What a load of rubbish!

Sam Vokes went to Burnley on loan! Bastard! Open my mouth way too soon sometimes...should be a scout?

Saturday I went to the dreadful game that was Watford at Vicarage Road (which we have a bloody awful record there now). It was even worse than the Barnet game earlier in the season, the away faithful were treated to an abysmal display made worse by the fact Watford were playing only slightly better than us.

What I will say about Watford is that they showed what we lack, space, they broke in space with play being switched and using their large physical players to hold up the ball for their pacey wingers (again destroyed by pace...).
Chris Iwelumo was a constant menace throughout the game, Pearce had almost no chance going up against him at time, he even took out two players trying to kick the ball. Good crosses and nice passing helped Watford achieve their win, but like I've said earlier, it wasn't amazing football, just simple.

Portsmouth were undone in their lack of movement, very static play, the midfield kept getting choked unable to break out of their own half, often with people dropping out of positions to try help them out leaving us vulnerable. Kitson constantly made this movement which was alright, he does often win balls through this method, but that game he was like Buck Rodgers, floating into space but nothing to get out of it. It left a very hair-raising predicament that when Watford won the ball they instantly passed it out wide and broke down our defence who were still tracking back into their positions, Ben-Haim was constantly doing this the whole game, coming out of position too often with nothing to show for it.
The long-ball tactic was employed in the game as well, to no avail, it just didn't work, I don't know who thought it would be a good idea, as we don't have anyone with the pace to run behind the flick on (well if Kitson ever jumped for a ball!). Pearce and Huseklepp were the stand out players from the game, always focused and trying to salvage anything from the game! Huseklepp's free-kick right at the death gave us a glimmer of a consolation goal but Loach was equal to the free-kick (Huseklepp on set-pieces from now on please?), Peace again was a rock in that defence, constantly talking to the other defenders making sure they had their man covered.

I applaued Appleton as he got his post-match comments spot on and was refreshing to hear the honesty, I think he's getting a good idea of who is the dead-wood at the club (i.e. Ben-Haim, Kitson, Norris) and realising that players are being made to play awkward football, I mean even under Guy & Gray we still played this badly, just on those occasions we managed to capatalise on goalscoring opportunities. Nottingham Forest were on top of us first half until Huseklepp scored, Barnsley pegged us back for 30 minutes with their blistering pace and attacking threat (well Vaz Te being crap), and even Doncaster they had us on the back foot, so the pattern is across the previous games, not just this one.
The 'experts' at The News and Facebook already saying Appleton is a rubbish choice and should be given 1 month to prove himself.....rubbish! He's had 5-6 days to train with the players, hardly anytime to get to know them or even ask them to gel to his way of training. Hopefully he'll add a few more players to our beleaguered squad to give it more depth and fight for places in it, personally I think we need to go for a more 'defensive' formation for the next game against leicester, go for a 4-2-3-1 formation.
With this we will have a strong back line with two defensive midfielders sitting in front stopping the midfield from progressing and also helping slow down the play. Mullins and Mokoena/Norris/Ward could fit in these roles. Then have a combined attacking midfield of Huseklepp, Razak and Lawrence (if fit) with Varney as your lone striker and it will have a formidable attack as well as defence. As much as 4-4-2 is a great formation it does not reflect the positional strengths we have in the squad.
Here is a quick diagram of how it would look;

 

 

 

 

A 4-2-3-1 formation I feel would work better

This is only what I think....which is never always right. Only when 'scouting' players, ha!
Hopefully by Thursday Appleton will of raided the loan market for a few players to have until January, then the real test will begin for him.

Play Up Pompey! Dreading the Leicester game, return of Nugent.....hat-trick....I bet...

For the love of Vokes!

Michael Appleton was appointed on the 28th day of Portsmouth's search for a new manager and I feel very happy with the choice. I feel it will be one great piece of astute business by CSI, some fans feel he may not have managerial experience, but tell that to Brendan Rogers or Nigel Adkins who have done very well after being given their break by respective clubs (Watford and Scunthorpe). Still dreading a certain match if we don't perform better before then!

Onto potential loan signings with the new manager, especially since Bjorn Helge Riise has gone back to Fulham after a uneventful month on loan. I feel we could still do well in this market, maybe an out and out striker as opposed to a winger/striker, my personal favourite is Sam Vokes. He plays for Wolverhampton Wanderers and dosen't feature too much in Mick McCarthy's plans, in fact he scored a brace against Norway at the weekend against Norway;

Sam Vokes celebrating a brace for Wales against Norway

I'm sure a few games in the Championship will give him a good platform to prove to McCarthy that he can play at a high level and be good for us to fire in the goals alongside our other attacking players!

Perhaps also we might see a loan signing or two from Appleton's former club? A few good links there could prove valuable (maybe Chris Wood?) in the January transfer window.

In the mean time my tickets for Watford on the 19th. Seated in the 4th bloody row! Going to have to watch out for balls the whole game!

Thoughts on Michael Appleton

Today is 27 days since Steve Cotterill left Portsmouth and headed north to Nottingham Forest and after the many rumours and speculation on The News website and other media outlets the main candidate has emerged. A surprise perhaps, an assistant manager at The Hawthornes, one Michael Appleton who has been at the Midlands club for over 10 years, retiring through injury at the age of only 27 and quickly establishing himself as a grounded coach he quickly worked his way through the backroom staff up to his current position of Assistant Manager.

After doing a quick search on forums and news comment sections the Baggie fans seem in high praise of Appleton and his eagerness to manage, they say "he is not experienced to lead West Brom if Hodgson leaves, but Portsmouth would present a golden opportunity....good luck to him". There are many more posts that talk up his man management and eagerness to get into management, especially after his career was cut so short.
On the flip side the 'experts' at The News comment section are not as keen on Appleton, delusional at times in asking for managers such as Steve Coppell, Dave Jones or Ole Gunnar Solskjær. Let's break the reasons why they have been ruled out by myself and other journalists;

- Steve Coppell- Perhaps the fact he has left several clubs in the past citing 'lack of motivation', not the long-term option that the owners are looking for is it?

