https://twitter.com/mattdannatt/status/841724062514708485

I think that's a 4-3-1-2?

             Asante        Vernon
          
                      Jones
  
   Osborne      Maxwell     Davies

Andrew     Collins    Pearson      Mills

                    McKeown

Edit:  Could be a 4-4-2 diamond with Maxwell at CDM

come on town!

5 changes, blimey

Positive line up with two up front -  glad we are not going there to just defend.  Thought Bignot would bring Ben Davis back for this one.
Would like to not concede in the first 45 and then grow in confidence and see if we can nick it.

What the flying fcuk is that music at Fratton Park ??
It makes 'up the Mariners' sound like Heavy Metal !!

Quoted from Civvy at last

What the flying fcuk is that music at Fratton Park ??
It makes 'up the Mariners' sound like Heavy Metal !!

Portsmouth by Mike Oldfield.

what a great sounding start :-)
come on Town!

Mills hits post for us.

Hope we don't regret missing these early chances.......UTM

Balls

Good save from there keeper from a curling asante shot.

Bad luck there for Town

1-0 down from a deflection off Collins ☹️

Unlucky there, we started so well too

sodomist. think I'll keep my mouth shut

Brilliant - absolutely bossed the first 15 minutes only to go 1-0 down through a dodgy deflection.

Testicles. Just as I logged on to listen as well. I'll log back off

Don't you just love footy.  :-/

Hit the post, tipped over one-handed from Asante..they score a deflection. Lady luck still not on our side yet is she  :(

oh godam

Damn

Testicles

Football is cruel to us

Not our night this, not much you can do about that.

not why I got up at 3.30am. come on Town, time for some real character

What's the odds on a 3-2 town win?

Couldn't write this one...two deflections and two goals for them 🤔

Quoted from Balthazar Bullitt

What's the odds on a 3-2 town win?

66/1

FFS!

Quoted from Balthazar Bullitt

What's the odds on a 3-2 town win?

Currently 80/1 on Bet365!

Sorry 66/1 was for the win, now 80/1...not that it'll happen

Still trying to look at this from a positive point of view. Last seasons non-league side playing a promotion chasing former premier league side and FA cup winners with 15,000+ attendances, it was always going to be a hard task  :-/

3-0......... :-/

To slow to change the set up the blert 👎

flipping excrement

Good night

well, this is not good

No cover for the wings AGAIN

Feel sorry for those that have travelled

Not good enough.

Quoted from Balthazar Bullitt

What's the odds on a 3-2 town win?

Probably not as good as 4-3!

Too attacking or just being outclassed?

Shocking defending and Jimmy beaten far too easily at his near post.

Defending basics 101:  show your man to the outside.

Give credit when it works, but ffs just realise that sometimes marcus, we need to play 4-4-2 and giving our full backs some flipping support. Its basic

Why oh why after the first goal and when Portsmouth changed there system we are still persisting with a system that is not working tonight.

3-0 down and could be on to a hiding tonight , after a bright first five minutes we have been shambolic and this is the thing with us when we lose we get embarrassed.

It's either a clean sheet or a battering at the moment. The epitome of inconsistency and almost too unbearable to listen to.

Because teams know how we play ginny!!! And we dont ever seem to change our pissing formation

Seems like our guy is still nieve when it comes to systems, playing for pride from now on

Feel so sorry for the bunch that have gone all that way on a Tuesday night.

As per I'm not going to lose much sleep about the result, I've gotten used to this WLWL way this season. I'm still enjoying the ride but the inconsistency is annoying.

Well we started brightly, had chances but just when you thought it could have been our night disaster struck and the last 20 mins of first half they cut through us like a knife through butter

Ridiculous formation, Pompey changed system for the better and everybody around me then said we need to change system also to match but no Bignot too slow to respond, and before you know it, the game is over. Very poor game management from Bignot

Why does JT keep going on about the first 10 minutes? OK we were better during that brief spell but he is being blinded by a good 10 minutes in a full half. Damage limitation now, but why leave us wide open when playing a good side on a roll?

Quoted from Hagrid

Because teams know how we play ginny!!! And we dont ever seem to change our pissing formation

We know how they play. Perhaps they are just better than us?

So is that it? Game over? Or can we somehow get back in to this?

