Chapter 1: What injury concerns are affecting the Swansea game?
Pompey fans will be in the dark about the extent of the injury to Regan Poole until the publication of the team sheet at 6.45 on Tuesday night. John Massino has remained clear in his view that Pompey's defence has functioned well no matter which of his players make the start, or even which position they play in.
Pompey have looked secure even with Connor Ogilvie and Zach Swanson playing out of position. The possible loss of Reagan Poole for the Swansea game would have been a much bigger blow had not Connor Shaughnessy made such a towering return to first-team football when he replaced the injured Poole against Blackburn.
If Poole is available on Tuesday night, it gives Massino a welcome selection headache. If he twins Poole with Shocknessy, a partnership which many believe is best at the centre of defence, it will surely mean a return to left-back for Conor Ogilvie, and a place on the bench for the unfortunate Zach Swanson.
Either way expect to see Hayden Matthews back on the bench as first reserve centre-back and if Ogilvie remains in the middle and partners Shocknessy, Massino has no fears about the reliability of Swanson.
Up front, Masseno remains a huge fan of Colby Bishop's all-round play, but in Jacob Brown he has a player who, in clamouring for a first-team start, marks himself out as the kind of player Masseno wants indeed requires. He likes men who are constantly pushing for a first-team place, and Brown's comments over the last few days have made it clear he has that mentality.
Yes, John Masseno has made it clear earlier in the season that he doesn't want players who are happy to be on the bench. He wants players who are clamouring to start. And if they're on the bench clamouring to get on the pitch, that's a healthy thing. It's the kind of thing that a manager in any business wants. People who are eager to do the job, who step up for it, who volunteer themselves.
And clearly he believes that in Brown, he's got a player who is doing exactly that.
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Chapter 2: How does John Massino view his team's defensive capabilities?
Who is saying, I can play next to Bishop. I don't have to necessarily replace Bishop. I can play next to him. It's a position I've played in before. I've scored a lot of goals doing that by feeding off the staff from the main target man. Because let's not forget those who are saying that Bishop should be dropped to the bench or whatever.
What Colby Bishop does is provide our keeper with the alternative if and when he decides that he needs to go long. You watch, if he goes long, Schmidt always picks out Bishop. He looks up and he's looking to see where Bishop is and where Bishop is going to be when the ball arrives because they think in that kind of detail. And he picks out Bishop.
If we don't have Bishop, we don't have a target person who can get there first and who can hold the ball up when the opportunity arrives or who can flick it on or knock it down and do something useful with it. It's an enormous contribution he makes. Of course it's a shame he hasn't scored 10, 15 goals so far this season, which he's managed the last two seasons.
We must never forget he can do that. It's just not firing at the moment.
Chapter 3: What impact does Colby Bishop have on the team's performance?
It hasn't fired for some months. But if John Massino thinks that he's making a big enough contribution elsewhere, and it's an important contribution, then surely that is good enough for everybody else. As the 2025-2026 season enters its final phases, attention increasingly shifts to next season.
Setting aside the question of whether Pompey will retain their championship status, or suffer a drop to League One, another big issue will be which of our out-of-contract players to retain, and which, if any, to allow to leave. There's also the question of whether some bigger fish will be circling Fratton Park with a view to spending money on some Pompey stars.
The two star names that Pompey fans can expect to hear talked about once the summer transfer window opens are Josh Murphy, and perhaps to an even greater extent Terry Devlin.
Josh Murphy's season-ending injury appears to have worked to Pompey's benefit in one way, namely that the clubs that have previously expressed an interest in him are likely to have their enthusiasm dampened until he has shown himself not only match fit but able to produce the goods as he did before. Therefore Terry Devlin becomes the major concern.
The rumours that Pompey fielded a £2m bid for him at the end of the January window are unconfirmed, but interest in the Northern Ireland international is likely to be strengthened by his performances this season. Northern Ireland manager Michael O'Neill will stand down from his duties as Blackburn manager in two weeks' time to fly to Belfast to announce the Northern Ireland squad.
Devlin's inclusion, which seems certain, will only increase his stock and transfer value. The youngster has grown in stature throughout the season and is now a fully-fledged multi-talented right-sided defender.
A ball-winner in the air and on the ground, tactically astute, capable of judging when to move forward and across the pitch, and posing the right kind of questions to the opposition in midfield and in their penalty area. His eye for goal only increases his credentials. It will be interesting to see who is rumoured to bid for him, and to speculate on how much money is on offer.
Yep, fans are already starting to sharpen their appetite for the summer transfer window and also beginning to sharpen their knives for people and players and staff and owners who should depart. That's a very small few, of course, but there always will be a handful of get rid of the board, get rid of the owner, sack the manager, drop the centre forward. They love it, can't think beyond it.
Mick Robertson refers to it when he does the occasional piece that he gives over to the dissenting voices amongst the handful of Pompey fans. He calls it bloodlust. And that's in there. But looking ahead to the summer, we will, we hope, be making some decent acquisitions and perhaps writing a few decent checks. Yeah. But we do need to hang on to certainly Terry Devlin. He's a tremendous find.