- Dave Jones- Already ruled himself out right at the beginning of the managerial search, he would prove to be an expensive appointment as he would refuse to work with a current set-up and wanting his own staff to come in. Plus a few chants of "Davey Jones sex offender" would put him off coming back to Fratton Park, however unfounded those chants are!

- Ole Gunnar Solskjær- Now he has garnered a lot of interest from a few clubs just by winning the Norwegian League title with Molde in his first season in charge, which is good for him, but come on, it's the Norwegian league! Probably the equivalent of League One over here (sorry to anyone from Norway reading this, but the football is quite slow paced and tedious). Rumour has it a famous Premier League manager has contacted Ole to persuade him not to return to England in great haste.

The only other manager I can see that fits the bill is Sean O'Driscoll, but he isn't a 100% fit for me, yes he did well with Doncaster on a very small budget, but he dosen't seem the best manager to take us forward.
I still see Appleton as the best person suited to this job, yes he may not have actual hands on experience of being a manager in the day to day sense, but all managers have to start somewhere! Look how well some young managers are doing i.e. Eddie Howe at Burnley, Villas-Boas at Porto/Chelsea, Josep Guardiola etc. They have had a good break and proved their worth as managers despite doubts at first. Plus with 7 years of experience as a coach at a Championship and Premier League level he will have knowledge of the leagues and what is needed of the players to perform on the pitch, especially when he's seen 2 promotions and 2 relegations since being at the club.
So in all I'm all in favour of Michael Appleton, I hope the club quickly put this enigma of negotiations and appoint him as soon as possible to get onto the training ground to implement his own changes.

Next blog might be about the Team GB squad possibilities...

Portsmouth vs Nottingham Forest; The Return of Cotterill

Last Saturday saw the return of Steve Cotterill to Fratton Park after leaving 3 weeks earlier to take over at Nottingham Forest. Since then the stats aren't bad for either team. With Forest winning 3 games in 4 since Cotterill took over, a impressive stat for the ex-Pompey boss, where as Portsmouth have won 3 in 5 games. Pompey were keen to get over that horrendous Derby game and the tense Crystal Palace game on Tuesday.

I personally was dreading this match, as despite Forest winning with little panache they were still Nottingham Forest. Big club with big players that can create good chances, thankfully Ishmael Miller was out injured, so one big striker to not worry about!

The lineup news was fantastic with a strong side that looked to go out and attack, a home debut to Abdul Razak whom sounded a handful for Derby in his short sub cameo. Huseklepp back in for injured Lawrence and Norris being captain.

The minute silence for Armed Forces Day was impeccably observed with not a word spoken, except the rumbles of traffic and the odd mobile phone. The referee marked the end of the silence and the Pompey Chimes rang out, game on!

Now the first half was quite tense in my eyes, always are as we never switch on! Excluding the first 15 minutes of the Doncaster game, we seemed to not be bothered! Constantly being pressed and attacked by the Forest players, who at least should've had scored a few of the chances they had, McGugan shouldn't of squared the ball, as the following player scuffed his touch and allowed Henderson to run out and smother the ball. Ben-Haim kept losing possession and leaving his position exposed, the short passing was awful, too narrow and never looking to go forward! After corners there was no rush to get forward, except for Razak. Speaking of the young midfielder he hasn't got used to the Championship, his passing was alright, but you could see his quality, with a few good turns and crosses he looks to be a good loan signing.
Then came our goal, a good flowing move which Forest blocked fell to Mullins whom teed up a volley which crashed off the crossbar which I thought went in off it and so did most the ground whom went to celebrate, hoofed out by Forest which Huseklepp picked up, turned and ran on the edge of the box and unleashed a curling strike which fired into the top corner, superb!  It was a great goal by the Norwegian and you could see he enjoyed it just as much as we did! The goal looked like the ones we saw on YouTube when researching his name when signed.

Half time signalled an interesting fact, it was the first time we went into the second half in the lead this season! Half time also had the amusing 50/50 draw where a Mr Coppell was the winner, those around us had a laugh thinking it was the ex-Bristol City manager.

Second half started slow, passing game which kept pinging around the midfield, poor passing and play by both sides made it stifling to push forward. Forest kept taking corners exactly the same, but at times were threatening as if it hit anyone it might of gone in! Razak made a beautiful pass, dummied the defenders passing to Varney whom squared it to Norris, shooting which was saved by Camp looping the ball into the air which Varney quickly pounced to head narrowly over! Good build up play by Razak and Varney.
Forest had a good chance with a poor clearance falling to Findley who turned and struck a sure goal but Henderson saved it with a superb outstreched hand! Great save by the 24 year old, keeping Ashdown on the bench once more! Kitson was pressing and chasing down balls constantly this half making an utter nuiscance of himself, he was playing to prove a point to Cotterill, and prove it he did! Corner in the 75th minute which was whipped in by Huseklepp and Kitson rose up to head the ball home, game on, the banter began after this! The various chants were hilarious and set a great atmosphere for the rest of the game (which even Cotterill enjoyed), here are some of the best;

• "4-4-2, 4-4-2, 4-4-2!"
• "Stevie Cotterill, your taxi's outside!"
• "Should've stuck with McClaren! Stuck with McClaren"
• The constant whey's when decisions were given for us
• "2-0 to the 4-4-2"

One chant I always find a little disrespectful is the "There's only one Jamie Ashdown" chant, it is quite annoying since Henderson is proving to be a better keeper at the moment. As Benjani is only sung to when he's on the pitch, same as Kanu.
Later in the game we were still pressing forward looking for another goal, some scrappy play led to the 3rd goal of the afternoon which was crossed in by Norris after picking up a failed cross and crossed it low which Erik struck round the defender and beyond Lee Camp, another nice finish by the Norwegian! Not long after was another chance! Halford with a downward header which only just hit the bar and went over, inches more lower and it might of crashed in off the crossbar! That's the 4th time I've seen Halford hit the woodwork this season!
Full time and a good victory in the bag, it's been a good progression from the boring stand-off football Cotterill played into a good working team under Guy & Gray, with all this talk about new managers they have done very well to keep focused throughout, hats off to them!

Perhaps another blog about the main candidate? Maybe so, but after a nice Battlefield 3 session first!

So another 3 points, up to 16th! Play Up Pompey!

