January 2009 - Front Page Articles

Pompey travel to Al Fayed's Fulham today and face a team that hasn't lost at home since September.

Roy Hodgson has built a solid outfit on the banks of the Thames and at first glance Fulham look comfortable in mid-table. But this season's Premier League is misleading with the bottom 13 teams separated by a suffocating 11 points.

Fulham sit 4 places above Pompey with a 2 point advantage and a game in hand, giving them the opportunity to pull further away with a win or be overtaken in the event of a loss.

The corresponding fixture last season saw Pompey win 2 nil with goals from Benjani and Hreidarsson, although today's fixture might prove to be a lot closer.

Fulham made the surprise signing of Andy Johnson earlier in the season and he has contributed with four goals so far, making him joint top scorer with Dempsey, who if you remember scored a sitter against Pompey in Adams' first game in charge.

On paper at least, Pompey's attack looks far stronger than Harrod's finest. But Fulham, unlike Pompey, have managed to draw goals from all over the pitch, including two from Bullard who weaseled off to Hull, amidst claims of not being loved. This despite continuing to draw a top salary whilst depriving Fulham of his services for 16 months through injury.

Adams has said that the acquisition of Mullens has now made the Pompey midfield strong enough to be deployed in a four. Adams' newly christened ‘Dog of War' will start alongside Davis and Pennant. With Kranjcar & Diop still  injured and Belhadj nursing a two match ban, Adams will likely bring Traore back to run riot along the left.

With four in the middle Crouch will be hoping for a help upfront with Adams appearing  to prefer Kanu, but a straw poll amongst myPompey regulars is calling for a return of Utaka, following glimpses of his potential against Villa in mid-week.

But that's the thing with Adams, you never know. Kanu, Nugent or Utaka could start today leaving both Fulham and the rest of the Pompey squad guessing as to who's in and who's out.

Campbell will likely to be out with a knock picked up in mid-week leaving room for a much improved Kaboul.  Hermann will be on left with Johnson and Distin in their usual positions.

A close game this. But if we keep it tight then 3 points is on the cards although Adams could be excused for playing for the draw in an attempt to inch towards safety.

A few weeks back Adams was jilted at the strikers' alter. Defoe, after a whirlwind romance left Adams for another coach. In typical Adams style he was philosophical about the situation saying that he only wanted players who wanted to stay at the club.

Fair enough, can't argue with that or the pronouncements in the following days that post Defoe, 4-5-1 would be the preferred option going forward.

Since then, we've played 4-5-1, 4-3-3 and 4-4-2. We've even played 4-4-1 thanks to Belhadj, but that is another story.

I'd like to debate my feeling that Adams does not yet have a style of play he could call his own.

Look at Wenger, SAF, Benitez, Fat Sam, Mourinho, Grant, Capello, Scolari ,  Redknapp and even Curbishley. Each one of them has their own signature style of play.

Wenger, along the deck quick and fast. Pass it into the back of the net.

SAF with his reliance on wingers and powerful central midfielders.

Fat Sam and his love of direct football.

Grant, reserved and thoughtful. Play it around and search out weakness.

Mourinho thrusting from midfield with Lampard and now with Muntari.

But what about Adams? If we asked his players what his style of play was, what would they say? I am not talking about formation. That's just position on the day.  When you look at our early games under Adams, against Milan, Hull, Blackburn for example you'd see that they were swashbuckling displays, real powerhouse surges going forward and.... a little trashy at the back.

Since then we have tried to slow it down a bit and more recently against Spurs and Bristol we sat back and scored on the break to great effect.

But against Villa we changed again. Kanu & Crouch, pedestrian strikers supported by fast wingers.

I am not saying this is bad and of course you cut your cloth to suit the client, but I am concerned that these changes in formation and approach are no more than Adams searching for his own style of play, not just because he needs to shuffle because of injury and suspension. Are we suffering from inconsistency? Is this the reason we look great one week and nasty the next?

