- 1 year ago
Pepe Lacey is joined by Jordan Cross to discuss the key talking points from Pompey's south-coast derby draw against Southampton.
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00:00Hello and welcome to the latest, well, we'll call it bite-sized edition of Pompey Talk.
00:06I'm Pepe Laysen. Today, I'm joined by Jordan Cross to go over Sunday's South Coast derby
00:10against St Ampton. George, I don't know if you can hear, but my voice is still struggling.
00:15I was in the away end at St Mary's. You were obviously up in the press box.
00:18I'd say that was a positive point for Pompey.
00:21Yeah, on reflection, I think going in, that would have been an outcome that was satisfying.
00:30And just the way it unfolded. I mean, obviously, that affords context, the way Pompey performed,
00:36the way the afternoon unfolded, the way Pompey fans were, the way Southampton fans were,
00:43if I'm honest. We can go into that. And just everything about it.
00:49The performance, obviously, there was probably a degree of trepidation for Pompey fans
00:57maybe a few weeks ago at the fact that they were facing their rivals, you know,
01:02while they're still setting into the Championship.
01:04They're coming out of the Premier League, their resources compared to Pompey and what could have happened.
01:07So I think that switched to more enthusiasm, slightly more ahead of the game with the transfer deadline.
01:13Pompey starts the season, kind of Chaplin, etc.
01:15And it was well justified, wasn't it? The performance, there was a number of excellent performances.
01:22Pompey continue to find a way to close the gap with teams at Championship level.
01:28The teams with greater resources, they've done it before.
01:30They've done it last season, the likes of the Leeds game being a standout.
01:34And now they've shown that they've done it against their rivals,
01:38that Southampton come out of their spending ability and the players they have in the ranks.
01:46And Pompey, for my money, were probably the more impressive team and the more determined team.
01:54The team that played certainly stood out and were the better team in the first half
01:57and were probably the better team across the night.
02:00Yeah, they were the better team across the 90 minutes.
02:02They were, they were.
02:03And yes, I mean, and again, with another issue we can pick up on, Pep,
02:09this is a suggestion from Will Steele when I've heard from sort of some people around the Southampton cap
02:14that Pompey defended for 90 minutes is an utter nonsense
02:18and came for a draw for a night and played in that way for 90 minutes.
02:22Again, an utter nonsense.
02:24They were excellent in the first half and front-footed.
02:27And progressive.
02:29And in the second, they were more resolute and defensive and Southampton got on top.
02:34But for all that, what did Southampton create?
02:38I mean, Pompey were excellent defensively.
02:40Colossal performances from shot Nessie and Paul.
02:42I can remember Cameron Archer going around and kill it.
02:44Force wide, shot across goal.
02:46Jordan Williams clearing it.
02:47I think that would be just about the best of it.
02:50And I can probably pick out four or five decent openings for Pompey in response to that.
02:55I want to focus on that first half in particular because no doubt the message from John Messino
03:01and the Pompey camp would have been, let's get out of them early.
03:04Let's quieten the St. Mary's crowd who were, well, already quiet as they were.
03:11But Pompey got at them early doors.
03:13And then Andre Di Zelle started positively hitting the bar eight minutes in.
03:17And then the chances kept flowing for Pompey.
03:19And no doubt that would have been the message from John Messino is let's get out of them early.
03:23And that's exactly what Pompey did.
03:25Yeah, but the way that they kind of got at them went about silence in the crowd.
03:30And I think Pompey from two hours beforehand, I was lucky enough to be in that stadium when the players arrived
03:35and there was a sprinting of fans around.
03:37There was a great reception, spine tingling.
03:40Connor Chaplin called it when he arrived.
03:42And the atmosphere wrapped up.
03:43But it was a good atmosphere around kickoff.
03:45They might need a T-fo and some flames to do it.
03:48But there was a good atmosphere around kickoff.
03:50And it was noisy for the start of the game.
03:55But Pompey soon, really, it really shut them down, really.
03:59And the Pompey fans, you know, I went on the match report and Connor Chaplin.
04:03They were relentless throughout, which we come to expect.
04:06Yeah, but Pompey were, the way it unfolded was almost like Pompey with a home side.
04:12I expected them to kind of be resilient, sturdy and effective on their counter,
04:16which is what they've done a lot for a lot of John's tenure as they've evolved in the championship.
04:22But they were the ones that kind of came out front-footed.
04:24And I looked at the stats about 20, 25 minutes in.
04:28I think Pompey had five or six shots on goal to zero, one for Southampton.
