Any optimism created by Portsmouth’s barnstorming end to last season has drained away through another poor start, and as Jonny Barrett (@PompeyJonny) tells us there’s plenty of work to do in January, but Pompey have been here before…

How's the season gone so far for Portsmouth?

In my pre-season predictions in this prestigious forum, I talked some shit. I talked, in fact, a lot of shit- not least of all predicting we would finish 14th. To be fair, following an opening day away victory against Oxford and a run of only one defeat in the first five we were hovering around midtable, as per the plan. Following a 0-0 away draw in the South Coast Derby that we were unlucky not to win, morale was high and fans were looking up rather than down the table. Then came the visit of Sheffield Wednesday.

The most bankable three points of the season for anytime ended in a 2-0 defeat and Conor Shaughnessy’s hamstring fell off. It remains Wednesday’s only league win to date this season. It’s been pretty much a downward spiral since then. There have been brief moments of respite- a home win against Boro, the recent comeback against Blackburn, international breaks- but it’s very clear at this point: we’re in another dogfight.

Pompey in the league so far…
Oxford 0-1 Pompey Segecic 38
Pompey 1-2 Norwich Segecic 84 – Darling 6, Sargent 14
West Brom 1-1 Pompey Johnston 26 – Bishop 56
Pompey 1-0 Preston Dozzell 41
Southampton 0-0 Pompey
Pompey 0-2 Sheff Wed Bannan 12, Brown 50
Ipswich 2-1 Pompey Philogene 9, Hirst 41 – Pack 90
Pompey 2-2 Watford Min-Hyeok 5, Segecic 79 – Louza 46, Vata 56
Pompey 1-0 Boro Min-Hyeok 23
Leicester 1-1 Pompey Ramsey 26 – Swift 58
Pompey 1-2 Coventry Kirk 90 – Thomas-Asante 30, 56
Pompey 0-1 Stoke Matthews og 70
Birmingham 4-0 Pompey Seung-Ho 9, Iwata 56, Klarer 61, Anderson 88
Pompey 0-0 Wrexham
Hull 3-2 Pompey Destan 27, Joseph 42, Gelhardt 79 – Devlin 15, 45
Portsmouth 3-1 Millwall Swanson 22, Segecic 51, Williams 89 – Ivanovic 72
Sheff Utd 3-0 Pompey Peck pen 41, Bamford 54, Hamer 73
Pompey 0-1 Bristol City Mehmeti 17
Swansea 1-0 Pompey Cullen 78
Pompey 2-1 Blackburn Lang 62, Bowat 79 – Ohashi 36
Derby 1-1 Pompey Matthews og 45 – Lang 6

Who's to blame?

The blame has to be placed squarely on the shoulders of the ownership. Once again, recruitment was done on the cheap with a mixture of loans, free transfers with the odd million chucked at fuckers no one has ever heard of. This is the most open level of discontent heard amongst the support against the Eisner ownership since they arrived in 2017. They’re finally being outed as the charlatans they’ve always been.

Disclaimer: I’ve always hated them. My formative Pompey years as teenager mapped our descent from FA Cup finals and Europe to the brink of extinction (several times) to a new lease of life under fan ownership after the acquisition of the club by the Pompey Supporters Trust in 2013 and the subsequent League Two title victory of 2017. Silverware is great but the feeling of singing “We Own Our Own Club” on a terrace is a feeling incomparable to anything else I’ve experienced as a football fan.

The decision of fans to sell the club in 2017 was wrong. Clearly, holding this opinion places me in the minority - 81.4% shareholders voted to sell back in 2017. It’s a point of principle - you don’t even need to go into the specifics of the sale or the Eisner’s pitch - billionaires are fundamentally evil and fan ownership should be the target of any supporter so the fact that we had it and threw it away pains me to this day and will continue to for as long as I live.

Some may argue that there are limitations to what can be achieved under a fan ownership model. I do not accept this but, even if it were true, I would prefer a lifetime of mediocrity under fan ownership than experience dizzying heights as nothing more than another asset in billionaire’s portfolio of business interests.

