Pre-season | Vital Football

Pre-season

Pompeytim

Pompeytim

Vital 1st Team Regular
At last!

Common sense prevails in pre-season.

It has taken us to drop to the bottom division to do it, but at last some sensible preparations!

I've felt for a long time that preparing for a season of football that is to be played in England, is probably best achieved not in Nigeria, Canada, Hong Kong or Spain, but amazingly, England!

Lets face it, beyond the mega clubs like United & Arsenal, brand building doesn't work for smaller clubs. So forget it. Instead get your squad ready to play in England.

Pompey playing around Colchester is being seen as embarrassing compared to years gone by, but to be fair, we would have been well advised to have done the same in the Premier League days.

Having the squad in prior to pre-season & doing it in England bodes well for the season ahead.

#commonsense
 
back that #commonsense Tim.

it proved a fruitless, and in some instances, costly experience and it also caused us some injuries that perhaps would not have happened had we not jetted off to some ropey areas!

colchester might be 'embarrassing' but at least it means more fans can also play a part of it without paying through the nose.
 
There's always two sides to the story. I relished being involved in the Asia Cup and brand building when we were top of the tree but alas we are at the bottom of the heap in 2013 and have to accept that. It was out of the kindness and generosity of a HNW fan that there was an overseas trip last year but I agree getting it right for next season is a priority. I've heard so many people say we will bounce back and gain promotion but Bradford was down here for 6 seasons so preparing for next season is absolutely top priority.
 
I've seen the preseason fixture against Braintree, but is there one against Colchester as well? I am based in Essex now, around Colchester, so I would plan to go to more than the Braintree one if there are more matches than that. Does anyone know of any other games planned for Essex?

Thanks.
 
Nothing planned yet but watch this space.

I have had family from the Braintree area over the years, in fact my first 'job' was there doing a bank reconciliation at a local estate agents for which I got paid an ice cream!

PS I was only twelve at the time. Blimey that was a long time ago.
 
It might only be pre-season but a win is a win, and Pompey got off to a winning start ahead of the new season in impressive goalscoring fashion by thrashing neighbours Havant 5-0 at Westleigh Park.<BR


<br><br><a href ="http://www.vitalfootball.co.uk/router.asp?536064">Click here to read the article</a><br><br>
 
An excellent 5-0 win over Havant and Waterlooville. Admittedly early days, so we can't read too much into it - but great to see such a healthy scoreline.

Any news on the scorers, and who played well? I heard there was an own goal, and that Padovani and Barcham scored (with Barcham being particularly good in the 2nd half).

Anyone have any other details?
 
i wasnt at the game, so other than what the official site/news tell us i know nothing...

sounds like barcham scored a decent goal tho and that bodes well.

bird got lucky with one it seems but showed a poachers instinct with the other. think we need to look at him alittle more and not get too carried away by a couple of pre-season goals, but it does tend to suggest that he is capable of scoring at our level at least?
 
Good to have a good result, but the main thing must be that it gives all the new guys a chance to to really see each other in action and gel together. :1:
 
sure was the main thing wasnt it - what a change it is to see us actually doing this in pre-season, not using the season to do this eh!
 
Good to see Pompey play their top friendly on sunday against a team that have not beaten,Notts county,MK Dons and Millwall in the last 6 days
 
Having read the reports of those three games they seem to have been exciting encounters with plenty of free flowing football.
 
heard about the 4-3 game with mk dons - hope it will be an interesting game and a positive end to pre-season ahead of next weekends kick-off!
 
It's probably the only Pompey game I'll get to see this season being an Essex exile (and knowing I'll be too drunk to drive to see them play Southend), so I was very happy to mingle with Pompey fans in the balmy summer evening sun at Braintree last night.

All told the 0-0 score line says all you really need to know. It was a poor game on most counts for Portsmouth. Braintree run a tight ship under Devonshire, and certainly bossed us about in the midfield. Braintree also had most of the chances, and could have easily won the game two nil.

But it is was, they didn't, and I have to say I thought Phil Smith had a good game in goal - doing what was required when called upon. I was also impressed with Yassin Moutaouakil and Danny East in defence.

Up front wasn't so good despite a lot of work from Agyemang in the hot temperatures. The only person I thought that made any real impact in a tight midfield, was when Padovani came on late in the second half. He made a few decisive runs up the middle, taking people on, which was lacking to that point.

Most of our attacks were based on coming in from the wings, when it did happen, and Braintree didn't seem overly worried by them.

All said I think it was a good work out against a decent side (Braintree had just beaten Southend a few days earlier), and it would have certainly given Whittingham a few things to think about.
 
thanks for the summary on that game, appreciated.

away in sicily and haven't really looked online much, if at all, if i am honest so nice to read the view of someone who was there that wasnt going to sugar coat it either...

i still feel that we are in for a decent enough season, and whilst you cannot take too much from actual results in pre-season the outcome of a game like this does just make you sit back and think 'lets get a bit more realistic about things' and not expect us to walk league two!

know what i mean?

key thing is getting player fitness and sharpness levels up, and them getting to know each others strengths and weaknesses - and they are doing that.
 
Bookies are no dum dums, they have lengthened their price on Pompey since the Braintree game and may well push them further after todays battering
I admit to being beaten ,AGAIN, by my social skills!!!!!! A group of us bought tickets but only managed to stay in the pub until gone 5pm so.although we paid our way to the club, we did not support the club as i like to!!!!

A couple of us are into Pompey to win it for ''good money'', hoping things improve and i am SURE they will

PUP !!!
 
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