04:33And I think they're up in about 60% possession compared to their 40, obviously.
04:39So that really, it really kind of was a strong sort of reflection of how Pompey were on top.
04:45Now, I can think of before Dizel hit the crossbar, which is probably the game's best chance.
04:52I can think of Connor Chaplin firing wide early on.
04:55I can think of after that, it opened up for Connor and he thought, here we go.
04:59This is man of heaven for him on his second Pompey debut to banging the goals on the edge of the box.
05:03And an excellent block, last-ditch box from Shea Charles, I remember, putting the kibosh on that one.
05:11Ogilvy, I remember, heading wide in the first half.
05:13And I also remember Colby Bishop having a very presentable chance in which he followed around the post.
05:17So, decent openings.
05:19Second half, very little from either side.
05:21So, the archer one, Paul had a header.
05:23But, yeah, going back to your point, Pompey were quite right to feel very pleased with their efforts in the first 45 minutes.
05:30And then a different performance from that afterwards, which they could also feel pleased with.
05:34Yeah, I want to touch on the atmosphere because you were there, like me, two hours before kick-off.
05:40The Pompey fans were slowly starting to filter in.
05:42The atmosphere in the concourse was electric.
05:44The atmosphere in the stands was electric.
05:46But then it didn't really feel like it was reciprocated from the Southampton fans.
05:50What was it like with the press box obviously being in the Southampton end?
05:55What was it like being in there?
05:59I thought, well, I was kind of obviously eyes on the Pompey end.
06:02So, I was kind of a third of the way, sort of opposite the Pompey fans, on the other side of the stadium.
06:09So, a fair distance away, but close enough to kind of see what it was like from both camps.
06:15And Pompey were excellent, and it was a joy to watch, really, enjoying themselves.
06:21And, you know, the Southampton fans filtered in, they were quiet, and then you expected it to ramp up.
06:26And then it kind of did as though, kind of, because Pompey were in on mass early, weren't they?
06:30So, you know, just playing devil's advocate slightly.
06:33But then when it got up, it very quickly flattened out.
06:36And Southampton fans were disappointed, weren't they?
06:39And I think what spoke volumes was, as the frustration grew, there was some consternation within about 20-odd minutes, I'd say, from the home fans.
06:48Some groans and moans, and then it kind of, it wasn't going their way.
06:52They weren't happy with the performance.
06:55And it kind of grew.
06:56And, yeah, you could see Southampton fans felt flat about it.
07:00And the ultimate way to find it was the boos on the final wish, were very audible boos.
07:07Yeah, which kind of represented a job well done for Pompey.
07:10And let's have it right, the bookies aren't often wrong.
07:13They had Southampton three to four on, Pompey nearly four to one.
07:17I think you had sensible, knowledgeable, impartial EFL sort of pundits talking about this game.
07:24And saying it, and they were favouring Southampton quite right.
07:26Because they should have, you know, this game gets played a hundred times in those, whether it's Southampton or any other team coming out of the Premier League.
07:33And Pompey being where they are in a way, you know, budget hierarchy in the Championship.
07:39Yeah, Southampton should be the team that should be dominating.
07:43So, I think Southampton fans will feel disappointed.
07:46And now, I think they're probably actually probably starting to question where their money's gone this season.
07:50Conversely, you look at Pompey and you're like, congrats to Rich Hughes.
07:53Congrats to John Messina, the football operation, because they've assembled a squad now with depth and quality way beyond the means that they've been given at Championship level.
08:04And that's some gum.
08:05I mean, you look at that team now and you look at that attacking quartet and you think you probably take that over many, many sides in the Championship.
08:12So, slightly waffling again, Pepe, but I think there's lots of reasons to be cheerful for Pompey fans at the moment and particularly after yesterday's events.
08:22Yeah, and I know you just mentioned full-time there.
08:24There was a couple of, I wouldn't say handbags, but there was a slight coming together.
08:29Handbags, I see what you've done there.
08:31Handbags.
08:32Handbags.
08:33Handbags between John Messina and Will Steele.
08:35There wouldn't be a South Coast derby without any controversy, would there, George?
08:39It's a handshake incident which has took social media by storm, really.
08:46It's gathered quite a lot of attraction to it.
08:49Yeah, there was an incident within 60 seconds over a throw-in that John Messina mentioned beforehand.
09:00And John, as he would be the first to admit, he will be in the fourth official here all the time.
09:06He doesn't really try to engage or like to engage with the opposing bench.
09:11And I think he was suggesting that wasn't reciprocated on the other side from Will Steele.