Be careful what you wish for....

So this week has seen a surprise (well for some) that Steve Cotterill has emerged favourite to the newly vacant Nottingham Forest job, this was after former England manager Steve McClaren resigned.

Now I want to point out I'm not a anti-Cotterill person, I will support him as manager, I feel only his tactics let him down from time to time, I mean standing off players only invites danger!
But hearing he has been picked for the Forest job comes as no surprise to me to be honest, I mean what is not to like about a man who made a team of 16/17 players last season with no money to buy anyone, contract issues, possibility of your job going because the club is liquidated for two months. He has to be commended by all Pompey fans for that, I mean in that time he sold Marc Wilson to Stoke and got Kitson and Lawrence in plus cash which was fantastic, then Halford, De Laet, Jonathan Hogg, Ibrahima 'I can't kick a ball straight' Sonko,  all on loan. He nurtured players and developed them into good players such as Joel Ward getting bulkier and stronger, sorting out Ben Haim after his poor West Ham loan this season. I mean his man management skills are pretty good and he does get some good performances out of players who some fans thought were only dead and buried.
Cotterill also handled the Richard Hughes and Michael Brown saga well, as to be fair it was out of his control as well as the boards, decisions made well before they even took to office! Despite loosing two important players he still stood strong and pushed forward to which we went on a 6 match winning streak without conceeding a goal! Which was fantastic to listen to while I was at university last year!

One downside is that he is reluctant to use youth players if he is a bit tight for players, I mean we could of filled the bench with youth players such as Magri, Ritchie and Ciftci for a good part of the season but eventually they were not needed, Ritchie packed off to Swindon and is thriving there! (Hope we have some form of sell on clause on that).

I'm not too sure what to say on the scouting front though, he has brought in a mix of players which haven't really had a chance to shine in a game yet. Erik Huseklepp, Jason Pearce, Greg Halford, Steven Henderson and Luke Varney are the best signings so far, showing they have the passion to push the club forward. Huseklepp is the pick of the bunch, I feel we haven't been able to see his talents yet, maybe it's because he's new to the squad and will need time to get familiar to the English game, but his footwork and pace will be good for the team!

So I finish by saying IF Cotterill goes to Forest I wish him all the best, he is a good manager with a good respect for his players and would rather take the flak then his players, and that is good loyalty. But his tactics are somewhat suspect, might be the players not warming to the tactics....who knows.
But time will tell whether his proposed move to Nottingham pays off, and if it does will the Anti-Cotterill brigade start ruing their hatred towards him?

To whom would replace him? I've had a brief discussion with friends about it and names like Alan Curbishley, Lawrie Sanchez and a fanciful Martin O'Neil are all but a few of the names suggested!

Portsmouth vs Blackpool

It's been over a month since the last match report, has been a very long time! Now the transfer window has closed and the loan window has opened and we've not signed anyone, but with Steve Cotterill I trust as I know he'll keep his cards close to him to thwart interest from other clubs.

Going into this game I wasn't sure what the outcome would be, I would settle for a draw, a win would be fantastic. Blackpool are a far stronger team, they possess a large portion of their Premier League side from last season, with real threats coming from ex-scummer Kevin Phillips, Paul Ince and Gary Taylor-Fletcher. Ian Holloway I'm sure wants to get these 3 points as it is a long journey back north after the game!
After a miserable defeat at Hull where we didn't have one shot on target I was hoping to see more conviction and promise that seemed to have been shown at the West Ham game. I've previously been frustrated with our lack of attacking play, poor passing and persistent playing down the left have stifled our start to the season.

Not a great start to the game when the sound system seems to have completely died and was screeching at an ear splitting level. This was fixed just before the game started. Also noticed the big screen has moved from the corner of the Milton End and is now mounted on the front of the Milton End, looks much better now. Can see the owners are looking to improve and change the ground for the better. The usual lay off and shoot warm up was a delight to watch, Halford looked the most sharp in this particular field, as per usual, always up for drilling a shot on goal, Henderson again doing well to stop shots.

The first half was alright it had more flow to it then previous games, we pressed forward early on but Blackpool were on top though, they constantly kept pushing forward and were playing some great through balls which fortunately for us were poorly finished. They were a constant threat coming forward, we held tight with some great tackles from Jason Pearce and Greg Halford, which ended in one incident with Paul Ince being booked for diving. Joel Ward came closest for us with a quick header that flashes inches wide of Gilks goal. Still by half time we had not had one shot on target, not a great sign to be honest.
The referee was being a bit happy with the cards showing, I swear I've seen his name before, I must try find out when he last refereed against us, I think it was that fateful Crystal Palace thrashing last year.

At half time the new season ticket prize draw was first conducted, it's a nice little touch for us season ticket holders, a gesture for paying out for one after it the ticket prices had risen over the last year. The last prize is a car! Imagine winning that!

The second half started much better for both teams, it became end to end, with attack after attack, but we seem to defend with more resolute clearing then Blackpool. But we didn't take full advantage of this and soon came the deafening silence when the singing and drums stopped, it was eerie, it's the first time I've ever heard this at Fratton Park, to be fair the game was utterly dull at the time. The ball was pinging around the middle of the pitch and wasn't going anywhere. It was embaressing though, the famous fortress Fratton had fell silent and was out of ideas. The people who 'hate' the drums had won their 'peaceful battle'. But after Kanu and Rocha came on the pitch the noise levels rose once more! The last 5 minutes the ball was constantly moving around the Blackpool penalty box and the chance of a goal was agonisingly close. Joel Ward once again was fortunate as a low shot stretched Matt Gilks to make a smart save. Liam Lawrence came close as well by working well down the right hand channel and running in on goal to only be thrwarted by Gilks once more. Then came our moment of magic, the ball came in and Blackpool defender flicked it on away from the player, Huseklepp who had been outstanding that day took one touch and then volleyed the ball back on himself and the ball sweetly curled into the top corner with Gilks watching helplessly. Cue huge celebrations from Fratton Park, everyone around where I sat including myself went crazy, it was a fantastic hit and a sweet first goal for the Norwegian!
It was great to see the players all run over to the touchline and congratulate Erik and Cotterill together, it shows how together the team is and how much the are behind the manager which is great to see, that goal was pretty much the end of the game, but what a finish! The shouts of 'Erik the Viking' rang out for a good 5 minutes as the players took their lap of honor. Erik looked shocked as we did about the goal going in! He had worked hard, the highlight of his game (apart from the goal, obviously) was his 90 yard dash from the Milton/South stand corner all the way to the Fratton End/North Stand corner without being tackled or passing only to be fouled, a great run!

