Cambridge v Portsmouth

[sam95]

It will be a difficult match against Portsmouth, but with some important and previously injured players getting nearer to full fitness, I can see it being a another draw.

Any thoughts?

 

[Arbury]

Nothing other than another whopping for ourselves.


MONEY OUT.

KTF.

 

[Tom_CUFC]

Nothing other than another whopping for ourselves.


MONEY OUT.

KTF.

Same.

 

[Don Tonberry]

Apparently we're in "bad form" having not won for two games.

I actually think we've been playing better away from home as the home team don't sit back and play for a draw. We've got a few injury problems and if Barry Corr plays then we could be in for a tough time but if Cambridge are really as bad as their fans say they are then we should be looking to take all three points here.

 

[AtaturkOzgutson]

We're going to get completely Chedded.

 

[Vanni]

I'm positive our boys will put in a better performance than they did last year.

5-2 to Pompey.

 

[huddsmoose]

We've been awful all season. We might turn it around today but I doubt it.

A 7,000+ crowd to see a comfortable away win.

 

[Laker]

1-1. We seem to raise it against better teams but Portsmouth are too good for us to beat. Similar game to Orient at home.

 

[EricSabin]

Hope Cambridge win today, would be very worried if we went there next week and they still hadn't won for ages!

 

[Laker]

Something weird for our goal. Linesman flagged (presumably for offside) but referee didn't give anything. Not seen that before, very weird.

 

[Vanni]

Saw it once or twice before, but only on tv, most likely when I used to watch German, Italian and Spanish league games.

 

[Laker]

So many ways to lose a game of football. We seem to be working our way through most of them this season. Fucking bollocks.

 

[EricSabin]

We are unbeaten in 6 and we come to the Abbey next week. You'll win.

So many ways to lose a game of football. We seem to be working our way through most of them this season. Fucking bollocks.

 

[sam95]

I'm speechless

 

[huddsmoose]

So frustrating.

First off, Portsmouth played well and are obviously a very decent side. I haven't seen a league 2 striker better than Tubbs, they'll go up this year.

For 45 minutes we looked like the team I thought we could be pre-season. Pompey didn't get out of their half in the first 20 and despite getting into the game more as the half wore on, a 1-0 lead at half time was fair.

Then the half time whistle goes, Pompey coach Leam Richardson ran the width of the pitch to yell at the officials, grabs Mark Roberts by the throat while the Pompey keeper twats Roberts in the back. Roberts is sent off (presumably something happened in the tunnel).

Second half and the momentum is now all with Pompey, they use the ball brilliantly and stretch us across the pitch. We hold on for a bit but eventually they break us down. A second goal follows and instead of throwing on another striker to try to mix it up, we stick with our shape and chase shadows until a third goal and full time.

As good as Pompey were, we could've got a result had it not been for a stupid mistake by Roberts/a referee that lost control.

 

[Judge Dredd]

Radio Solent guy saying Money had a "complete meltdown" at full time (his words, not mine).

 

[Laker]

Radio Solent guy saying Money had a "complete meltdown" at full time (his words, not mine).

Oh hello The Orange Salopian, I didn't recognise you there..... ;-)

 

[Laker]

We're terrible, so much wrong with our performance in the second half from a tactical point if view and also individually. We're shamboluc frankly.

 

[Don Tonberry]

So frustrating.

First off, Portsmouth played well and are obviously a very decent side. I haven't seen a league 2 striker better than Tubbs, they'll go up this year.

For 45 minutes we looked like the team I thought we could be pre-season. Pompey didn't get out of their half in the first 20 and despite getting into the game more as the half wore on, a 1-0 lead at half time was fair.

Then the half time whistle goes, Pompey coach Leam Richardson ran the width of the pitch to yell at the officials, grabs Mark Roberts by the throat while the Pompey keeper twats Roberts in the back. Roberts is sent off (presumably something happened in the tunnel).

Second half and the momentum is now all with Pompey, they use the ball brilliantly and stretch us across the pitch. We hold on for a bit but eventually they break us down. A second goal follows and instead of throwing on another striker to try to mix it up, we stick with our shape and chase shadows until a third goal and full time.

As good as Pompey were, we could've got a result had it not been for a stupid mistake by Roberts/a referee that lost control.

Roberts and Richardson look like they'll both be in hot water after that. Apparently it got worse when both went down the tunnel.

Sounds like he had a mare. Your goal looked offside.

 

[huddsmoose]

Our goal was offside from where I stood. I can only think the referee thought it was touched through by a Pompey player (I don't think it was)?

 

[Don Tonberry]

Yeah I think that's what he thought but Burgess is claiming he never touched it.

You guys must hate Matt Tubbs. I make that 11 goals in 9 games against you lot now.

 

[WAP]

Just listened to the Cambridge managers interview after the game, bloody hell at times I thought he'd snuffed it mid sentence.