A big ask but it sounds like we've not been playing too bad but unlucky and sloppy goals have cost us

If we're not going to get anything from it tonight we at least need to keep the score down in the second half

Another Crewe type hammering will do nothing for anyone's confidence heading towards the end of the season

Imo he is well out of his depth . As for travelling down that is just being tight . Bignot to be fair mentioned it alot but I'm sure jf will be on here to explain all

Started well but 2 deflections and a ref who is a massive homer did not help. Jones & Osborne look overawed and stuck for ideas, Davis has looked like a sentiment selection. The midfield 3 need to be replaced after the break if we have any chance of respectability

The pitch is massive and the surface is really good so why the fcuk is our most creative player (Vose) on the bench?

Reminds me of Derby in the league cup in that we don't know how to use and move in the space.

Portsmouth are the division's form team and scored two deflected goals which put us on the back foot. No manager on the planet prepares for that and the third goal sounds like a poor decision and poor goalkeeping.

Let's get a grip - their players are at least a level higher and paid accordingly.

What was wrong with the team and how we played against Orient??
I might be getting on a bit, but I seem recall us winning 3-0, or did I imagine that in a back pain induced haze?

Quoted from ginnywings

We know how they play. Perhaps they are just better than us?

Rubbish, if a team is walking over you on the wings you react to that. We dont, we stick to this stupid tactic of completely isolating our full backs. Crewe saw it, wycombe saw it and pompey have seen it in 10 minutes.  Why can marcus not see that when it isnt working, change it

Quoted from fleabag1970

Imo he is well out of his depth . As for travelling down that is just being tight . Bignot to be fair mentioned it alot but I'm sure jf will be on here to explain all

Dont agree with any of that. Plenty of time to travel, no reason to stay at all

🙌👏👏👏👏👏 only town can make this all possible well done boys UTM!!!

Quoted from Mariner1980

What was wrong with the team and how we played against Orient??
I might be getting on a bit, but I seem recall us winning 3-0, or did I imagine that in a back pain induced haze?

Orient are in the bottom 2 and Portsmouth are the best team in the league at present....and we could have easily taken the lead...

Stuck with the same line up 4 games on the bounce despite draws and losing. Win a game 3 nil and changes the system and the team completely. I get that some players will need resting given quick turnaround of games but don't get wholesale changes after such a positive result.

How did disley warrant being dropped? And vose?
What has Davies done to deserve a recall?

I do like bignot and don't like to overreact. He's paid to pick the team and make use of the huge squad we've assembled. But sometimes it's basic stuff to see that if a team wins 3 nil away from home there is more reason to stick with that team than there is to change it. Where's the incentive for players to actually put in a performance. Disley must be spitting feathers, be gutted he's not picked and be thinking about his next move already.  

FFS Macca!!

Hammering on the cards

4-0

You dont agree bignot mentioned it alot . Oh dear

5-4 we're gonna win 5-4.....

That's it. Game over!!

4-0 straight from the kick off

😩

4-0

WTF!

4th Macca, poor technique!!!

What's going on? This is awful

4 !! 👏👏👏

Times up Mr.Bignott, use your extra money to book the removal van, you talk the talk in the paper as has many, but that doesn't work on the pitch, theres no consistency,no improvement, and no points, stick to non league football, fed up with your smarmy interviews, we should be running away with this league if interviews had a league, I'm afraid your out of your depth, just pleased we got enough points to survive, start packing your suitcases and give us something to cheer about !!

Quoted from Hagrid

Don't agree with any of that. Plenty of time to travel, no reason to stay at all

Absolute rubbish. Sat on a coach for six hours and playing on the same day is penny pinching and plainly wrong on a physical basis.

No point in having a strengthening and conditioning coach if we can't prepare our players correctly on a long away day,

Two deflected goals don't help and have nothing to do with formation.  

I'm really not looking forward to next season at this rate.

At least we'll win on Saturday

The king of spin contradicts himself every week

Wooo we are all pizzed off here but calling for his head are you serious ?

People blaming Macca for another fumble, but come on with a bit of effort we can pin that 4th goal on Bignot, somehow, can we not?

Why no subs @ HT?

Quoted from fleabag1970

The king of spin contradicts himself every week

Isn't there a crusty sock you should be washing? Mother will not be pleased!

Davies should be nowhere near the team.

On comes the man who should never have been dropped.

Well I hope if he attempts to walk across to those magnificent fans tonight at FT  like the old charmer he is they give him a proper roasting..

