Fortress Fratton predictable key to Pompey survival bid – Oppo Profile

Portsmouth have won seven and lost only one of ten at Fratton Park to lift themselves seven clear of the relegation spots ahead of Saturday’s meeting and, as Jonny Barrett (@PompeyJonny) tells us, even Andre Dozzell is playing quite well.

How's the season been for Pompey?

Stressful but, on balance, better than we had any right to expect given the lack of investment in the squad compared to pretty much everyone else in the league. I think before the season started if you’d offered any Pompey fans the opportunity to be seven points clear of relegation with 13 games left they’d have snatched your hand off. Clearly there’s a long way to go but the run of games left look about as favourable as they could for any team finding themselves 18th at this point in the season.

Pompey in the league so far…
Leeds 3-3 Pompey Struijk pen 10, Gnonto 46, Anderson 90 – Sorensen 23, Lang 41, pen 90
Pompey 0-0 Luton
Boro 2-2 Pompey Clarke 11, Conway pen 90 – Saydee 2, 25
Pompey 1-3 Sunderland O’Nien og 90 – Swanson 0g 31, Browne 51, Mundle 56
Pompey 0-3 West Brom Maja 1, Mowatt 51, 90
Burnley 2-1 Pompey Sarmiento 63, Brownhill 90 – Lang 42
Pompey 0-0 Sheff Utd
Stoke 6-1 Pompey Cannon 13, 43, pen 48, 51, Gallagher 45, Moran 53 – O’Mahony 29
Pompey 1-1 Oxford O’Mahony 58 – Sibley 72
QPR 2-1 Pompey Dembele 9 – Potts 18, Lang pen 57
Cardiff 2-0 Pompey Poole og 5, Robinson 13
Pompey 1-2 Sheff Wed Ogilvie 44 – Windass 55, Smith 70
Hull 1-1 Pompey Pedro 11 – Murphy 46
Plymouth 1-0 Pompey Obafemi 82
Pompey 3-1 Preston Murphy 36, Ogilvie 45, Bishop pen 89 – Riis 50
Swansea 2-2 Pompey Ogilvie og 45, Cullen 53 – Ritchie 25, Murphy 45
Pompey 3-0 Bristol City Bishop 20, Murphy 62, Lang 71
Pompey 0-0 Norwich
Derby 4-0 Pompey Wilson 8, Cashin 23, Adams 29, Pack og 65
Pompey 4-1 Coventry Lang 14, 43, 48, 55 – Bassette 3
Watford 2-1 Pompey Kayembe pen 57, Vata 90 – Swanson 10
Bristol City 3-0 Pompey Mehmeti 15, 32, Dickie 35
Pompey 4-0 Swansea Murphy 22, Lane 29, Towler 61, Bishop 78
Sunderland 1-0 Pompey Isidor 7
Blackburn 3-0 Pompey Gueye 61, Brittain 71, Weimann 76
Pompey 2-1 Boro Ritchie 54, 82 – Latte Lath 30
Pompey 3-1 Stoke Bishop pen 5, Lang 9, Ogilvie 49 – Wilmot 27
West Brom 5-1 Pompey Mowatt 25, Diangana 32, 44, Wallace 37, Swift 56 – Waddingham 90
Pompey 0-1 Millwall Ivanovic 40
Pompey 0-0 Burnley
Sheff Utd 2-1 Pompey Hamer 24, Rak-Sakyi 73 – Ogilvie 27
Pompey 2-1 Cardiff Bishop 9, Shaughnessy 17 – O’Dowda 22
Oxford 0-2 Pompey Dozzell 47, O’Mahony 90

You didn't seem too confident when last we spoke, but you've lifted yourselves up the table since, what's been behind the turnaround?

I didn’t manage to get a ticket to the reverse fixture but despite us grabbing our first Championship win pretty much everyone I spoke to seemed to get the feeling they’d just watched the two absolute worst teams in the Championship play that day. Clearly, with both sides, that has not turned out to be the case.

