Gaffer: Portsmouth deserved nothing at MK Dons - the better team on the day won
What did you make of that?
As a team, we definitely won’t concede many, but at the moment it feels like we aren’t going to score.
I cannot see us getting back into a game when one or two down. At MK Dons, when we fell behind, a lot of fans believed that was it, another defeat.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdWe came out better after half-time, but we probably didn’t deserve anything from the match.
Overall, the better team on the day won. We didn’t do enough.
Who stood out for you?
MK Dons would have been out of sight at half-time if it wasn’t for Gavin Bazunu.
Without doubt it would have been game over after 45 minutes – especially considering we can’t score goals.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdBazunu’s a Pep Guardiola keeper, so good with his feet, although on occasions he’ll probably be caught out and lobbed because he so far forward.
I was really surprised Pompey let Craig MacGillivray go in the summer, it baffles me how he can't get into the Scotland squad.
But Bazunu has proven he is a better player. The game has changed, you have to be really good with your feet in that position, and he has a bright future ahead.
What do you make of the striker situation?
It has not been addressed since we lost Brett Pitman – our strikers are going to cost us dearly.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdThe big debate every game is about not playing to John Marquis’ strengths, but surely people can see now he’s not going to get the goals?
I’m not Ellis Harrison’s biggest fan, but he puts himself about and scored a hat-trick in the week. So why not start him? He would have been bouncing.
We need to cut our losses with Marquis. We can’t keep saying “We’ve got to play to his strengths”. We need more for him.
What have you made of the season so far?
We knew there would be quite a few strong teams this season – and, for Pompey, reaching the top six is going to be hard.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdTo do so you need to win a lot of games. To do that, you need to score a lot of goals. Yet we don’t.
Maybe we’ll get a top-10 finish, but that won’t please everyone.
We’ve been in this league for so long now, we’ll become a standard League One team if we don’t get out of it.
These days you don’t get as much time as you should as a manager and there’ll be times when Danny Cowley will be feeling a bit of pressure, especially with fans back in grounds now.
Gavin Bazunu – 7
Kieron Freeman – 6
Sean Raggett – 6
Clark Robertson – 6
Lee Brown – 6
Shaun Williams – 6
Joe Morrell – 6
Ryan Tunniciffe – 6
Marcus Harness – 6
Reeco Hackett-Fairchild – 6
John Marquis – 5
A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdThe News has launched a subscription offer which gives you unlimited access to all of our Pompey coverage, starting at less than 14p a day.
You can subscribe here to get the latest news from Fratton Park - and to support our local team of expert Pompey writers.
Comment Guidelines
National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.