View: Portsmouth lacking in two key areas for Championship survival
Portsmouth must address two key areas in their side in January in order to avoid a drop straight back into League One.
Pompey’s defence looked frail yet again on Saturday [30 November] as they passed up a two-goal lead at Swansea City and ultimately came away fairly fortunate with just a point.
Despite conceding chances at will, the Blues could also very easily have nicked a late win, with Christian Saydee missing a sitter, which demonstrates the need to upgrade the attack.
Colby Bishop’s return to action at least provides John Mousinho once again with an out-and-out number nine and he will earn the side points this season should he remain fit, but the 27-year-old has still not experienced the Championship before this season.
Connor Ogilvie was one of just two players offered fresh terms straight after promotion despite his own lack of acumen in the second tier, and he has been found out. Time and again, the left-back has seen goals by all manner of opponents emanate from down his flank.
The Swansea game could provide the benefit of the doubt by the fact Mousinho’s men had not played in three weeks, but the same frustrations reared their heads to give up the 2-0 advantage, as Ogilvie put through his own net and Pompey let the hosts play their way through to level after the break.
January is make-or-break for Portsmouth
Portsmouth must treat January exactly how it is – crucial to get spot on, and in a difficult market.
Mousinho, Rich Hughes and the recruitment team will be well underway with digging for reinforcements, with many players having shown themselves not to be up to scratch.
The likes of Callum Lang and Freddie Potts have impressed, youngster Terry Devlin has stepped up in an unfamiliar role, and Nicolas Schmid was excellent in goal at the weekend. Matt Ritchie and Josh Murphy – the Blues’ scorers in South Wales – will be absolutely vital to the survival bid and carry between them more high-level experience than almost the whole squad.
But the team dynamic is not adequate – albeit not helped by injuries – and the current squad would not survive if constantly shoved out there between now and May.
The defence has to be improved as a matter of urgency. Skipper Marlon Pack is being played in the backline because other defenders are not trusted enough. Yet some are letting Mousinho down regularly through little fault of their own – they just aren’t Championship players.
I and many others of a Pompey persuasion have witnessed the gulf first-hand between the Championship and League One these days. It’s always been present, but not to this extent, and the same applies for the step up to the Premier League.
The likes of Kusini Yengi, who excelled last year, have struggled. Yengi appears to have this unjustified body language of believing he is better than his surroundings. That doesn’t qualify just because you’ve scored twice against Bahrain for Australia. Your last Pompey goal was in the third tier.
Other unproven charges were brought in over the summer – Harvey Blair, Abdoulaye Kamara and Mark O’Mahony are evidently not trusted to the right degree, even despite having shown glimmers that they will one day be excellent operators in the Championship.
But time is running out. Ian Darke spoke recently regarding “oven-ready” incomings, and this is absolutely true of the nature of Pompey’s season.
We maintain from the terraces – the next big hand in the pocket needs to be on the squad. And it needs to be next month, or it’s our old friend League One.
In other Portsmouth news, the club are sacrificing thousands of pounds to subsidise fans at Blackburn.
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