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For a genial man, Kenny Jackett must relish risk.
After all, he’s been swaying perilously close to the cliff-edge for over a season now. The unsteady, harrowing path continues to prove taxing for him and his club, but one that never seems too deathly.
Instead, Jackett contends and copes with it. He is the immovable figure, the staunch defendant of Fratton. The man, the manager that walks those dangerously lines with a simple compliance. The winds regularly pick up and the weather does get turbulent. But Jackett plows on, unperturbed with all that encompasses him.
On Saturday, Portsmouth fell to seventh and a point adrift of the final play-off position. Their three match win streak and short spell of serenity was over.
A stoical fanbase is restless. They’ve been in the doldrums of League 1 for long enough. Yes, they had scored nine goals in three games before Charlton. Yes, they had been holding a play-off place. Yet, something is missing.
Pompey supporters have seen this all before. They are the nearly men of League 1. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride. Whatever figure of speech you want to use, the facts remain; each year they are the favourites to go up, only for their promotion challenge to fall by the wayside in May.
Patience and perseverance with Jackett ran out a long time ago, as far as fans are concerned. ‘Jackett out’ pervades through the hysteria which consumes Portsmouth’s social media handles after most games, win lose or draw.
Photo: Portsmouth FC
Fratton Park has always been a ground for the tempestuous, whether that’s in the archaic, colour-faded blue stands or on the pitch itself. It is what supporters thrive on, the drug that ensures they turn up in their droves, no matter the division they are playing in.
Even now, supporters can be heard during games. On Saturday, a group of fans situated themselves in the Sainsbury’s car park, the supermarket located on the same estate. The Fratton drum was incessant in its noise, unremitting even in defeat.
They say the table doesn’t lie but it can skew complexions and provoke false dawns. Before the game against Charlton, it was fifth versus sixth; seemingly nothing splitting them. What ensued in the subsequent 90 minutes was anything but close. The team’s may be close in results and league standings, but are at cavernous extents in technical ability and the nuances in system.
Jackett opted for his standard 4-4-2 system, without a traditional target man – not exactly conducive to Pompey’s pragmatic approach. Jackett briefly flirted with a 4-3-3 in the second half, only to scrap it 10 minutes later and revert back to the two up-front once more.
There is nothing wrong with building the cornerstones of a side in defensive foundations, but it seems any expression in their play is an afterthought which can only be focused on when protection to the back four has been properly fortified. But in the modern game, a risk-adverse approach often causes your eventual downfall, especially in capturing fan support.
It is bread and water style of play, rudimentary in system and simple in the end goal. Since the departures of Jamal Lowe and Matt Clarke more than a year ago, Jackett has conceded that Pompey are now entirely a results-based outfit, rather than look for anything far more progressive.
That way of thinking was only accentuated further by Charlton’s fluid, interchangeable diamond system, which worked to perfection for Jonny Williams’ first-half goal.
Jonny Williams (bottom left) opened the scoring – Photo: Portsmouth FC
With the likes of Lowe and Clarke now long gone, Pompey have lost any semblance of genuine individual quality, adept enough to compete in leagues above. Bear in mind Charlton were relegated from the Championship last season and have seen an enormous player turnover since.
The short and long term future at Portsmouth will simply not fulfil supporter desires. A passionate, frenzied fanbase needs stimulating correctly or things soon turn volatile. Kenny Jackett isn’t someone that springs to mind when looking for a trailblazer in the team’s ascension through the divisions, but he can be a steady pair of hands.
Recent evidence has shown billionaire owner Michael Eisner errs on the side of caution, much like Jackett. Eisner still believes Jackett has the football league acumen, nous and rational thinking to keep a sleeping behemoth like Portsmouth under control. Perhaps, due to his own attention being drawn elsewhere.
In some ways, Kenny Jackett cuts a refreshing figure within the society we currently find ourselves engulfed in. While panic and chaos seems to be round every corner, fearful of the changes the world is undergoing, Kenny Jackett stoic posture on the Fratton touchline does garner a sense of familiarity.
Jackett is hardly one to elicit any type of extreme emotion. He’s just there. He’s never erratic in his behaviour or a victim of seesawing reactions. The most you can usually extract out of the Pompey boss is when he’s changing his hands in pockets stance to his favoured arms folded look. All the while a scowled expression permanently resides on his face, throughout the 90 minutes. He’s not one for screaming or shouting or a Jose Mourinho-esque touchline celebration.
This was best encapsulated in the first half on Saturday, when a scuffle took place no further than two metres away from his technical area. Amongst all the noise, Jackett stood still, hands in pockets once again, unperturbed by it all. Familiarity and an overriding sense of calmness is perhaps comforting in times like these.
But Portsmouth fans want more. They want to be provoked, they want to be inspired. Confrontation has always been Pompey’s biggest asset and having a hushed, if quite affable man, as their leader isn’t going to cut it. They crave for an awe-inspiring manager of men, that makes them feel compelled to follow the journey. Maybe something similar that is transpiring within a certain team close to home.
Even when Chuks Aneke made it two for Charlton, Jackett’s arms remained folded. Stoicism should be applauded, but not at the expense of progression. Especially when that stoicism is being used against him when looking at the younger, more vibrant crop of managers in the game nowadays.
One loss and an injury to Pompey’s best centre-back Jack Whatmough and the walls are caving in on Kenny Jackett and Pompey again. It’s been like this for two seasons now. Supporters are baying for change but Jackett remains steadfast in behaviour and presence in the dugout.
The match against Charlton has happened before. This cycle has happened before. But just when anarchy looks set to ensue and Jackett’s position verges on the perilous, he just does enough to bring him back from the brink.
It is a vicious cycle that always results in Portsmouth being left in limbo and ultimately, still in League 1.
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