Portsmouth striker Ellis Harrison has admitted that if he and John Marquis’ strike partnership continues to blossom, it will be hard for Kenny Jackett to change systems.
Will Jackett stick with the 4-4-2?
Yes
No
Talking to the Portsmouth News, the 25-year-old attacker spoke about his recent experience with playing alongside Marquis in the Pompey attack, with the duo starting together last week in a 4-1 win against Southend United (per BBC Sport).
Harrison said: ‘‘Of course I’ve been hoping to play in that partnership, but I’ve just wanted to get into the team, score goals and win. If I can’t get into the team and we win then I can’t say a lot. But now we’ve won with that on Tuesday, it’ll be hard for the manager to change it, but who knows because it’s football and might be different.”
As formation stats from Transfermarkt show, the two attackers started alongside each other in a 4-4-2 formation, which proved to be a productive system for Harrison and Marquis. The duo managed three of the four goals on the evening, with the Portsmouth number 10 bagging one and the former Ipswich Town striker scoring a brace.
Further insight into Portsmouth’s formations this season via Transfermarkt shows that the south coast side have only played a 4-4-2 on two other occasions, with Brett Pitman slotting alongside one of Harrison and Marquis in the two-man attack in fixtures against Doncaster Rovers and Gillingham.
Yet after last week’s result, which was Portsmouth’s highest-scoring win of the season so far (per BBC Sport), it wouldn’t be surprising to see Jackett, who seemingly favours a 4-2-3-1 formation (via Transfermarkt), stick with the 4-4-2, and more importantly, utilise Harrison and Marquis as the two starting strikers.
With Portsmouth just five points off the League One play-off spots (per the EFL’s official website), a clear change in the system could be a refreshing difference Jackett can make to get Pompey’s promotion charge back on track.
Harrison and Marquis can both seemingly work well together, with the duo scoring three goals between them in their first game as a pair. And with the 25-year-old attacker admitting that he wants to play in a partnership, this could well be the start of a blossoming attack for Portsmouth.
Portsmouth fans, will Jackett stick with Harrison and Marquis? Let us know!
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