We chat to our friends at Vital Portsmouth about Saturday’s first home game of the season for the Alex.
How do you assess last season, with Pompey narrowly losing to Plymouth in the play-off semi-final?
In three words I’d say ‘in the past!’ Last season has been and gone, no amount of looking back will change anything BUT what we’ll be hoping is Pompey learn from mistakes of last season and look (most definitely) to turn more of the home draws into win, as that is ultimately what cost us promotion. We played some of the best football I’ve seen us play in years under Paul Cook last season but when you face ‘anti-footballing’ sides you need to break them down and create chances, we couldn’t do that enough I’m hopefully Cookie’s found a way of doing that.
Is Paul Cook the man to get you promoted and take you back up the leagues in your opinion?
I believe he is and genuinely think this squad has a little something more than the one we had last season and IF we’re able to do more of what I’ve just said above (break down the teams not interested in playing footie etc.) we’ll do very, very well in League One too!We’ve shown against Premier League, Championship and League One clubs in cup competitions in the past 12-months or so that we CAN hold our own and go toe-to-toe with them and not look out of place. Breaking down those who have little, to no, interest in playing footie is where we can struggle?
What have you made of Pompey’s start to this season, with a 1-1 home draw against Carlisle followed by a 3-2 defeat in the EFL Cup against Coventry?
I wasn’t too unhappy after Carlisle. I heard quite a few rumbles of discontent from those walking away from Fratton Park last Saturday. Yep it was frustrating in a way but Carlisle are a decent side and came for a point and would have got all three-points (even with 10-men) I reckon last season. We chipped away and chipped away and got the equaliser, and created plenty of chances but faced a good goalie on the day in Mark Gillespie and also hit the post. I’m near certain that Carlisle game is one we WOULD have lost last season! As for Coventry, Cookie literally changed the whole XI but he also put out a team capable of getting a result and we held our own against a decent league one side only losing out in extra time with the positives outweighing the negatives from the Ricoh Arena defeat. Therefore I’m happy with the Pompey start.
How well have you recruited so far this summer? Do you think there are areas of the squad that needs strengthening?
I’ve mentioned I feel Cookie has made the squad stronger this summer, areas that were good but had deficiencies have been identified, looked at and improved in my opinion so on the early season evidence we’ve recruited well. Well enough not to need anyone else? You always want more but if we went through the season with this squad then the early impressions are it’ll be good enough and will do well so I’m not sure we need anything else.
Who do you think will be your key players this season?
It’s very much a team thing with Pompey, I do think there’s a genuine amount of quality throughout though. Cookie likes footballers, from back to front, who can play with the ball. Having a settled goalie will help (we used five last season) with the experience of David Forde potentially crucial so if he stays fit that could be worth the ‘clichéd’ extra points. If Conor Chaplin gets a regular run in the side and is given chances he’ll score a hatful I reckon whereas the midfielders Cookie has signed look as though they could give Gary Roberts that freedom he needs to be at his creative (and goalscoring) best too.
Finally, do you have a prediction for the match on Saturday?
Away from home our form was pretty good last season. This will be an interesting game, if you guys allow us to play footie I’d back us to be the side that comes out on top against most side. If we’re able to play like we did against Carlisle, create the chances we did and find that we’re not up against a team who will happily take a point (or a goalie making some fine saves) I really do think we could win. You’ll always take an away point but I’ll go with a 2-1 Pompey win.