Rather like Sunderland, Portsmouth have the enduring stress that fans’ with memories of golden days of old exert on their clubs to succeed. They are not exactly new to it though, but that pressure, particularly at home, creates nervousness which favours the opposition. (They won the old First Division twice in the 1940s as well as the more recent success under Harry Redknapp.)
So the “Big club in a lower league syndrome" takes its toll relentlessly and they are stuck with it. But at least they are away tomorrow and facing a familiar foe. Our performances against them may not always have been unaffected by the importance of the fixtures, but we seems to have had the better of them home and away for some time now. It is 7 years since they won at the Keepmoat.
Kenny Jackett has had money to build his team and they went close last year as we know, but towards the end they seemed to fizzle out at home especially in failing to win against Accrington, losing to Peterborough and somehow just about getting the better of Coventry who outplayed them. And their failure to excite seems to have carried on. They have had some tough away fixtures, losing at Sunderland and more recently at Wycombe, but then by only scraping past Bolton at home by a single goal the pressure on the the manager only increased.
They never seem to look really slick and rely on hard work to grind out results. Then again, perhaps they will really come alive against us this time because they have bought themselves talent enough to escape back to the Championship.
It will be interesting to see how John Marquis manages himself, but surely Anderson and Wright will know better than any how to suppress him.
They are obviously better than their recent form suggests, but on the evidence so far we should be up to the challenge. I’ll say a 2-1 win - Anderson/Whiteman.
DPL v Portsmouth
posted on 7/10/19
Hound where are your match reports?
posted on 8/10/19
Anyone else here at Rotherum
posted on 9/10/19
The two latest results plus Blackpool have illustrated what is all too plain in the shots : goals ratio. You could say that some of the forwards might just be lacking in experience of making decisions or lacking in the confidence of their own ability at this level, something that time will rectify, but it probably does not apply to all of them.
Sadlier is the form goal-scorer, but no other forward (and I see Copps as more of a provider than a striker) has scored more than one, so I suspect that most of the missed chances have been from them. The rest of the squad have got the remainder of the goals and I guess that they have not over-thought those opportunities that have arisen, just hit and hoped.
Although I have no idea of how Anichebe plays I imagine that he would bring a Copps-like dimension to the front line which might settle those around him. If he can get up to speed he will surely add something extra.
On the DPL front, optimism was in evidence aplenty in both matches and it did not really pay off. The cautious amongst us gained against Coventry, but no one went even as far as foreseeing a draw against Portsmouth or that James might be capable of scoring which would have been some consolation. Consequently there was a collective zero. Significantly the leading predictors (Nookie and Yorkshire Lad) led the points.
Coventry 1 : Rovers 1 (Whiteman)
>>>>>>> Scorer > Score > Result Bonus > Total > Pts B/F > O/all
Donaldo>>> 0 >>>>> 4 >>>>> 3 >>>> 0 >>>> 7 >>>>> 13 >>>> 20
PDXMickey> 4 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>> 4 >>>>> 17 >>>> 21
Yorks Lad>> 4 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 3 >>>> 0 >>>> 7 >>>>> 26 >>>> 33
BVZ>>>>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>>> 6 >>>>>> 6
Crazy>>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 23 >>>> 23
Uthred>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 14 >>>> 14
Mooligan>>> 0 >>>>> 4 >>>>> 3 >>>> 0 >>>> 7 >>>>> 14 >>>> 21
King Chmprr 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>>>> 0 >>>>> 0
Small Azza> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 6 >>>>>> 6
Azza>>>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 8 >>>>>> 8
Cheltenham 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>>> 0
Nookie>>>> 0 >>>>> 4 >>>>> 3 >>>> 0 >>>> 7 >>>>>> 33 >>>> 40
Selby>>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>>> 0
Lanza>>>>> 4 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>>> 4 >>>>> 9 >>>>> 13
>>>>>>>>> 12 >>>>> 12 >>>> 12 >>>>> 0 >>>> 36 >> 169 >>> 205
Rovers (James) 1 : Portsmouth 2
>>>>>>> Scorer > Score > Result Bonus > Total > Pts B/F > O/all
Donaldo>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>>> 20 >>>> 20
PDXMickey> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>>> 21 >>>> 21
Yorks Lad>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>>> 33 >>>> 33
BVZ>>>>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>>> 6 >>>>>> 6
Crazy>>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 23 >>>> 23
Uthred>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 14 >>>> 14
Mooligan>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>>> 25 >>>> 25
King Chmprr 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0
Small Azza> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 6 >>>>> 6
Azza>>>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 8 >>>>> 8
Cheltenham 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0
Nookie>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>> 40 >>>>>> 40
Selby>>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0
Lanza>>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 9 >>>>> 9
>>>>>>>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 205 >>> 205
posted on 9/10/19
Having looked at a few of the You Tube videos of Anichebe, he is not the Coppinger type. He comes over as serious and thoughtful, but on the pitch he is a very strong direct sort of player; if he can perform with such strength in League 1, he would be difficult to shift off the ball and create worrying problems for the opposition, something of an alternative to anyone we have had in attack for a long time.
posted on 10/10/19
I watched the Rotherham game, and it was entertaining for a neutral, but frustrating for a Rovers' fan.
All the "youngsters" showed some good skill, but on the whole made too many mistakes, many I assume from lack of experience at this level. For me, Amos was the best of them.
New lad Thomas showed flashes such as the flick-on to Sadlier for the goal, but otherwise did not get into the game very much.
Their second goal should have been called back for the fouls committed in the middle of the pitch that led to the goal.
If Sadlier had stayed on we might well have won.
posted on 10/10/19
Good support from Rovers following.
Ref poor very poor.
Amos certainly was the pick of the young boys although all did well only disappoint was Longbottom.In the past I had thought he deserved a start but not on that performance.
Up to 60 mins we were ok but after that we looked very tired.Kimonya played some good balls into the box and did better than I anticipated.Greaves confident young lad.
We certainly need to strengthen our squad if we are to progress.
posted on 10/10/19
Lanza, I can only put it down to being an absolute joke of a ref or he's a secret rotherscuum fan. The amount of fouls they got away with was shocking. A bit like Longbottom running with the invisible man on his back.
Big change to the game with Moore's substitutions, gave them a lift, we lost our way.
Alfie came on, I thought right let's get at em. Played a lovely ball for Wright then, nothing. He just ran around doing nothing but falling over when he kept trying to do silly tricks. It looked like he was playing the I'm to good fir this game routine. Summed it all up, when the ball dropped lovely for him on the end of the box. In stead of hitting it on the volley, he trapped it on his thigh then flicked it up to shoot with his other foot. Got blocked by two defenders it took that long to shoot.
Amos was my MoM, excellent balls into the box, not afraid to knock it past players or take them on. Donovan is not a right back, took to cleaners on both breakaways.
Thought Wright was ok, not up to speed yet but signs are looking good.
Overall, big disappointment on team selection and display as there was 557 Ziggers in attendance, and this is our best chance of a cup final.
Shout out to AJ and Badger, played some good football at times.
posted on 10/10/19
AJ did really well I like his positive play
Badger ok but didnt do enough for me.
posted on 11/10/19
BVZ, I agree about the ref - showed he had just come up from the Conference (or whatever they call it these days). We had a much better claim to a penalty when I think it was Amos why was brought down just inside the box than the soft one they got.
As I said earlier, their equalising goal came from two fouls in mid-field. Also, I do not think I've seen so many out-of-bound calls given wrongly in one game. However, this should not be used as an excuse as we should have won the game.
posted on 11/10/19
PDX...over the 90mins they were the better side