Neil Allen's Pompey verdict following defeat at Ipswich Town

The News, Portsmouth

The News' Neil Allen gives his thoughts on Pompey's 2-1 defeat to Ipswich at Portman Road.

Transcript

00:00Greetings from Ipswich. I'm in their plush press conference room here where John Messina

00:07has just finished his press conference. You can see here. Very nice. This is all new actually

00:15since Ipswich went to the Premier League. Last here this didn't exist. They've got new facilities

00:20here. It's pretty impressive. Anyway, you'll hear about the game, aren't you? You want to hear about

00:24the game. So what can you say about that today then? 2-1 to Ipswich. If you're being honest

00:33and I try to be honest, the scoreline flattered Pompey. Ipswich were extremely comfortable

00:40throughout. Even though John Messina thought that Pompey played better second half, they

00:46didn't really test Ipswich with keeping today too much. And Ipswich got a few more as well.

00:50Very, very comfortable throughout. So if you see this 2-1 scoreline, you think, well, it might

00:54be a bit close. It wasn't really close. But that's not to say Pompey didn't show effort,

01:00endeavour, heart. They stuck at it, especially being 2-0 down after 41 minutes, which they

01:06deserve credit for. And they got a pull one back, you know, consolation goal in the stoppage

01:16time at the end of the game. Marlon Pack. And Marlon Pack actually made a huge impact when

01:20he came on. Really did. John Messina remarked on that as well in the press conference.

01:25Marlon got the ball down, started playing it, started finding his players. He had one shot

01:30from just past the halfway line, which was wide. And then the end, Swift's corner from

01:35the left came in and Pack got ahead of there and it's 2-1. So Marlon's first appearance

01:41of the season, actually bizarrely, because of his injury and then couldn't get in the team.

01:44So a nice moment for him, but also shows everyone that Marlon Pack is not finished yet

01:50whatsoever. Just gave something to Pompey so much more when he came on. Really, really

01:55did. As a team, obviously, we know about the injuries. We know about the quality of players

02:01missing through Murphy, Chaplin, Shocknessy. They've got plenty of injuries. Lang as well,

02:09haven't they? So it was always going to be a difficult game for Pompey and Ipswich. It's just

02:13premium quality, aren't they? Premier League quality as well. Philigen, who was outstanding

02:17today, playing the Champions League last year for Aston Villa. So they've got a good

02:22setup there, a good bench and things like that. So Pompey, I think Messina will be heartened

02:28that only came away with a 2-1 defeat. A tough place like Ipswich. But I think the main things

02:36to take away from today's performance is not just Marlon Pack's entry off the bench, but

02:40also the five changes he made to the team, how they fared. It was difficult to pick a

02:45man that match because it was just, I don't know, it was a bit of a workman-like performance

02:50from Pompey. But I gave it to the goalkeeper. I thought Bursic did very well with his kicking,

02:55won good save, looked confident, looked comfortable and did okay, actually. He obviously, you know,

03:04Smith out for a while. You imagine now Bursic will be the replacement now for that period

03:10and Kilipe back on the bench as we saw today. So I found that interesting. Other things there,

03:16Josh Knight did okay at the back. Kosnowski on the right midfield. John Messina said that

03:21he played there before, but he's a very different winger to what we're used to, aren't we, really?

03:25He's not really that direct or pacey or tricky. It just worked. It worked very hard coming back

03:32as well, which the manager mentioned, sorry, the head coach mentioned. And then you've got

03:37elsewhere, LaRue came on for his full debut, did a good job as well, got a booking first half and

03:43made a couple of fouls after that. I think that's why he came off as well, one of the reasons why,

03:47but he did all right there. And then you have Yang on the left. Yang's a funny player, really.

03:52He's got ability and skill and causes problems. He had a great chance first half, one-on-one

03:57with the goalie. He took a touch too many and the goalie smothered it then. So you can

04:03get a points at times, but other times you think, he's got something. So that's an assessment

04:10of the players that came into the side. All in all, I don't think anyone was expecting

04:15too much Ipswich away, especially with the changes, especially with the players out. So

04:20obviously nobody wants a 2-1 defeat at Ipswich, but it is what it is. Something to pick out

04:26from that and some performances to look at. And we know more about some of the players,

04:29Kovnowski. We know a bit more about Bursic as well. So Yang, so we've seen a bit more

04:35of those. And hopefully some players will come back very soon. But 2-1 Ipswich. And yeah,

04:43a long journey back, isn't it? But 2-0 out of 41 minutes. I think some of us were dreading

04:50the end of the game and it could have been even worse in our minds, but it didn't turn out

04:54that way. And thanks a mile on pack. So thank you.

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