09:14So, yeah, the handshake incident, yeah, I don't know.
09:19Maybe Will still needs a nice, you know, need to get off the moisturiser on his nice little mitts or something
09:23because it's an interesting reaction.
09:28I don't know.
09:29He just looked like a firm handshake to me.
09:30Maybe it's a little bit.
09:31I don't know.
09:32I don't know.
09:33I watched it back and trying to work out what the fuss was all about.
09:36I think John Messina was, but it's quite amusing.
09:38And, again, what you have to do for that one is, if you're on both sides of the camp and that one,
09:44how it played out is look at what the impartial people are saying about it.
09:47And I know, looking at that, I think Will Steele's the one that's come off second best in that scenario.
09:54Yeah.
09:55And, again, I think in the words after the game, John Messina played it fantastically in the press conference.
10:00And Will Steele, the way he presented himself, perhaps, yeah.
10:04I know who I would rather have on my side at the moment if I had to pick between the two of them.
10:11Yeah, it's a comical sort of incident, but it was a fast-paced, at times, aggressive encounter.
10:19And that's what we were sort of expecting, wasn't it?
10:21It was going to be tight and it's going to be close at times.
10:25And being in the away end, it might not have felt it.
10:28I've seen quite a lot of things on impartial people on social media saying that it wasn't the greatest game in the world.
10:34But for Pompey, despite them being on top for large parts of the game, whenever Southampton attacked,
10:41there was always that, oh, they're not quite out of danger.
10:44So it did feel at times that it was quite a fast-paced game, given the fact every time Southampton attacked,
10:52despite Pompey's dominance at times, Southampton were still there.
10:57Yeah. Oh, of course. So they should be.
11:01It's interesting. It was kind of the way the reports of media and the Southampton media have reported on the game.
11:08It's intriguing, actually, in the fact that Southampton have gone on, and Will still, the way he spoke about it,
11:15the fact that it was not a very good derby, they called it drab.
11:18That kind of reflects on why one camp has reason to be more infused than the other.
11:25The fact that they're highlighting that probably shows the way the afternoon's gone for them, as opposed to Pompey.
11:31So I think everyone, even in Southampton, reporters saying that it was a moral victory for Pompey.
11:37So, yeah, Portsmouth, no doubt, the club, with reasons to be cheerful,
11:42because they're coming from a place where, you know, seven years in League One,
11:48the club, we know about the well-documented troubles and where Southampton have been.
11:53It's evident now that the gap between the clubs isn't particularly there anymore,
11:58despite the immense resources that are superior resources.
12:03I mean, 5,229 days, Pompey are now above Southampton,
12:07and that case remains at the back of the end of the afternoon.
12:11So, as I say, yeah, you take your blue-tinted spectacles off,
12:16and if you look at it with a balanced view,
12:21it's just Pompey are in a much more positive place than their friends along the M27 at the moment.
12:27Something that was made so clear yesterday, and you've touched on it a minute ago,
12:33was the difference in budget and the difference in spending over the summer.
12:38Pompey spent around £5 million during the summer in and around there,
12:41and then you look at Southampton, he spent over £50 million,
12:44and Pompey went toe-to-toe with them.
12:47And not just Southampton, but they're proving a lot of teams wrong at early doors this season already.
12:53You look at West Brom, got a draw away at West Brom,
12:56and they've beaten the likes of Preston and Oxford.
12:59OK, Oxford don't have the biggest budget in the world.
13:01But Pompey are continuing to improve and continuing to impress as well.
13:06I mean, the first five games of the season,
13:09eight points, a draw away at Southampton as well.
13:11That's an incredibly positive start to the season.
13:14It is, and obviously you go year on year, and how much that tough start and adjustment impacted last year.
13:23Now, Pompey are another 12 months into their evolution, into hopefully becoming a championship force one day.
13:28But they still brought in 11 players this summer, so there's going to be a lot of bedded in still.
13:33But the kind of issues that were the problem last year at the back,
13:37kind of Pompey are kind of now and down to more of a back four now.
13:40And I think for all, when Pompey were here this time last year,
13:43we were talking about the problems being at the other end of the pitch as well.
13:46John Messina was always clear.
13:48It was the unsettled back four that was the biggest concern.
13:52So, they settled that then.
13:55And, you know, you've got Josh Knight waiting in the wings at the moment.
13:57A really, really, really good operator.
13:59But Pompey, how could you take out?
14:01You can't take change in the shock.
14:02Nessie and Paul are absolutely colossal against them.
14:04There's three clean sheets in the first five games as well,
14:06which Pompey were the second worst defensive side in the league last year.
