MICK'S SUBLIME TAKE ON SWANSEA
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What were the initial feelings about the Swansea game?
Hello Sounders, it's Mick in this bit of Pompey Sound for a few minutes to talk about a lousy nightmare of a night. Night games, Sounders, aren't what they used to be. I've always found Fratton Under the Lights so exciting. But for the Swansea game, things changed. Just didn't feel quite right. For a start, it wasn't a sellout. And you can always tell that, even from the walk-up to the dear old ground. And excitement was replaced by apprehension all around me after two home defeats. And there was the team announcement when it arrived. Brown said, starting alongside Bishop was interesting, understandable, but worrying. Virtually no goals between them. And then, even more into the unknown, there was, well, where was, connoisseurnessy.
No one expected Reagan Poole to have recovered from the obvious injury he picked up at Blackburn. So we expected Connor. But he wasn't there. We don't know why. Conceivably, I believe they've said that he wasn't ready to play a full 90 minutes. And that's perfectly fine and understandable. It was therefore understandable not to give Eban... Bo at the gig, because he'd be joining another left footer in Ogilvy at the half of the defence. The surprise was Jojo Diodea getting the nod over Hayden Matthews. That was a surprise. I like Matthews. He looks very competent to me. But it was also exciting, if not calming to the fans, to see a debut. There was, as I've said, in my humble opinion, a subdued atmosphere at the start of the game, and it was deepened, deepened by an absolutely awful first ten minutes, in which we might well have gone one or even two down to a Swansea side who, it turned out, were not nearly as timid as their away results that we'd all been poring over
indicated. In fact, they, Swansea, started with all the confidence and power and determination not to be intimidated by Fratton Park that we might have feared. And it occurred to me, as we watched Jojo Diodier's understandable nervous first touches of English football and we watched Milialli's inability to make a move any move on the left and we watched Jacob Brown's failure to fit in alongside Bishop that in spite of the so valiant recruitment of a good many players in January the problem The problem of fitting them into the squad at Pompey, fitting them in instantly in order to be able to play eight games a month is challenging. It's really difficult. January's really difficult. Not just the buying in January, but the actual settling in, getting them to play, fitting them into a league and a fixture list that's already established and the rhythm's already there and they've got to fit into all this and we at the moment are making it look impossible.
Things may change. They did to some degree on Tuesday night. The first half was lamentable and we deserve nothing less than to be two goals down. The second half wasn't so bad. Why? Well, Ali sadly had to come off. The team as a whole started to battle. All We asked for, as Pompey fans, is battle. And so the crowd lifted. And Swansea, in spite of their determination to ignore us, were affected. It did start to make them question their process. You could see it. You could see it on the field. It wasn't enough.
How did the team lineup impact the game against Swansea?
Of course it wasn't enough. We didn't have the wit. to score more than that one, resulting in a horrible journey home in the rain, full of worry and full of stress, which will increase until we get goals and win matches. Sorry, Sounders, that's the prospect. It's only right that I share my thoughts on individuals and their performances after this game, just as I usually do. And I'm usually full of praise and enthusiasm and all that stuff. This time, not so much. Nicholas Schmidt is now conceding goals. Last night's weren't his fault. I'm not going to say that. But his distribution was... less confident, less effective. I think he misses Ogilvy at left back when he's able to get up the line and head his clearances on from way out on that touchline.
He certainly, Schmidt, along with others, isn't yet in tune with Caballero on the right and what that
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