Mark McMahon is joined by Neil Allen to discuss the Blues' 2-1 defeat at Turf Moor.
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00:00Hello and welcome to this latest edition of Pompey Talk where myself, Mark McMahon and
00:06Neil Allen discuss Pompey's 2-1 defeat at Turf Moor on Saturday. Neil, just bear in
00:13mind John Messino's response to the defeat. It was a tough result to take, wasn't it?
00:20Yeah, it was fuming and rightly so. Pompey played Leeds away and Middlesbrough away and
00:29they clung on for a point. They could have lost either game. I know they were in the
00:34lead in both but they could have easily lost either game and you couldn't really complain
00:39because they were battered on occasions with Leeds particularly in the opening 10 minutes.
00:44Middlesbrough the whole of the second half but Pompey got some good points. Burnley,
00:50they should have got two from it because they weren't battered. They were in it for most
00:54of the game. They hit the post as well, Pompey. Pompey was so strong defensively, Will Norris
01:04barely had a shot to contend with. For the brilliance of particularly Regan Paul in front
01:10of him and also Tom McIntyre as a team defensively, the full-back Swanson and Ogilvy did very
01:15well too. And it restricted the attempts on goal. And from that position and the circumstances,
01:27Messina was absolutely fuming with his players for both goals and the fact that they didn't
01:32hang on for at least a point. They deserved a point. They should have got a point. A friend
01:36of mine who I met before the game, he was there with his dad, Burnley fans. They couldn't
01:41believe Burnley got away with it. And it's right, Pompey should have got a point there.
01:46So that's what makes... I know somebody on Twitter said, oh, it's not heartbreaking Pompey
01:51lost, deserved to lose. It is heartbreaking because Pompey should have got a point. And
01:54the fact that it came in the 94th minute from such an awful manner, it was agony. It was
02:01real agony. And you can see that with the players at the final whistle.
02:05Somebody who wasn't at the game and just looked at, say, the stats, they'll say, what, Burnley
02:10had 69.8 possession. They had 18 shots, although only four on target. Touches in the box, 24
02:19compared to Pompey's 11. So the stats suggested that Burnley had it far superior. But as you
02:26know, and I know, those stats don't always convert into results. And it was down to two
02:32really affordable bits of play by Pompey that cost them in the end, wasn't it? And
02:38by two of the most experienced players.
02:40Yeah. Burnley dominated possession second half, without doubt. You can't argue with
02:46that. They did. But they couldn't find a way through. They couldn't threaten. As you said,
02:52four shots on target. That's all it was. Two of those went in, didn't they? So that's all
03:00they could offer. They were being frustrated. The crowd are really frustrated. The crowd
03:04just constantly having to go to the referee. At one point, they hammered the referee because
03:09the ball hits him. So naturally when the ball hits the referee, you have to stop play, doesn't
03:13he? And he gave it back to Burnley. They didn't like that. They had to go to the referee.
03:17That's the rules. He's got to stop it. They were having to go to the referee for everything.
03:22What are you moaning about, you people? But they were frustrated. And the relief at the
03:28final whistle. Oh, they were doing lap savanna. It was unbelievable. Because there was no
03:34way back for them. They just couldn't find a way through. It was ridiculous. The first
03:39goal, the lad there, Sarri Mento, isn't it? From the bench. Most likely his first touch.
03:46I didn't really want that interested to find out if it was his first touch or not, but
03:50probably his first touch. Milan Pac, he's closed him down, but he wasn't close enough,
03:56I read someone describing on Twitter that Milan was lazy. He wasn't lazy. He was there
04:02with him. He just didn't get tight enough. And that was the issue. The lad looked up
04:08early on, stole the gap, moved the ball a bit further, still had space, picked his spot,
04:13curled it in. Wonderful finish, but Pac wasn't tight enough. Simple as that. And then the
04:19decisive goal, Matt Ritchie. I've not watched it back since. I dared to watch it back because
04:28I said at the time, I knew at the time, because it was him and Williams and they broke down
04:33the right and Williams fed it to Ritchie. He tried for some reason, he led the penalty
04:39area down on the right flank. He tried to backheel it. And I know there's people, if
04:44you watch the highlights, some of the highlights don't go back to the initial move that led
04:48to the second goal, but it is. Ritchie, for some reason, decided to be clever. Tried to
04:54back pass to Williams. It was intercepted quite comfortably. He tackled the ball from
05:00the right and then Brownhill obviously finishes it there. And at the time, it's like, what
05:05are you doing? Before the goal went in, you could see it. It was obvious. It was poor.
