martyn

Mavididi has been a disgrace

This defending is an absolute disgrace.

Officials stuffing us again

I'm here for the Skipp redemption arc

Cifuentes may not be the guy, but ultimately we're now reaping what we've sown for several years of abject misdirection off the pitch. At some point we have to stick with a manager as this is going to be a long term rebuild.

Luke Thomas is so so bad

Think that was a foul on Bamford tbh

He's such a confidence player. Just 30 seconds prior he took his man on for the first time in about 4 games, beat him, then puts in that peach.

Declan Rice has become a great player. So much better when he has licence to carry the ball. He was never a sitting number 6.

I don't think that is a foul on Fatawu but the ref has given those in Soton's favour all night so far

Looks offside

Plus you have to take into account the other signings. They've bought a lot of younger up and coming players. Bringing in a genuine quality, experienced player, even for that money is proving sensible. Despite being derided at Arsenal, Xhaka is a European level player.

Absolute nonsense. Nelson was an awkward fall landing after a jump and Okoli's was a head/neck injury. Not like they've pulled up with hamstrings after a sprint.

The bar is incredibly low, but i think it's pretty obvious Daka is our most effective striker. None of them can hit a barn door, but he offers more than the rest in terms of work rate and keeping defenders occupied.

BDCR sub changed the game. Would like to see him starting at 10 for a bit. Jordan James excellent also, and thought Daka, for all of his many many faults proved again why he is the most effective striker we have, albeit it's a low bar. I don't ever want to see Oliver Skipp again.

Edit - duplicate post x2

Edit - duplicate post

James next to Winks was good for 45 minutes granted, then got absolutely torn apart in transition 2nd half against Portsmouth. Who then plays the 10 with any dynamism? Nothing is a magic bullet with this blend of players.

Replace an absolute non factor in Skipp. Replacing abysmal with poor is still an improvement.

I'd give Hamza a run in central midfield.

Doesn't look good for Nelson

Everyone complaining about the starting XI week after week and putting it on Cifuentes. At what point does it dawn on people that the squad isnt up to it. Nobody on that bench can really complain about being there.

Several people suggested he was "fine" at this level.

Because the midfield was getting totally dominated from 45-70. Yes we know individually James is a better player, but that change was needed.

I'll go against the grain a bit, yes we were poor 2nd half but credit to Portsmouth and their manager, they came out and brought a level of pressing from the front and intensity that we couldn't deal with from 45-70 minutes and was higher than I've seen from a side at this level for a while. We would have lapped that up under Enzo and gone 2-0 or 3-0 up, but we had no answer this evening. It laid bare Stolarczyk's distribution for one The midfield also got overrun second half. That Winks, James and Ramsey trio will give higher highs on possession, but they got bypassed so easily once Portsmouth turned up the energy. Easy to criticise Cifuentes, but the changes he made were all spot on. I don't lay too much blame on him, the players were simply unable to stem the flow once the tide turned at the beginning of the 2nd half. We also still carry certain individuals who aren't good enough at this level. I really really hope Luke Thomas is not our starting left back for too much longer.