14:10And they've got three clean sheets in the first five.
14:12It's an incredible turnaround.
14:14Yeah, yeah.
14:15What I would say, it's been a great start.
14:18But now Pompey are entering a period starting with the Southampton game
14:22where they have got some real good tests coming up on the horizon, haven't they?
14:25Obviously, you've got Sheffield Wednesday this weekend.
14:27But, you know, the likes of Ipswich Town and Leicester City
14:29and Coe are not too far down the line.
14:31So, let's reconvene at the kind of October, November time.
14:36And, you know, ultimately, the league really starts to take form around Christmas.
14:40But for Pompey, I'm pretty clear about where I think Pompey should be at the moment.
14:44And it's still kind of looking at, you know, around 16th in the table.
14:49John Massino always trying to not index it to the league
14:53because of Pompey's strong finish probably last season,
14:55pushed them a little bit more beyond where they probably actually realistically were.
15:01But, yeah, to say, I mean, I've said this before and I've said this a couple of times.
15:06If Pompey now can establish himself as a mid-table,
15:09even, dare I say, a top-half championship team this season,
15:12that's an incredible turnaround, incredible improvement, sorry.
15:16And that should be something that, you know, we should seize upon given the opportunity.
15:22The fact we're even talking that way and looking so optimistically at this point
15:27is testament to the key players in the club's football operation.
15:31Yeah, just one thing to end off.
15:34And that's obviously the injuries to Nicola Schmidt and Conor Ogilvy.
15:38You were obviously there with John after the game.
15:41What's sort of the latest and sort of the aftermath from that?
15:46Yeah, John was really unhappy about it.
15:49And I wasn't sure what it was all about at first.
15:52I came, I was finishing my match report, got sort of mid-interview with John
15:56when he was doing the radio stuff before the written press conference at St Mary's.
16:00And he was full throttle about fellows and I couldn't quite work out.
16:05It's only when I saw the replay, because my initial assessment of the situation was
16:11Nico Schmidt had looked to me to have a rush of blood to the head and came charging out
16:15and probably didn't need to be where he was.
16:17And Ogilvy probably had the situation under control.
16:20That's probably, that is the case, actually.
16:22Although I would kind of caveat that with the fact that Nico has come out of his box
16:26a number of times this season to good effect.
16:27And that's really been, that proactive nature is a real, real positive.
16:33That said, then you see that there was a push from fellows on him, on Ogilvy.
16:37And even though it was a slight one, it helped him on his way.
16:40So that was what John took exception to.
16:44And I can see it.
16:45So now, and then further to your question, there's obviously some real concerns now
16:48about possible fracture now for Nico Schmidt.
16:51He'd be having a scan around about today, around about now,
16:55as he'd record this at two o'clock on Monday.
16:58He would have been having or had that scan.
17:00So they'd be writing on the results on that.
17:03Connor was not in a good way either, really was not in a good way.
17:06So he had a kind of cartoon style lump.
17:11You could see it from the away end.
17:13You could see how brilliant.
17:14That's it, was it, really?
17:15It was a stack there.
17:16Yeah, so that probably speaks volumes.
17:19But the problem wasn't so much that, or Connor's good looks,
17:24as the fact that it was, he couldn't move his neck.
17:28He had to turn his whole body to speak to me.
17:31So I think the issue is going to be lying with the neck.
17:35Now, sometimes that sounds like a bit of a cop-out
17:36when someone's got a massive lump coming out of his head.
17:38Are they trying to dodge the concussion protocols here?
17:41But it was his neck that was the problem, undoubtedly.
17:46So you can't pre-judge.
17:50We have to wait until Wednesday when we speak to John for a clearer idea.
17:53But you're conceivably losing both of them.
17:57Certainly Nico for an extended period, which is an obvious concern,
18:01given how impressive both men have.
18:05That said, they've obviously gone and got Bursic.
18:07Killip coming on cold, I thought was fine.
18:10He did well, really, yesterday.
18:12I know his kicking was poor.
18:13But all things considered, he was pretty level-headed, I thought.
18:19And that was satisfying, obviously.
18:20And then they got Bursic as well.
18:21So, yeah, not ideal, really, for Pompey.
18:24That coming to the Games Cup coming up.
18:26But it's just a case of wait and see.
18:29But before we knock on the head, Pepe, you were on the fun bus, weren't you?
18:32You were on the bubble bus.
18:33I was on the old bubble bus, yeah.
18:35So what was your afternoon?
18:37What was it like from the other side of the coin, the 2,700 Pompey fans?
