The key talking points ahead of Portsmouth's return for pre-season

The Blues will report for the first day of pre-season training at their Hilsea base.

There’ll be the usual catch-ups on how on what each other have been up to over the past four weeks and how holidays went.

But, ultimately, it’ll be straight to business as League One play-off defeat to Oxford is still raw.

Kenny Jackett is again plotting Pompey’s escape from the third tier for a fourth successive summer.

And as the Blues mark the first day of training, we’ve picked out the key talking points…

Ensuring there's a fast start

Pompey are again licking their wounds after a second play-off defeat in as many years.

That meant Jackett came under fire from contingents of supporters after the loss – and it remains that way even approaching a month after that Kassam Stadium disappointment.

The media team at Fratton Park can't post on Twitter without being barraged with Jackett out responses.

The Blues board are aware of the unrest among the fans, although they're still right behind the boss.

However, it's been acknowledged that a fast start is paramount.

Pompey can ill-afford another stuttering opening to the campaign like the one that's just gone, which, ultimately, meant they were playing catch up on their rivals.

It's Jackett's remit to get his players remotivated and to right the wrongs of 12 months ago.

Crucially, he needs to identify where the promotion push went wrong and remedy those problems.

He needs to hit the ground running – otherwise, the pressure will ramp up.

Will Raggett and Brown be present?

It was on the opening day of pre-season last year when we were first introduced to Sean Raggett.

The centre-back met up with his new side, with his arrival officially confirmed a few hours later.

Raggett scored two goals in 38 appearances on loan from Norwich, battling back from a shaky start to winning over plenty of supporters.

By the defender's own admission, he felt his best was still to come.

There's a strong chance we will see Raggett at his zenith in royal blue as he closes in on making a permanent return to Fratton Park.

If he's present at training then you’d have to expect he'll be putting pen to paper in the very near future.

The same can be said for Lee Brown, who's in discussions after his contract expired.

The vice-skipper has interest from Hull, Rotherham and Wycombe.

However, Brown's been tabled fresh terms at PO4 and it's understood a deal is 70 per cent done.

Triallists

It's not been a rarity for free agents to turn up on the opening day of training in the past.

During Jackett's first season in charge, there were two unattached players present looking to win a deal.

Lawrie Wilson had departed Bolton but lasted just two days with Pompey before eventually moving to Port Vale.

Meanwhile, Harry Isted had been released by Stoke but the Blues also didn't pursue a deal. The Chichester-born keeper is now at Luton.

Last summer, it was Aaron Jarvis who linked up with Jackett's troops after he departed Luton.

He trained with Pompey for around a week before being let go and moved to Sutton United.

Certainly, it'll be interesting if any new faces are at Hilsea today given the sheer amount of free agents available – plenty of which would improve the Blues.

However, it's been pointed out that the Covid-19 outbreak may make it tough for clubs to run the rule over triallists this summer.

Patching up relationships

It was the talk of the play-off matches against Oxford.

Nobody could quite believe it when Tom Naylor was omitted for the play-off semi-final first leg against Oxford.

It stayed that way for the entire 210 minutes of both games, with the skipper forced to helplessly watch Pompey's defeat from the bench.

The fact that Naylor had always played when available during his two years at the club made Jackett's decision fairly unfathomable to some.

The boss did give his reasoning, pinpointing the game suited more technical sides after lockdown, citing he felt technical sides had been more successful after the return of football following the lockdown period.

Still, it would have been hammer blow for Naylor, who is supposed to be his manager's supposed leader.

That will have likely frayed their previously-sound relationship and requires patching up.

The same could be said about Ben Close, who was surprisingly axed from both match-day squads in favour of Bryn Morris' return.