Pompey Whines? Portsmouth Away. 24/9/22 Postponed

[Bruce Rioja]

I've just been reading an article in the Evening News in which Portsmouth's manager, Danny Cowley, claims he'd rather tomorrow's game be going ahead, and whilst respecting our decision, it was us who pulled the game.

Are we taking the piss a little here?

We have the following players away on international duty;

Dion Charles and Conor Bradley - Northern Ireland
Amadou Bakayoko - Sierra Leone
James Trafford - England U21
Owen Beck - Wales U21

A couple of weeks ago I looked at our starting XI and our bench against MKD, and thought to myself that this is quite possibly the strongest squad (barring goalkeepers), relevant to the division we're in, that I've ever known us have.

I cannot see any justifiable reason as to why we've pulled this game in favour of future fixture congestion simply because of who we've lost. Only Trafford cannot be readily replaced by someone of fairly equal contribution. Three of them aren't even ours and can be pulled, presumably, by their parent clubs at any time anyway.

[BWFC_Insane]

The fact Portsmouth don’t seem to be being completely honest about this aside….

When this was postponed we expected Jon Dad to also be called up.

Which would mean we’d be left with Dapo and Kachunga up front. Not exactly a natural pairing given both play a similar sort of role and neither are exactly setting the world alight.

We’d not have Bradley or Beck so I’m struggling to see an equally as good as Bradley RWB.

And we’d have Dixon in nets…

Frankly if we’d played it that would have been lunacy.

[Mar]

I'd argue that its the right decision based upon the people we have available. The fact that we've not got competent coverage in the goalkeeping area despite knowing that we've had issues in that area have pretty much ensured we have to postpone this match.

Despite having these unavailable:

Dion Charles and Conor Bradley - Northern Ireland
Amadou Bakayoko - Sierra Leone
James Trafford - England U21
Owen Beck - Wales U21

We would've also had the consideration of Bodvarsson being potentially unavailable meaning that it would've like been Dapo / Kachunga up top. Hardly first choice selection when we've wanted these players out wide.

No point impacting our availability when we have the option to field a stronger XI.

[Worthy4England]

Dixon for Traf? Might as well just give 'em the points and retain the day off.

[Bruce Rioja]

When this was postponed we expected Jon Dad to also be called up.

But the fact remains that he hasn't been, and now they'll have to travel to the arse end of England for a wedged-in midweeker.

[officer_dibble]

Dixon for Traf? Might as well just give 'em the points and retain the day off.

Agreed, you don’t need to look any further than the keeper. However Evatt doesn’t usually worry too much about who goes in goals.

[Worthy4England]

^^ I think he'd worry a bit more about it, if his first pick was Dixon.

[BWFC_Insane]

When this was postponed we expected Jon Dad to also be called up.

But the fact remains that he hasn't been, and now they'll have to travel to the arse end of England for a wedged-in midweeker.

Well yes. The alternative was playing 2nd in the table flying Portsmouth with arguably our two first choice strikers missing, Dixon in nets and someone shoe horned in at RWB. Not sure that was an appetising prospect. It’s a hard game regardless but I’d absolutely take our chances midweek over that scenario.

[Bruce Rioja]

When this was postponed we expected Jon Dad to also be called up.

But the fact remains that he hasn't been, and now they'll have to travel to the arse end of England for a wedged-in midweeker.

Well yes. The alternative was playing 2nd in the table flying Portsmouth with arguably our two first choice strikers missing, Dixon in nets and someone shoe horned in at RWB. Not sure that was an appetising prospect. It’s a hard game regardless but I’d absolutely take our chances midweek over that scenario.

So what you're saying, ultimately, is that without a couple of borrowed novices, we're fecked.

Fair enough, but I disagree.

[BWFC_Insane]

When this was postponed we expected Jon Dad to also be called up.

But the fact remains that he hasn't been, and now they'll have to travel to the arse end of England for a wedged-in midweeker.

Well yes. The alternative was playing 2nd in the table flying Portsmouth with arguably our two first choice strikers missing, Dixon in nets and someone shoe horned in at RWB. Not sure that was an appetising prospect. It’s a hard game regardless but I’d absolutely take our chances midweek over that scenario.

So what you're saying, ultimately, is that without a couple of borrowed novices, we're fecked.

Fair enough, but I disagree.

Not really but I’d rather go to Portsmouth if we can with Trafford, Jon Dad, Dion and Bradley. It’s probably a game we lose anyway but rather have our best team for it than not.

[Worthy4England]

Certainly without one borrowed novice we're fcuked...albeit we could give Hutchinson a go...

[The_Gun]

We are fecked without Trafford and Bradley - they’re possibly our two best players.

Looks a good call to me.

[MattySlug]

Good Luck to both Pompey & The One and only Bolton Wanderers for this season!
May we both be battling each other in the Championship next season!!!

[boltonboris]

100% the right decision to postpone the game in my opinion and it was Portsmouth who initially indicated to the EFL that the game could be subject to postponement, as they had players who they thought would be called up, but weren't