Skipper looking for more against Colchester
Michael Doyle says Pompey’s players must recover quickly from their poor start to the season.
The Blues have collected two points from their opening three games and suffered a first league defeat at Morecambe on Tuesday night.
Doyle feels it is unfair to blame manager Paul Cook for their loss at the Globe Arena.
And he knows the squad have to up their performance levels if they want to start climbing the League Two table.
Pompey’s skipper said: “It seems to be the manager who takes most of the criticism and the pressure, but the players need to take a lot of responsibility.
“We’d been made well aware of what threats Morecambe had and we didn’t follow orders, so it’s us who owe the fans a result on Saturday.
“I’m sick of talking about that game to be honest because we didn’t play well enough in the first half and got punished.
“After any defeat it’s just good to have the next match coming along as soon as possible.
“You want to get the previous performance out of the system and it’s just a bonus that we’re back at Fratton this weekend.
“We all want to do well and achieve things here at Pompey, so we’re aware that we have to do better.
“You need to learn from your mistakes and move on quickly, so the focus now is just on Colchester.”
Pompey’s opponents were relegated from League One last term, but have dropped just two points so far this season.
Doyle said: “It will be as tough as we want it to be. Colchester have had a good start, but we’re still confident.
“Last season was very possession-based, but we weren’t creating enough chances. We’ve had more opportunities this time around and it’s just that they’re not going in at the moment.”