The turnaround can be attributed pretty much solely to the home form. For a team that’s only away wins have come at Loftus Road in October and at Oxford last week, we’d already been dead and buried had Fratton not been the fortress we’ve needed it to be. This is not a ground that teams can afford to allow us to pick up any momentum on- if the crowd gets any sniff that the players are up for it then a noise is generated that further energises the home team players and completely demoralises a visitor. The 26 of our total 36 points have been accumulated at home, the 12th best record in the league.

The first win at home came courtesy of a 3-1 victory over Preston in November. The shock of the day was the announcement of the bench of Colby Bishop, who had undergone open heart surgery a mere three months earlier after defect was picked up in a routine screening. In fairytale fashion he came off the bench to seal the victory and has played a huge part in our resurgence. He’s not been the goal every other game striker he was last season - few 28-year-olds playing in the second tier for the first time are capable of that - but given what he’s been through he’s been superb. Five goals have helped but more than that he has given defences a threat to worry about where one did not previously exist and drawn defenders away which has created chances for the three behind him. Unsurprisingly given he’s played nearly every minute since his return he has started to look a bit leggy in recent weeks but the return of Mark O’Mahony on loan from Brighton to full fitness means Colbs will hopeful be granted some rest, as we will rely heavily on him during the run-in.

A goal for Andre Dozzell! My god. How's he doing?

I’m genuinely not sure if I enjoyed his opener at Oxford more from a Pompey fan’s perspective or more because I knew you’d be forced to address it. Well, as a committed member of the AAADA (Anti-Anti-Andre Dozzell Action), I’m pleased to tell you in recent week that he’s been superb. Last time round I believe I described him as "fairly tidy on the ball but unbelievably lightweight” and up until just before Christmas that was a fairly accurate description and he rarely started. A defensive crisis, however, forced club captain Marlon Pack to play as an emergency centre back and Dozzell has been pretty much ever present since. The loan signing of former Hoop Isaac Hayden on loan looked to threaten his position in the side but never really established himself ahead of Dozzell and is now starting alongside him following an injury to Freddie Potts. The things he does well he does quietly and without much fanfare but he has much more bite in his game than many gave him credit for and has probably been our most improved player from the first to second half of the season.

How was January? What was done, and left undone?

The dust still hasn’t properly settled but judging on what I’ve seen so far I’d rank it a 7/10 window.

Crucially our glaring lack of depth at centre back was addressed with the loan signing of Rob Atkinson from Bristol City and the signing of young Australian Hayden Matthews has been vital, particularly with Conor Shaughnessy only returning for a couple of games before pulling his hamstring. As previously mentioned, Isaac Hayden has been added to strengthen our midfield options and Adil Aouchiche and Kaide Gordon have arrived from Sunderland and Liverpool on loan respectively to bolster the three behind the striker. Cohen Bramhall, a left back who couldn’t get in Rotherham’s struggling League One side has been brought in for what is presumably peanuts given his contract is up in the summer. Tommy Waddingham an 18-year-old A-League striker arrived as well but, despite coming off the bench for a debut consolation goal in the 5-1 drubbing by West Brom, is clearly seen as more of one for the future.

In terms of departures, Sammy Silvera’s loan from Middlesborough was cut short to make room for players who are, to use the technical term, "less shit”. A range number of last season’s title winners have departed on either loan or permanent deals but the only one who had made a matchday squad in recent weeks was Tom McIntyre who broke his ankle on his League One debut last seasons and has never really looked comfortable this season when he’s played. Most significantly from an emotional standpoint is the departure of League Winning ever present goalkeeper Will Norris who was released form his contract to join table topping Wycombe in League One. He was bombed out of the squad following a nightmare display in a 6-1 embarrassment away at Stoke in October but his heroics last season and infectious personality means he will always be remembered fondly by Pompey fans.

My one complaint from the window is I would have liked another number nine brought into put a bit of pressure on Colbs and to relieve some of his workload but the goalscoring return of the forgotten man O’Mahony means we might have already had strike at home- time will tell. It’s notable that the only significant fee paid in the bid for survival was for Matthews so, if we don’t manage to stay up, the window will be re-evaluated and the Yanks might have some difficult questions to answer.

