Jackett: Pompey need to be more ruthless

The Blues boss felt his team missed the opportunities to put Plymouth to the sword as the visitors chased the game on Saturday.

And that’s something he wants to see his players learn from pushing forward this term.

Jackett said: ‘When they’re pushing on, you have to punish them.

‘When you do get it you have to break and score.

‘You have to punish them for throwing too many men forward, otherwise you’re letting them off the hook.

‘It’s something we need to improve at.

‘Football’s not about playing short or playing long – it’s about playing quickly.

‘The top teams just play through quickly.

‘Whether that’s five passes or 15, dribbling it, beating people and attacking the space.

‘Do it quickly, make the right decisions at the right time and execute it well.’

This term Jackett has seen the chance to exploit gaps against opponents in League One.

He added: ‘The passes are there and the opportunities are there. The spaces are there in this division.

‘I do see a lot of spaces when we win the ball and win the ball in certain areas.

‘If we can get our game right we can get into the spaces and make sure they don’t get back.

‘It’s about doing it at speed. We can all play football if it’s slow enough.

‘It’s doing it fast. When you get up to the way Manchester City are doing it at the moment, it’s electric.’

Pompey held out to pick up a win by the only goal of the game on Saturday as Plymouth pushed for a leveller, but Jackett felt they could’ve made it easier on themselves.

Jackett said: ‘It was a good, defensive display late on.

‘In the second half, going into our own fans, could we take it on? There was one which pinballed across their box. But the crowd perhaps got a bit nervous in the six minutes of injury-time and five before that.

‘In terms of our goalkeepers’ kicks, we couldn’t get any accuracy.

‘We couldn’t seem to get it down the other end for any period of time.

‘They threw caution to the wind and threw bodies up there, but by the end they hadn’t really had a strike.

‘There was a half one which fell to (Nadir) Ciftci, but he mishit it. So they didn’t test us, but it didn’t feel like that at the time.’

– JORDAN CROSS