05:09And I was watching Ritchie when it went in and you could see him walking away, shaking
05:14his head. He knew he doesn't need to be told. Let's not, you know, let's not, let's not
05:21have a go at him constantly, you know, and pick him out for sole abuse. As I've seen
05:29some, some things on Twitter. But it was his fault for the goal. It simply was, you know,
05:36he shouldn't have done it at the back heel. He's 35 years old. Most likely the oldest
05:39player on the pitch. Experienced pro. He's not, he's not, he's not, you know, he's, he's
05:45not a foreign culture player full of tricks and turns in the most inopportune moments
05:51like what we've seen over the years with various players and football clubs and all sorts.
05:56He's not your, he's not your luau, luau either, is he, eh? He's trying silly tricks. And why
06:00are you doing that silly thing? It's quite simple. It's Matt Ritchie. He's experienced.
06:04He knows the game, experienced pro. And he just did a silly back heel when Pompey just
06:09needed to clear it, run it down the wing or whatever. Why you, you know, if a kid did
06:14it in kids football, you'd sort of shake his head going, it's just a kid, isn't it? It's
06:18a 35 year old. And I'm just sorry. It doesn't make Matt Ritchie a bad player. It doesn't
06:23make him a bad signing. It's just, um, and Boris agrees with me as well, clearly. Um,
06:30it just, why are you doing that there? It was a dreadful decision and it cost Pompey
06:36a point.
06:38Sorry, the dog is still barking. The only thing is, if somebody has experience, a Matt
06:46and Pax experience, you'd expect that maybe we'd get more from both. Is that, would that
06:50be a fair thing to say?
06:53Uh, yeah. Glad you took the volume off that. Yeah. Well, you'd definitely expect more from
06:59Matt Ritchie. It was just, it was a mistake. Players make mistakes. We make mistakes. It
07:05was a mistake. Uh, but it was sort of a mistake and experienced pro shouldn't be making, uh,
07:12with Marlon again, it just wasn't tight enough, but that happens in football, doesn't it?
07:16Regardless of age experience talent, we say it all the time. We see it in the premier
07:19league. We see it for England. World-class players aren't tight enough on, on, on the
07:23opponents in various situations and make mistakes. It happens. It doesn't make them bad people.
07:29It doesn't mean they don't love Pompey. It doesn't mean they're not giving their all
07:32for the team. Um, it was just, just, just errors, unfortunately. Um, as we've seen,
07:39you pay the price at this level, don't you? For those, those sort of moments.
07:43Yeah. Um, there's been, there's been a lot said since Saturday, even pre-match, um, about
07:50the lineups, but before we go into it, again, a lot of people had a lot to say about the
07:54substitutions on Saturday. Some questioning whether Harvey Blair should have been brought
07:59on. Some question whether it was right to take Potts off. Yeah. A lot of talk on social
08:06media about the decisions made during the game.
08:09Yeah, rightly so, because Pompey had to make the changes, um, because players get tired
08:16in games. No, you know, you don't keep 11 players on the pitch, so they had to make
08:20changes. Paddy Lane worked incredibly hard as number 10, closing them down. Um, the press
08:27from the front Paddy, which he does so well, so well. So he had to come off, uh, Christian
08:32Sadie as well, worked really hard again. He had to come off. So, um, Richard came on in
08:37the number 10 role and then we had Harvey Blair as a centre forward role, which yeah,
08:43it was a, it was, it was a sort of, Oh, okay. Why is this Harvey Blair in that position?
