We're not for sale... sort of

If Pompey’s statement following the News of the World’s ‘For Sale’ story seemed like it contradicted itself, that’s probably because it did.

We aren’t for sale, went the statement, but if someone’s got the cash it’s all yours.

The club insist the ever-elusive Sacha Gaydamak is not actively looking to sell.

But, like any businessmen, if a healthy profit is on the horizon he wont need asking twice.

In denying the stories Pompey have - wittingly or unwittingly - revealed what a lot of Premier League clubs are thinking.

The likes of Everton and are all casting an eye to billionaires worldwide, praying an oil-rich Arab fancies a new hobby.

They aren’t the only ones either.

If things continue at the same pace, you’ll need a wealthy sheikh just to stand still.

As our columnist Alan McLoughlin said in his column yesterday (Monday), Pompey’s problem is they don’t come ready-made.

Unlike City, they don’t have a new stadium or training ground. That’s 100m quid before you start on the team.

As usual, Harry Redknapp cut through the boardroom waffle.

He said: ‘I don’t know if the owner wants to sell, but every club in the country has a price on its head.

‘When people talk about debts you have to realise that is the economic situation in football.

‘All clubs are in debt, but we have fantastic assets here on the pitch.’

The last bit is a worry. A few injuries here and a misjudged sacking there (it happens!) and suddenly those on-field assets look a bit flimsy.

At the risk of repeating what many Pompey fans have been saying for years, a new stadium and training ground is a must if Pompey want to hold their position in the top flight long term.

But like most fans, I’ll only believe it once the bricks and mortar are in place.

No defence for Pompey slump

Let’s be honest, it wasn’t unexpected.

While the capitulation at Man City was a bolt from the blue, the meek surrender to Chelsea was entirely on the cards.

Pompey’s fringe players were no match for the likes of Lampard and Drogba in a surprisingly star-studded Chelsea team.

The number of goals being shipped is worrying, though.

The base of last season’s success suddenly looks a tad shambolic.

There are reasons - and the impressive Sylvain Distin is not one of them.

The 4-4-2 formation gives the back line far less protection that the 4-5-1 employed last term.

There is less cover down the wings, while the onus is also on the full-backs to get forward this season, leaving more space in behind.

Hermann Hreidarrson doesn’t offer too much going forward but he was a rock at left-back last year.

This year, he’s second choice as the more attack-minded Nadir Belhadj and Armand Traore are preferred.

Crucially, the heart of the defence has looked shaky.
Sol Campbell has been erratic and, quite frankly, at times has looked on his last legs.

He’s creaking, so it is hoped Younes Kaboul’s youthful athleticism will come to the fore.

However, he still looks like he is struggling.

He has potential, but as any Spurs fan will tell you, he struggled to make the step up to the Premier League last year.

Pompey need him to start looking like the £5m player he is supposed to be.

At the moment, the Frenchman is hit and miss. Man City and Chelsea have exposed that as not good enough.

On the plus side, bottom-club Spurs visit Fratton Park on Sunday.

I watched Spurs lose to Aston Villa the other week and they looked awful and low on confidence.

They beat Newcastle but, let’s be honest, my Sunday League team would fancy their chances against the Toon at the moment.

Sunday’s vital. Another defeat and it becomes a habit, a win and the last two games can be put down as a blip.

Let’s ride out the storm.

Bigger fish to fry

Pompey 10-man injury crisis is nice for headlines.

But Harry Redknapp won’t be losing much sleep over it.

Put it this way, there won’t be many 10-men injury lists for a Premier League game or an FA Cup game.

With the UEFA Cup now part of the club’s fixture list, the Carling Cup has slipped further down the pecking order.

You want proof - even David Nugent was lined up to play tonight (Wednesday) before he found his (familiar) way to the treatment table.

Some of these players’ knocks can be translated as rested.

Jermain Defoe will be fine for Sunday, while Lassana Diarra has a knock below the knee, not ligament damage as Harry mischieviously suggested.