This is not a criticism because Adams is what Adams is and we fully support him at myPompey, but I am just wondering whether Adams is not quite match fit.... the same accusation levied at Saviola this week.

The question for me is would he benefit from a little extra cardio in the form of an experienced mentor, or are we ok and we should sit tight and let this play out?

"I thought we were unlucky... The stats were in our favour.  We had 17 corners and they only had four shots." This, the latest in Tony Adams' claims that Lady Luck stills directs her affections elsewhere.

And you have to sympathize. Perhaps not in the Villa game, but there have been plenty of matches where you could have been forgiven for thinking that events are conspiring against us.

It started way back in October with a series of games that looked for all the world like they had been drawn up in some 60s kids comic. Plenty of wam and bam but there was no thank you ma'm, as game after game luck appeared to desert us. Best demonstrated by Diop's double whammy at Liverpool, miss one end concede the other, in a series of farcical events that had Pompey fans the world over groaning in disbelief.

Perhaps, had we won, or at least drawn that match things might have been different and I wouldn't be sitting here becoming just a little tired of hearing how Lady Luck continues to smile elsewhere.

Tony's reliance on luck, or at least his insistence on blaming luck, reminds me of two very well known statements made by leading businessmen in the 80s and 90s.

The first statement was made by the CEO of the world's most successful manufacturer of computer networking products. This page you are reading would most likely have passed through 5 to 10 of Cisco's ubiquitous products on the way from the server to your computer. The Cisco executive in one of his public statements said something like this: "We have to make our products redundant..... before somebody else does...". Meaning  that Cisco remained number one in their sector through a process of continual ruthless introspection.

The second statement came from Compaq Computer. Many of you reading this will be too young to understand the significance of Compaq, but in the 80's and early 90s' Compaq were the personal computer company. They made the most expensive and best performing desktop computers and were very profitable. People like me would pay a premium for their products even though on paper at least, equivalent products could be had for cheaper elsewhere.

Anyway back to the statement. I forget who it was who said it, but basically it went something like this. When questioned why Compaq were so successful the executive said: "We don't know, we honestly don't know. We have a formula and we continue to follow that formula and we continue to be hugely successful but why.... we have no idea which parts of that formula are responsible for our success"

At the time that story made the front pages of the Computer Press... (and so did I, but I will leave my embarrassing revelation for another day..)

In 2002 Compaq all but went bust and were taken over by HP but Cisco with their refusal to rely on chance, continue to dominate.

My point? Tony is on dodgy ground. Although occasionally ‘luck' does play a part, it doesn't hold true for half a season. Sacha Gaydamak and Peter Storrie will no doubt be concerned that the very real circumstances we find ourselves in are being blamed in part on a fickle intangible third party that the manager is implying is beyond his control.

To continue to make such statements, will I believe be considered a sign of weakness and will damage Tony. It smacks a little of Hoddle and his faith healers.

Come on Tony, as Utaka showed last night we have squad full of gems and we are looking to you and you alone to polish them.

I make no claims to be able to write award winning copy but I do know how to support my team. As founder and general dogsbody at myPompey, I can assure you that running a fan site for Portsmouth Football Club is not easy, but it does have its rewards.

We have been running 3 months now and I hope that we are viewed as being objective and responsible. As the tabloid sites demonstrate on a daily basis, anyone can print alarmist nonsense. It takes a little more nous however to report news and make comment without resorting to sensationalism. Especially when news is slow.

Each night I fall asleep thinking about myPompey, the club and the stories we will carry the next day. Today for example I was going to tell you about myPompey. How it is based in Dallas, Texas and why it costs a fortune to run and how the pound to dollar exchange rate is killing me.

I was going to explain my reason for starting myPompey and how bloody hard it is to remain positive and objective whilst reporting on the events surrounding the club. How we have seen the guts ripped out of the one we love and how like a wounded soldier, we fight on.