08:50He's a young player. Um, well, it's two, three, four championship appearances in his
08:58career, all coming off the bench. Uh, and he was put up front presumably for the motor,
09:03for his mobility, for his pace. But unlike Sadie, he's not going to make the ball stick
09:08and hold it up. So you've got clear issues there. The ball can be straight back again,
09:12haven't you? Um, and then Richie as well. He made that mistake, but Pompey probably
09:18weren't as good with these substitutions. Uh, we've seen plenty of times with John
09:22Messina, he makes the right decisions at the right time. He won a league title and, um,
09:28promotion against Barclay doing that. The right players at the right time, making a
09:32difference. He's got that knack of making a difference, actually, in a lot of games,
09:36more than a lot of my managers I've seen. But that day, Pompey weren't the same. Potts
09:42came off as well. That's another key one. Um, it was his first championship game, his
09:47Pompey, Pompey debut, first start. And again, he's going to tire a bit, isn't he? So, uh,
09:53he took him off and put Dezale in and, um, these, these impacted on, on the game because
10:00you can say, but Burnley had a foothold in the game already at that point, but they got
10:07stronger and stronger. Pompey couldn't retain possession and they're sinking deeper and
10:11deeper and deeper really, but still Burnley weren't battering Pompeys in other games,
10:14but it made a difference. It made a difference how Pompey played and there weren't as much
10:18of a threat coming forward.
10:20Can you pick a wee bit of fault with the substitutions in another extent in that it was
10:25leg for leg, um, Pompey brought on, yeah, players, they didn't change the formation
10:30or anything out there. Is there, is there credit in having that type of discussion?
10:36Why didn't Pompey make more defensive substitutions rather than just go at it from a
10:43fresher approach? Could they not have deployed five at the back, taken an extra, brought
10:49an extra midfielder on for instance, rather than going leg for leg from what they were
10:53replacing?
10:54Yeah, they could. I mean, obviously Pompey were in a position where they weren't chasing
10:57a game, so there's no point in going more attacking, which they didn't. So that rules
11:01that out. It's about focus about staying in the game and retaining your lead, isn't
11:05it? So in theory, it could have, um, it could have brought on, say, Towler in a position,
11:12couldn't he? Or strengthened up the midfield. Um, you've got Kamara on the bench. I know
11:17there's a lot of sorority for Kamara, but he's still, you know, 19 year old young lad
11:22not playing this country before as well. So there's, there's, there's concerns there.
11:27Um, it could have been Sorrens instead of Blair, couldn't he, to try to stretch him
11:31a bit. Sorrens is not a big lad. He's not, he's not going to win the ball in the air.
11:34I'm not saying Harvey Blair will, but he's a different player to Sadie as well. Hence
11:39his team selection. So yeah, he could have tried to do something with, um, um, with the
11:45midfield there and the defence. But again, you're then inviting more pressure onto you
11:49and, uh, he probably saw Pompey had a chance to get another in the game.
11:55Just before Pompey did concede that, that equaliser, uh, there was a lovely, um, um,
12:01it was, um, Silveira had a snapshot, didn't he? A sort of volley, a nice volley actually.
12:06He did well because he was slightly behind him. Uh, and it was straight to the keeper.
12:09So there could have been an increase at 3-1 at that stage. But do you really want to,
12:14for the last 25 minutes, just say, right, we're going to sit back and defend now. That's
12:17always very, very dangerous. But most crucially of all, we're talking about this in hindsight.
12:24No, definitely.
12:25But rightly, questions are answered. Absolute rightly, questions are answered.
12:30What about the start? What about the starting line of a game? Potts, he didn't even come
12:35off the bench, um, last week against West Brom. Um, Dezel has played there. He's done
12:40all right. You've got Kamara who's come in. All of a sudden Potts is promoted. Then you've
12:44got Swanston are right back over Jordan Williams, who he's played okay at Pompey. And a lot
12:50of it's been out of position. And then going back to Sadie, like, could Swanson not have
12:54provided something slightly different up front? So again, before kickoff, looking at social
12:59media, there was quite a lot of comment about the actual team selection.
13:03Yeah, there always is, because everyone's got an opinion about team selection. Everybody.
