"We have to" - Matt Ritchie's message for Portsmouth teammates after Plymouth Argyle defeat | OneFootball

After a 1-0 defeat against struggling Plymouth on Tuesday night, Matt Ritchie called out his teammates.

Matt Ritchie took aim at his Portsmouth teammates on Tuesday night, claiming they "have to look internally" for the answers to their problems.

His scathing assessment came on the back of a 1-0 defeat against fellow strugglers Plymouth Argyle, with Michael Obafemi's late strike proving to be the difference between the two sides.

That defeat leaves Portsmouth rock bottom of the Championship after 14 games and in need of a rapid turnaround if they're to avoid an instant return to League One.

It was widely anticipated that Pompey would be the best of the promoted sides this season, but it has in fact been quite the opposite, as they've struggled to adapt at this level.

The fixture gremlins threw up a series of tough assignments at the start of the season, with Portsmouth having already played a lot of the early pace-setters.

But after thinking things would get easier with games against the likes of Plymouth to follow, the fact John Mousinho's side have continued to struggle is sure to ring alarm bells.

Ritchie pulled no punches in his assessment

Alarm bells are certainly ringing for Ritchie who, having spent swathes of his career playing at the top level, should know a thing or two about what makes a team successful.

Having started his career with Pompey, Ritchie has returned to help their battle against the drop, but he insisted his teammates need to take a look at themselves before plotting a plan to stay in the division after Tuesday's below par result.

"It’s a bitter pill to swallow but ultimately we have to be better," said Ritchie.

"I thought we were good and the performance was there, but we have to raise our standards.

"We created chances we weren’t able to take. They took their chance and they didn’t have many - that is the level of the Championship and its fine margins.

"I thought we performed really well, but ultimately not well enough to win the game - so we have to raise the bar and do more.

"We have to dig deeper and find something more. We have to look internally at ourselves and what we can improve on, what we can do better. Collectively we’ll do that and have to raise the bar.

"The league is the league, it’s not going to change for us - we have to change for the league.

"We have to be clinical and more ruthless in both boxes. We have to raise the level."

Ritchie's claims certainly have substance

There's certainly some weight behind Ritchie's claims that the performance on Tuesday was good, but ultimately, John Mousinho is in a results business and right now he isn't getting them.

For all the "front-foot" play Ritchie alludes to on Tuesday night, the stats show that Pompey created precious little, and that's a problem which has plagued them all season.

They're averaging less than a goal per game this term, which would be manageable if they could keep the ball out the other end, but conceding almost two goals per game, it's evident they can't.

Portsmouth are near the bottom of pretty much every attacking metric in the Championship, which perhaps would explain why Ritchie has demanded to see more "quality" from his teammates.

He's laid down the gauntlet to his fellow players too, urging them to "raise the bar", and they have the perfect chance to show him they can do just that when they welcome fellow strugglers Preston on Saturday.