Dman

Or we could waste 2 seasons with him, lingering around mid-table and then a slightly bigger club poach him.. Much like what happened at Swansea.

Nice ramblings mate. Very well put together. I'll make it simple... Moral of the story is RM is a very average manager who isn't capable of putting a team together to challenge for promotion across 38 - 40 games.

FWIW I agree with and said all of this at the start of the season and was ridiculed. Not by you, but by a number of posters who've now gone quiet as its left them with egg on their face.

Its not that late goals don't count, its that its not sustainable to expect to score them every week. Its actually fairly freakish how many late goals we've already scored this season, which in fairness, is down to the system of keeping the ball and tiring the opponents all game.

Not for me - out of all the options we've tried up top all season, we've looked most threatening (comfortably) when Alcaraz has played in that 'false 9' role.

Its funny, at the start of the season, we had people like @Smirking_Saint telling us how they are skint etc. and that we're in a much better position then they are. Now its proven that's complete bollox, we're being told Leicester have only started faster than us because they weren't as bad as us last season. If we swapped managers, which in the summer was a fair chance of that happening, we'd be top and they'd be where we are, I'm almost certain of that.

yeah, that's kind of how I see it. Go out and start fast, blow teams away in the first 20 or so minutes, like we did Leeds. We have the players to do it. Once the game is won, then keep the ball and tire your opponents. At the minute, we're simply not ruthless enough. Leicester on the other hand are. Which is why they currently sit top of the league unbeaten.

If I recall correctly, when appointed, we were told that at Swansea, he had no 'decent' wingers and that he will here which'll improve his structure straight away. We've got really skillful, pacey and direct wingers who i'd fancy to win more 1 on 1 duals against fullbacks at this level, yet, they've largely looked completely ineffective. I want to see our 'wingers' playing higher up the pitch rather than in the build up. I think its why its worked so well when we've played charley up top, AA and Sully have played much higher and we've played to their strengths of attacking and running in behind.

Give up nipper. You're making yourself silly now.

I want Tony Mowbray. He's done a fantastic job there.

Correct - because we appointed a manager who has no track record of being anything other than bang average. Given the cost and quality of our squad, reality should be way closer to our expectations. I'm not expecting us to piss the league like Leicester will (although had we not been rejected by their manager maybe we would have), but I expect us to be more dominant and look more comfortable than we have. Going down was an opportunity to rebuild with a view of going up and being stronger in the PL next season. Its an opportunity we've absolutely wasted as we only get weaker season upon season from here.

Apart from 30 mins against Leeds, 45 against Wednesday & Rotherham, I don't remember us absolutely dominating a full game all season. Its actually pretty depressing how average we've been every single week where it looks like we could concede with every attack.

KWP whaooo, KWP whaoo, he wears the number 2. He thinks pompey are poo clap clap clap clap He plays on the left, he plays on the right, Kyle walker peters, thinks pompey are shite

At a guess; Out: Adams KWP Sulumana Aribo S Armstrong In: A winger Replacement for whoever we sell

Its clearly a PR stunt to try and get fans on board after the boo's are starting to return to St Marys, but it comes across as arrogance from the club, beyond belief. Martin, the master of mid-table, is in no position to start lecturing of how his tactics 'will come good'. It hasn't taken Enzo time to get a tune out of Leicester, playing a very similar style.

That was A. Armstrong, which is arguably even more hilarious.

Apart from that Idiot TWar (who was determined to have the worst take on everything) a year or so ago, who on earth has overhyped him 😂 He's universally been known to be absolute rubbish.

Realistically he's playing for Hull after a stint up in Scotland. Had he stayed here, he'd have been competing with ABK, Salisu, DCC etc who are now all playing in European football. Even now, we have 3 CB's who you'd argue are better. Fair play to the lad for carving out a career at a decent level, but he wouldn't have made it here.

I wonder if we could see him in the 'false 9' role that Charly has been playing in recently. Done a similar role, with a degree of success at Rangers..

What's he been sulking about though? Its hardly our fault no PL sides had any real interest in him. It's not like we just outright refused to sell him nor set unrealistic expectations for him. This season should have been a win, win for Che. Come down, score 20 goals, drum up interest to leave on a free next season or get a big bumper salary. If he has any realistic hopes of playing for Scotland next season, he's gonna have to seriously up his performances as he'll likely be behind his fellow scotsman Steward in a month or 2.

I remember when a loss would ruin my weekend. I genuinely now forget about it after about by the time i'm half way down Britannia road. Supporting this club, in the PL, has sucked the enjoyment out of it for me and I actually now prefer not giving a toss and just using the football as an excuse to get together with my mates.

Its a catch 22. I'm not particularly fussed with being in the PL - Unless we're willing to give it a go and break into Europe / win a cup (wouldn't change those 2-3 seasons for anything), but if we're not aiming for promotion, what is the point in existing..? what is for certain, I don't want promotion with Martin in charge - it'd be embarrassing for us on a weekly basis.

A very well measured response as per from you, Always. With that sort of tactical intelligence, its a surprise you're not in the dug out.

Once we failed with attracting Enzo, Carrick was always the one we should have gone all out for.

When you look back over the recent years, we've always played best when we either won the ball up the pitch high (Ralph / Poch) or played direct, quick counter attacking football (Koeman). It was fun, exciting and generally speaking really successful. None of those enforced a lump it forward style and found a nice balance of quick / direct attacking football, with knowing when to slow play down and keep the ball. I'm just not sure that total possession football is suited to english football. We don't have the technical players like Spain, as an example and more often than not, teams will stick 10 men behind the ball and then counter at pace.