To not change it after the first or second goal is just pathetic.

Good night chaps.

527 Town fans. Good effort and must be torture for them.

Going to be a great night on here.

Where's the ale?

Quoted from dicko995

Times up Mr.Bignott, use your extra money to book the removal van, you talk the talk in the paper as has many, but that doesn't work on the pitch, theres no consistency,no improvement, and no points, stick to non league football, fed up with your smarmy interviews, we should be running away with this league if interviews had a league, I'm afraid your out of your depth, just pleased we got enough points to survive, start packing your suitcases and give us something to cheer about !!

Dicko by name, dicko by nature.......

Like school kids shouting at each other saying you stand there.
What on earths going on? Nobody seems to know, it's like attack playing defence.
Dis coming on.
Surely should have kept same side as Saturday and change for Crawley.
Shamateurism.

Quoted from dicko995

Times up Mr.Bignott, use your extra money to book the removal van, you talk the talk in the paper as has many, but that doesn't work on the pitch, theres no consistency,no improvement, and no points, stick to non league football, fed up with your smarmy interviews, we should be running away with this league if interviews had a league, I'm afraid your out of your depth, just pleased we got enough points to survive, start packing your suitcases and give us something to cheer about !!

Jeez - we can do without this Dicko.  With support like yours who needs opposition!  Poor.

Come back with a counter argument Balthazar . Your insults are all very playground

Diz and Comley on for Osborne and Jones

Ship and sailed...

People actually expected the playoffs this season? Season was a write off in January. Waiting for the summer to give a verdict.

Wonder if Bignot will come and apologise to us again

Yeh but 4-0 after 46 minutes

Why on earth make 5 changes from a 3 0 wining side. One or two but 5? I would of kept vose and dis in. Terrible performance for 527 fans. Not for me Marcus. It's been a long time since we've had so many no shows away from home

I'm all for judging bignot on next seasons results but i think he seems to mess about with team selection far too much and seems to be over complicating things,does he learn from his mistakes? or does he realize he is making mistakes?
However as i say i can understand unhappy supporters at the moment but next season is when i shall judge

Quoted from ginnywings

527 Town fans. Good effort and must be torture for them.

Don't worry there's a few decent pubs in Pompey to drown their sorrows after the game. ;)

Travelling down today is very non-league and we've conceded from two deflections and two keeper errors and it's all the manager's fault. Only The Fishy.

Elsewhere Lincoln n scunts both drawing 1-1 .craig Shakespeare leading Leicester to the champions league q.finals. Looks like we will be welcoming cov to BP next year whilst poor old orient are 2 down and slowly waving goodbye to the league

Hate to read fans falling out but surely everyone can understand why some are critical?

Yes, give him time but you need to see some semblance of shape and tactical nous? Pompey have a party down the flanks and our wing backs over run yet we do nothing.

As I posted after Orient, our midfield wasn't great but we had some shape to our play ( I do appreciate Orient are near the bottom and Pompey the top).

My over riding worry is that the manager tries to over think matters and ends up confusing everybody

MACCA back to no.2 next season definitely a new keeper coming in without a doubt

Codger why are you reluctant to hear anything against bignot?! If this was hurst tonight he'd be lynched. We arent all saying bignot out, but he's leaving many of us baffled with his odd decisions

Quoted from OllieGTFC

MACCA back to no.2 next season definitely a new keeper coming in without a doubt

Agreed. I don't think he is a number 1 at this level and tonight is more evidence. I think he makes the defence shaky and hesitant.

Quoted from MuddyWaters

Travelling down today is very non-league and we've conceded from two deflections and two keeper errors and it's all the manager's fault. Only The Fishy.

You are extremely pompous Old Codger. Supporters will rightly be critical when the manager makes so many changes in personnel and formation which results in a hammering.

Quoted from Hagrid

Codger why are you reluctant to hear anything against bignot?! If this was hurst tonight he'd be lynched. We arent all saying bignot out, but he's leaving many of us baffled with his odd decisions

Codger's putting forward a pretty reasonable argument. I'm curious as to how you single his posts out amingst tonights thread.

Dis & Comley on - all out defence?

Quoted from ginnywings

Agreed. I don't think he is a number 1 at this level and tonight is more evidence. I think he makes the defence shaky and hesitant.

I've thought this for most of the season and certainly when Deano was in goal the defence seemed more comfortable.