Now in truth the game was poor, our passing was not up to scratch, often losing possession far to easily and our slow tempo often worked in Blackpool's favour and nearly punished us in the first half because of this. With the introduction of Kanu the tempo and attitude changed, with more focus on attacking and trying to get the critical goal, which was great to see but a little late in the game to be chasing this? Surely we should be attacking from the outset, I mean, we are at home which is where we can use our surrondings to our advantage? (Small touchline, raised pitch etc.)
There were some good performances with Huseklepp and Halford being the stand out performers, always focused and looking to break forward whenever possible, good mentions to Lawrence and Mullins who were doing some good work in the midfield. I was sad not to see Futacs not come on the pitch as would like to get a better look at how he will fit into our team, rather than see him only warm up.

Since writing this article we have signed Bjorn Helge Riise from Fulham on loan, this is a great signing for the team, a guy with good experience of Premier League and Championship level, he's probably match fit and can go straight into the team I'm imagining.
Now against Peterborough tomorrow, hoping for another 3 points with a good performance to boot, Peterborough are a good attacking team, you can only see their tally of 80+ goals last season to tell that, they have lost their talisman Mackail-Smith in the transfer window but they still pose a threat. Their mauling of Ipswich a few weeks ago is a good example of this.

Let's hope a good home debut of Marko and Riise will provide a good attacking edge to our game and kick start a good winning streak that will hopefully boost our league position and get close to our neighbors, as they've had it quite easy so far in their fixtures.

Thought of chants we could sing about Erik if we get bored of the slightly dull 'Erik the Viking', which is daft in some cases...
But I liked the idea of one to the tune of Eric the Half-a-Bee by Monty Python, just a bit of the chorus though...it would go;

La-dee-dee, 1-2-3,
Erik Hus-e-klepp!
Here he comes, to score again!
Erik Hus-e-klepp!

Here is a highlights video if you wish to see that Huseklepp goal once more, looks just as good on TV!

Not a lot to talk about?

Not a lot to talk about on the Portsmouth front really. All that could've been said got said at the Portsmouth Fans Forum for BBC Solent on Tuesday, good to see Cotterill sticking up for his players and making sure what he says to them stays private.

No I am here today to talk about AFC Bournemouth's chairman Eddie Mitchell's post on the official website after recieving a bit of stick from fans. He's been accused of having no passion for the club and not removing debt. But what I find most intriguing is his detail account of the clubs expenditure over the past few months. Gives a fascinating read into the costings at a football club apart from the transfer of players.
He spent a whopping total- £3,278,100 on improvements to the ground and club facilities, these include;

• Purchasing a new mini bus for the Youth Team as the old one was a danger for kids to travel in. £10k
• New vehicle bought to tow the Cherriette around town and different locations giving the club the opportunity to get the AFCB brand out there and also sell merchandise at the same time. £7.5k 
• Completely renovate home dressing room and purchase of hi-spech ice bath instead of using two wheelie bins. £40k
• Creating a new supporters bar and café on the ground floor called 'Legends'. £14,500
• Converting and refurbishing the once derelict and unfurnished East Stand, to make classrooms for the Community Trust and Youth Department that house over 40 pupils. £50k
• Upgrading certain IT systems. £10k
• Providing a new score board. £25k
• Relaying new playing surface and relaying new sand base under the grass for better drainage. £12k

It's a real mix of different expenditures here, some odd and some relevant. I mean £25k for a scoreboard is a high price and never knew before they cost that much to purchase/install! Weirdest one goes out to the Cheriette....how bizzare, I don't think even us in Portsmouth have something that similar (unless we put make up on Linvoy Primus...). I wish more clubs would be as open to this kind of thing, even if it's not everything it gives us fans an idea into how much money is spent on the clubs over a period of time. Here I really feel for Mr Mitchell as the fans are getting on his back for what seems petty reasons, I wonder if they'd swap this comfortable financial position for being in administration and languishing in League Two dropzone? I know which one I'd choose!

If anyone wants to read the full open letter with expenditure details it can be found here;

http://www.afcb.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10324~2450934,00.html

Next for Portsmouth is a trip to the Humberside to face Hull! I'm in Yorkshire this weekend visiting Lightwater Valley and Flamingoland, hoping for a good win. Least it's not like last seasons Hull away game where we were on the brink of liquidation!

2-1 win I feel! 

The 3rd Kit from the 90s

So the new Pompey 3rd kit has been announced, strange to announce it so late into the season, usually it's all done at once in August. Immediatley sparked my interest from the bold red and black colours, harking back to the old kit from 93-94 season, which is probably my first season of watching Portsmouth games.
Some say it's too similar to Southampton's kit? Why, because it's red? Some fans seriously need to get a grip on reality, we play in red socks and I don't see anyone comparing that to Southampton, nor does having white shorts are similar to Southampton?

Anyway here is the new 3rd kit!

 

It's got the same H style 'panel' look on the front which is on the rest of the kits. The 93-94 away kit is reversed with the red being on the left hand side. This way round almost makes it look like what Mr Fry pointed out as 'similar to Harley Quinn' which is true! The Kappa women is a interesting reversal of each side.

Just for comparison here is the old 93-94 kit;

 

Still prefer this one I feel, and still prefer the black kit. I can't name many teams where we shall need to wear this 3rd kit for...

Shocking Away Kits

This is a rather dull day, job searching and already been shopping, so time to look at some of the worst away kits of the season, and there are a few out there!

Let's begin this with Brighton & Smug Albion (hehehe)

So the kit is a horrific neon green and black striped shirt, now I don't mind green and black but on the pitch it hurts the eyes to even look at this. If it was any more neon you could use it to warn people of oncoming traffic!

This one isn't a bad kit, just unfortunatley looks like another teams home kit....

