Stalemate in the first half and not much to report: two excellent chances, both spawned thanks to some inexperience and some excellent keeping. Nouble really should have buried his chance. To be fair, he kept his shot down, Cole of two seasons ago would have blasted it over, but he hit it the wrong side of the keeper and far too close to him. Diamanti's follow up was well saved. Did Faubert put in the original pass? It was superb!
For the second, both Collison and Nouble did excellently until the shot, which Collison tried to bend rather than blast and which was at a comfortable saving height and again too close to the keeper: a good effort but Lampard would have tucked it away at Jack's age.
At the back, Tomkins and Spector did well first 45 (except when Tomkins played Chuckle Brothers with Faubert - to you, to me - and nearly let in Boetang). Upson, however, was poor. Three times he gave away possession carelessly inside our final third.
Second half was close to a carbon copy except each side bagged a goal. Ours was incredibly scrappy, with Upson putting it in with his dick. The Webber goal should arguably have been struck off for a foul on Tomkins, who was obviously injured; but did he jump into Prince Boeteng's arm? The referee was right on the spot so I am inclined to think he called it right, and the ball went straight to Webber who scored, so there was no time to put the ball out for Tomkins to receive treatment. Some will squeal "We was cheated" but I don't think so.
Kovac and Noble both screened the back four superbly and Behrami was up and down the pitch all night, displaying fantastic energy. However, I have always queried his creative contributions and again they were negligible. We still lack penetration and width, which is why we didn't win.
Nouble missed another good chance second half and Behrami missed two half chances but there was nothing else to get excited about going forward was there? Both Nouble and Cole were horribly isolated for most of the game.
Was this a point won or two points lost? I would have taken one before kick off to be honest when I saw that Parker was missing and Cole was only on the bench.
And back to the Green debate...one easy save and five errors: when he came to the edge of his box to collect a long punt and didn't get there; a flap at a cross which only pushed the ball to the edge of the box with Kovac's arm blocking the follow up shot; two slices into touch when under no pressure from a Pompey player; and a terrible roll out which put Noble under pressure and led to us losing the ball in the final third. Would he have done better not to charge out for the goal? Difficult call.
Anything else worthy of note? Da Costa's ludicrous haircut. He isn't good enough to draw attention to himself with a stupid haircut, just like Jimenez before him. Zola should tell them to cut it out, they are making themselves and the club a laughing stock.
Ratings: Green 5; Faubert 7, Tomkins 7, Upson 6, Spector 6; Noble 7, Behrami 7, Kovac 6, Collison 6, Diamanti 6; Nouble 6 Subs: Cole 6, Da Costa 1 (disgraceful haircut!)
5 comments:
Sounds like an extremely average game and performance from your ratings, can't wait for MOTD!
May have been a foul on Tomkins but what on earth was he doing there? He should've been beside Upson at the back.
Noble's defensive work was much improved but his forward play was rubbish. Needs to stick to passing sideways and diagonally as he's not good enough to do those forward, straight passes.
Very good analysis of the match Hammersfan. I agree entirely. I replayed the Upson goal a few times. It came off his upper body, close to the arm, but he had his arms glued to his side. It was a fair goal & by jove didn't we need it. Bit of a scrappy game but Portsmouth will fight for everything at Fratton Park now, there will be no easy games there. The short passing game worked for us on a couple of occasions & Behrami worked hard in the middle as nearly always. He does win a lot of balls & free kicks as he chases everything. Collisons shot was going in the corner, another day he would have scored but Begovic just tipped it. Unlucky, Begovic was the best player on the park. Mr.Marriner had a good game, i thought he was fair. He was right to play on with Tomkins on the ground. Yes, Tomkins got caught out. I thought it was a fair result considering. Da Costa looks like he is auditioning for Apocalypto. Wouldn't be my choice of hairstyle but i,guess he is young & wanting to make a statement. I believe that if you muck around with your hair when young, putting all that stuff on it, it goes missing when you get older. Believe me. LOL.
By the way, i was going to mention Faubert but it slipped my mind as writing, possible dementia,lol. Faubert is getting better at the back. To me he continues to improve. He comes in for a lot of flak sometimes & rightfully so on occasions. I still believe he is out of position for no fault of his own. I quite like Faubert, he wants to do well for us, you can see it in his face. He is very very quick & his ball control when running with it is exceptional. If we were able to get a RB & move him forward, he would give us the width & speed that we need on that side. We are yet to see him at his best. As regards the change in ownership & future of our club, i recall what Lennon said once. He said that people worry about the future too much. It is unknown & if people could accept that & leave it as an unknown, life becomes easy. In other words, one must do his best in the present, then the future takes care of itself. I agree with that.
Yep Faubert has improved but he does have one crap moment every game still. Unlucky not to score, that was clever when he spotted the gap and tried to score at the near post. He made two good last man covering challenges too. Overall, much better than I dared hope - but he wasn't up against much last night and we are playing with a back 7!
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