v Portsmouth (h) - 15/1/2025

[booth]

13 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

He gets so much stick because he is a striker who offers very little goalscoring threat, whatever you offer outside of that (and he does have games where the ball bounces off him etc) as a striker you will struggle to avoid criticism unless you offer a goal threat, its not something that can be easily dismissed.

Thankfully he did tonight by getting a goal with his head where he does show a threat, with his feet he is very poor in front of goal.

He definitely offers more as a sub than as a starter it seems. When he starts games he is often anonymous. When he comes on and we need a goal, sometimes just the chaos of a target man can lead to knock downs etc. Although tonight it wa a very skilled header. And if we are winning and he comes on, he (not always) can hold the ball up and get us up the pitch as he did at the weekend.

Mak is better against tired legs.

I've been probably Brittain's biggest critic (but I still spell his name right unlike some 😄 ) but recently he's been fantastic. When he was first signed he looked a good player but his performances really took a dive. Eustace appears to be one of those managers that can get players at their full potential, if not getting more from them. Brittain was my man of the match and that cross for Mak's goal was amazing as was his own finish.

After the first half I was worried that last night was going to be another Hull smash and grab type game where we came away with nothing. So I was delighted with 3 points, 3 goals and a clean sheet.

Credit to the Portsmouth fans for travelling all that way, sticking it out and singing throughout.

 

[because of boxing day]

 Pompey's feisty no 49 Callum Lang has a season stat count of 21 matches and 9 goals 1 assist and 7 yellows.

He was a danger man clearly last night and in his intriguing duel with Beck came out second but impressed.

At 26 years old.1.83 m tall, "second striker",  "Scouser" having came through Liverpool youth ranks he might just tick a few boxes for the recruitment team. Joined Pompey in Jan 24 on 2.5yr contact with 1 year option.

 

 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

9 minutes ago, because of boxing day said:

 Pompey's feisty no 49 Callum Lang has a season stat count of 21 matches and 9 goals 1 assist and 7 yellows.

He was a danger man clearly last night and in his intriguing duel with Beck came out second but impressed.

At 26 years old.1.83 m tall, "second striker",  "Scouser" having came through Liverpool youth ranks he might just tick a few boxes for the recruitment team. Joined Pompey in Jan 24 on 2.5yr contact with 1 year option.

 

 

If anybody but Beck had have been marking him he would have caused us real problems. Beck “ quietened “ him though.  It reminded me of the first time I saw Stuart Ripley  He was playing for ‘ Boro. He was up against Alan Wright and they had a terrific tussle out on the wing. Wrighty won on points because towards the end of the game Stuart went over to the left wing to have a run at Richard Brown. I remember thinking “ That blond winger looks handy “. Kenny signed him at the end of that season.
Lang looked a really good player.

Edited January 16 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[booth]

1 minute ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

If anybody but Beck had have been marking him he would have caused us real problems. Beck “ quietened “ him though.  It reminded me of the first time I saw Stuart Ripley playing for ‘ Boro. He was up against Alan Wright and they had a terrific tussle out on the wing. Wrighty won on points because towards the end of the game Stuart went over to the left wing to have a run at Richard Brown. Lang looked a really good player.

Alan Wright was an excellent full back, he was just later overshadowed by Le Saux. He went to Villa after being back up to Le Saux and had a good career there.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

1 hour ago, Dreams of 1995 said:

There's a lot to be said for that, for sure

You look at some of these players and just know they'd be a nightmare to play against. You are 100% right about Beck

In the lower levels of football a lot of the 3g pitches have barriers running only a few metres from the touch line. I've seen a few nasty collisions, including broken arms and cheek bones. Some defenders revel in the opportunity to put a man on his backside. Beck is one of them

There was a moment yesterday when it looked as though the winger got past Beck and somehow he managed to stay with him, track the run, and basically run the winger off the pitch. As a centre half you love those types of full backs. There's a few who would miss the first tackle and so will just let the winger past, even at this level

Coincidentally, as good a footballing side as JDT had us, I'm struggling to think who I wouldn't have liked to come across in that squad. We had a very soft underbelly and have done for years. So it is refreshing to see us winning the battles this season. It used to be that when we did see players give a bit, they got sent off for doing it foolishly - I think of Garrett or of Buckley throwing the ball at that Boro players head. It was all naive and nicey-nicey. Never a recipe for success

In one of our recent games he was running the winger into the touchline. He went to ground in an attempt to block the cross. His block didn’t quite come off and the winger got half a yard on him. He was back on his feet in a flash and made another block, successfully this time. It’s a while since I saw a full back with recovery ability like that. It was like he’d never actually gone to ground he was that quick, Top class.