These are two examples of Harry ‘rotating’ his sqaud.

The Carling Cup is basically second string versus second string (or youth team if you are Arsenal).

It’s now a chance for recuperating stars or youthful promise.

For many - eg Sol Campbell - it means a rest day.

For Pompey, this should be seen as a sign of our success.

It should be thrilling for fans to realise that, at the present time, we have bigger fish to fry.

Pompey crumble to City slickers

Ouch! That one hurt.

Humiliating and embarrassing. Losing is one thing but capitulating to a 6-0 defeat is another.

Robinho, Stephen Ireland and Elano tore Pompey apart.

But the manner of the drubbing at Man City came out of nowhere.

After the euphoria of the UEFA Cup win on Thursday, Pompey just weren't up for it.

The News columnist Alan McLoughlin was shellshocked in today's (Monday) paper.

The former Pompey stalwart was almost lost for words, which for anyone who knows Macca is quite something.

I spoke to him as he was enduring the miserable drive down the M6.

It will have been a similar story for a host of Pompey fans.

Harry Redknapp's tactics were wrong but, crucially, the players' attitude was also wrong.

A bit of complacency, a bit of tiredness, a lack of desire in the face of a vibrant City - they are all guilty, all apart from Lassana Diarra who was the best of a bad bunch by all accounts.

What I would pay to be a fly on the wall when the team sit down to watch the video nasty.

One reason the match was such a shock was because that sort of thing doesn't happen to Pompey these days.

We are the FA Cup winners, a team with internationals, a team on the up.

For that reason, in the cold light of day, most fans will put it down as a freak result.

They will, though, demand a response. Firstly, against Chelsea in the Carling Cup on Wednesday.

More importantly, Pompey must show how much this performance hurt them.

The best way is to take their anger on beleagured Spurs next weekend in front of their own fans.

That's the least we all expect.

Pompey's Euro Tour up and running

Pompey looked liked they’d been playing European football for years.

But then most of their players have.

Ironically, in the team’s Euro debut they had too much experience and know-how for their opponents Guimaraes.

Not that it was straight forward.

Overall, it could have been better - Jermain Defoe missed a penalty and Armand Traore was denied by a stunning save.

But crucially it could have been worse - James produced a lucky save and they also missed from 12 yards.

Basically, we’ll take 2-0. Let’s not be greedy.

The occasion was terrific and the fans lapped up their moment in history.

The supporters were determined to make their mark on Europe and they did just that.

Our back page today (Friday) sees Harry Redknapp dedicating the win to the crowd.

Traore also talks up the atmosphere as they best he’s ever played in.

Pompey - staff, fans, players, the city - were in this together.

On the pitch two players caught my eye.

Nadir Belhadj was excellent. His partnership down the left with Traore is quick and dynamic.
They both look hungry.

Belhadj looks like he’s loving it at Fratton and the crowd have responded immediately - they love him.

His cross for Defoe’s goal was as perfect as they come.

Diarra is from another level. He knows it, Harry knows and the fans know it.

Refreshingly, the supporters also acknowldege the Frenchmen will leave at some point but are intent on enjoying him while he’s here.

It’s a rare dose of realism amid the hyperbole of professional football.

Instead of feeling bitter betrayal when he does depart for Real Madrid or the like, the majority will feel a sense of pride that the classy Frenchmen pulled on a Pompey shirt.

My hope is he gives us the rest of the season at least. That will be a fair return and there’s no doubt regular football at Fratton is making him a better player.

In the first-half, especially, Diarra was too much for Guimaraes who, nevertheless, looked an accomplished side.

When they stepped it up in the second half, it posed Pompey problems.

That was a taste of things to come in Portugal.

Two-nil alone will not be enough, but I do think Pompey have more than enough to get on the scoresheet and wrap up the tie.

AC Milan then awaits. Now that really would be mind-blowing.

