Saturday 11 April 2009

Not attacking enough? Pompey 2 West Brom 2


Although a point isn't all that bad with four points between us and the relegation zone - providing Stoke beat Newcastle this afternoon.

With 10-15 minutes to go we were trying so hard to score and get that all crucial winner which may have seen us not be so nervous in the last remaining fixtures, but Hart refused to stick on that much needed second striker on until injury time.

I think Hart and Kidd have done a tremendous job, and especially with tightening up our defence, but we needed that goal so much, and with Kanu, Utaka and Gekas all on the bench, why did Hart wait until the last two minutes of injury time to stick him on?

I think Theofanis Gekas could have sneaked that crucial goal, with the Macheda affect from United's win against Villa and Sunderland! He had a good bit of support after he came on, and would definitely be buzzing after making a first but small appearance in the Premier League.

What is the point in getting the guy on loan until the end of the season and not play him. Yes admittedly it was Tony Adams who brought him in, but he's there to be used.

Let's just focus on Bolton next week, another home game which we should win, even though they just put Chelsea to a very close 4-3 drilling after being 4-0 down.

Taylor and O'Brien returning to Fratton Park, will surely have a big influence, although you have to feel they are out of the relegation running, so may not be going all out, with Pompey welcoming the returns of Glen Johnson and Super Sean Davis!

Well at least we're not four points off safety in the Championship with administration worries and a board that can't stop chickening out of the problems!

I for one, am looking forward to seeing these 'goal of the season' style goals on Match Of the Day tonight, seen as I couldn't make it down to Fortress Fratton this weekend.

No appeal for two yellow card - Glen Johnson - West Brom - Injuries


I think it is ridiculous the fact that after Glen Johnson's two yellow cards against Hull last weekend, we cannot appeal against him being banned for the home game against West Brom at the weekend!

Johnson didn't deserve one let alone two yellow cards last weekend. The second yellow, Johno tried to pull out and had no intent to hurt the player at all!

A FIFA representative has even come out this week saying that it is a stupid rule and needs to be looked at.

Missing Glen against West Brom could be crucial to the result - although I'm guessing we're all thinking we should be able to bury the Baggies easy enough when we're at home!

Sean Davis is also missing the game due to his injury, but we're hoping he'll be back by next week's game against Bolton - seeing the return of the all mighty Matt Taylor.

Peter Crouch has also dropped out of the top 5 Premier League goalscorers this week, so hopefully a couple from the big man will see him get back up there where he belongs - above Defoe!

We played well against West Brom when we played them away, but we'd just returned from Wolfsburg. The atmosphere was poor from both sides, and the side were obviously gutted about the events of what happened in Germany, so putting that aside lets give West Brom a hammering when they visit Fortress Fratton on Saturday.

In terms of the following fixtures, we have a good run-in, and should be looking good for staying up. Providing we beat West Brom today, they're done and dusted. Middlesborough are going to really struggle to get back out of the relegation zone, and then I reckon it will be a massive toss up between Sunderland, Hull, Newcastle, Blackburn and maybe us.