18:41I mean, I think it's one of my favourite away day, George.
18:44I think it's got to be right up there with one of the best days covering Pompey.
18:48I know a lot of people on social media, specifically Southampton fans,
18:52have been having a go at Pompey fans for celebrating a goalless draw like that.
18:57But you've just got to look at it from the outside and say, look at where Pompey have come.
19:03Pompey have come from League 1, League 2, the depths of English football and close to liquidation
19:08since the last time these two sides met in the league.
19:11Look how far Pompey have come.
19:13Last year, Southampton were in the Premier League and Pompey survived the championship.
19:17And Pompey went into the game above Southampton and there was a real positivity around the 2,700 Pompey fans that were there.
19:28It was such a good day.
19:30Everyone was united.
19:31Everyone was together.
19:34And it was almost like sort of the final thing.
19:36It had a lot of Pompey fans there who obviously had plenty of loyalty points.
19:43Otherwise, you probably wouldn't have got to the game.
19:45So everyone's been there and I looked at it like those days where I did two trips to Bolton in a week.
19:52You look at some of the real hard days covering Pompey, those real bleak times, especially in League 1,
20:00where we built up those loyalty points and everyone's there.
20:02And this is sort of the final reward where you get to St. Mary's away and you can see Pompey play Southampton.
20:08And Pompey, to a man, were fantastic on the pitch, off the pitch, in the stands.
20:12The atmosphere was fantastic.
20:15It was just a brilliant occasion for everyone, everyone involved with the club, really.
20:20And looking at it from a policing point of view and the event as a whole, it was very well managed as well.
20:28We didn't really see any Southampton fans.
20:31Obviously, there was a couple. The police had a police disperse order around the whole location where the Pompey buses were entering.
20:39So there wasn't large amounts of people, Southampton fans there, but there were one or two and they obviously got the treatment from the passing Pompey fans in the buses.
20:49But other than that, we didn't really see any Southampton fans, really.
20:53And so the event as a whole was probably, it was incredibly managed.
20:57There's only, I think, at the time of this video, there's only been one Pompey fan arrest.
21:03And I think that was for trying to dress up as a steward, which is unusual.
21:10I didn't quite see it.
21:11But going in, the turnstiles were closed, everyone had their ticket, so everyone was there.
21:17And it was quite unusual that we all pass through the exit gates to go in rather than going through the turnstiles.
21:23But I think the event was incredibly managed.
21:26And there's definitely been games covering or been in the Pompey away end where you're surrounded by home fans outside.
21:32We didn't see one.
21:34We were all sectioned off.
21:36And it was just a fantastic day to be a part of being a Pompey fan.
21:41It was just brilliant being in that away end.
21:44Everyone's there for one reason.
21:46And Pompey's backing and the support that was given to the team, the team matched it.
21:55John Massino and every single one of those players knew why they were there and represented the club fantastically.
22:02And so did the fans as well.
22:04They didn't really put a bad light on the club one bit.
22:08And that's obviously a proud occasion and a proud moment for Pompey, which I'm sure will get brought up by Andy Cullen at some point.
22:16And yeah, it was a good day, Jules.
22:20And I'm glad I was in the away end because I was meant to work yesterday.
22:24So I'm glad I was so glad I stopped my day off because I got to experience a day like that.
22:29And my voice is still recovering because it was a lot of chanting.
22:35And I did re-watch it.
22:38I recorded it on Sky and ITV, just in case there are any lines for today.
22:43Very professional, Jules.
22:44Yeah, very professional.
22:45But yeah, no, you could hear the Pompey fans on the TV.
22:50And being a Pompey fan, I think Pompey are now above Southampton.
22:58Southampton are out of Bournemouth, Brighton, Pompey and Southampton.
23:01Southampton are the lowest placed in the league.
23:04So, yeah, yeah.
23:08We're coming for you, Chance, seems to be ringing truer than ever at the moment, hopefully.
23:13Yeah, no, it was a good day.
23:15It was a great day.
23:17It was just a proud day to be a Pompey fan.
23:21Proud day to be associated with Pompey.
23:23And it's been a good weekend covering Pompey.
23:26Good, good, good.
23:27Good, good.
23:28Well, on that note, Jules, let's wrap it up.
23:30It was meant to be a bite-sized thing, but we've been going for five minutes.
23:34It never is.
23:36But you can catch, I'm sure there'll be a Pompey talk later in the week after John Messino's
23:41pre-match presser against Sheffield Wednesday, I believe.
23:44So you can catch in the next video and we will see you later.
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