Quoted from Hagrid

Codger why are you reluctant to hear anything against bignot?! If this was hurst tonight he'd be lynched. We arent all saying bignot out, but he's leaving many of us baffled with his odd decisions

Spot on mate.
I'm all for giving the bloke a chance but he seems to have some crazy ideas of how to play the game.
He's wearing very thin.

Quoted from MuddyWaters

Orient are in the bottom 2 and Portsmouth are the best team in the league at present....and we could have easily taken the lead...

Ah yes, because playing the top team means we should just accept a hammering.

Maybe if we were dead and buried at the bottom of the table.

Quoted from Hagrid

Codger why are you reluctant to hear anything against bignot?! If this was hurst tonight he'd be lynched. We arent all saying bignot out, but he's leaving many of us baffled with his odd decisions

Hurst had 5 years, MB hasn't had 5 months. Like me, Codger will not be happy at some of the performances and results but maybe we have learnt over many years not to be too downhearted when things are not going well.

Cockerill is pretty scathing of our performance tonight

Not good that he can see so many things wrong out there and comparing us to juniors is just terrible

Seems he's totally unimpressed

Bignot absolutely deserves to be criticised when we get beaten.  But he's not going to be sacked and he'll be here at the start of next season, so continuously calling for his head in some vain attempt to say "I told you so" just causes division in the support and doesn't help anybody.  Definitely question the performance, but please don't lose your heads.

Lets all calm down a bit, Portsmouth are the best team in this league along side Donny,

Cambridge who won 3-0 at Carlisle on Saturday are losing at home to Hartlepool.

Crawley are losing 3-0 at home,

So we will be back to winning ways on Saturday . 8)

It would be so boring if we won every game,

Win one lose one is more than good enough for this season,

BUT

I would like to know why we travelled down today.

Beats getting battered by Halifax and Braintree i suppose.  :B

Quoted from Cloudy

You are extremely pompous Old Codger. Supporters will rightly be critical when the manager makes so many changes in personnel and formation which results in a hammering.

If you'll pardon the pun - listen - we're playing the current best team in the league and the manager makes a contentious decision. If Mills or Asante had scored, Pompey fans would have turned and we would have them under pressure. One deflection changes all that.

I don't know quite what I've done to upset you but, like several others, I didn't believe that the changes were without reason. My opinion, also my opinion that the club should have made better travel arrangements and it makes us look very amateur but then, this time last year we were pretty amateur most weeks.

Quoted from MarinerDevil

Bignot absolutely deserves to be criticised when we get beaten.  But he's not going to be sacked and he'll be here at the start of next season, so continuously calling for his head in some vain attempt to say "I told you so" just causes division in the support and doesn't help anybody.  Definitely question the performance, but please don't lose your heads.

Not sure there are many calling for his sacking, not me that's for sure but his selection and above all lack of shape is driving me mad. We could and should be doing so much better in the last few months IMO

Quoted from ginnywings

Agreed. I don't think he is a number 1 at this level and tonight is more evidence. I think he makes the defence shaky and hesitant.

Totally agree - yet to hear the real reason Deano went I think.

One factor has been bad luck for us this season.  Losing Henderson without any warning.  He made a big positive difference as a keeper and improving the defence.  That key loss was not the fault of Bignot.  

Says it all. Making vernon do all the work up top on his own

In the murky depths of non league York have come from 1 down to lead Lincoln 2-1 in that wonderful FA trophy that we all miss so much

Just another score tonight  is Colchester who lost 4-0 to Portsmouth on Saturday,

Are winning 2-0 tonight so we are not on our own,

Its a topsy turvy league no wonder my predictions are always wrong. ;D

Does this mean we won't make the playoffs

Quoted from forza ivano

In the murky depths of non league York have come from 1 down to lead Lincoln 2-1 in that wonderful FA trophy that we all miss so much

Thought semi finals had to be played on a Saturday in the Trophy? Did Lincoln get special dispensation?

Quoted from Garth

Does this mean we won't make the playoffs

Yes,

BUT

If we win on Saturday.

Maybe  ;D

Said it before and will say it again
On the pitch MBs ideas on football remind me so much of Mike Lyons.
Off the pitch he reminds me of Mike Newall.

Was willing to give him time but sitting here thinking about it again he can fook off now.

