Daylight Robbery

[Barmby Rover]

A really frustrating result, on another day two shots hit the post and go in, and we all talk about how well we played without strikers being bought. More to come, and more wins to come rather than losses.

[Chris Black come back]

Dieng is on evidence to date a level or two at least above Lawlor.

[NewDonny]

There was one in the first half when Dieng raced out to the edge of the box to smother a through ball. Lawlor wouldn't have got anywhere near it. The header was a wonder header that no keeper could be blamed for. The cross was from deep and the guy intended to put it on the penalty spot but Harrison checked his run and guided the header using the pace of the ball and put it in the only place available to score. Centre halves blameless.

James will be disappointed he ran under the ball to set up their breakaway but made up for it with the equaliser. Only ever going to be one winner after that wasn't there.

I thought Sheaf was excellent, often more advanced than Whiteman moving the ball quickly. There was the occasional misplaced pass from Whiteman, Sheaf and Copps but when they're trying to thread balls through you can forgive them for that as collectively their completion rate must be very high.

This defeat was different to the Blackpool game in that we were slicker in our passing as we were getting through them like a knife through butter but at times we overplayed it a la S'OD era trying to walk it into the net. That said, we still had enough efforts to win the game 3 times over and Portsmouth should be grateful their blocks didn't fall to us until late on when James scored.

There was plenty of evidence that we're playing great football up there with the best of S'OD's team but also share the same weakness in front of goal. That extra little ingredient, whoever it comes from will turn us into a relentless force.

Excellent post, spot on.

[IDM]

Folks are going on about playing without a number 9..

Yes, I too prefer us to have a no 9 as there’s always a threat, but can someone please tell me how many oft the twenty-odd chances we had yesterday would have been different with a no 9, apart from the one Sadlier missed with his thigh.?

One chance..

Shouldn’t we be debating why more of the other shots weren’t on target.?

We were excellent yesterday apart from a couple of breakaways.

And as for posters starting to criticise the club and the finances again, I suggest you look back at what DM has been saying - I’m fairly sure he said he wants the right players not just any players..

[Copps is Magic]

The problem is that 'extra little ingredient' is really a 'fundamental part of promotion winning squad'.

We've only scored 13 goals. Over a season that is what ... 57 goals. That's mid-table, or just above relegation, goal scoring form. Last season we scored 76.

Could we somehow stay in touching distance until January and sign a striker? Very very difficult to do that, as I already believe Moore is getting working wanders with the squad we have.

[Chris Black come back]

On current form we will end up with exact same points total as last season, give or take some rounding.

[Copps is Magic]

On current form we will end up with exact same points total as last season, give or take some rounding.

Not quite.

We'd end up on 70 points (1.6 PPG x 34 remaining + the 16 points we have = 70). We finished on 73 last season.

If by 'form' you mean the last 5 games, we've only achieved 1 ppg. So I'll let you do the math on that one.

[NewDonny]

Folks are going on about playing without a number 9..

Yes, I too prefer us to have a no 9 as there’s always a threat, but can someone please tell me how many oft the twenty-odd chances we had yesterday would have been different with a no 9, apart from the one Sadlier missed with his thigh.?

One chance..

Shouldn’t we be debating why more of the other shots weren’t on target.?

We were excellent yesterday apart from a couple of breakaways.

And as for posters starting to criticise the club and the finances again, I suggest you look back at what DM has been saying - I’m fairly sure he said he wants the right players not just any players..

Another excellent post, spot on.

As I have mentioned already BBC Sports online match commentary and stats credit Sadlier with 6+ Assists on shots on target, blocked or off target.

[NewDonny]

The problem is that 'extra little ingredient' is really a 'fundamental part of promotion winning squad'.

We've only scored 13 goals. Over a season that is what ... 57 goals. That's mid-table, or just above relegation, goal scoring form. Last season we scored 76.

Could we somehow stay in touching distance until January and sign a striker? Very very difficult to do that, as I already believe Moore is getting working wanders with the squad we have.

We are a different side with Ennis up top and Sadlier back out to his natural wide position and can and have scored goals freely so I see no reason why not.

[Chris Black come back]

On current form we will end up with exact same points total as last season, give or take some rounding.

Not quite.

We'd end up on 70 points (1.6 PPG x 34 remaining + the 16 points we have = 70). We finished on 73 last season.

If by 'form' you mean the last 5 games, we've only achieved 1 ppg. So I'll let you do the math on that one.

This season we are accruing points at rate of 1.6 per game. Last season we accrued points at rate of 1.58 per game. As I say, aside from some rounding, we are accruing at exact same rate. What has confused matters is last season was 46 game season while this season it is 44 game season - but at current form we are 1.6 per game vs 1.58 per game last season.