I was going to say how easy it would be to report baseless rumour about the next transfer target and how simple it would be to plagiarize somebody else's hard work. But that's not me. And if you are a regular follower of myPompey then it's probably not for you either.

I was going to tell you that we are proud of our relationship with the club and how we appreciate the advertising they place with us and the wonderful match day photographs they supply.

I had even considered telling you how long it took to get the Police to agree to take space here - how I supplied my personal details in case they needed a police check and how I signed my life away in being allowed to have the Police's official crest on the site. (And how I still haven't had time to finish off their section...)

You were going to be subjected to stories of me spending hours with John Westwood at his shop in Petersfield and why myPompey turned out to be black and gold following a near riot from John and his buddies about the amount of red in the original design. John is a wonderful guy and I won't hear a word against him. He introduced me to the senior people at the club plus the guys at PISA (Pompey Independent Supporters Assoc). PISA now call myPompey home. A nicer bunch of guys you couldn't meet. I am very proud to have them on the site.

But instead of telling you all these things I'd like to mention that with the ability to publish your thoughts comes responsibility. As we said earlier it's not always easy being objective and pro Pompey. There are days when I want to curl up and hide away. Like on Saturday when we were dumped out of the Cup. What do you say? Do you jump on the bandwagon and call for Adams' head because you think that's the popular view? Or do you refuse to write anything until the following morning and then publish a balanced view of the situation? Of course we did the latter because I want all of the articles on myPompey to be able to stand proud today and in the future.

I don't want to publish the cat ate my homework nonsense, or unhelpful reports such as ‘Merson thinks we will go down'. Why? Because sometimes you have to be above that. Sometimes you have to leave the ‘pages unprinted'. Sometimes if you can't be positive it's better not to say anything at all.

But, luckily for us there's plenty to be positive about at Pompey. Sure we are in a bit of dodgy situation and we certainly have no god given right to stay in the Prem. But we will be ok, take a look at the team. We still have a half dozen of the finest footballers anywhere and is it any wonder that no-mark managers cast admiring eyes over our boys?

I'd be insulted if they didn't!

I don’t know how closely the Chiefs follow football, but their smash hit certainly has me thinking that football is heading for a bit of a crisis.

Why? It all stems from the power given to both footballers and managers in the money men’s quest for fame, fortune and..... success.

Let’s get this right. A Premier League team has a turnover of at least £50,000,000 a year. That’s a huge sum when compared to the turnover of the majority of UK businesses.

Yet, most Premier League teams appear happy to have the fortunes of the business sit firmly in the hands of a manager and are beholden to the ethical conduct of contracted players.

Where else in the corporate world can a man with virtually no business exposure whatsoever, be allowed to plot the success of the business based purely on the outcome of his ability to win a game? Isn’t this akin to the boss of Barclays playing cards with the boss of HBOS, with the winner declaring the biggest profits, or in the case of banks shouldn’t that be the biggest losses?

Sure, every club has executive management and it is they that ultimately decide the fortunes of the club by employing the manager. But is it right when we hear Hotspur, Benitez and Co insisting on full control of transfers with little consideration for the fortunes of the club?

We saw how Redknapp gained the trust of the board of Pompey and left us with so much debt we had to sell our finest assets in order to service it. Then we have the likes of Benitez who spends £20,000,000 (yes, still shocking after all this time isn’t it?) on the likes of Keane, despite the rest of the footballing world looking on in disbelief. His folly in turn fuels the folly of others, notably Levy at Spurs. As if he needed any prompting considering the long list of flops in his squad.

And then we have the managers’ media statements. Leaving Hotspurs’ repeated rule 8 infringements for another time, that still leaves contemptuous and damaging remarks going unchecked, no more so than Hotspur telling the world that he’d play his worse team at United and 48 hours later saying he’d pick his best team.