Summer Ins: >>> Abdoulaye Kamara, 19, CM, Dortmund B, £1.5m >>> Ibane Bowat, 21, CB, Fulham, £500k >>> Elias Sorensen, 24, LF, Esbjerg (Denmark), £300k >>> Nicolas Schmid, 27, GK, Linz, £300k >>> Harvey Blair, 20, LW, Liverpool, £300k >>> Andre Dozzell, 25, CM, QPR, Free >>> Matt Ritchie, 35, RM, Newcastle, Free >>> Jordan Williams, 24, RB, Barnsley, Free >>> Josh Murphy, 29, LW, Oxford, Free >>> Jordan Archer, 31, Occasional GK, QPR, Free >>> Jacob Farrell, 21, LB, Gold Coast, Undisclosed >>> Sam Silvera, 23, LW, Boro, Loan >>> Freddie Potts, 20, DM, West Ham, Loan >>> Mark O’Mahony, 19, CF, Brighton, Loan

Winter Outs >>> Elias Sorensen, 25, LW, Valerenga, £250k >>> Will Norris, 31, GK, Wycombe, Free >>> Ben Stevenson, 27, CM, Cmabridge, Free >>> Owen Moxon, 27, CM, Stockport, Undisclosed >>> Tom McIntyre, 26, CB, Charlton, Loan >>> Anthony Scully, 25, LW, Colchester, Loan >>> Tom Lowery, 27, CM, Crewe, Loan >>> Toby Steward, 19, GK, Wealdstone, Loan

Player of the season candidates…
Callum Lang, C. Lang and The Artist Formerly Known as Clangerz. He has been head and shoulders above everyone this season. QPR fans will remember him from the return fixture as the person who made Morgan Fox look like literally the worst person to ever play professional football- although I have sources who tell me that’s what he looks like every time he plays. A standout performance was the December 4-1 victory against Frank Lampard’s Coventry™ when he became the first Pompey player to score four goals in a game since Yakubu in 2004. It’s not just the big moments though, even on the days where everyone else looks like they’ve never played football before there is an audible buzz of excitement when Lang picks up the ball, a feeling that anything could happen. Sadly/typically, he was withdrawn at Oxford last week with a hamstring injury and has now been ruled out for the remainder of the campaign.

An honourable mention should go to Josh Murphy as well who after an injury delayed start to the season has been brilliant in recent months, with his pace and skill proving a nightmare for fullbacks all across the division. The final ball needs to be more consistent but he will be expected to take on an even bigger load if Lang is out for any significant period of time.

Weak links?

Probably still remains depth. In a couple of positions we still seem an injury away from calamity. If Colby goes down, it’s a lot of responsibility for a 19-year-old O’Mahony to be expected to step up and lead the line. There’s an argument when Freddie Potts is out that the midfield lacks a bit of its fluidity and there’s legitimate concerns about whether Pack’s calmness on the ball can be trusted to overcome his loss of legs. Connor Ogilvie has really grown into the season and has been pretty much ever-present but if he goes down then you worry about if Bramall will bed in quickly enough to cover for him. Undoubtedly, he has more Championship experience than Ogilvie but Rotherham fans seemed positively giddy to be getting a fee for him. Mousinho has proved himself to being adaptable having had a pretty consistently awful injury record since pretty much the moment he arrived at Fratton Park so hopefully the now slightly beefed out squad will do the job.

Expectations for the rest of the season? Do you think you'll see this through?

I said it in October and I say it again: we will stay up. We need there to be a minimum of three worst teams than us and I genuinely think there’s at least five or six, if not more. Last week’s away win at Oxford came at a vital time, giving player’s vital belief going into the run in that we are capable of taking points on the road. The run in is favourable too - home games against Leeds and Blackburn and an away trip to Coventry are the only truly scary prospects - and I genuinely believe we can get results even if those games.

Fratton has been a fortress all season, as the pressure ramps up I only expect those home atmospheres to intensify and a trip to us will not be fixture anyone wants to see towards the backend of the season. If you offered me 21st in May now, I’d snatch your hand off but I don’t think that’s where we’ll be. My bold prediction is when all is said and done we’ll be closer to 12th than we are to 22nd. A good start to that will be by securing our first league double of the season. Play up Pompey.

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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