A very solid performance and the 2nd half was excellent attack wise after a fairly tight 1st half which could be described as scrappy before Taylor's belter. Mutch was excellent and hopefully its not his last game for us...or Graham's etc. If we want to move forward on the pitch we do need to try and keep the squad together but I know money talks big. Well taken goals which just shows the confidence within our side Malky has installed.
You know what I love about this run? It's coinciding with watching QPR and Cardiff imploding match after match.......
I have been reading a few posts on the many Pompey forums, and for some deluded reason they think they were the better team, living in the area this doesn't really surprise me as most of them talk out of their backsides anyway Always nice to wear the short out the day after and get the leers :sign15:
Highlights are up on the Iplayer website for those who have not noticed this yet: Link starting at the correct time Taylors reaction to the "headbutt" is pretty much perfect, can't lip read exactly what he's saying but he clearly points at Halford and calmly says "you're off" - that should be shown as an example to every single overdramatic football player out there. What a goal as well! Unbelievable! What a way to get off the mark! Edit* It's also interesting the BBC describe Cardiff and QPR in the match report as being Watfords "fellow promotion contenders".
On the subject of that report, Cotterill says how he felt Kanu caused us 'endless problems'. I've got to say, I thought he was superb yesterday even if he can't move anywhere quickly.
Fair play to Cotterill, he was very magnanimous in defeat, largely because we reciprocated when we were beaten by them earlier in the season. Professionalism goes a long way and Malky is the personification of it. Can't say the same about their fans, but they always have been a deluded bunch who think they are a far bigger club than they really are. I'm sick to death of hearing about Portsmouth's thin squad as a mitigating factor. We had 5 youth kids on our bench, plus Deeney who has barely played 5 games in the Championship and Gilmartin who has never played any! And our starting 11 is far, far weaker on paper! Graham was out of favour at Carlisle, Sordell, Mariappa and Doyley are academy, Loach was from Lincoln, Cowie was from Inverness, Mutch was an untried teenage loan and the only players who have actually played consistently at this level are Eustace and tiny Taylor. Plus, our highest paid player isn't on much more than £4k if rumours are true, whereas they have players with a wealth of Premiership experience who are paid absurd piles of cash. They take two more players in for £20k/week in wages because they bent the rules by ditching all their youth players, and then have the nerve to bang on about how thin their squad is!! **** off Pompey you rule bending ****ers.
Kanu is overated. We couldn't get the ball off him as everytime someone went he him he fell over. He's also the last player you want when going behind. He just gave up. He was good once but is now well past his best.
It was a great win. They have some really good players such as Mokoena who captained SA at the world cup. Utaka who they payed something like 7mil for when they were in Europe, Sonko who a couple of years ago was the best defender in the championship and Nugent who is arguably one of the best strikers in the Championship
He's **** and has the attitude of a ****, summed up when Kanus wonderful ball unfortunately hit him on the back, rather than turning to run back onto another pass when the loose ball fell to Reid, he looked up in the air and throwing his arms about..
What they say! Interesting `objective summary` by the leading sports writer of the Porstmouth News Scott Loach - Little to do - 6 Lloyd Doyley - Solid presence - 7 Martin Taylor - Dominated - 7 Adrian Mariappa - Excellent defending - 8 Andrew Taylor - Stunning strike - 8 John Eustace* - Kept things simple - 7 Don Cowie - Neat and tidy - 7 Will Buckley** - Thorn in Pompey's side - 8 Jordon Mutch - Performed well - 7 Marvin Sordell*** - A real handful - 9 Danny Graham - Clinical - 7 SUBSTITUTES Ross Jenkins* (60 mins) – slotted in well Matt Whichelow** (88 mins) Gavin Massey*** (90 mins) Subs not used: Rene Gilmartin, Josh Walker, Dale Bennett, Adam Thompson.