Why is this damaging? Because it flies in the face of credibility. It mocks the media, the fan, the game and of course his employers at Spurs. This one man allowed to plot the course of the club beyond the outcome of a single game. Imagine if our old friend the boss of Barclays had announced widespread closures of branches on Wednesday and then on Friday doing a u turn and pretending he said nothing of the sort. Shareholders would rightly be calling for his head. But when it happens in football, the shareholders or should we say fans, have to sit by almost powerlessly and listen.

Is it any wonder then, if running a club is perceived as a game that players who are also part of that game, try to cheat. We are not talking about the odd dive or histrionic, instead we are subjected to the whims of the bejewelled egos as they strut and pose both on and off the pitch. When was the last time you saw a player that you’d want to invite home for a beer based purely on him being a good guy? Sure you can name plenty, but I bet none of them would be drawn from the ranks of the so called stars that put more effort into bringing the game into disrepute than they ever will gracing the pitch with their skills.

If you or I were to sign a contract what chance would we have of ignoring it? Could we contract our services for 5 years at even £10k a week and then when we felt like it down tools and sulk, demanding a rise or a move?

No of course we couldn’t. And in truth neither in theory should the players be able to. Especially not those a few months into a lucrative contract such as Robinho or Defoe. It smacks of entering into an agreement under false pretences. In my world of investment banking, contracts are defended with the zeal of dog guarding a raw meat feast. Lawyers get rich off the back of banking agreements yet we suspect they are rarely called upon to defend either side of a player’s contract.

Where does this leave the game? With managers often entrusted with sole purview over clubs’ Crown Jewels and players effectively playing each week on a play as they feel basis, is it any wonder that many clubs lurch from crisis to disaster on a regular basis?

Who’s fault is it?  Should the clubs be insisting on managers sharing footballing decisions with others? It didn’t work at Pompey, Spurs or Chelsea and hasn’t to my knowledge been tried at most other Premier League clubs.

And what of players? How come they draw fabulous salaries, then on a whim turn hostile, demanding a move away from the despicable club who’s money they gladly pocketed in their desire to be listed in the footballing rich list? 

And..., who’s allowing them to get away with it?  Ask yourselves that....

"Tickets, tickets, who wants tickets" ?. A familiar refrain of the touts.

With the credit crunch beginning to bite even their voices are being silenced outside our Premiership Stadiums.

The classic breeding ground where demand outweighs supply is no longer so prevalent in the Premiership madhouse.

There are a whole host of reasons why Fratton Park is struggling to be filled on a regular basis but the ongoing debate is worthwhile as the club seem to have listened to a number of the fans concerns.

PISA feel that next Wednesday (28th January) will see a big step forward with the launch of PFC's online ticketing operation.

Having had a sneak preview of the system even those of us technophobes present saw a fan friendly operation.

The club were happy to take onboard any questions or suggestions and by the time of launch next week hopefully supporters will be entering a new world of Pompey efficiency with an online setup that will be the envy of most clubs !

The first game to come under the online ticket microscope will be the Everton game on March 21st.

Fans will see that there are no booking fees so let's spread the word as this is definitely a massive step in the right direction.

If many of the complaints about ease of getting tickets can now be addressed it is imperative that the club take a serious look at the pricing structure.

The new system can provide a firm foundation in building up goodwill amongst the fan base but a competitive pricing structure is a must in attracting people to look at the system when making the choice as to whether to part with their hard earned cash.

FrattonStation, Pompey Independent Supporters Association.

Part 1 of an exchange with Swansea City fans. Here our very own 007 answers questions posed by scfc.co.uk, the Premier Information site for Swansea City F.C.

1.       What's your prediction for Saturday's game?

It's difficult to predict F.A. Cup results.  What makes this one more difficult is the combinations of a well-managed, confident Championship side playing a Premiership side in transition.  If Swansea curtails Pompey's ability to break quickly down the flanks, it will be a close match; otherwise, we hope Pompey will win by two or three clear goals.

2.       How is life under Adams?

Life, under Adams, is tense and exciting.  His honesty and style of play are in sharp contrast to his predecessor.  Fans are accepting Adams for what he is, with all of them hoping for the green shoots of recovery coming after a difficult period.

