Danny Cowley rues decimated Portsmouth attacking choices after lacking cutting edge in defeat to Burton

Danny Cowley rued Pompey’s dwindling attacking options against Burton as injuries continue to pile up.
Danny Cowley was reeling from defeat against Burton - and more injury blows. Picture: Joe PeplerDanny Cowley was reeling from defeat against Burton - and more injury blows. Picture: Joe Pepler
Danny Cowley was reeling from defeat against Burton - and more injury blows. Picture: Joe Pepler

Michael Jacobs is the latest to be ruled out for the season, missing through knee ligament damage, to join Ellis Harrison and Jordy Hiwula on the sidelines.

In addition, John Marquis is still suspended, with teenager Alfie Stanley the sole conventional striker in the squad against Burton.

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The Blues went on to lose today’s Fratton Park encounter with the Brewers 2-1, a defeat characterised by a lack of threat in the final third.

It was substitute Charlie Daniels who netted an 88nd minute consolation as the four-game winning streak ended.

And Cowley was disappointed over yet more problems affecting his attacking options,

He told The News: ‘We did have a lot of possession, which is kind of irrelevant to me to be honest, it’s always what you do with the possession.

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‘I thought we conceded a really soft goal, which made it really difficult for ourselves just before half time.

‘In the first half we played well up until the final third, we played with control and rhythm up to then.

‘We always want to get to the final third and upgrade our chances. Burton play a certain way, they become a back six really, really quickly, with their wingers dropping in. They are hard to penetrate.

‘So what you have to do is move the ball quickly and look for opportunities to try to penetrate. We need movement at the top end to disrupt their back line and, if I am honest, I just didn’t think we showed that.

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‘You have to be fair to the group, we like to play with a minimum of four attacking players and only really have three available at the moment because we’ve had difficulty with injuries and John Marquis’ suspension.

‘We tried to use Andy as a 10, but he naturally wants to come to the ball, we then moved him to the 11 and got Ryan into the 10 and tried to get more penetration that way.’

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