Let’s assume, however, that it is true. That our eventual 2024 League One championship would not have been possible without an ownership change and that we wouldn’t be in the Championship now. We might have ended up with the dullest fucking billionaire in the world. Say what you like about Wrexham, another fan owned club who voted to sell to big players from Hollywood, but at least it looks fun. The project seems fundamentally designed to see how far they can take the football club. Is “Rob Mac” the most annoying man in the world? Possibly. But imagine a world where we had a Colby Bishop cameo in Deadpool rather than Paul Mullin? Instead we live in a world where our owner gives us one of the smallest budgets in the league despite having one of the highest net worths.

To Eisner, a man with more money than he could hope to spend over a thousand lifetimes, a football club is something you own because it’s the sort of thing someone of your status is supposed to own. And when it’s time to invest money into the club you own? Fuck it. Just throw 0.5% of your net worth at it- enough to throw a lick of paint on the Milton End and to get Luke Le Roux in centre mid.

Not one Pompey fan - particularly given our history - is asking for us to buy the league but the idea the Eisner’s have attempted to propagate - that we can’t have a competitive playing budget despite their absurd wealth - has finally worn thin with fans.

You were in a very similar position this time last year and turned it round with a superb second half of the season - repeat performance? And does the promotion, and that recovery, buy John Mousinho the time to oversee this or is he under pressure?

Everything I’ve stated above aside, John Mousinho has not been faultless this season. Although it’s clear that this squad is not the quality it should be, there are good Championship quality players in several positions and Mousinho has not always used them affectively.

The signing of Conor Chaplin on deadline day was welcomed by fans not just for sentimental reasons but because, on paper, he’s one of the best players in the division. That’s why it’s been so frustrating that it’s taken until December for him to get a run of games in the ten - the only position he’s actually affective in.

As well as that, the Pack-Dozzell partnership in midfield so obviously didn’t work last season that it’s astonishing it would be tried once this season let alone the multiple times it has been to date.

There’s been a few people on social media suggesting he’s now out of his depth but they’re in the minority. At Derby away last weekend, an uncharacteristically gutsy performance had the crowd belting out “Who needs Mourinho? We’ve got Mousinho!” at the full-time whistle. There’s just so much goodwill that he’s accrued over the past almost three years and a recognition from fans that he’s been hamstrung by a recruitment process that he’s not in control of. We’ve also had our usual run of luck with injuries that makes you assume our medical team is just a bunch of pissed up toddlers with baseball bats. The feeling remains, though, that if anyone can get us out of this then he’s the man.

Ins >>> Mark Kosznovsky, 23, CM, MTK Budapest, £1m >>> Josh Knight, 27, CB, Hannover, £1m >>> Franco Umeh-Chibueze, 20, RW, Palace, £500k >>> John Swift, 30, AM, West Brom, Free >>> Luke Le Roux, 25, CM, Varanmo (Sweden), Undisclosed >>> Adrian Segecic, 21, RW, Sydney FC, £500k >>> Florian Bianchini, 25, RW, Swansea, Loan >>> Josef Bursik, 25, GK, Club Brugge, Free >>> Makenzie Kirk, 21, CF, St Johnstone, Undisclosed >>> Conor Chaplin, 28, AM, Ipswich, Loan >>> Yang Min-Hyeok, 19, AM, Spurs, Loan

Outs >>> Paddy Lane, 24, RW, Reading, £250k >>> Abdoulaye Kamara, 20, DM, Saarbrucken, Undisclosed >>> Yusini Yengi, 26, CF, Aberdeen, Free >>> Cohen Bramall, 29, LB, Luton, Free >>> Tom Lowery, 27, CM, Kilmarnock, Free >>> Anthony Scully, 26, LW, Shrewsbury, Free >>> Paddy Lane, 24, RW, Reading, Undisclosed >>> Ryley Towler, 23, CB, Lincoln, Undisclosed >>> Christian Saydee, 23, CF, Wigan, Undisclosed >>> Toby Steward, 20, GK, St Johnstone, Loan >>> Alexander Milosevic, 33, CB, Released >>> Matt Ritchie, 35, RW, Reading, Free >>> Tom McIntyre, 26, CB, Bradord, Loan >>> Harry Clout, 19, AM, Havant & Waterlooville, Loan >>> Reuben Swann, 19, CM, Havant & Waterlooville, Loan

January rumours? What needs doing?