13:07Um, so I thought he got the selection right. It was a big call to put Swanston are right
13:12back ahead of Williams. Swanson played very well. So nobody can argue with that, I'd imagine.
13:18Uh, big calls bring Regan Paul back for his first start for 10 and a half months. No one's
13:23going to argue with that. And I'm a standard that not everyone thought he was man of the
13:27match. He was phenomenal. That was a good call. Correct. Cool. Yeah. Tom, Tom, Tom McIntyre
13:33continues because, um, shortness is not available. Not a problem there. Oh, good. He continues
13:37that left back as well. Uh, had a good game as well. The back four did very well. Then
13:41you've got Potts, you know, the cause for Potts central midfield. Good call. He had
13:46a good game was evolving. The goal, first goal, um, alongside Pat, not, not a problem.
13:51Great decision to put Paddy Lane as, as the number 10. He just gave the energy, the pressing
13:56from the front there, which they, what they wanted. Um, it made mistakes on the ball,
14:01but he just gave that energy and that's what they wanted. And then he put, um, he put Lang
14:06on the, on the flank as well there on the, on the, uh, the right-hand side. Again, plenty
14:11of energy, pressing aggression there and scored a goal. And then Josh Murphy on the left there.
14:16And then the one is, is what's he does with Sorensen and Sadio from away from home studies,
14:22uh, more physical to retain possession because problems is lost away. Again, it was revelation
14:28that's Middlesbrough. So he, he, he thought that, that Sadio was the best bet for that.
14:33Um, at home, you could argue, you need to do more. You want more goals, right? Don't
14:37you really? But that was, I think that was a, that was a really good starting lineup.
14:42Uh, and again, we're looking at hindsight. I think he got that right. But as we mentioned
14:45earlier on, things change when players tired and you need to get the subs on.
14:50No, definitely. And what do you think Pompey will learn from this particular game more
14:55than anything else from the previous challenge I've been so far this season?
14:59We talk, keep talking about them learning every game and they are learning. Um, but
15:05they weren't, they weren't in it against West Brom really. They're in it, but they weren't
15:10going to score. They didn't score against West Brom, did they? And West Brom got the
15:14second goal, that was it. Um, it was a better performance overall from Pompey, this, this
15:19game. Um, but it's just silly mistakes you get punished for in this league. Misjudgments
15:26as well. You'd get punished. That's how it works. Um, and they, they, it's just another
15:33game where Pompey come away, not winning, still looking at first victory, aren't they?
15:39Uh, and another late goal and they've been punished. Four out of six league games this
15:45season, Pompey have conceded in the 90th plus minute. That is a huge concern.
15:52Yeah. Yeah. Is there enough green shirts to suggest once they get, say, Sheffield United
15:57out of the way on Saturday, which again is the last of the so-called real tough fixtures
16:02that they're facing at this run-in. Is there enough green shirts to suggest that, you know
16:07what, get them out of the way and we'll be able to see Pompey blossom a wee bit here
16:11now in the Championship?
16:13Yeah. I mean, I think you've got to judge them from October when they've got these,
16:19these hard games out of the way, really, haven't you? That's when you start judging them. But
16:23the fact remains Pompey have dropped five points so far this season, uh, from positions
16:30in the 90th minute. Five points. Now, I said all along, I would be happy Pompey finishing
16:36one place above the relegation zone. People talking about doing an Ipswich. Come on, ludicrous.
16:42This was said before the season. We said this before the season. This is not hindsight,
16:45right? So probably dropped five points. They, those five points would put them joint around
16:53the 12th with Bristol city and Norwich. Instead they're in the second from bottom. These are
16:59crucial points in a battle to stay in the Championship. And it is a battle. We always
17:04knew it was going to be a battle. Five points dropped. They have to cut them out. Last year,
17:09Pompey were incredible at the end of games, 90th minute. They dropped five points in the
17:1790th minute all season last year. They've done it already after six games. And that
17:22is a concern. They're the facts. That's a concern. Uh, I think if you're going to be
17:28half full, you'd say at least Pompey were in the position to, to be in the position
17:33to be leading as leads and stoppage time, leading as Middlesbrough in the 90th minute,
17:39drawing it at Burnley in stoppage time. At least they were in those positions. However,
17:44they dropped those points. They've dropped five points from those three games and that's
17:48gutting. It really is. Is that, is there still a sense of naivety, naivety, if I can say
17:55that word properly, about Pompey? Or should they, should they be realising you just can't
18:00take your, your, your mind off it even for a split second at this level?
