APL PREDICTION LEAGUE & PREVIEW –
PORTSMOUTH*********** DOUBLE BUBBLE GAME ***********As the saying goes, we’ve made our bed, and we now must lie in it, the Transfer Window has slammed shut and we must make the best of what we have at our disposal, and in the grand scheme of things on paper at least we should have the capabilities to get out of this mess we find ourselves in, unfortunately though we don’t play on paper and something is going to have to change very fast as not only are we playing bad, many around us seem to have lifted their game to compound our struggle.
We have 17 games to turn around a season many did not think possible despite the warning signs going back as far as pre-season, I’ve been painted as a doom and gloom merchant, and it gives me no pleasure to say, “I told you so”, but I did.
I know many will be disappointed that we never got around to strengthening our forward line, but I suppose paying off Neilson and his team put paid to that, but I will say I don’t think all the blame for lack of goals falls firmly at the feet of our strikers......no pun intended. It’s no secret that our last decent strikers were Grigg and Afobe but look at the service they got from our midfield, and what a quality midfield it was.
I cannot be the only one that has noticed the runs our forwards put in, and funnily enough the same runs Afobe and Grigg made, the only difference that separates them is, our forwards for the last three years have fed off scraps, whereby the previously mentioned pair, lived on a rich diet of opportunities provided for them.
I’m not sure how this Dons ethos of attacking football went astray, possibly it was the Championship season where Robinson felt a hopeful ball forward could result in a loss of possession, so he encouraged us not to play the low percentage pass and we became over defensive. Fast forward to the Neilson era and that mentality seems to have become firmly embedded within our style of play, and don’t say we weren’t warned by Jam Tart fans that Neilson was all about don’t lose first and foremost.
So the task for “Dan, the man with a plan” is to shake off the shackles of this inhibiting style, can he do it, well I guess we will see very soon, in honesty if he hits the ground running I will be surprised, but I remain hopeful that he can teach some of these young dogs a few new tricks, if we go down, lets go kicking and screaming into League 2, not with a whimper like we did when we flirted with life in the Championship.
All we can do now is hold tight, support the team and ride the inevitable roller-coaster to the final game of the season, and just hope that we can do enough to salvage something out of this car crash of a season, and hope we learn a few valuable lessons, and act on them instead of doing the same thing repeatedly............ now wouldn’t that make a refreshing change.
Moving along, its Pompey at home, number 30 on the APL list which makes it a
DOUBLE BUBBLE game, meaning all points won by you will be doubled.
PORTSMOUTH – THE STORY SO FARCurrently Portsmouth sit in 9th place in the league table with a playing record of
PLAYED 30, WON 13, DRAWN 4, LOST 13, GF 36 & GA 35, with 43 POINTS to their name.
Pompey Form at a Glance - WLDLLD
Their results are as follows in chronological order.
Portsmouth 2 Rochdale 0
Oxford 3 Portsmouth 0
Portsmouth 1 Walsall 1
Wigan 1 Portsmouth 1
Portsmouth 0 Rotherham 1
AFC Kingston 0 Portsmouth 2
Northampton 3 Portsmouth 1
Portsmouth 4 Fleetwood 1
Scunthorpe 2 Portsmouth 0
Portsmouth 3 Bristol Rovers 0
Portsmouth 1 Oldham 2
Gillingham 0 Portsmouth 1
Portsmouth 2 MK Dons 0
Doncaster 2 Portsmouth 1
Blackburn 3 Portsmouth 0
Portsmouth 0 Bradford 1
Blackpool 2 Portsmouth 3
Portsmouth 1 Southend 0
Peterborough 2 Portsmouth 1
Portsmouth 1 Plymouth 0
Charlton 0 Portsmouth 1
Portsmouth 1 Bury 0
Shrewsbury 2 Portsmouth 0
Portsmouth 2 KFC Chicken 1
Portsmouth 3 Northampton 1
Bristol Rovers 2 Portsmouth 1
Portsmouth 1 Scunthorpe 1
Rotherham 1 Portsmouth 0
Portsmouth 0 Shrewsbury 1
Portsmouth 2 Doncaster 2
THE MANAGERKenneth “Kenny” Francis Jackett aged 55 and born in Watford.
A rare commodity in the modern game, and like Dean Lewington a one club man, as a defensive midfielder he played his youth games at Bushey Rangers and Watford, before signing pro-papers at Watford in 1980. His career spanned 10 years where he played for his hometown club on 428 occasions scoring 34 goals until a long-term knee injury forced his retirement at just 28.
He also represented Wales on 31 occasions.
