Sunderland chief highlights Blues’ glaring weakness in two sentences
LEE JOHNSON respectfully conceded Pompey were the ‘better side’ for the opening 25 minutes and credited them with providing a stern physical test.
Then, in 15 words, he was able to diagnose, with laser precision, the vulnerability of Danny Cowley’s team, whose play-off aspirations hinge on a resolution.
‘How many saves did Hoffs (Thorben Hoffmann) have to make today? I can’t remember one of note,’ reflected Sunderland’s head coach during his post-match address.
The Blues ventured to the Stadium of Light on Saturday and bossed the majority of possession, while piling up 11 goal attempts compared to the hosts’ eight.
Certainly Cowley thought the visitors’ display warranted a draw, irrespective of the 1-0 outcome which left a triumphant Black Cats level on points with leaders Wigan at the League One summit.
Pompey could not be faulted for effort and determination against the promotion candidates. Indeed, the decisive goal was supplied by a defensive mistake rather than being cleaved open by wonderful football.
Nonetheless, their fragility in the final third is glaring – and proving ever costly.
The Blues managed two shots on target, of which one was a low effort from Sean Raggett in the first half which had Sunderland stopper Hoffmann diving to his left to keep it out with little trouble.
That was the precise sum of their attacking intent. For all their superior possession stats, for their
NEIL ALLEN
greater number of shots, for that encouraging opening 25 minutes, that was it.
A mere two attempts on target during 90 minutes of football. Johnson was not wrong with his appraisal.
Therein lies the problem for Cowley, whose goal-shy side have now failed to register in four of their last six matches in League One.
The Blues deserve praise for conceding just three times
during that same period, contributing to the third-best defensive record in the division.
However, their ongoing attacking deficiencies are threatening to condemn them to not even a realistic play-off challenge this season.
Cowley’s claim of warranting a draw was a fair observation, yet Pompey require wins – otherwise a point is the maximum they will ever reap from tight occasions, such as the one witnessed in the north east on Saturday. Certainly nobody expected the issue to be miraculously resolved the minute Ellis Harrison and John Marquis – those two-and-a-halfyear Fratton Park underachievers – were shown the door. Regardless of the arrival of Tyler Walker from Coventry to at last provide a cutting edge, there remain obvious issues in terms of creativity and quality of delivery in the final third.
At one point in the first half, Black Cats right wing-back Lynden
Gooch delivered a sumptuous cross from the right which narrowly eluded Ross Stewart’s desperate lunge at the far post.
On the opposite flank, Dennis Cirkin, an England under-20 international and summer recruit from Spurs, was an impressive performer and similarly threatening with the ball at his feet.
In contrast, Reeco Hackett’s end product is infuriatingly substandard, while Mahlon
Romeo is a fine player yet needs to capitalise more in advanced positions.
For a side relying on wing-backs to provide their width and balls into the box, it’s an area of the pitch clearly underachieving – our eyes and Pompey’s goal tally is irrefutable proof.
While Hackett has been challenged to adjust to an unfamiliar left wing-back role, he should still be able to deliver a decent cross considering his background as a natural winger.
Saturday was another poor outing from the 24-year-old, whose noticeable improvement during the first half of the season is now frustratingly unravelling.
While Hackett can be excused for defensive failings in foreign surrounds, as an attacking force he must produce a far higher calibre of distribution from the left flank.
Not that the point is lost on Cowley, of course, who this week hopes to finalise a deal for Denver Hume from, ironically, Sunderland.
For Pompey’s visit, the 23-yearold was left out of the Black
Cats’ squad for the first time in eight matches, later explained by Johnson as a consequence of
‘How many saves did Hoffs have to make today? I can’t remember one of note’ – Johnson sums up Pompey’s failings as lack of goal threat proves costly again. reports...
ongoing transfer talks between the clubs.
How the Blues require such an addition to their team, with Hackett and Lee Brown unsuited to the left wing-back role and the demands required by their head coach.
Not that blame for Pompey’s final-third wastefulness should be apportioned solely to the wing-back areas – others in the side are just as culpable.
George Hirst, a substitute at the Stadium of Light, is not the player he was before the team’s coronavirus-enforced break and, on Saturday, planted a late gilt-edged header over the bar.
In Ronan Curtis, who in fairness started brightly and was at the heart of everything good about