Ok, there’s never, well rarely, a time when we want Pompey to lose but defeat to Chelsea U21 in the Checkatrade Trophy on Tuesday wasn’t the worst thing to happen was is? As I say in the title, basically it was no biggy, result wise.
Yes, there was a time when Chelsea coming to Fratton Park would capture the imagination of all. In fact not too far past a decade ago, playing Chelsea at Fratton – or Stamford Bridge for that matter – was such an exciting game we couldn’t wait to come round. Without sounding flippant, it got to the point where it was a regular occurrence so was, in many ways, ‘just another game.’
Was a meeting with Chelsea’s kids in the Checkatrade Trophy enough to set pulses racing? Quite bluntly, no… This competition has little to no meaning to the masses, the general comments over t’internet and lack of attendance from the fans – in fairness most fans at most clubs – speaks volumes.
Yes, it was a decent challenge. However, Chelsea, kids or not, and we are talking multi-million pound talent on display, as much as the attendance was a little higher at Fratton, interest was not much greater all things considered.
Kenny Jackett wasn’t pleased to exit the competition mind, admitting he wasn’t happy with the chances created the Blues failed to take.
He told BBC Radio Solent: ‘We practise set pieces a lot, but we didn’t deliver them well enough. We had enough to win the game, but didn’t work their keeper for the amount of the ball and territory we had.’
More concerning were the injuries to Nathan Thompson and Ben Close, who could both be doubtful for the big League One meeting with Scunthorpe at Fratton Park on Saturday – the boss remains hopeful though on their fitness and his ability to bring in other players.
Jackett said: ‘Those are two big games for us we go into now after having not had a game last Saturday. We’ll hope those two are fit to go, but we will go again with others being handed their chance if needed. We’ll look at bringing players in if that’s possible as we want to bring in quality to help us.’
So, in summary, the defeat wasn’t a biggy but the setback of injuries to key first team players was.
PLAY UP POMPEY
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2017-18 Prediction League – January
Scunthorpe (a) Saturday 13th January – click here.
Rotherham (h) Saturday 20th January – click here.
Shrewsbury (h) Saturday 27th January – click here.