[joey_big_nose]

11 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

In one of our recent games he was running the winger into the touchline. He went to ground in an attempt to block the cross. His block didn’t quite come off and the winger got half a yard on him. He was back on his feet in a flash and made another block, successfully this time. It’s a while since I saw a full back with recovery ability like that. It was like he’d never actually gone to ground he was that quick, Top class.

Yeah Beck has an amazing talent of being able to be incredibly physical but stays just the right side of fouling them even when hes a pace behind.

[Moptop1]

19 minutes ago, booth said:

Alan Wright was an excellent full back, he was just later overshadowed by Le Saux. He went to Villa after being back up to Le Saux and had a good career there.

Kenny’s first signing. Rated him highly. The a certain Le Saux came along.

[bluebruce]

45 minutes ago, because of boxing day said:

 Pompey's feisty no 49 Callum Lang has a season stat count of 21 matches and 9 goals 1 assist and 7 yellows.

He was a danger man clearly last night and in his intriguing duel with Beck came out second but impressed.

At 26 years old.1.83 m tall, "second striker",  "Scouser" having came through Liverpool youth ranks he might just tick a few boxes for the recruitment team. Joined Pompey in Jan 24 on 2.5yr contact with 1 year option.

 

 

I'm glad all those big chances fell to Colby Bishop instead of Lang. Bishop made Gueye look like Shearer last night (even with Gueye's missed chance clear on goal).

[aletheia]

7 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

e had their winger, who looked like he could be dangerous, under his thumb.

Not the way I saw it (and I really like Beck who was electric in the early part of the season).

Looked off the pace at times and gets away with murder in terms of shirt pulling and pushes. (But the ref let a lot of that go last night).

[...]

5 hours ago, Exiled_Rover said:

https://x.com/Rovers/status/1879853857850675591

Loving this I know theyre two contributions in his short debut but the team around him made him feel ten foot tall love it

Edited January 16 by ...

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

1 hour ago, joey_big_nose said:

Yeah Beck has an amazing talent of being able to be incredibly physical but stays just the right side of fouling them even when hes a pace behind.

He likes to get in their ear as welll.

[Atko's Engine]

8 hours ago, roverblue said:

I think the first half was just the wrong team, leaving Gueye and ACD on the bench over Hedges and Weimenn was just pandering to the squad instead of playing your best team. Luckily it paid off once they came on, but if the Portsmouth shot that hit the bar went in during that first half it could have been a very different outcome.

I don't think Eustace is one to "pander to the squad"! He makes his own choices for his own reasons, but also doesn't seem scared to accept if something isn't working, & change it.

He's made a big thing this season about subs making telling, positive impacts. All 3 goals had key parts fir the subs to play (1 goal, 1 assist & 1 chsnce-creating dummy).

[RoversTilliDie]

10 hours ago, ... said:

Goes to show though once we get a goal the play opens up for us and they start working the channels, we really couldn't get it going that first half and was very frustrating to watch at times, think it was a good confidence booster going into the next one and hopefully we press on a bit more with more urgency as it felt slow at times, I think portsmouth played a different strategy to what we've played against this season sitting rather high and with that we were trying to play the ball out from the back and couldn't get it past the half way line at times, lots to learn from.

What's the reason for Pears not taking a proper goal kick? He ends up hoofing it under pressure with no thought when he could of just taken it from the off.

He has me biting my nails nervously at times Pears, strolling round the 6 yard Box with the ball with the opposition inches away. A hefty kick into the oppositions half relieves pressure on your defence.

[Herbie6590]

The BRFCS POTM supported by https://www.pslsoccer.co.uk/registration/ for the game against Portsmouth is @CallumBrittain1 
Congratulations Callum…👏👏👏⚪️🔵

[RoversTilliDie]

10 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

The trouble is both of Gueye and ACD are poor when they start a game. I think Eustace knows that. 

A few people put Gueye down, if it wasn't for him being introduced to the game last night, it would have been a different story result wise. He held the ball up well, and had 1 or 2 defenders feeling nervous, he also took his goal well.

[...]