Anyone else see the similarity to this and Norwich's home kit? Haha

Next kit is from the city of Nottingham, the Forest kit is the team in question;

Looks like a polo shirt slightly with the style of the kit, but this was made by Umbro which has a similar style on the new England shirts, so must be common with their kits. The shoulder green colour is really strange, if it covered the arms as well it probably would have worked more aesthetically. But I'm not a fashion designer....

Holy mother of neon! This one is another eye catcher!

So painful to wear even the bloke in the photo dosen't look too comfortable wearing it! It's not great is it? Neon orange with a tad bit of black on the shoulders. At least it'll be easier to spot the players when it's winter!

Going down the road to Sheffield there is a dull kit being worn away from home, it's grey, it's got an owl on it, it's Sheffield Wednesday!

Why would you want a grey kit? I mean it's just dull, the owl on the bottom of the kit is the only saving grace to be honest, it's just so plain and unimaginative, even the photo is skillfully taken in the car park! Not on the pitch, or some fancy green screen job! It's as grey and dull as the chairman's hair.

Another neon shirt now, Yeovil this time, not sure what highlighter colour have I not covered yet?! This time it's yellow!

Just looks so bad....the sponsor looks so out of place and hideous on the neon green strip, I wonder if the sponsor is happy about that. The little black stripe across the chest isn't bad, but dosen't recover the kit for me!

Pink strips always are eyebrow raiser to any football fan, Bradford are the latest club to opt for a pink away strip (remember that Everton one?) So that's most the highlighter colours sorted then!

Just dosen't work, especially in contrast to the home kit which always to me looks like a gone off Rhubarb and Custard sweet! If it was for charity then maybe it wouldn't be so bad....

Not sure if this is a coincidence or not but it appears that Southend have pretty much the same away kit as Bradford, made by Nike as well, curious;

 

Has to be done while I now get onto the Premier League...

Are you Bournemouth in disguise!? That's all I've got on that one...

Newcastle have had a few funny away kits in their time, but they went dutch this season!

It's just hurting my eyes, not even a few strips of black could save this one from being ridiculed. I bet they could be mistaken for the goalkeeper!? Once again it's a good winter kit, stand out against the snow eh?

I was going to mention Swansea's kit which looks just as similar but not as bad as this one!

I hope you've enjoyed this rant, I feel I've been just and fair on these kits, not gone to town on them. All the kits, trademarks, photographs are copyright of their parent clubs and respective parties.

Portsmouth vs Cardiff

This will probably be written as the transfer window SLAMS shut! I should've done this over the tedious and often dull coverage Sky Sports has given myself this sunny day! I probably didn't need to sit for 6 hours in front of the TV, but I did...
During that time Portsmouth lost to Real Betis 5-1 in Sevilla and signed no one (I'm content with that as we have a good team atm, need loan bolstering).

Once again we face Cardiff early on in the season at home, this time Cardiff aren't as strong as they were in 2010 and we are not as weak as then. This time it could be said the teams were both evenly matched, with Cardiff signing Andrew Taylor (big bloke!), Robert Earnshaw, Kenny Miller etc. they look formidable. After a tedious 0-0 draw with Bristol City we had our first chance look at Erik Huseklepp and it seemed very promising with him turning and flat footing many City defenders! So would he be able to replicate this once more against Cardiff and terrorize the defense of the Welsh team?
We went into the game with the knowledge of another signing which is Marko Futacs a Hungarian international from Werder Bremen on a free, a striker by position and at 6ft 5 inches will give Kitson a challenge in the first team (which is nice).

The warm up was interesting, usually it isn't, but seeing Futacs and Huseklepp warm up gave us a taste of what they can do, especially the strange new training routine which I've not seen before (forgive me I've not seen this) of passing it to a coach, they lay it off on the edge of the box and the player strikes it first time at the goal with Henderson between the sticks. Interesting because the first player was Huseklepp who hit a rocket of a shot into the top corner, made the Fratton end somewhat excited!

Onto the game! The line-up looked like Cotterill had opted for a 4-4-2 formation with Kitson and Huseklepp partnered up front, a promising start! We looked to finally break away from the stifling 4-5-1 formation. The first half was alright, it wasn't a pulse racing first half as usual, Cardiff were far more threatening in the first half, in terms of clear shots on target, our best chance was a strange cross/shot from Joel Ward which dipped and pinged off the crossbar, very unlucky! Robert Earnshaw was a right handful for the defense with Ben Haim and Pearce kept very busy. First gripe is our stifled attacks, I mean we just don't go for it, if a attack by Cardiff is stopped we just wait around holding possession in the hope that a long ball can be used with Kitson flicking it on to head into the box, but this never works! It never does, mainly because Kitson track backs too much at the moment, often he is found too wide nearly taking off players kneecaps! An example of this is when Kitson stole the ball off a defender who was being too lethargic around the halfway line and then passed it to Lawrence. Now I thought Kitson would run into a attacking position and run towards goal, but he decided to track back!? WHY?! He should've been running in on goal, this led to a large groan from the entire stadium and almost bemusement from the Cardiff fans.
Huseklepp was kept quiet, he was man managed well by the Cardiff defense and given no room to move around in, which i think dosen't suit him at all. Never the less he had a few flashes of good skill in possession. Again we attacked down the left hand side which was quickly dealt with after the 10th time of doing it, Huseklepp and Lawrence were stood idle on the right side, almost anonymous! Half time came and agreeing with the people behind me "Could've had more fun at a funeral".