Quoted from TAGG

Said it before and will say it again
On the pitch MBs ideas on football remind me so much of Mike Lyons.
Off the pitch he reminds me of Mike Newall.

Was willing to give him time but sitting here thinking about it again he can fook off now.

Best raid Uncle John's piggy bank to pay him off then - what a ridiculous post.

Mike Newell famous of course for his bantz.

One Spanish team through unexpectedly last week, and now another one out of the CL (unexpectedly) after leading 2-0 in the first leg!
.

Quoted from TAGG

Said it before and will say it again
On the pitch MBs ideas on football remind me so much of Mike Lyons.
Off the pitch he reminds me of Mike Newall.

Was willing to give him time but sitting here thinking about it again he can fook off now.

Fair enough to question MB but that is some insult to compare him to the 2 worst managers i can remember, all rolled into one.  ;D

We'll never know how we'd have gone on if that Mills strike had gone in off the post, but we had a bright and prolonged good spell in that first half until fate intervened.
At the point of the second Pompey goal tonight our stats for the last 4 conceded  goals (inc Wycombe) were..

Own Goal
Conceded with player laid unconcious in our box
Deflected
Deflected

That's a ridiculous set of stats and it's hurting our stuttering confidence.

Quoted from Cloudy

Thought semi finals had to be played on a Saturday in the Trophy? Did Lincoln get special dispensation?

FA Cup takes priority over FA Trophy, the first leg should have been last weekend.

Thats it thank fuc for that shambolic

Quoted from MuddyWaters

Best raid Uncle John's piggy bank to pay him off then - what a ridiculous post.

Don't give a excrement about Fentys finances.

FT    Portsmouth  4-0  Town

I know it was a tough fixture for us tonight and we are in transition but.......

I'm looking forward to MBs post match interview, should be worth a listen.  

We're inconsistent. Defensively and going forward, we either keep a clean sheet or ship a shed load, we either create and score loads or look toothless up front. It's all about next season, a full pre-season with Marcus with all of his own players and his ideas is the time to judge him.

However, we won 3-0 at Orient with basically Hurst's players. Interesting...

Quoted from Cloudy

Thought semi finals had to be played on a Saturday in the Trophy? Did Lincoln get special dispensation?

Lincoln had the small matter of a game against Arsenal on Saturday when the first leg should have been played.

Quoted from Les Brechin

Lincoln had the small matter of a game against Arsenal on Saturday when the first leg should have been played.

Did they? Didn't hear anything about it.....

Quoted from ginnywings

Fair enough to question MB but that is some insult to compare him to the 2 worst managers i can remember, all rolled into one.  ;D

Sorry mate but that's how it is for me.
(Lyons)On the pitch crazy ideas on how to train, coach and set up a team.
(Newell)Off the pitch full of excrement.

Quoted from TAGG

Sorry mate but that's how it is for me.
(Lyons)On the pitch crazy ideas on how to train, coach and set up a team.
(Newell)Off the pitch full of excrement.

Don't be sorry, it made me laugh. I think you are wrong but it's your opinion and you may be right in time. Who knows?

I'm prepared to be patient but I've got a nagging feeling that MB is trying too hard..

Not Happy
Going Backwards not Forwards
My club My team is not in safe hands
Couldn't make it tonight but glued to Mariner Player commentary
Which concluded our attitude was poor as well as playing the wrong system and been second best all over the pitch
We where 7th when you came in MB
I really don't think you have it mate
This Club These Fans had massive belief and had massive momentum
Fans are not happy

Quoted from ginnywings

Don't be sorry, it made me laugh. I think you are wrong but it's your opinion and you may be right in time. Who knows?

I know it doesn't sound like it but I hope not.

And there was me thinking I'd come on here to see some typical over reactions...

Whatever the arguments for travelling down on the day were - and it can only be financial - perhaps it's not terribly clever to criticise the team in the first instance? Ask the questions where they should be asked at John Fenty's door. Who knows what the result may have been if we'd been treated as professionals by the club?

Quoted from jock dock tower

Whatever the arguments for travelling down on the day were - and it can only be financial - perhaps it's not terribly clever to criticise the team in the first instance? Ask the questions where they should be asked at John Fenty's door. Who knows what the result may have been if we'd been treated as professionals by the club?

