Putting together a full data analysis of Portsmouth Football Club would be at least a weeks worth of work, so I’m just going to outline a win and a loss. Out most recent league loss v Sunderland and our most recent win V Oxford. First up I would like to put forward my starting 11 going forwards, for obvious reasons this is my own personal opinion of how I would play us going forwards, not how I expect us to play.
Starting from the back in between the posts is MacGillivray, He’s the simple goalkeeping choice other than Alex Bass who is unfortunately injured after a loan to Southend in League 2. MacGillivray has performed to the best of his ability up to this point in the season, while at times he has made a few mistake for the most part he has been consistent.
Defence lines up as WBR Mnoga CB Whatmough CB Raggett WBL Brown, a solid defence not only of height but also in pace and overall abilty. Mnoga I personally feel is one of our best young prospects and is deserving of breaking into the first team giving the opportunity to shine, both Raggett and Whatmough are strong alongside a high amount of composure and leadership from the back of the park. Finishing off the back 4 is Brown and at this point you’ll be asking why I’ve not placed Daniels in this position, from Daniels most recent performances I feel that Brown brings more to the position with a better ability to gather the ball wide and move us forward quicker on the counter than that of Daniels.
The midfield lines up pushing higher up the pitch, sitting in the middle of the park controlling the pace of the ball would be Close playing in a deep playmaking role, really working as a linchpin not only in defensive movement but also on the attack. Alongside Close would be Cannon playing as more of a ball winning pressing midfielder, bringing the well needed aggression to the squad and the ability to spray the ball wide when winning it. Higher up on the right is Williams, in a wide position but also taking the opportunity to drop into the gaps in attacking movements causing problems to defences and opening up play, on the other flank is Hiwula who brings a high amount of pace on the attack but also from what I have seen a very good eye for the right pass.
Up front we play what I like to call the classic Defoe/Crouch attack, on the right we have the height and vision of play in Marquis and on the left the pace and finishing of Harness who drops into those through ball positions created by Marquis, Hiwula and Williams.
Overall I see the team playing a very wide game, stretching the play but attacking with pace. Playing out of the defence but focusing on the wide positions, bringing Close into the transition between defence and attacking movement. Both Williams and Hiwula can drop back but very quickly move forwards on the counter if it was needed giving them the opportunity to give as many passes over to Marquis who would be the main creator of attacking plays in the 18 yard area. What we would need to be weary of is our defensive movement, keeping our shape and moving back into position as soon as we lost the ball, something currently it doesn’t look like we do well. We need to press, push and engage with other teams more aggressively to get results, we lack any sort of aggression currently and our football is very soft and to achieve promotion I feel that this needs to change soon.
Looking over our last loss V Sunderland throughout the game we sat back and played most of our football from the middle of the park favouring a more narrow approach, using that also in most of our opportunities on goal being long shots from either outside or around the 18 yard area. Our total attempts on goal V Sunderland we equal at 8, yet their conversion to shots on goal were a lot higher, only 3 of these attempts came through the medium of set piece play and 5 in open play with Sunderland with the obvious higher conversion. Overall both teams equal in play with near enough equal passing attempts (427v436), crosses(19v19), long balls(82v96) and short passes(326v321) but Portsmouth failed to make their own point through these mediums where as Sunderland took every opportunity and converted when they had clear cut chances.
Looking back at our last win V Oxford paints a very similar picture, with the team playing narrowly but on this occasion with a higher line of engagement. Portsmouth once again flooded the middle of the park and once again had most of their attempts from either outside of the area(24%) or in the 18 yard box(71%). Our attacks in this game favour the right side of the pitch yet most of our attacking attempts came through the centre, with only 3 more shots on goal at 17 against Oxfords 14. One difference from the Sunderland game is the team took opportunity to attempt a counter attack and although they did not convert this seems to not be a well utilised use of attack even though the team posses exceptional passing ability and a fair amount of pace. On the subject of passing statistics the teams are again not to far apart with equal passing attempts (474v388), crosses (14v18), long balls (62v81) and short passes (398v289) the difference being on this occasion Portsmouth took their majority of chances in open play resulting in goal conversion.
What is clear analytically is that the fans thoughts on ‘Jackett-Ball’ were well placed, the team it looks like had a very narrow approach with only a line of engadgement in subject of change from the fixtures that I have highlighted. You don’t win games by playing a continuous form of football although it may be tried and tested a million times over, flooding the midfield is the action of a team who would be going into a fixture to force a draw or a win at the very last moments of a game, something Portsmouth who are a play-off fighting team should not be doing.
I think I’ve made it clear how I feel like we should move forwards as a club, from my starting 11 through playing style and analytical data. What we are hoping to see is a manager to come into the club and use it to its full potential and take advantages of its positives which include it’s strength to be converted into aggression and pace in use of attacking movement. I hope that as a team we can move quickly into appointing the right manager to fight for a play off place, to reinvigorate a team that has lost its passion and to play attacking football.
Thanks for reading.
Comments
Post a Comment