoon football returns to Fratton will be buoyant to say the least.
If there is one division where the team without victory overcomes the opponent without defeat, it’s the Championship.
In other Portsmouth news, EA Sports FC 25 is officially out – and Pompey players assess their ratings on the global game.
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