Shuttleworth previews Pompey clash
After Argyle’s defeat on the road at Leeds United on Saturday, Assistant Head Coach Pete Shuttleworth has had his mind on picking up the Pilgrims’ squad ahead of Tuesday night’s return to action, against Portsmouth at Home Park.
Although away from base Argyle have had their struggles, they have been strong on their own turf, losing just once, and getting 10 points from their last four home games.
Tuesday’s home game against Pompey precedes a trip to Shuttleworth and boss Wayne Rooney’s former home of Derby County. After that comes the third international window of the season, and Argyle would ideally look to go into that with a little momentum.
They’ll face Portsmouth without mid-to-long-term absentees Joe Edwards, Lewis Gibson, Muhamed Tijani, Conor Hazard and Brendan Galloway, and this list has been added to, as confirmed by Rooney at his press conference, by an injury to Ibrahim Cissoko.
Missing those players, and the shorter-term losses of Adam Randell through a minor knock and Darko Gyabi through ineligibility against Leeds, depleted the Greens in Yorkshire, and prompted a change in tactics.
“We went up to Leeds on Saturday with a slightly different game plan, that the fans wouldn't have seen before,” said Shuttleworth. “We went to try to stay in the game for as long as we possibly could. It's not like us because we normally go everywhere and play our brand of football, but with injuries and with the week that we have got ahead, we decided to approach the game like that.
“For 30 minutes, the game plan was working. I had something in my ear after 30 minutes saying they had touched the ball three times in our box up to that point. We were quite happy, the crowd had started to turn, and then we had a mad eight minutes where it kind of fell apart.
“We quickly move on to this game and lift the lads. We're back at home in front of our fans, where we've been really good. We've created a little environment here that it's hard for teams to come and play in.
“We've tried to say to them is that we see the games as two complete entities. Whatever happened on Saturday went at five o'clock on Saturday. It wasn't the outcome we wanted, but that's gone. Now the week becomes the two games that are approaching us.
“Hopefully if we get two positive results, then the lads will definitely have forgotten Elland Road on Saturday.
“Darko can definitely come back into the squad. He was ineligible on Saturday because of the loan agreement.
“There's a couple who are touch-and-go, we'll probably have to leave that right up until the day to know whether we can include them. We've also got one or two long-term at the minute. We've picked up a few in the last few weeks that have just depleted the squad.
“I think the Gaffer said the other day that what we have got is a larger squad, which we built in the summer, and in which we tried to improve the quality and also improve the numbers.
“A few weeks ago, we were leaving three or four senior players out of the squad, now some of them are back in the team and having a chance to show that they deserve to be in it. Even when we have a full squad, they're trying to stake a claim to be in the team.”
Portsmouth are bottom of the Championship table, with just one win thus far, but gained a 1-1 draw at Hull City on Saturday, in which reports suggested they played well.
The historic rivalry of the two port cities is occasionally referred to as a derby encounter. Whether you believe that or not, several seasons, especially in the late 2010s, where the sides were regularly promotion rivals in Leagues One and Two, certainly mean the fixture has a little more on it than most.
“It’s been made aware to us that the rivalry is there, and that obviously means that we're expecting a good atmosphere,” said Pete. “I think both sets of fans will be eager to get one over the other, and it will lead to a good evening under the lights at Home Park, with our fans supporting us all the way, which is always nice, particularly after being on the road on Saturday to get back in front of them and playing a game that might mean more than a normal game to them.
“Every game is really important, but looking at the league positions, and a couple of games to go before the international break where that league table stays in the same place for a couple of weeks, it's an important game, probably for both teams, to get a win and head into the last game before the break with three points.
“That's how we'll approach the game - as we do for all our home games, and most of the away games as well - where we go and try to win the game, and get ourselves back going.
“[Portsmouth] are competitive and they're hard to play against. They're on the front foot and they play with intensity. They're not going to come down here, sit and let us dictate the game.
“They're going to come here and have a go. They'll try to set an intensity, and we've got to be good enough to cope with that, and then show our quality and put our authority on that game.
“They did so well to get promoted last year. It's a step up from League One to the Championship, so they've had some difficult challenges.
“They played well at the weekend. I believe they were on the wrong end of a couple of decisions, and we've got to be ready for it.
“There's no easy game. Cardiff were bottom of the table after the international break. Now they're flying high, won three out of four or something like that.
“It's a challenge, but it's one that hopefully we’ll be up for, we'll get a good night under lights at Home Park and leave a happy group of people.”