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Chapter 4: Who are the key players at risk of leaving Portsmouth this summer?
If we're serious about mounting a serious challenge in the championship, then he is going to be one of the first names on the T-shirt. He's still barely out of his first slush of youth. 22? You know, he's got such a career ahead of him. He's such a good, solid right back. You could argue that he's not the quickest right back in the business, but the things that he does work.
And those things that he does sometimes are quite spectacular. Coming forward, there probably isn't a better fullback in the championship. Coming forward. And that's not to mention his excellent tackling, aerial combat and tactical sense, which was talked about in that piece. So one of the big jobs this summer is to keep Terry Devlin.
The life of the professional footballer is nothing if not uncertain, and it appears to some that Zach Swanson may be approaching a crossroads in his career. The former gunner was purchased from Arsenal for an undisclosed fee on a two-year deal with the option for a further year in 2022.
Swanson is a lifelong right-back who has converted with great success to playing as left-back when Connor Ogilvie is either injured or required to play centre-half, and Swanson always gets the nod. However with Ogilvie seeming certain to win at least another one-year contract to stay at Pompey next year, and assuming he stays fit, and Pompey have no need for him at centre-back the No.
3 shirt will revert to Ogilvie. Swanson has also seen himself squeezed out of the right-back position by the ever-impressive Terry Devlin.
With Swanson's contract coming to an end at the end of this season, there is every likelihood that, at the age of 25, he may feel he's done enough to earn himself a golden handshake on arrival at a new club, an ask he can go for since he will be a free agent, and having secured agreement on the much sought-after regular starting spot in his favourite position.
Swanson's current market value is €1 million, but with only a matter of several weeks left of the season, and on his contract, that boat has sailed. Interestingly, Swanson, who's made 80 appearances for Pompey, has the same agent as Callum Lang and Hayden Matthews. His people know Rich Hughes well. The future of Zach Swanson. Nobody knows how much store to set in players' agents, who they are,
is important, but we don't really know one from the other. We know gigantic organisations that are based in Mayfair are one thing, and smaller organisations that have got a one-room office above a chip shop in Luton, that's probably something else.
Don't know how impressive the agency that Zach Swanson is with is, but they do have, and this is interesting, Hayden Matthews and Callum Lang on their books. That means that the lines of communication are open between Swanson's people and whoever is doing the negotiating at Portsmouth's end. Zach Swanson possibly is asking for an extension, another new contract.
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Chapter 5: What makes Terry Devlin a valuable asset for Portsmouth?
After all, if Devlin were to be injured, or perhaps suspended then we we've got williams who is a fine right back a very very capable right back has picked up the odd injury since he's been with us apparently he played something like 43 44 games uh the season before he came to us he was an ever-present
And all of a sudden, and people will read something into this, Pompey started picking up the odd knock, the odd rip, the odd tear, the odd injury. But he is a perfectly viable right back alongside Swanson. So Swanson could easily find himself being a reserve right and a reserve left back. which he may not like the sound of.
So presumably his people are putting the word out that Swanson might be available as a free and that he has been a more than accomplished fullback in the championship and that, one would have thought, is bound to be of interest to clubs in League 1 and League 2. So it's going to be an interesting transfer window.
And that is one of the numerous stories that obviously fans and journalists alike will be chasing way into the night, every night. Yuan Walsh. Portsmouth must put it right on Tuesday and make up for a missed opportunity last weekend. They're on track to stay up however, anything but a win against the Swans could see them dragged back into a relegation fight.
Matos will be pleased with his side's victory on Saturday, and he'll want his side to carry their momentum. With realistically little to play for from now on, Swansea City have the quality to upset a few teams. It's a must win for Pompey if they want to remain in the championship this term, I think if Fratton Park can get some atmosphere going they'll be good for all three points.
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Chapter 6: What predictions are being made for the upcoming match against Swansea?
Prediction, Portsmouth 2 Swansea 1. James Ray. Portsmouth found some big results to put a bit of distance between themselves and the drop, but after three winless games, they're still far from safe. I do see a route to victory for them here though. Pompey have been good at Fratton Park, while Swansea City have been poor away from home.
The Swans just struggle to take their home form with them on the road, and heading to Fratton Park, I think another tricky game awaits. It will be close, and I wouldn't rule out the Swans snatching a point, however, I'll back a narrow home win here, in what could be a nervy match. Portsmouth 1 Swansea 0.
They never tell us anything that we don't know, these neutral observers from outside the Fratton bubble, when they comment on Pompey's most recent performances, last performance, and give their opinions about roughly how the game will go that's coming up.
The only thing that comes as a surprise, of course, is that they have to stick their necks out, lay it on the line and tell us what they think the score will be. And to be fair to the 72, both of their experts last week predicted one all against Blackburn. So well done there. On this occasion, slightly different scorelines, but they still say that we win by one goal.
And elsewhere on Pompey Sound, Steve Bone is offering his prediction. He's more confident about a decent Pompey result as well as a good performance, and he's going 2-0 Pompey.
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