Portsmouth possess League One's most talented player, so give him the ball - Joe Gallen

Marcus Harness’ form has dipped in the past month, while he is without a league goal since the end of October.

Gallen acknowledges the 24-year-old has been ‘quiet’ of late, yet hailed his eye-catching display in the FA Cup defeat at Bristol City earlier this month.

Nonetheless, the former Burton man remains an essential presence in Kenny Jackett’s side and is expected to face Lincoln tonight (7pm).

And the assistant manager has urged Blues players to present Harness with more of the ball to enable him to inflict sustained damage on opposition defences.

Gallen told The News: ‘In League One there is no better talent, there is no better player. There just isn’t – and he’s only going to get better and better and better.

‘At Bristol City, Marcus was pretty outstanding, he was maybe the best player on the pitch on the day.

‘Everyone knows how highly he is rated by all at the club.

‘I would agree, though, in the last couple of league games he has been quiet - but has still put in at least two or three brilliant crosses, goalscoring crosses.

‘We are looking to feed the ball to him a bit better. I do think he’s a match-winning player, even in his quiet games.

‘We need to keep believing in him - which we do - and he needs to keep believing in himself. If you can get more of the ball to him, he can do the damage.

‘In his quiet games he has still performed very, very well for the team. However, we all want to see Marcus Harness going past players, shooting, scoring, crossing and being a real nuisance in the final third.

‘We have seen moments and glimpses of that in the previous games, but we want to see more because he’s such an exceptional talent.

‘In order for it to happen, we have to feed the ball to Marcus a bit better, we need to keep feeding him the ball, because he can do it.’

Harness has scored 17 times in 65 appearances since joining from Burton in July 2019 for an undisclosed fee.

He continues to flourish at Fratton Park and in October bagged a hat-trick in the 4-2 triumph at his former club.

Gallen added: ‘I have never met a wide player who ever said to me “Joe, I get too much of the ball”.

‘Every wide player says the same thing: “I never get the ball enough”. Every single wide player.

‘I suppose at times Marcus can be a bit lonely on the wide side of the pitch if all the attacks are flowing down the other side.

‘There has to be some patience, Marcus understands that. There is a lot of defending to do for every player on the pitch and he’s been doing that extremely well for the team.’

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