6 years after his playing retirement he returned to his place of birth to manage Watford under the guidance of the then Director of Football, Graham Taylor. After one season Jackett took a backward step being demoted to first team coach and Taylor taking over as a manager, but the move worked and Watford gained successive promotions to the Premiership, although they were relegated after one season. The following season he was released following the appointment of Gianluca Vialli.
He has also had spells at Swansea City (Resigned). Millwall (Resigned), Wolves (Sacked), Rotherham (Resigned after just 39 days).
In June of last year he was announced as the new Pompey boss on a 2-year contract after former boss Paul Cook resigned to take over at Wigan......would you be surprised if he resigned again ?
In total he has overseen 711 GAMES in his career with a record of
WON 308, DRAWN 180, LOST 223, that’s just a fraction over a 43% WIN RATIO.
FORMER MANAGERSJackett is the 48th manager at Pompey with many famous names once being in charge, there have also been 8 caretaker managers, to name a few we have, former assistant and temporary manager at MK Richie Barker, Gary Waddock, Guy Whittingham, Steve Cotterill, Avram Grant, Paul Hart, Tony Adams, Harry Rednapp on two occasions, Joe Jordan, Graham Rix, Steve Claridge, Tony Pullis, Bob McNab, Alan Ball, Terry Fenwick, Jim Smith, John Gregory, Graham Paddon and Ian St John.
FORMER PLAYERSAgain, plenty of famous names that have once graced the turf at Fratton Park including, former MK boss Martin Allen, MK top scorer Izale McLeod, Darren Anderton, MK favourite Carl Baker, Dave Beasant, Andy Cole, Mick Channon, Peter Crouch, John Akinde, Sol Campbell, Jermain Defoe, Justin Edinburgh, Gerry Francis, the famous C.B Fry who represented England at football and cricket and jointly held the long jump world record, Glen Johnson, Chris Kamara, Paul Mariner, Paul Merson, Teddy Sheringham, Ron Saunders and former Don Rowan Vine.
FAMOUS FANProbably the most famous Pompey fan of all time is John Portsmouth Football Club Westwood, yes that is his full legal name.
He has 60 Portsmouth tattoos’, including PFC engraved on his teeth.
You won’t mistake him if you see him, trust me, wearing blue and white from top to toe, a large stove pipe hat, a blue and white wig, large clown type shoes, and incessantly ringing a hand bell.
He was once thrown out of arch rivals Southampton ground for openly urinating over seats in the away end.
THE MASCOTNelson the dog.
SHOOTERS BOOTSBrett Pitman with an impressive 15 goals in all comps.
CURRENT MATCH ODDSMK Dons
11/8 (SkyBet) Draw
12/5 (SunBet) Portsmouth
13/8 (William Hill).
LAST TIME ROUNDSaturday 14th October 2017 – Portsmouth 2 MK Dons 0
Team – Nicholls, Wootton, Ebanks-Landell, Golbourne, Ariyibi, Cisse (Agard), Gilbey, Nesbitt (Aneke), Upson, Brittain (Williams), Sow
Unused Subs – Sietsma, Lewington, Walsh, Seager
Goals – Hawkins 14’, 45’.
Referee – Graham Horwood (4 Yellows)
Attendance – 17,608 (580 Dons fans)
League Position at the time of fixture – Pompey 8th, Dons 14th.
HEAD 2 HEAD v PORTSMOUTH2017/18 – Portsmouth 2 MK Dons 0
2012/13 – Portsmouth 1 MK Dons 1 (Williams)
2012/13 – MK Dons 2 Portsmouth 2 (Own Goal, Potter)
APL Fact - Our first ever meeting in 2012 saw Izale Mcleod score for Portsmouth, in the return fixture McLeod had returned to play for the MK Dons.
YOU’VE GOT NO HISTORY1st Division (Premiership) Champions – 1948/49, 1949/50
2nd Division (Championship) Champions – 2002/03
3rd Division (EFL League 1) Champions – 1923/24, 1961/62, 1982/83
4th Division (EFL League 2) Champions – 2016/17
FA Cup Winners – 1939, 2008
FA Cup Runners Up – 1929, 1934, 2010
PREDICTIONThat’s it for another week, it’s down to you now to make your prediction, remember you can only predict an MK Dons player to score, or No Scorer, Own Goals do not count.
The deadline of 1 hour remains as do the rules of the competition,
and don’t forget all points scored for this game will be doubled.
Rock the Kazbar.
WellDonEXAMPLEMK Dons 1 Portsmouth 1
MKDFGS - Tavernier