But they still had two players who stood out a mile in terms of quality at the weekend - not just at the Liberty Stadium, but also the Championship itself.
Nicolas Schmid demonstrated why he continues to keep last season’s League One keeper of the season, Will Norris, out of the team. Some of the saves he made - particularly against Liam Cullen - were simply top class and wholly warranted the 9/10 rating he received from Neil Allen as he assessed the players’ performance come the final whistle.
Meanwhile, Josh Murphy arguably produced his best performance in a Pompey shirt against the Swans, with his assist for Matt Ritchie’s opener, plus his sublime left-foot finish before half-time, the type of wing play we’ve all been craving this season.
That, too, saw the former Oxford forward awarded a 9/10 from our chief sports writer, alongside the man-of-the-match award. Yet it seems those superb individual showings aren’t good enough to make it into the whoscored.com Championship team of the week.
According to the EFL’s ratings partners, there were, unbelievably, better performances from others last weekend in the Championship.
Indeed, goalkeeper Michael Cooper’s performance during Sheffield United’s 1-0 win against Sunderland has been considered more impressive than Schmid’s super showing. Meanwhile, Anis Mehmeti’s two goals and assists in Bristol City’s 4-0 hammering of Plymouth also has him ranking above Murphy and in pole position for the left-wing role.
That’s understandable, I suppose, but there’s no denying Pompey had two of the best performing players in the division over the weekend - no matter what whoscored.com has to say.
Here’s the starting XI they’ve opted for from matchday 18 of the Championship season.


2. Whoscored.com rating: 7.7.
Right-back: Callum Brittain (Blackburn Rovers) | Getty Images