Second half was much better (strange eh?) we looked more threatening, changed to a 4-3-2-1 formation with Huseklepp and Varney in winger positions and Kitson as lone striker. Again we stifled in our attacks, focusing more on going down the left hand side and feeding crosses into the box, rather than shots or short passing into the box (or a mix of the three be nice). After some dreadful play by Kitson who was working hard but kept doing too much I felt, it's nice but he often led to loss of the ball and stifled attacks. Benjani got changed and we thought it be the end of Kitson, nope, Huseklepp went off which was agreeable as he had a forgettable home debut, with little touches and almost forgotten on the right hand side it was time for him to go. Halford was unfortunate not to score after his free kick shot rocketed off the post, was such a fierce strike! Cardiff then got the goal they were often threatening with a superbly worked goal, with the ball flashing from the right to the left and fell to Andrew Taylor in space to pick his spot and hammer home to the delight of the horrid Cardiff fans who tried to trample the stewards and get onto the pitch. Why not celebrate where you stand?!
We responded well by trying to go for goal once more, constantly attacking, threatening, so much so we had two very close goal line chances, first one I swear was over the line! But don't think the ball was all the way over to be honest, just a quick gut instinct! The second fell to Benjani with the goal at his mercy and he slammed it into the defender on the line, shame, but he didn't have much time to place his shot, only to hit it first time.
Then on the 80th minute came our reward, after a cross deflected back to Ben Haim he tracked back and picked a cross heading to the far post which Kanu got down low and headed past David Marshall to make the score level! Good cross and great finish from the 55, 43, 35 year old striker!
The rest of the game was both teams fighting back and forth towards each others halves trying to get the winning goal, both counting out each of their attacks.

Overall it was a interesting game, with some positives and negatives. The positives is that as a team we seem more a unit, especially our defensive line up which seemed solid and able to cope well with most Cardiff attacks.
But again our going forward mentality is stifled, and gives the chance for the opposing team to regroup and block out our attacks. Moving down the left flank and getting cut out as we try switch the play, or often hoofing the ball over the midfield and into the often caught out Kitson leading to lost possession.

I don't know what we need to do to improve this, perhaps a loan signing of an creative/attacking midfielder to give us that edge in the middle of the pitch. We shall see how Futacs gets on in his first game and if Huseklepp gets a good innings against West Ham also.

Enough of my ramblings! Hope you enjoyed this report!

Oh Pompey did sign someone today, it was Jed Wallace from Lewes, yup, massive signing ;)

Typed through tears of a lost opportunity!

So he finally moved clubs, the goal scorer from up north....Adam Le Fondre, he made a £350,000 move to.....

 

Reading....(so glad we've already played them)

So Portsmouth missed out on a proven English striker who gets goals for a living, he has 110 league goals in 256 games, so an average of 2.3 a game! And only 24! But no we spend £1.5m on Erik Huseklepp who has scored about 40 goals over 175 appearances which is a mediocre 0.23 per game. Tepid in comparison. Some would argue it's because Erik played at a 'higher level' but if he's a striker he should be bagging goals, look at someone like Darren Bent, he has a great scoring record and has played at a high level for a long time (140 goals all in the Premier League over 10 years).

But I hope I'm proved wrong after today, he was quiet Huseklepp but he did have 2/3 defenders on him at one time, but that's for another blog! I will say I hope our own new number 9 is much better than our no.18 the ginger ninja Mr Dave Kitson, my word.....

BUT £350k, missed a bargain out there!!! Could've bought 4.2 Le Fondre's for the price of Erik Huseklepp....puts into perspective, especially if Le Fondre scores more goals than Erik!

No match report for Reading

I feel bad for not getting around to doing the Reading game report, seems a shame to not comment on such a interesting game....But I do find it funny that after complaining about Cotterill using the left hand side too much that even my dad has started to notice this rather bemusing tactic!

Errr should say something else...errr....sign this bloke please Cotterill, should cost 500k-750k, pretty please?

 

(Adam Le Fondre if you don't know my admiration for him)

Stevie sign him up! Stevie Stevie sign him up!

Portsmouth vs Brighton

After the debacle of Barnet a few days earlier I was somewhat apprehensive about this particular game, with Brighton another spirited team who does not give up! Their performance last week against Doncaster at the new shiny Amex Stadium proved this, with two late goals by Buckley.
I was warned that Brighton and Gus Poyet were not the most sporting of teams, with soft players and apparent time wasting.

Pre-match was memorable for good reason, FREE FLAGS!!! I mean the announcement of a new signing, which made me perk up from whatever was going on Facebook at the time. After bemoaning about lack of signings with loads of free agents a familiar face walks onto the field which is Benjani! Apparently the deal was done in less than 48 hours, hence the lack of speculation, this led to a massive cheer from the crowd and the chants of 'Benjani-woaaaah!'. Interesting signing from Cotterill, long as he's near match fitness and is willing to slot in straight away it would bolster our weakest area of our squad.

Now onto the game itself, as the players came out they were welcomed by the sight of around 14,000 flags being waved from all the home ends of the stadium, looked like this;

 

Great reception, followed by a rousing chime!

Now the first half was a massive improvement from Tuesday night, the team looked to have more consistent passing and attacking promise. The line up suggested another odd 4-5-1 with Kanu up front and Varney on the wing. This worked alright, with Kanu and Varney creating good chances but the lack of a finish let us down, I couldn't work out whether we were doing an 'Arsenal' by trying to create the 'perfect goal', we at least tested the goalkeeper. What stifled our game the most and frustrated both fans and players was the referee, I mean every 5 minutes there was a foul that felt somewhat soft or unexplainable, it quickly kept halting the game, especially when both teams were battling in midfield. It didn't suit either team, then the goal that came in the injury time of the first half was dubious. Noone struck his ball which was well saved by Ashdown but not collected allowing Mackail-Smith moving from an offside position to somehow tuck the ball away sending the snot green fans mental. The Pompey players reacted well by going down the other end and sending a good attacking move which was comfortably saved by the goalkeeper.