 

[Laker]

Just listened to the Cambridge managers interview after the game, bloody hell at times I thought he'd snuffed it mid sentence.

Yep his depression matches mine. At least he's in tune with our sentiments I guess.

 

[SVH]

We're terrible, so much wrong with our performance in the second half from a tactical point if view and also individually. We're shamboluc frankly.

Fuck off, what do you expect down to 10 men against the best footballing side in the league? We had a 1-0 lead which we tried to protect. The boys were out on their feet with 15 mins to go.

Money had every right to feel hard done by today because the Pompey bench were an absolute disgrace. That hobbit of an assistant manager should hold his head in shame but instead ran on the pitch at full-time like he'd got the winner. Well he did because he got Roberts sent off.

Surely you could see that but maybe you were on holiday still?

 

[Tom_CUFC]

We were outstanding for the first 20 minutes, goal was miles offside obviously but I think our play had merited a goal. Even as someone clamouring for a more uptempo, on the front foot game I can appreciate you can't do that for 90 minutes but we had dropped back a bit in the last 25 minutes and Pompey were coming on strong, but we dealt with it very well. I think with 11 we'd have adopted a similar approach in the second half and I'm not convinced we could've kept them out completely but we stood a bloody good chance of getting something out of the game.

Leam Richardson and Pompey's keeper were a couple of twats and how their keeper escaped punishment is beyond me, but, I have absolutely no sympathy for Mark Roberts, the complete opposite in fact, absolutely fucking stupid, he shouldn't have been over there in the first place and the minute you raise your hands to their neck (much like they did to him) you know full well you're in trouble, the throwing motion just encouraging him to go to the ground. It's bad enough that you've not been all that good this season Mr. Roberts but to then do that and cost us any chance of getting a win, completely unacceptable, I'd give the captaincy to Legge.

We sat very deep and it was extremely unlikely to ever last, but we were doing really well until that stroke of misfortune with Legge slicing it into his own net. Only one winner from there but it's a shame it came so quickly. I would've brought on Gaffney instead of Morrissey as the last sub, and it's a little concerning that much like the Luton game (and slightly less so the Wycombe game) we just don't look like doing anything going forward with 10 men.

You can see Cook's Accrington infulence has rubbed off on Pompey, but like I said after we played Wycombe I have no issue with that, they play it extremely well, and ultimately it's them with the points this morning and not us. Unlike Wycombe, they're also a very good football team, best we've faced this season by a country mile.

I don't blame Money for yesterday, not perfect but far from decisive, yesterday's result is all on Mark Roberts, but the reality is we now have 38 points from our last 39 league games, that is absolutely unacceptable, we were better yesterday but people are quickly forgetting how dire we were just a week ago. Like I said in another thread, we seem to be able to put together 15 or 20 minutes a game but that's about it, we won't go anywhere unless we can start playing well for 3/4 of a game, and as of yet this year we haven't got close to it. Another incredibly tough home game next week followed by two long away trips, it might not get better any soon.

 

[WAP]

In my opinion all this talk of how we "done you" and "mugged you" is way over the top.

 

[sam95]

In my opinion all this talk of how we "done you" and "mugged you" is way over the top.

No it's not.

 

[Vanni]

Agree with my fellow U's, however it's hard to state Pompey are the best side we've faced so far. I have no doubt at all they're one of L2's better sides but any half decent side should be able to control the tempo of the game when playing against 10 men. So I'll judge Pompey when I see them in action again.

We may have scored from a clearly offside position, but Pompey were luckier than us if truth be told. Roberts shouldn't have been the only one to get sent off, and two of Pompey's goals - the first and the third - were both fortuitous.

As for our side, I've always been a believer of putting on a striker -one who knows how to take the pressure off his team mates by holding onto the ball - when playing with 10 men. Throwing in more defenders or midfielders is simply inviting your opponents to pile in even more pressure, and sooner or later, a decent side playing with 11 men will score. Like Tom_CUFC said, Gaffney would have been a better option yesterday.

 

[Vanni]

Radio Solent guy saying Money had a "complete meltdown" at full time (his words, not mine).

Did your lot FINALLY manage to take 3 points off York?

 

[huddsmoose]

There's no guarantee that we'd have gone on to win the game with 11 men and Roberts didn't have to lash out but he was faced with extreme provocation and was only really standing his ground.

You did mug us - Cook spent the whole 90 minutes screaming at the officials for every little decision, Richardson assaulted one of our players, your number 8 spent the game telling the referee how to run the game and Burgess dived to the floor whenever he had the chance. You did a job on us, as Money says and the referee was complicit in his incompetence.

That's not to say we shouldn't have dealt with it better - cheating seems to be an accepted method of winning in this league - Wycombe, Morecambe, Stevenage, Accrington and now Pompey have shown us that they will do anything to gain an advantage and we're not cute enough to counter it.

I'm glad we don't tend to dive, feign injury, waste time, surround the referee etc but we need to keep our heads better when provoked.