Gaffer For A Day: Portsmouth were horrendous against Birmingham. As bad as I've ever seen a team play
Gaffer For A Day, Ian Limb, aged 57 from Petersfield, assesses Pompey’s 4-0 defeat at Birmingham...
Well, where do you start?
It was horrendous. That opening 15 minutes was as bad as I think I have seen a football team play, they were clueless. It reminded me of going to Bristol City and West Brom last year, we were so soft.
At half-time when 1-0 down, I thought with our bench we could actually do something in the second half. When we were as bad as this last year away from home, we were dead and buried 3-0 down at half-time.
Yet on Saturday, the team were even worse. We had nothing, no control, no pace, no drive. Andre Dozzell and Marlon Pack kept passing the ball sideways and backwards, there was nobody getting on the ball and driving forward. We got what we deserved.
Who was your man of the match?
Josef Bursik kept us in it for the first 15 minutes and in the second half, he saved a penalty and didn’t make a mistake - yet was so exposed by the players in front of him.
His saves kept us in the game, we could well have been 5-0 down at half-time. He was excellent at Leicester a few weeks ago as well, so I can’t fault him.
Admittedly, his kicking was shaky when trying to hit the left full-back, but he is a shot stop and better than Ben Killip. I’m not convinced that Killip will save it, but Bursik is a definite upgrade on the number two spot.
What did you think of Ibane Bowat’s league debut for Pompey?
Patrick Roberts absolutely rinsed him, although he was exposed because there was no cover from Minyeok Yang.
He was poor, the only good thing about him was he stuck at it, he didn’t hide, he kept going, although he didn’t win headers. When that cross-field ball comes from our keeper, Connor Ogilvie always wins the header. Bowat couldn’t do that.
It’s his first game for a long time and he's playing out of position, so I will give him that - but I am surprised he played.
Jordan Williams went to left-back as a substitute at Southampton and did really well, so couldn’t he play there at Birmingham, with Zak Swanson at right-back?
Are you worried about this season?
I will be concerned if we don’t pick up our game against Wrexham at Fratton Park on Wednesday.
The other thing I noticed about the team is we must have Josh Murphy, Conor Chaplin and Colby Bishop in the starting XI.
Even with Bishop and Chaplin coming on as substitutes, we did better because there’s a bit more ability and[ power there. Our squad is not good enough for them to not be in the team.
Mackenzie Kirk is lightweight, Bishop has to play up front. I would have Chaplin in the 10, especially with Murphy now being fit, those two have to play together.
The only way we can get out of this would be playing those three, there’s no-one else in the squad other than Callum Lang who can help us. We need to find a way for them to play together.
Josef Bursik - 8
Jordan Williams - 5
Regan Poole - 4
Hayden Matthews - 5
Ibane Bowat - 4
Marlon Pack - 5
Andre Dozzell - 5
Mark Kosznovszky - 5
John Swift - 5
Minhyeok Yang - 4
Makenzie Kirk - 4