Exactly JDT - it seems OK to blame the manager but there are many clubs who would have travelled yesterday after training or even used the weekend to bond and save energy but we still seem to be in cost-saving mode. Unfortunately it's the fans that suffer the most - again!

Quoted from Mariner93er

And there was me thinking I'd come on here to see some typical over reactions...

The people really entitled to speak are the 527 that went.
But for those of us that listened to Cockers (who I do have respect for), it does sound like a poor show all round. With one again MB refusing to change a system that clearly isn't working.
What would you expect to see in all reality ??

Lets be honest, 5 Changes to play the league's form side was just crazy.

It's all about the run in now. Think MB needs to find a settled side / formation which provides some indication that things are heading in the right direction.

Personally I haven't seen anything to date that suggests the side is now better, or looks like being better than the one that started the season, which is quite worrying.

Quoted from jock dock tower

Whatever the arguments for travelling down on the day were - and it can only be financial - perhaps it's not terribly clever to criticise the team in the first instance? Ask the questions where they should be asked at John Fenty's door. Who knows what the result may have been if we'd been treated as professionals by the club?

I don't think many are criticising the players as such Jock. Most seem to be questioning the team selection/formation.
For what it's worth I think it's disgusting that we did such a long journey on the actual day. And I do believe it adversely affects the players.  But that's just one of a combination of things.

What were Hurst's teams? They were solid, doggid, hard working grafters. A midfield of Summerfield, Berrett, Comley and Chambers ticked all of those boxes. Marcus has come in and decided that we can't have that mentality and brought in players such as Maxwell, Gunnning and Asante! What have those 3 combined offered so far?

Quoted from Mariner_09

What were Hurst's teams? They were solid, doggid, hard working grafters. A midfield of Summerfield, Berrett, Comley and Chambers ticked all of those boxes. Marcus has come in and decided that we can't have that mentality and brought in players such as Maxwell, Gunnning and Asante! What have those 3 combined offered so far?

Summerfield hard working? Maybe. Berrett less so, but played out of position but a week last Saturday, Gunning had Ade Akinfenwa in his pocket, some have very short and selective memories.

It's all the fault of Travelodge for not giving us a deal we could afford.  ;)

To be fair, when we hired bignot, everyone was begging for more of Hursts brand of football.

Quoted from ginnywings

It's all the fault of Travelodge for not giving us a deal we could afford.  ;)

Maybe JF spent the Pompey budget on his trip to Dubai  ;)

Quoted from Mariner_09

What were Hurst's teams? They were solid, doggid, hard working grafters. A midfield of Summerfield, Berrett, Comley and Chambers ticked all of those boxes. Marcus has come in and decided that we can't have that mentality and brought in players such as Maxwell, Gunnning and Asante! What have those 3 combined offered so far?

You're actually trying to suggest James Berrett offered something?

Lol if you think we are confused and frustrated by Bignot's changes think how the players are feeling???

And to think Hurst was nicknamed "Mr Tinkerman."

MB on radio.
Full of excrement again. He talks a load of balderdash

Quoted from TAGG

MB on radio.
Full of excrement again. He talks a load of balderdash

Well apparently he could not see that Pompey had changed their system, very nieve non league tinpot management

Quoted from Mariner_09

What were Hurst's teams? They were solid, doggid, hard working grafters. A midfield of Summerfield, Berrett, Comley and Chambers ticked all of those boxes. Marcus has come in and decided that we can't have that mentality and brought in players such as Maxwell, Gunnning and Asante! What have those 3 combined offered so far?

Berrett an hard working grafter? A complete waste of space IMO. Hurst's teams on the whole were as you suggest plus add boring, unfortunately so far MB's teams have not been anymore enjoyable to watch.

Whilst I am also puzzled by both some of his signings and his style of play what I do have is some element of hope that MB and his team are going through their own apprenticeship as league managers & are learning from this years experience. I can accept them not being the finished article, and I can accept tactical and team selections that do not work but back in the transfer window I expressed the view that by Easter I wanted to see some evidence of how we are going to play (style) and we have the right quality of players coming in. There is still time but progress and improvement is so far slow at best and of the new signings only Osbourne has really stoood out and I feel he needs a proper pre-season before we see the best of him. Not saying other players will not rise to the challenge just to date just not seen that.

I can face a couple of seasons of team building and gradual improvement especially if we can adopt a more attacking and open style, particularly at home. The last 5 minutes against Wycombe with the kitchen sink and everything else being thrown at them should be seen far more regularly and for more prolonged periods.