Second half was not as good as the first in my mind, the creativity seemed to have stopped, at times the players were being too rigid in their positions, easily picked up, with passes constantly being intercepted. At one point the players with the ball looked confused as what to do because there was no opportunity opening up except for passing back to the keeper! It shows a real worrying lack of attacking flair in our midfield, this may of been from constant investment of defensive minded players as opposed to attacking. Again the referee started making a nuicance of himself again, booking players for some minor fouls and sparing the Brighton players for all of it, an instance of this was when Mokoena raised his foot into a challenge and won the ball fairly but was booked for this and a free kick to Brighton. Now same incident again but to a Portsmouth player, he missed and clipped Ben Haim's ankle, no foul, no card, just rolled out for a throw, just felt this referee had a grudge for us. Speaking of Brighton players, my friend was right about their sportmanship, or the lack of it, they took way to long taking any set piece, worst of them being goal kicks, which seemed to take around 5 minutes just to place the ball!
Towards the end I was getting more annoyed at our lack of ambition and drive to get an equaliser, with time running out Cotterill has his plan of throwing on Kitson on (presumably for Kanu, tried), no, for Joel Ward...errr yeah. So Kitson comes on and immediatley starts clattering into people, getting angry, then is yellow carded for his troubles, not a great start...Cotterill throws on Ryan Williams with 10 minutes to go and what do you know, again the young lad gets into a great position, turns and is through on goal, but bloody passes it!? SHOOT for god sake! Least then you could earn a corner for your troubles. I did however admire the drive to get the equaliser at the end, the constant sending in of balls for which one pinged off the outstretched hand of a Brighton player, should be a straight red for deliberate handball, as it was way above the heads of people, no reason for it to be there! No it was a yellow, pathetic.
Liam Lawrence stepped up to seal the draw and send the Fratton faithful home with something to maybe smile about (as well as Benjani), but unfortunately the post intervened, I'm not going to have a go at Lawrence as he hit it well and just a tad unlucky it didn't hit the inside of the post, we could all see how much it meant to him getting that goal. Just a shame the goalkeeper rubbed it in after the final whistle went. Don't think he'll get a great reception on his next visit!

Tactics again come up this match report, as they always seem very stifled and stuffy, a 4-5-1 at home isn't a great tactic, however much you bleat on about having a 'lack of players', some of those players looked lost and bereft of ideas by the end of the game. I however did like Kitson dropping to the bench and being replaced by Kanu, it helped create more chances, rather than using a long ball system which leads to nothing. Hopefully with Benjani on board now we could swap to a 4-4-2 formation, using two midfielders and two wingers (maybe give Ryan Williams a start?), plus we have Jason Pearce making his first start at Reading after his 3 match ban that overlapped from last season being fulfilled.
I read today that Cotterill is hoping to sign some more players before the Reading game, but the deadline has passed so I doubt it, unless he's going to sign some more golden oldies and show them off before the game kicks off? What we lack is a presence up front, we have a great defense, with some solid defenders, I mean Mokoena and Ben Haim were solid at the back, often holding up or clearing any danger and stifling Brighton's attacks and keeping them quiet.
Perhaps a 1-2 more forwards, get one permanent and one loan signing which would give us options and flexibility, and we also need a linchpin attacking midfielder, like a new Kranjcar or Pedro Mendes, able to score goals himself and create many more for his team-mates.

With 15 days until the transfer window comes to a close I sure hope the new owners are taking notes when they watch our games, as they need to help Cotterill get the players in, as I don't think the name Steve Cotterill followed by Portsmouth FC aren't the most appealing of club moves in football at the moment. But let's keep the faith and carry on!
Now it's Tuesday (shows how long it's taken to write this post!) and we play Reading, last season it was a scrappy 1-1 affair with Jimmy Kebe equalising in the 89th minute. Now with Shane Long off to West Brom and their win over favourites Leicester it will either be a good win for us, or a goal fest for both teams, 7-4 again guys?! Benjani hat-trick?! I can dream on....

No more signings before Brighton game

(Kind of regurgitated this from other sources)

But today the news broke that Portsmouth would not be signing any players prior to the Brighton match on Saturday. After Tuesday's performance this gives me great doubt about Cotterill's power to bring players to Portsmouth, he's done a great job so far, but is that all he can do?
I hope I am proved wrong soon, because having a squad of 15 is rather embarrassing and trying to 'justify' it to fellow football fans is wearing rather thinly.

Why can't he sign up some free signings, just to bolster the squad? Where are the loan signings?! With other teams such as fellow rivals Scumhampton buying a new defender and possibly Nicky Maynard in the future it makes me worried about the rest of the season.

Oh well.

Portsmouth vs Barnet

Carling Cup First Round and the first home competitive game at Fratton Park this season, many fans were expecting a walkover against the nearly relegated Barnet, but they were in for a shock.

On the strange backdrop of the old Joanna's nightclub burning down on the seafront I made my way down to Fratton Park with Mr Sole, I discussed how Barnet are a very spirited team with a lot of pace in their attack, which may not be believed since they nearly lost their football status last season.
Team news was that Hreiðarsson and Ben Haim was missing due to international duty, Christian Dailly came into the squad as well as Henderson in goal. The lineup suggested a possible 4-4-2 lineup which sounded good with Varney and Kitson up front, but the reality as they lined up for kick-off suggested othwerwise, a dull 4-5-1 with Kitson up front, alone.

The match was such a drab performance by Portsmouth, the players seemed to not communicate with each other, no awareness of where each player was, passing aimlessly, hoping that player would get on the end of it. Playing constantly down the left hand side!? What kind of half arsed tactic is that, when clearly our best crossing ability and playmakers play on the right hand side (Lawrence and Halford), often Lawrence was screaming for the ball to be played to him as he wasn't getting any delivery, when it was it got over-hit or intercepted, that coupled with the much maligned tactic of mine. Now hoofing a long ball to Kitson to then somehow flick on to another player just does not work, especially when the player concerned has a touch of a donkey on a roller coaster, they tried this with Varney but soon was stopped. Our attack was consigned to scrappy breaks into the box, no slick movement or passing, nor any tries from long range. The general attitude of the players decreased with more and more baffling decisions by the referee and the linesman on the North Stand side. Mokoena was very lucky to not have been sent off for shoving the Barnet striker to the ground early on in the game.

Another gripe I had last night was when a set piece such as a corner came threatening, it seemed the tactic was to put nine players into the box and leave one player to be able to break away if it came to that, when we did get the ball and tried to break there was no urgency, just a lot of holding and switching play, it was so dull to watch and more often then not led to Barnet taking the ball of us and threatening again.

What could've been done to improve this game? Perhaps playing people in positions they are comfortable in? With Ward in left back, Mokoena in right back and Dailly in the centre of midfield they all seemed a little out of place, now I'm sure they could've swapped Halford into right back which he is comfortable with. Perhaps even playing a good attacking formation like 4-4-2 with Varney and Kitson up front, this would've provided some room for movement in midfield, rather than being stifled by too many bodies.

