Chapter 1: What recent updates have been shared about Pompey's Championship survival?
The latest Pompey news, updates every day, from the Pompey Sound Newsdesk. Pompey are set to receive a welcome boost in their fight for Championship survival, with Andre Dizel on track for a return to action. Manager John Massigno has also confirmed that talks are underway to keep the influential midfielder at Fratton Park beyond this season.
Dizel, who has been a mainstay in Massigno's side this year, has been sidelined for the last seven games after injuring his ankle in the home defeat to Sheffield United last month. The 26-year-old's absence has been keenly felt. His importance to the team is clear.
Aside from a one-game suspension at Swansea back in December, the former Ipswich and QPR man has started every single league match he's been available for. After a spell in a protective boot, his return is now pencilled in for the Good Friday trip to Norwich City following the international break. He's still on track to return after the international break, the Pompey boss confirmed.
There's still a couple of weeks between now and then, but that's what we're hoping for, the Norwich game.
Chapter 2: How significant is Andre Dezel's return for Pompey?
We've missed him. In his absence, Marlon has deputized for Doz brilliantly well. I think he's been excellent Marlon. But it's just having that extra option in the middle of the park whether Doz is playing as a 6 or an 8. I think if we were playing Ebo and Marlon in games we'd still want Doz as an option whether that was with them, supplementing them or changing a few bits around.
That's useful when you're on a heavy run of games or playing games back-to-back. Doz has been one of our most consistent performers this season and has started every game he's been available for. That's for a good reason. Dezel's impending return comes as his future at the club is also being discussed.
He is one of seven players whose contracts are up this summer, but Massinio has made no secret of his desire to keep him.
Chapter 3: What challenges does Leicester City face in avoiding relegation?
John Massino on a player who has had a magnificent journey with Pompey, having arrived to some derision from some fans about Pompey snapping up a player who wasn't good enough to get in the QPR squad kind of argument because he has become an absolute fixture for John Massino.
and John Massino has been able to bring out things in him that he probably hoped he had, maybe didn't even really know he had, but now he knows he has.
And the reason that works against John Massino and all the good work he's done with Andre Dizel, of course, is because we can be reasonably certain, can't we, that whatever happens, Andre Dizel is unlikely to be playing League One football next season. If Pompey stay up, the hope is that he stays.
If Pompey go down, I hate to even think about it, never mind about say it out loud, then I think Dezel will believe he has done enough to be able to seek championship football elsewhere and as a free agent he will be able to do that. So it's been a great experience so far for Andre Dezel at Fratton Park. Let's hope it continues.
EFL expert George Ellick has said he is really worried about Leicester City's survival chances. Leicester City are in the Championship relegation zone, along with Oxford United and Sheffield Wednesday. LCFC are two points from safety behind both Portsmouth and West Brom after 38 games with eight fixtures left to play this season.
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Chapter 4: What is the current state of Leicester City's squad and management?
The Foxes lost 3-1 at home against QPR last time out in what was a disappointing result at the King Power Stadium. Midfielder Jordan James got their goal against the Hoops, but they weren't able to get anything in the end and slumped to another defeat.
Elick believes they will struggle to avoid relegation to League One, and he has delivered his verdict on the situation on the Benjamin Bloom YouTube channel.
i'd be very surprised if both go leicester city and west brom i'm really worried about leicester they're gonna have to improve they probably have the individual quality there's rumors of unrest there at the moment isn't there i don't know how true they are he added abdul fatahou should be playing top level football in a european top five and he's looking at a relegation down to league one he knows he won't be playing league one football next season leicester city dropped out of the premier league last year
LCFC finished in the bottom three with Ipswich Town and Southampton, both of who are in the playoffs right now. The Foxes were deducted points in February, which saw them slip down the division. They are now at serious risk of slipping into the third tier, unless they can find some inspiration from somewhere, and claw themselves out of danger.
Gary Rowett was appointed as their head coach last month after Marti Sifuentes was sacked after a poor run of form. The ex-Stoke City, Derby County and Millwall man is an experienced manager in the Football League and has overseen just under 600 games from the dugout in his career to date.
An EFL expert and his fears that Leicester are going to go down.
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Chapter 5: How are Pompey addressing their scoring issues ahead of key matches?
Well, we're not fearful of that, are we at all? We're very hopeful of that. Well, it has to be said, I think at this point for the first time, that if Sheffield Wednesday and Leicester both go down, then we can consider our... And we managed to stay up.
Then we can consider our season to have been some sort of a success in that we haven't gone down, but several sorts of failures as well because we haven't consolidated ourselves in the championship, which appears to have been the plan. And...
A large reason why we managed to avoid relegation is partly due to our own efforts and mistakes, but it's also due to the fact that two of the teams that finished below us were docked significant numbers of points by the authorities for financial malpractice. And that means that our achievement in staying up is not crowded with glory by any means. We only really beat one team in the league.
on performance and points gained from performances alone.
Chapter 6: What strategies are being considered to improve team performance?
The Blues are the second lowest scorers in the Championship, and the boss admitted he's weighing up whether to let the young striker, now back from injury, loose on QPR as he searches for a solution up front. When asked if he was tempted to start Kirk, Misenyo simply said, that's the temptation.
The team travels to Loftus Road in desperate need of a result, having picked up just a single point from their last five games. A loss could see Pompey drop into the relegation zone for the first time since Boxing Day, right before the championship pauses for the international break. The issue is clear, they can't score.
With only 26 goals all season, only one team in the division has a worse record. Against Derby County, Jacob Brown led the line as the team took 27 shots without success, while Colby Bishop, who has just one league goal from open play this season, was dropped to the bench. But Kirk is back in the mix, getting his first minutes in five weeks after recovering from an Achilles problem.
The summer signing from St Johnstone arrived with a reputation as a goalscorer, having found the net nine times last season for a team that finished bottom of the SPL. Now Messina is mulling over whether to give the 22-year-old, who has one goal in four starts and 10 substitute appearances for Pompey, a bigger role. That's the temptation, Messina repeated, when asked about starting Kirk.
Max scored against Coventry but he hasn't had a huge amount of starts for us, maybe four. By the same token if you're looking to score more goals, he's worth considering. Max got his goal, and maybe you think he's the one we need to turn to.
We just need to look at it objectively and try to get the right balance between how we want to play and the threat we need in the box.
there are those who will argue that it smacks of desperation to turn to an unproven youngster at a time like this because our main number nine is playing a great game of football but not hitting the back of the net and the different configurations of people that we have tried up front also are not scoring goals. So it is perhaps more of a temptation now to try Mackenzie Kirk
than it would normally be. But a temptation, it should always be that any... Messina has said this over and over. He wants all of his squad... battling to be in the starting lineup. He wants them to be dissatisfied with not being selected for the bench. And if they're on the bench, he wants them to be dissatisfied with being on the bench.
He wants them to get on the pitch because it's on the pitch that they can really prove themselves and make their demands for a first-team place. So, of course, it's a temptation to play Mackenzie Kirk. The question is, what do you think about that? Me? I'd stick with Colby Bishop.
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