So, unsure about MB but I agree with many that he deserves time and the continual over reaction to wins and/or defeats is for me irritating to say the least so I will try and maintain a more considered position until we have further time to assess where we are heading.

I suppose tonight shows us the quality level we need to be at. Hurtful loss, but I suppose not really a surprise if we re-winded 12 months.

The level of inconsistency and tactical own goals (pardon the pun), is annoying though.

The reality of the whole situation is that MB does not have the knowledge at this level to be able to combat differing styles of play.  We beat a shocking Orient team (who everybody beat incidentally ! ) but learnt no lessons from this at all.  Three centre halfs tonight and a system that none of the players were comfortable with.  Best quote ever from John Tondeur tonight " Portsmouth announced Conor Chaplain was coming on as a subsititute, Tondeur said " the way Town are playing Charlie Chaplin could come on and Portsmouth would still win ".............. ;D ;D ;D

No way will MB take Town forward, we are safe this season and that is fantastic in my book.  Next season under MB gives cause for grave concern.  He lurches from one calamity to another, and his interviews have become a sad joke.

UTM

Quoted from Mariner_09

What were Hurst's teams? They were solid, doggid, hard working grafters. A midfield of Summerfield, Berrett, Comley and Chambers ticked all of those boxes. Marcus has come in and decided that we can't have that mentality and brought in players such as Maxwell, Gunnning and Asante! What have those 3 combined offered so far?

Re-wind to the first few months of the season and that was, to a lot of people, exactly what was wrong with Hursts teams, same the year before. Amazing how time changes opinion...

You also have to remember he had Omar who could grab goals out of nothing.

Quoted from ginnywings

It's all the fault of Travelodge for not giving us a deal we could afford.  ;)

No go, we've only budgeted for the Villa Bella type of establishment..... :)

as Greavsie used to say.....its a funny old game.....tonight we fell foul of a deflected shot..........on Saturday it was an own goal that killed off the opposition.....swings and roundabouts.

However .....cant fathom why MB would bring Davies back in out of the cold for an away game against the form side or why you start with a pretty much untried strike partnership....making 5 changes gave us plenty of new combinations all over the pitch against a team who are purring along...

ifs and buts regards hitting the post and a good save but the end result makes it easy for people to criticize.

Roll on Saturday. UTM

I'd imagine that Pompey's wage bill is at least two or three times ours so you'd expect them to have turned us over on their own patch. However, it would have been nice to have made it a bit more difficult for them!

Still waiting for a clear style of play to emerge, which is the main worry. If we don't know what is supposed to be going on, do the players?

Hopefully things will be different next season when Bignot has signed his own squad and they've had a full pre-season to work out how they are going to play.

Glenn Cockerill managed Woking and Winchester, yet his comments are being given more weight than our own manager. Wonder why?

Quoted from promotion plaice

No go, we've only budgeted for the Villa Bella type of establishment..... :)

Bella - I'm training them
Dell- they're coming on a bundle aren't they
More for people who watched only fools and horses  :)

Time for MB to take off his red nose, remove his revolving bow tie and water squirting button hole flower, and lock himself into a room to study obvious football tactics and systems, pick and play a settled side and discover an alternative plan B should it be required.
Until then stick to the old reliable 442 that got us promoted and 7th in the table under that other guy, football is a simple game, if it aint broke don`t try to fix it

Sydney - slags us off then slips in he listened on Mariners Player... run along now. I went to Bognor Regis this weekend last year. Get 60 points, go again.

Oh well, I for one am just happy we're getting a mid-table position this year.

Did anyone really expect us to win there? I know i didn't.

Two deflected goals, two goalkeeping gaffes, them having all the luck going, which they didn't need to beat us but got anyway, and it's back to clueless manager comments. There are plenty of teams below us who would swap places with us and i think the bigger picture needs to be looked at by some. As i've said before, MB may turn out to be a dud but it's way too early to make that call for me.

First two goals were very lucky. 3rd and 4th were poor goalkeeping. If Mckeown holds himself in as high regard as is rumoured, he needs to take a look at himself. Any pressure on him and he crumbles.

First two goals were fortunate for them. Don't know if they count as shots on target. No way were they going in but for wicked deflections.Third and 4th were just so avoidable.