Some positives out of last night as I feel I've gone on a bit of a rant! Henderson kept things to 1-0 with some fantastic shot stopping, he showed great composure with one on one situations. But he didn't show that when going up to collect balls, with most leading to him fumbling the ball, again a lack of communication between keeper and players. Ryan Williams looked spirited and gave more effort in the 20 minutes he was on for than some that were on for the full 90! Kanu showed great awareness and composure and tried his best to get some attacking moves going, only it to fail before him, must of been ever so frustrating!

It's been said before but we need more players, urgently, mainly midfielders and strikers to be honest. We can't rely on Kitson to provide the goals, it's the same situation as last season with Dave Nugent, he wasn't going to provide 20 goals a season on his own (as he's a poacher...). If we had £2.5m available to buy Martin Paterson from Burnley we could easily buy a few from lower leagues, perhaps a young striker like Danny Ings? My favourite League Two striker Adam Le Fondre? (scored 20 goals consitently for 4 seasons and is only 24!).
My previous blog about the free market brought some interesting players to the forefront, Jason Koumas and James McFadden, they would provide a great attacking flair to our midfield which is lacks, we have a lot of defensive minded players in midfield that aren't the best at starting an attack. Also I believe David Carney would be a great free transfer and would provide that much needed support in left back to let someone like Hreiðarsson have a break or sit on the bench, as he isn't getting younger and can't keep up with some of the quicker wingers in the league.


Steve Cotterill really needs to take lessons from this game, whether he wanted to throw it away or not he needs to remember that the fans understood why last season we had so few players but now it's a different story and if we still only have around 15-16 players by September 1st I don't think many of us will be happy. Even with loan signings we need those permanent players to be the backbone of the squad. I saw a brief insight tonight by The News journalist Neil Allen about the transfer policy of Portsmouth FC sheds light on why we may not be able to get players in;

1. CSI Group provide transfer/wage budget.
2. Steve Cotterill provides a list of players he's interested/targetted
3. David Lampitt negotiates with agents, players and clubs

Now in jest I keep imagining Cotterill's contact book contains only Stoke, Cheltenham and Burnley, but the shocking truth is to most Portsmouth fans is that we have not signed anyone for around 35 days. Could be that Steve Cotterill is setting his sights too high, rather than looking at what is in other leagues, again mentioning Le Fondre who I think personally would fit in well, will score goals and will probably cost between £500-750k and won't be too demanding with wages I feel!


Full credit to Barnet as well for such a great performance!
Now looking forward to the weekend....I'm not, if we don't improve we will be taught a lesson by Gus Poyet and his Brighton side on Saturday.


One thing to look forward to though is buying the new home kit tomorrow!

Free players we could have!

So tonight was dreadful, so to cheer myself up I decided to pilfer through the PFA free agent list, which shows the players who aren't with any clubs at the moment. If Cotterill is spending £2.5m on one striker then he clearly needs to scout this list!

Here are a few good ones on the list;

• David Carney (left back)
• Jason Koumas (attacking midfielder)
• James McFadden (winger/forward)
• Robert Pires (winger, attacking midfielder)

Now if they were demanding a reasonable wage I think these guys would be a great addition to the squad and wouldn't cost anything! Jason Koumas or McFadden would be the best of the pick!

BBC's Price of Football

Today the BBC Sport section posted a fantastic article which details the price of football across the 4 professional leagues in England. It used 4 criteria to assess the cheapest club from the most expensive, these were;
- Cheapest ticket
- Cost of food and drink (a pie and cup of tea)
- Matchday programme

It does provide a interesting insight into the cost of football to the fans themselves, rather than focusing on how much clubs are in debt. Now Portsmouth are 2nd in the expensive section, not a great place to be after last years events. £25 is the cheapest adult ticket, £3 programme, £2 cup of tea and £3.50 pie, costing the average on the day fan £33.50. Now if you are a regular at football grounds there are usually deals with pies, I can't remember them off the top of my head, but they do save around £1 or 50p.

Coincidentally Portsmouth released their new family ticket, amusingly called FourTress Fratton, it contains 2 adult tickets and 2 child tickets (under 17) for only £44! This saves a massive £32! Nearly as much for a single on the day punter in the BBC report! But! The deal is only for selected matches, 4 in fact, against Blackpool, Hull, Doncaster and Coventry, nevertheless if it brings more people to the club who previously were unable to then I'm all for it!

Will be purchasing my Carling Cup tickets against Barnet tomorrow as well, looking forward to it. First competitive match at Fratton Park. Only one week away!

Dave.

New Season, New Kits

So its now 6 days until the start of the Championship season, so I thought I'd present the 6 kits from the 24 teams that I find particularly interesting.

First up is Coventry;

 

What I like about the Coventry kit is the 'vintage' feel of the kit, with the old style logo and the simple layout. Simple collar, simple colours, easy on the eye. I'd be happy as a Coventry fan with this home kit.

Second up is Brighton & Hove Albion, with their return to the Championship since the 2002/3 season, with their fantastic new Falmer Stadium they are certainly going to make an impression this season!

 

With thicker stripes and a a slicker finish to last years home kit this will look fantastic in their new stadium. I wish Brighton all the best as a fellow southerner.

Next up is Reading;

Much slicker than last seasons, looks clean and with the small collar it compliments the rest of the kit nicely (sound like Gok Wan now...).
So now for a bad one, as I they can't all be amazing, so here is Blackpool;

So the difference between last years and this years is the collar, yeah that is about it, so that's £40 please? Oh it's made by Fila, have I convinced you yet?

So from one extreme to another is Peterborough, another recently promoted team, they've changed from a solid blue kit to a smarter looking kit in my opinion, a fresh look to a new season

Last but not least is Portsmouth, my own team (had to do it);

I think this is an improvement on last years kit, as that was rushed due to financial constraints of the club, where as now we are in a stable condition to be able to do it properly. All blue with gold Kappa girls is a good improvement to the white ones last year, just a shame they are so prominent on the arms when compared to Fulham's. I'll still be buying the kit this season when it comes out on the 11th August.

Hope you've enjoyed this little blog on the kits of Championship, might do some more leading up to next weekend and the first home game against Barnet in the Carling Cup.

Dave.