Brown: Defence is a strength and we’ll keep a lot of clean sheets this season
POMPEY’s defence has been pinpointed as a team strength – and Lee Brown expects to rack up the clean sheets this season.
Scoring is clearly Kenny Jackett’s chief headache at present, with his side short of creativity and lacking a crucial cutting edge.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the pitch, the Blues have conceded six goals in six League One outings, the latest in a 1-0 defeat to Doncaster.
That record is bettered by nine clubs in the division, among them next weekend’s opponents Sunderland, who have shipped just one goal having played a game fewer.
Pompey have been frustratingly unconvincing in a poor start to the campaign, with tonight’s trip to Gillingham (6.30pm) next.
But Brown doesn’t believe the defence should be a concern.
He told The News: ‘I am really, really confident in the back line, as I am in the forward line.
‘Talking specifically about the back line, I am comfortable. That back five should keep a lot of clean sheets.
‘Even the boys coming in, such as Bolton, Pring, and you’ve got Downing on the fringe, we have some really good players.
‘We’ve got good numbers at the back which can keep clean sheets - and there’s no excuse why we can’t with the personnel we have.
‘I think it is a strength, the back line will grow into it and I will see us keeping a lot of clean sheets.
‘I say it before every game, this back five, whoever comes in, is a strong area for us.’
Craig MacGillivray, Callum Johnson, Jack Whatmough and Sean Raggett have so far been ever-present in league action.
It has then been Brown or Cam Pring at left-back to complete a stable defensive selection. However, the Blues have taken just eight points from their opening six League One fixtures, putting them into 10th.
But Brown isn’t panicking over the slow start.
He added: ‘Every time I’ve been promoted, it has never been a flying start and never been a bad start - always a steady start.
‘Last year Ipswich were top of the table at Christmas and sometimes it’s good to be a bit of a slow burner where everyone thinks “Ah, they’re not that good this year”.
‘Go a bit under the radar and then start building momentum, just keep plugging away.
‘Six games in, it’s not a disaster at the moment. Nowhere near it.’
The number of clean sheet registered by the Blues this season
Mark Catlin has launched a withering attack as the Football League plunges towards catastrophe.
In a wide-ranging interview with
Pompey’s chief executive…
Branded the Premier League’s rescue package as ‘derisory’, ‘divisive’, and individually worth less than the Blues make from a single match.
Labelled the FA’s Greg Clarke’s B team and Premier League 2 suggestion as ‘perverse, astonishing and disappointing’.
Described Project
Big Picture as having ‘unacceptable’ and ‘unpalatable elements’, yet acknowledged a number of positive aspects which required work.
Accused the government of ‘bleeding the industry dry’, with no tax relief or financial assistance for struggling football clubs.
Last Thursday, Pompey were among League One and League Two clubs who unanimously rejected the Premier League’s proposed £50m rescue package.
Earlier, Premier League clubs had discarded Project Big Picture, a blueprint backed by EFL chairman Rick Parry which also contained financial support to the lower divisions.
The dramatic end to the week now leaves nothing on the table – with cashstrapped clubs still unable to admit supporters and fighting for their futures.
Catlin told The News: ‘Someone somewhere – whether it be the government, the Premier League or both – needs to find a solution for solving this crisis. And it needs to happen soon.
‘If £20m grants had been made available in the first weeks of the pandemic to stop clubs having to borrow then it might, at that point,