3.       How would you describe your style of play under him?

Pompey's style of play is restricted by the available players after selling such stars as Mendes, Muntari, Diarra and Defoe.  Although the sale of Defoe has freed us from always playing a rigid 4-4-2 system with Crouch.  We have some very fleet-footed players such as Troare, Belhadj, Pennant and Johnson who are extremely dangerous on the break.

4.       Martinez is talking of Portsmouth as a role model in the press, what advice would you give to us? (after Saturday of course)

When your manager refers to Pompey as a role model, we think he is comparing a number of things.  History and size are similar and he is saying, if Pompey can do it so can Swansea.  Never be in awe of a larger club, hold your heads up high and remember that everything is possible.

5.       Martinez is well known for making wholesale changes or 'giving players a rest' during cup competitions. Will Adams do the same, or will he go with a full strength line up?

We believe that Adams will field his strongest side.  We are the cup holders and the fans would never accept anything else.  As mentioned earlier, we have experienced a difficult period.

 Winning for us is doubly important for building confidence in our Premiership fight for survival and having a good cup run.

 6.        Who do you see as your biggest threat?

Most of our goals this season have come from the Crouch and Defoe double act. Since Lemsip (Defoe and his propensity for calling in sick) has left, we now rely more heavily on the wings, especially the left which is the domain of Traore and Belhadj.

When these guys link up they are breathtaking. 2 recent goals against Bristol City and Spurs were both scored from breaks on the left wing and resulted in goals being scored in under 20 seconds.

7.       Do you think you will sell out on Saturday (as the Swans were refused more tickets after selling our allocation in a couple of days)

We will be as close as possible to a full house. Expect 20,000 or thereabouts. Away fans are restricted to one area so away tickets are always in short supply for games like this.

8.       From the outside, what are you impressions of Swansea City FC?

We see a well managed, well run team doing well in a difficult league. Congratulations on the promotion from Division 1 last year. It's great to see Welsh teams doing well.

9.       Not a question...... but thanks for beating Cardiff last year..... we wouldn't have heard the end of it.

You are welcome. Cardiff did well but ultimately Pompey were too strong.

Footnote.

I think you will be surprised by the atmosphere of a full Fratton Park and so a fascinating match is in prospect.  Let's hope that both sides can gain satisfaction from the result regardless of the ultimate winners. 

Thank Goodness Ivor Allchurch and Trevor Ford are not playing.  During one England v Wales match, it should have read Jack Froggatt v Trevor Ford, who played for Pompey and Swansea respectively.  They do not make them like that today. 

Jack Froggatt said, after the match, that it was the hardest 90 minutes he could remember; his body felt like it had been run over by a steam roller!

Good luck guys.

From PFC.

PENNANT JOINS POMPEY ON LOAN

Pompey have completed the signing of Liverpool star Jermaine Pennant on loan until the end of the season.

And Tony Adams is delighted to bring the winger – who will wear the number 14 shirt for the Blues – to Fratton Park.

“I’ve known him a long time,” said the Blues boss. “We were together at Arsenal a long, long time ago. He was the new kid on the block and a very exciting prospect.

“He’s quick and technically very gifted. He can have a go at defenders.

“I saw him play with Peter Crouch for Liverpool at Fulham last year and he was constantly getting past their left-back and getting crosses in for Crouchie.

“That’s a good combination that I wanted to put back together.

“He’s going to put some good crosses in and hopefully weigh in with a few goals himself.”

Pennant has made 81 appearances for Liverpool since signing from Birmingham for a reported £6.7m in July 2006.

The 26-year-old was part of the Reds side that lost 2-1 to AC Milan in the final of the 2006/7 Champions League.

Pennant began his career with hometown club Notts County before joining Arsenal for £2m while still a 15-year-old.

The right winger spent time on loan at Watford and Leeds before signing for Birmingham in 2005.

Well done Pompey.