[IDM]

On current form we will end up with exact same points total as last season, give or take some rounding.

Not quite.

We'd end up on 70 points (1.6 PPG x 34 remaining + the 16 points we have = 70). We finished on 73 last season.

If by 'form' you mean the last 5 games, we've only achieved 1 ppg. So I'll let you do the math on that one.

73 last season from 46 games..

70 this season if we continue at 1.6 ppg, but from 2 games less..  two more games at 1.6 gives 3 more points (ignoring .2) so statistically in relation to the whole season and to other clubs, it would be the same..

[Copps is Magic]

I think the worse thing we could do is to convince ourselves we don't need a striker.

We won't emulate last seasons scoring record with the current squad, now made worse by the growing injury list. That is clear - its no coincidence our form has dropped recently. I also notice Moore did not give a straight answer on the nature of Ennis/Stering's injuries, and lost his cool with the Anichebe question.

The club had got to work its hardest to get another striker in January.

[IDM]

I do think we need a striker, either the ones we have when fit, or another..

However given how we played yesterday and the chances we made, not sure it would have made much difference, unless we could have created more.?

[NewDonny]

I think the worse thing we could do is to convince ourselves we don't need a striker.

We won't emulate last seasons scoring record with the current squad, now made worse by the growing injury list. That is clear - its no coincidence our form has dropped recently. I also notice Moore did not give a straight answer on the nature of Ennis/Stering's injuries, and lost his cool with the Anichebe question.

The club had got to work its hardest to get another striker in January.

Are Ennis & Sterling out for the season then, have I missed some announcement to that extent then lol.

Only two weeks ago a lot of people on here were regaling what a handful our front 4 of Ennis, Coppinger, Sadlier & Taylor are and how we will be a force to be reckoned with this season lol!

[Copps is Magic]

If the question is with Ennis (and Sterling) being injured, do I think Coppinger, Sadlier & Taylor will score enough goals to get us near the play-offs? The answer is clearly no.

[NewDonny]

If the question is with Ennis (and Sterling) being injured, do I think Coppinger, Sadlier & Taylor will score enough goals to get us near the play-offs? The answer is clearly no.

No that's neither my point or my question.

Your post is written on the basis that we will always have to play with a non recognised CF like yesterday and 25 minutes against Coventry, at least till January anyway, suggesting that Ennis and Sterling (2 x Young highly rated CF"s from EPL clubs).

They will both be back in contention within weeks if not days so I really don't see your point.

[Copps is Magic]

You're going round the houses. I think alot of people are going round the houses.

We're a good team, playing excellent football, with an excellent manager who frustratingly don't score enough goals considering the chances we create. With that extra strike power we could easily be challenging for the top 2. The club seem to recognise this even if some of our fans don't.

[NewDonny]

You're going round the houses. I think alot of people are going round the houses.

We're a good team, playing excellent football, with an excellent manager who frustratingly don't score enough goals considering the chances we create. With that extra strike power we could easily be challenging for the top 2. The club seem to recognise this even if some of our fans don't.

Sorry no detour round the houses on my part, but you are going completely and utterly over the top!

You have written a post suggesting or implying that we are going to be without Ennis and Sterling until at least January which is completely untrue, they will be back in the squad/team in a short while.

Ennis has been excellent since he came in, he might not weigh in with a load of goals but he gives us a better more physical presence up front that also creates opportunities out of nothing with his endless pressing and shutting down, bullying the oppositions CH"s which enables Coppinger, Sadlier and Taylor to feed off him and the situation it creates, we are a completely different side with him firing on all cylinders up top. Who cares if we win 1-0 or 2-1 and play attractive exciting football than. OK so we lost today after dominating play and also week we battled and defended excellent;y to hold on just failing in the last minute, same with Blackpool.

In August we would have settled for this set of results after 10 really tough games and being 10th in the league with a game in hand. For me the future is very bright and lots to be positive about and build on.

[Copps is Magic]

You're going round the houses. I think alot of people are going round the houses.

We're a good team, playing excellent football, with an excellent manager who frustratingly don't score enough goals considering the chances we create. With that extra strike power we could easily be challenging for the top 2. The club seem to recognise this even if some of our fans don't.

You have written a post suggesting or implying that we are going to be without Ennis and Sterling until at least January which is completely untrue

I haven't.

[NewDonny]

You're going round the houses. I think alot of people are going round the houses.

We're a good team, playing excellent football, with an excellent manager who frustratingly don't score enough goals considering the chances we create. With that extra strike power we could easily be challenging for the top 2. The club seem to recognise this even if some of our fans don't.

You have written a post suggesting or implying that we are going to be without Ennis and Sterling until at least January which is completely untrue

I haven't.

Well thats the way your original post reads to me.