21 minutes ago, RoversTilliDie said:

A few people put Gueye down, if it wasn't for him being introduced to the game last night, it would have been a different story result wise. He held the ball up well, and had 1 or 2 defenders feeling nervous, he also took his goal well.

Definitely an impact sub, may not work against other teams that are well drilled in dealing with big forwards but I trust in Eustace. He could of brought on Leonard but for a different style of play. We're very lucky to have Callum in there to ping balls over like he has done in other games. Could be a good partnership there in CB and MG

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

4 minutes ago, ... said:

Definitely an impact sub, may not work against other teams that are well drilled in dealing with big forwards but I trust in Eustace. He could have brought on Leonard but for a different style of play. We're very lucky to have Callum in there to ping balls over like he has done in other games. Could be a good partnership there in CB and MG

At least he was smart enough to come in from behind the far post where he’ll always be jumping with full backs. Only one winner there.

[...]

4 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

At least he was smart enough to come in from behind the far post where he’ll always be jumping with full backs. Only one winner there.

Definitely there to be used as a pillar and why not. Can't remember who said it earlier but said they'll be a use for Gueye that's been seen  and maybe this it it. 👏👏

[Upside Down]

43 minutes ago, RoversTilliDie said:

A few people put Gueye down, if it wasn't for him being introduced to the game last night, it would have been a different story result wise. He held the ball up well, and had 1 or 2 defenders feeling nervous, he also took his goal well.

His goal was actually quite brilliant.

A really tight angle and he seemed to head it just under the keepers hands.

[Exiled in Toronto Mk2]

16 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

At least he was smart enough to come in from behind the far post where he’ll always be jumping with full backs. Only one winner there.

No way on Earth Gally would’ve scored that.

[M_B]

54 minutes ago, RoversTilliDie said:

He has me biting my nails nervously at times Pears, strolling round the 6 yard Box with the ball with the opposition inches away. A hefty kick into the oppositions half relieves pressure on your defence.

Stop panicking, he's hardly put a foot wrong all season.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

9 minutes ago, Upside Down said:

His goal was actually quite brilliant.

A really tight angle and he seemed to head it just under the keepers hands.

I’ve watched it from lots of different angles. It seems he misjudged the flight of the ball early on but manages to get his head in the right place at the last second. There was a lot of bend and dip on the cross so that’s understandable. He did really well to direct it past the keeper.

Edited January 16 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[M_B]

8 hours ago, Dreams of 1995 said:

Glad I'm not the only one who thinks this Tyrone. A lot of talk about how Gueye is awful with his feet...I don't see it. He isn't the most technical player in our team but awful is a stretch

It's another game that Gueye has changed. We looked blunt in attack before that, When Gueye enters the pitch, the defenders have to think about something differently. Weimann wants to get in front of the defender for crosses, whereas Gueye is happy to have that ball lofted and he'll attack it wherever the centre half is

Is it a stretch to say Gueye wins us the three points? Maybe. We were much better than Pompey and would have probably found a goal elsewhere but I'm going to give it to Gueye. Just like against Sheffield Wednesday and the last minute equaliser for Leeds (it was Gueye's assist) - that is 7 pts that Gueye has come on and contributed heavily to in a month. I'm sure there will be more going back that I have forgot

Overall thought it was a scrappy game to be honest. They are as poor a side we have played this season. 3 pts in the bag and a 3-0 home win is exactly what this fixture deserved.

Owen Beck and Callum Brittain are fantastic on either side. I think Beck is my favourite player though. What a signing he has proved to be

 

I don't think there can be any doubt, Gueye must have had involvement in more of our  goals than anyone else.

However he does it, by hook or by crook, he's our most effective forward.

Edited January 16 by M_B

[M_B]

12 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I’ve watched it from lots of different angles. It seems he misjudged the flight of the ball early on but manages to get his head in the right place at the last second. There was a lot of bend and dip on the cross so that’s understandable. He did really well to direct it past the keeper.

From our seats, it looked like he could only head it back across goal.

It was a brilliant header.

[Upside Down]

10 minutes ago, M_B said:

 

I don't think there can be any doubt, Gueye must have had involvement in more of our  goals than anyone else.

However he does it, by hook or by crook, he's our most effective forward.

He's a big fella that, unlike his predecessor, knows how to use his size to get the upper hand on the defence.

He wins a lot of the knockdown headers and the like which is really important.