Paul Cook insists he learned plenty from Pompey's opening friendly at Havant - but knows there is a long way to go before his team and their shape settle down.
He told The News after the 1-1 draw: ‘The first half showed exactly what I always feel when you play two strikers up front, the other team will have more of the ball than you like. If you play against better teams they will probably hurt you more.
‘If you play with two up front that must really be the strength of your team so you must get the ball into them quicker. These are the little things and it was good for us to see. But the second half (with the 4-2-3-1) is what we are going to be about.
‘You could see Bennett and Roberts and the quality they possess, and when teams come onto us the likelihood is we can hurt them more. If the opposition are going to defend deep in numbers we must be patient with our play and cut them up with quality.
‘Fingers crossed that system is the way forwards and it is important the lads from the first half don’t feel left out because, as you will see next week, in the games we will integrate players differently. We haven’t really touched the water with any type of shape yet.
‘Without being disrespectful, we didn’t work out anything ahead of Saturday other than throwing two teams out there and at times they looked a little bit like that. But you can guarantee the supporters that going forward there will be more tactical play introduced into our training rather than physical work.’
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