If he is to get us out of this, though, it will include a massive overhaul in January. Last season’s January included several signings, though little had any impact outside of the loans of Isaac Hayden and Rob Atkinson. It was Atkinson though that, arguably, was the biggest factor in survival in the second half of the season. A defence that looked like it could easily ship four on any given day was transformed by the introduction of a big fucker who knew how to clear his lines. A similar big fucker is sorely needed again. The loss of Shaughnessy has been immense and it’s clear we cannot bank on him being fit. Regan Poole has been inconsistent at best and, barring a complete turnaround in performances, new signing Josh Knight is on his way to becoming Pompey rhyming slang. Hayden Matthews and Ibane Bowat probably need loans in League One before they’re ready to step up. Realistically we need at least two centre halves in January.

Conor Ogilvie surprised many of us last season by how well he adapted to life as a Championship left back and his injury a few weeks ago has meant slotting in either Zak Swanson or Jordan Williams there - both right backs by trade. Even with Ogilvie returning in January, a backup is required with the only other natural left back Jacob Farrell having played 45 minutes of Championship football in his 18 months at the club and no timetable on his return being provided.

Another worry lies in central midfield. John Swift has been an overwhelming disappointment. Marlon Pack has played more games than anyone assumed he would need to. The limited opportunities afforded to summer signings Márk Kosznovszky and Luke Le Roux has left us in a position that QPR fans will be shocked by - Andre Dozzell is our most reliable centre mid. While Kosznovszky has had some encouraging performances recently Le Roux has shown nothing to suggest he’s got the chops for this level. At least one centre mid will be needed in January.

Colby Bishop’s input last season after his superhuman return from heart surgery was vital in our successful fight against relegation but it always felt like it might’ve been an outlier. It was his first season at this level and we relied on him so heavily with little option on the bench. It feels all that may have started to taken its toll - he has only one goal this season and that came in August. He’s been dropped recently in favour of Callum Lang through the middle as a makeshift centre forward. The only other centre forwards in the squad are Mackenzie Kirk and Tommy Waddingham - young, vastly inexperienced and, in Waddingham’s case, injured until February. We need a number nine who has proven track record of scoring goals at this level and that costs money. This will of course cost us more in January than it would’ve in the summer, despite the fact that it was clearly needed at the time. At the minimum, an at least competent Championship striker will take the pressure off Colbs, allowing him a breather and an opportunity to get firing again. In theory, a front four of Murphy, Chaplin, Lang and Bishop is a terrifying prospect for any Championship defence. Both Murphy and Lang have struggled with injury so far this season but both are unplayable on their day, with Murphy in particular one of the best in the division.

The club have indicated we’re looking to sign three to six players in January- frankly six is the minimum. The spine of the team needs strengthening and we need to be in a position where two or three injuries doesn’t completely kill us because what’s left to replace them on the bench is a bunch of teenage Australians. At our best, we can put out an XI that can compete with any team in the division but we need to have 20 Championship level players not 11.

How do you see this panning out? Revised expectations for the season?

In spite of everything I’ve said, I still think we’ll stay up. There are many reasons for this. For one, I’m an idiot. Aside from that though, there are genuine reasons for optimism. We have exciting attacking players that can win you games. We have a goalkeeper who can keep you in them. We have a manager who has played against the odds for the entirety of his short managerial career and told the odds to fuck themselves time and time again. We’ve also got fans that turn up when it matters and, crucially, have short memories. When we’re shit, Pompey fans will catastrophise in the pub afterwards with the best of them. In reality though, it really doesn’t take much to get us on side. Any given week this team decides to put in a hardworking performance, and even some of the weeks they don’t, they’ll have the backing of the loudest fans in the division behind them. It made Fratton Park a horrible place to come in the backend of last season. It sang the ball away from the goal amid a late Derby barrage at the weekend and it’ll be vital again this season.

As stated earlier, my pre-season prediction was that we would finish 14th. A wise man once said: "don’t back down, double down". We’re gonna sign a few players in January and then we’re marching to the playoffs. Don’t you know pump it up, the Blues are going up.

Links >>> Portsmouth official website >>> Fratton Park Ground Guide >>> True Blue Army – Forum >>> P04Cast – Podcast >>> Pompey Chimes – Forum >>> The News – Local Press

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Pictures - Reuters Connect