Duncan Barkes

It's becoming so obvious that Mili Ali has been told that Colby likes it flush with the deck and so that he can side foot it.

That's what he likes.

And so that's what he's doing.

But they know that too.

And so their man is covering the near post.

Ali's crosses are not getting in because they've got somebody who's covering it.

So what do we do about that?

If that's what we want to do, then we have to put somebody near post.

Gary Lineker, when he joined Barcelona, told the world afterwards that he was really frustrated that Johan Cruyff told him that he was going to be the near post merchant because he said, there's nothing there at the near post.

The best you can do is get a hair's touch on the ball and it squeezes in.

I don't want to be the near post merchant.

And Cruyff said, somebody has to be.

Somebody has to be in front of their nearest man when the cross comes in.

So that's something that perhaps Pompey will think about further down the road.

Second half, however, it would be nice to be able to say that the team sat together with the manager and the coaching staff...

And they came up with a plan.

They came up with a scheme.

And they revitalised themselves.

They worked out how to go for it.

And they came out for the second half.