18:04Yeah, things like that. I remember, um, it was a game, it was against Sunderland, uh,
18:12probably the second half and Yangi had come on a substitute and a ball came in from the
18:16right. It was a long ball and it missed everybody in from the right. And Yangi picked it up
18:22just on the right-hand channel, just outside the box. He picked it up and he just didn't
18:28clear it, but he tried to run it probably, probably, probably level with a six yard box
18:33around there. Uh, and he tried to run with it and a left switch guy just came across,
18:38moved him out of the way of the ball to retain, to win possession for, um, uh, for, uh, Sunderland,
18:44Sunderland player came across, right. Ease him away, got retention of the ball again
18:49and to launch another attack. And he just at the time, why is Yangi trying to run the
18:53ball level with the six yard box? Just clear it or just do something. He just kick it,
18:58have a throw in, whatever. And he got caught easily. And it's, you just say, come on,
19:02you've got to, you got to wise enough, smart enough as, as Will Norris said afterwards
19:06of the West Brom game. Things like that are just naive. It's silly. You can't run the
19:11ball from your own level, your own penalty area, sorry, six yard box. You can't do that.
19:17Um, and he can silly possession needlessly. And they're the silly things like, like Matt
19:23Ritchie, just silly, silly little things that Pompey are being punished for now, aren't
19:26they? They really are. Uh, perhaps unfortunate, but they're making the mistakes and they are
19:30being punished for them.
19:32There are mistakes too that John Massino or the coaching team can't drill into them enough
19:38in the training ground. But once they go off all across that white line, they've got no
19:43control over those things. Like, so the players have a responsibility to act accordingly in
19:48these situations.
19:49Yeah, exactly. And they're learning by their mistakes, but we can see the issues. No doubt
19:56the coaching staff could see the issues as well. And these are good players. They're
19:59not, they're not bad players. Um, they just got to sharpen up really. I mean, the moments
20:04like that and Pompey are getting punished at the moment. Uh, but it was a better all
20:09round display on Saturday. It really was. The whole 90 minutes, it was far better. Um,
20:16their best 90 minutes really this season for me. Um, but then suddenly 94 minutes in, that's
20:22it.
20:23Yeah. Um, before we go, we need to wrap up here pretty sharply. But before we go, obviously
20:28Friday before the game, um, there was an announcement made by the club that both John Massino and
20:33Rich Hughes have been given new contracts. Bear in mind, down at the bottom of the championship,
20:38there's teams looking for new managers and Pompey are handing out new contracts, but
20:43it's still seen as a very much as a positive thing from the club. A long-term stability
20:48that we always want at Flattened Park. So yeah. What's your reaction to that? There
20:53are news that both of them have signed new deals.
20:55Yeah, fully deserved. I spoke to John Massino about it afterwards and I asked why it wasn't
21:01done sooner. And he said that they wanted to wait a bit really. And then other things
21:05to sort out in the summer. Uh, but you know, ideally it should happen soon and it should
21:09have been rewarded extremely quickly for what they achieved last year. The pair of them.
21:14And we talk about the pair of them. Rich Hughes is effectively John Massino's boss. It's not
21:18that much of a partnership, but, uh, and the theory is Rich Hughes will outlast John Massino
21:25because that's the sporting direct model. They stay longer than the manager and head
21:29the coaching things. But I think it's great news. Irrespective of how Pompey started the
21:33season, it's tremendous news. They deserve it. What a job they did last year. So, uh,
21:38yeah, fantastic.
21:40Okay. My dog's barking. Your phone's ringing. We're clearly people in demand. So we'll let
21:46you crack on there. Thanks again for your help. Um, once again, thank you all for watching.
21:50We'll see you all again soon. Goodbye.