3 Things we learnt from Portsmouth Bizarre 5–2 Defeat To Wimbolden
Portsmouth yesterday night suffered a bizarre thrashing at the hands of a plucky and energetic AFC Wimbledon side, the blues put in an out of character performance at home ,in the Bristol street motors trophy, coming Away 5–2 losers and crashing out of the competition.
I wouldn't normally take much notice to a insignificant lower league trophy game ,but i feel some of the moments during the game can help us learn and understand what might not work within our league one campaign. In this report I will give my 3 things I personally learnt from this Portsmouth loss , and my opinion on how this can relate to our promotion chase.
1. Schofields perfomance
Now let's talk about the elephant in the room, Ryan Schofield had a night to forgot, him personaly being the reason for arguably three of Wimbledon goals. With the first a shot he gets a strong hand to but still ending up in the back of the net, and the second with his strange positioning as seen here in Picture A leading to Wimbledon doubling their lead.
Picture A.
Devlin losing the ball high up the pitch and one penetrative pass from Johnson, led to Davison being through, Towler correctly shows Davison wide to try and slow the attack, but his work is undone by Schofield, who seems to react so late to the initial move ,and now has to back pedal and leaves a massive gap across goal for Davison to easily slot home. Mistakes like these often show a player who's low on confidence, being a yard behind the pace of the game due to maybe lack of game time and dwelling on previous mistakes made.
This performance made lead Richard Hughes and the Pompey hierarchy to look for a replacement in January. No one expected Schofield to be at the same level as Will Norris, but his poor shot stopping and spacial awareness from playing from the back, leaves myself and many Pompey fans worried if anything would happen to Norris ,would Schofield be the level we need to keep our promotion charge continuing.
2. Devlin's not Robertson
Portsmouths midfield last night was a mess. Terry Devlin this season has shocked many pompey fans due to his good performances playing in the ten. Due to his age his performances weren't expected, and I believe most of the fanbase were happy with the way Devlin was developing, but we saw something from Devlin yesterday that we hadn't seen before.
John Mousinho maybe due to the success of Alex Robertsons impressive versatility, playing as a pivot next to Morrell or Pack ,then great performances further forward in the ten , maybe was the reason for trying Devlin in a double pivot against Wimbledon. This didn't work, Devlin showed his football naivety, lack of composure and seemly lack of understanding of his role.
This was highlited at this moment of the game (Shown in Picture B). If Devlin had been playing in the ten (like he usually does), trying to take on the man in this position would have been a acceptable decision due to having two players behind covering a potential counter attack, but Devlin is supposed to be playing as the second pivot next to Stevenson. When we see Joe Morrell in the same position Morrell protects the ball, or lays it off to a teammate, ultimately allowing us to dominate long periods of the game and create chances using wide areas, Devlin failed to do this.
Picture B shows the example I wanted to dissect, Devlin in this position clearly has a penetrative creative pass toward Josh Martin on, or a short pass to Stevenson that could have led to a combination. Devlin even had space to run into shown by the yellow circle, but instead he decided to switch onto his right foot, cheaply give the ball away ,which led to Portsmouth conceding a second goal.
Picture B
Due to Stevenson unusual covering led Pormouth completely subseptable to a overload which Wimbledon exploited.
This season if Devlin is going to be part of our league squad, I would personally only want him playing in the ten or off the left if we are playing narrow. His lack of press resistance and seemly defensive awareness points towards a player who needs time to develop into the role. The pivot role at the moment does not suit his ability, as he showed last night.
3. Stevensons poor showing
My final point is on Devlins partner in crime Ben Stevenson, this season I have seen Stevenson as Marlon Packs backup. A player who plays in the 6 and dictates which way Pompey play comanding the overal tempo. Last night I saw poor positional awareness and a player who looked lost.
Mousinho changed slightly how we approached the game and instead of have a midfield two made up of a pivot and an anchor, he decided to play a double pivot probably expecting large quantities of possession and time in the opposition half. This didn't turn out the way the Portsmouth coaching staff probably expected.
Wimbledon pressed high and Stevenson looked completly out of his depth. This moment here shows what I mean in Picture C. Stevenson receives the ball in the anchor position and instead of playing a ball to Towler or turning out due to a high press, he completely panics, has a heavy touch and got very lucky that Wimbledon didn't score.
Picture C
Stevenson looked poor last night and does have me wondering were his position does lie within this Portsmouth squad. With performances like that and the January window fast approaching his chances to break into the first team are getting slimmer.
Thank you very much if you have taken the time to read this quick report, hope it shows what I perceived when watching the game and really hope to here your opinions on the game to. Really hope everyones enjoying there Christmas time and the thought of Portsmouth being top of the league going into the new year. All the best.
Jack Fletcher Analyis.