[dickos1]

People keep saying we don’t need a number 9 because we’re creating chances. Well with that statement you’re completely missing the point.
A number 9 wouldn’t be there to create chances he’d be there to finish them off.
An out an out striker will also make clever runs and be in the right place at the right time which is something we don’t have at the minute. 

[IDM]

I for one think we should have a number 9, in general, and we have at least one currently injured..

I still maintain yesterday would be no different - the players we had were good enough and with more accurate shooting would have won by a country mile..

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

What I would say is that overall we are a much much better side than last season. But, would we beat last season's team? Probably not as the team last season had a ruthlessness in wilks, marquis, kane and rowe.  This side is lacking those goals but we all knew they would.

A big couple of signings in January can be the difference and I'd like to think the club will plan for that, but I'm still sceptical.

[NewDonny]

People keep saying we don’t need a number 9 because we’re creating chances. Well with that statement you’re completely missing the point.
A number 9 wouldn’t be there to create chances he’d be there to finish them off.
An out an out striker will also make clever runs and be in the right place at the right time which is something we don’t have at the minute.

Here there for players to play off, he is the attacking foil, create and score.

[the vicar]

We played very well. Good football and excellent distribution but lacked having somone to put the ball in the net.few shots on goal for them bu two put away.very enjoyable game. Unlucky.

you are so right we did play some lovely football, But you get nothing if you don't put the ball in the net, let's hope the lad we have signed can do his stuff, maybe he could play on Tuesday if his paperwork is sorted out by then

[NewDonny]

We played very well. Good football and excellent distribution but lacked having somone to put the ball in the net.few shots on goal for them bu two put away.very enjoyable game. Unlucky.

you are so right we did play some lovely football, But you get nothing if you don't put the ball in the net, let's hope the lad we have signed can do his stuff, maybe he could play on Tuesday if his paperwork is sorted out by then

He has been signed as a back up striker, so its Ennis and Sterling you need to hope do their stuff.

Stuff meaning leading the line as well as putting etc ball in the back of the net.

[drfchound]

I for one think we should have a number 9, in general, and we have at least one currently injured..

I still maintain yesterday would be no different - the players we had were good enough and with more accurate shooting would have won by a country mile..

IDM, it is difficult to say whether it would have been the same had we had different players on the pitch.
There were two or three balls across the face of the Pompey goal that were crying out to be put into the net.
A proper number nine instinctive finisher may have been on the end of them.

[NewDonny]

I for one think we should have a number 9, in general, and we have at least one currently injured..

I still maintain yesterday would be no different - the players we had were good enough and with more accurate shooting would have won by a country mile..

IDM, it is difficult to say whether it would have been the same had we had different players on the pitch.
There were two or three balls across the face of the Pompey goal that were crying out to be put into the net.
A proper number nine instinctive finisher may have been on the end of them.

I really fail to see why Sadlier is coming in for so much criticism here when he has been plunged into playing in a position he has never played before in before this season because of injury to the two CF"s we do have in the squad, he is not even a striker, he's an attacking midfielder.

I have watched the game back today and apart from Coppinger's cross which Sadlier wasn't able to convert and a second phase ball in that Sadlier nearly took the Portsmouth players head off, there were no other balls that went straight across the face of the oppositions goal mouth, none atall.

[drfchound]

I for one think we should have a number 9, in general, and we have at least one currently injured..

I still maintain yesterday would be no different - the players we had were good enough and with more accurate shooting would have won by a country mile..

IDM, it is difficult to say whether it would have been the same had we had different players on the pitch.
There were two or three balls across the face of the Pompey goal that were crying out to be put into the net.
A proper number nine instinctive finisher may have been on the end of them.

I really fail to see why Sadlier is coming in for so much criticism here when he has been plunged into playing in a position he has never played before in before this season because of injury to the two CF"s we do have in the squad, he is not even a striker, he's an attacking midfielder.

I have watched the game back today and apart from Coppinger's cross which Sadlier wasn't able to convert and a second phase ball in that Sadlier nearly took the Portsmouth players head off, there were no other balls that went straight across the face of the oppositions goal mouth, none atall.

New Donny, you continue to be very protective of Sadlier.
Even to highlighting a post by IDM and myself in which we haven't even mentioned him !

I did say that there were two or three balls across the goal and you have confirmed that there were two.
Even you must have noticed how bad that miss of his was, but it happens doesn’t it.
Any player who has played up front will have missed chances like that, I know I have, but it isn’t an issue to mention it.
He missed an even easier one in a recent home game when he side footed wide from about 16 yards out with the goal gaping at him and the keeper nowhere to be seen.
No one is holding that against him either.

Sadlier has also been praised by many, including me, for his contribution yesterday so you don’t need to be so touchy.
We all know that his best position is as an attacking midfielder.
Many of us have said that he will be an important player for us this season.