But all night they were able to exploit the space on our left flank. No one in front of Andrew in a red shirt and Andrew gave acres of space to their winger.

Davies looked off the pace.

No cut and thrust going forward after the first few minutes. When we did get a chance to get going with Asante he just hesitated instead of going for it.

If anything we were worse after the substitutes.

McKeown is a great lad but not at all convinced by him at this level unfortunately

Quoted from Grantley

First two goals were very lucky. 3rd and 4th were poor goalkeeping. If Mckeown holds himself in as high regard as is rumoured, he needs to take a look at himself. Any pressure on him and he crumbles.

I doubt macca will be here after this season

PS was reading the programme before the game. Their chairman made a similar plea to Fenty last season, for the fans not to get on the players' backs and reported that opposition managers had said they deliberately set out to get the fans frustrated.

This was echoed by a Pompey fan I was talking to in the pub beforehand. The best tactic against them is to park the bus and try to knick a goal he said, as some of their fans have the attitude that they shouldn't be playing at this level. Pretty much the same scenario we faced in non-League. But, he said, if you come out to attack us we will tear you apart. First few minutes and it looked like we were going for it....oh dear...

Quoted from ginnywings

Did anyone really expect us to win there? I know i didn't.

Two deflected goals, two goalkeeping gaffes, them having all the luck going, which they didn't need to beat us but got anyway, and it's back to clueless manager comments. There are plenty of teams below us who would swap places with us and i think the bigger picture needs to be looked at by some. As i've said before, MB may turn out to be a dud but it's way too early to make that call for me.

Did anyone expect us to win 3 nil at Plymouth ? No but we did.

That "did anyone expect us to win " comment is one of the biggest excuses comments in football.

The games in which we lose are most likely real hammerings as when we lose we lose bad.

I think his tactics when they work they get us through but like last night when the opposition change theirs to counter our 352 we don't do anything apart from see how it goes.

He seriously needs to look at that because it's clearly a big part of the game.

I am not sure we played 3-5-2 last night. Then again I can't tell you what our shape was meant to be.

Seems to me we need to pick the games where we go for it and the ones where we need to set up to grind out a result, last night was the latter in my view.

Did I expect to win? Not sure but I did expect a game plan.

Sorry amend that to "realistic game plan" considering how strong the opposition are.

On way back to Bristol, enjoyable trip, met up with a few Exiles and nice stroll around the grey concrete town centre this morning. I expect much more Sat, however, would we have taken 6 points from this weeks three games - yes probably. Roll onto the 6.24am train Saturday morning, another day another game.

We have had plenty of rubbish defeats while in non league Braintree and Halifax just 2 of them,

So losing at Portsmouth does not feel too bad for me at least,

We normally bounce back after these nights so I look forward to a good win for us on Saturday,

Maybe Marcus was making a point by making so many changes and saying the players were tired,

Getyourfactsright should come  and post on here and inform us why the team had to travel on the day 3 days after another longish journey.

Roll on Saturday.

Marcus mentioned at the phone-in last week that he would have liked to stay down in the south after the Orient game.   It might have made some playing difference, but money must be the main issue.

Quoted from dapperz fun pub

I doubt macca will be here after this season

He is ok as a League 2 goalie very good at Conference level he has too many flaws to play any higher in my opinion and we need a step up in quality come Summer.If he were happy to be a squad player I would retain him but clearly he isn`t and sees himself No1 no matter what so on that note I expect him to be shipped out.

Quoted from TownSNAFU5

Marcus mentioned at the phone-in last week that he would have liked to stay down in the south after the Orient game.   It might have made some playing difference, but money must be the main issue.

Not having that money is an issue.

We could have surely dipped into the million quid we got for omar for a few grand to sort that.

Business end of the season.

Quoted from TownSNAFU5

Marcus mentioned at the phone-in last week that he would have liked to stay down in the south after the Orient game.   It might have made some playing difference, but money must be the main issue.

Maybe he could have signed one less central midfielder and spent their wages on a hotel then.

Quoted from Chrisblor

Maybe he could have signed one less central midfielder and spent their wages on a hotel then.

Maybe we could have spent a couple of days down there after Orient, would it have made any difference? doubt it, too many changes involving conference step up players and a manager slow to react,  this way we lose but save money, if you are not good enough on the night travelling can be an easy out.
Still negotiating the learning curve for me, lets hope lessons are learnt for next season