Nugent heads for the exit

If David Nugent hasn’t got the message already, then he did this morning.
If he’d read our back page today he would have learned of his omission from the 23-man UEFA Cup squad.
He certainly hadn’t been told of his axing before last night’s reserve game, that’s for sure.
The whole scenario reveals how low down the pecking order this one-time England player is.
Firstly, the fact the club have not bothered to tell him shows not only a lack of respect, but little regard for a player who did, let’s not forget, cost Pompey £6m.
More pragmatically, it means Nugent will not be UEFA Cup-tied come January - when Pompey will almost certainly try to off-load him again.
It’s hard not feel sympathy for the player, whatever his on-field merits are.
A big-money signing, he has not been given a fair crack of the whip.
Harry Redknapp didn’t fancy him from the word go, which begs the question why did he buy him?
Whatever the answer to that question, the suspicision is Nugent is out of his depth in the top half of the Premier League.
I hope he proves me wrong because he is honest and willing.
But he seems to lack the composure to cut it at the top.
It is obvious to all, except maybe the player himself, that his Fratton Park fate has already been sealed.

Pompey's Euro vision

The last few years have seen Pompey stride forward impressively.

The Great Escape, best league finish for half a century and, of course, FA Cup winners.

Thursday night will see another chapter in the club’s history written when they play in the UEFA Cup.

My view is simple: don’t underestimate anything.

Don’t underestimate the occasion - this is Pompey embracing the European stage for the first time.

Don’t underestimate the opponents - Vitoria SC will be good. They finished above Benfica in their league and will be technically excellent.
Beware Pompey.

To win and proceed to the group stages will be a decent achievement.
It should not just be expected.

Our back page today (Tuesday) has David James warning his team-mates not to blow their chance.

James is right to compare the match to a cup final - I just hope the team have prepared as such.

It would be a waste to fall at the first hurdle.

From the fans point of view, the occasion must be savoured. After all, this is history in the making.

- Watching Spurs last night put Pompey’s current squad in flattering context.

Harry Redknapp’s policy of getting in English talent reflects well on Juande Ramos’ array of world ‘stars’.

The spine of a team is always key.

Therefore, Spurs fans must have shuddered at the performances of keeper Heurelho Gomes, playmaker Luka Modrić and new big-money striker Roman Pavlyuchenko in the 2-1 home defeat to Aston Villa.

In that order they were erratic, lightweight and off the pace.

Thank goodness for David James, Lassana Diarra and Jermain Defoe.

Harry we salute you.

'Mad man' Belhadj

Jermain Defoe and the breathtaking Lassana Diarra rightly took the plaudits for the win over Boro.

But there is a new darling of Fratton Park.

Nadir Belhadj more than caught the eye of the fans. Incredibly, after just 45 minutes of action, he's been taken to their hearts already.

What John Utaka would give for just a slice of that!

In today's (Monday) News, three people summed up the impact of Belhadj vividly.

Our chief sports writer Neil Allen, in his match report, described how, after his enthusiastic, lung-bursting introduction, team-mate Sean Davis had to calm the debutant down.

Then our columnist Alan McLoughlin expressed his amazement - and delight - at the player's standing ovation on the final whistle.
It took, he said, some players seven years to receive such acclaim!

My favourite quote, though, came from a fan.
Paul Renouf, our 'Gaffer for a Day', summed it up perfectly.

He said: 'Belhadj came on and ran around like a mad man.
'He did one trick which was pretty good and was always looking to go at people.
'He was everything John Utaka should be but isn't.'

Let's hope the boy Belhadj doesn't slip into Utaka-style mediocrity after such a bright, eye-catching start.

Does the Cap fit?

Harry Redknapp's mantra has always been that football 'is all about good players'.

There is, of course, much truth in that.

However, at international level it's not that simple.

For one thing, there are a lot of good players. The key has always been to tactically mould these players into a sum even greater than their parts.

Terry Venables managed it at Euro 96, Glenn Hoddle almost managed it and Kevin Keegan and Steve McClaren failed dismally.

Anyone can pick the best 11 players - and that was pretty much all Sven-Goran Eriksson did towards the end of his reign.

Now England have started their World Cup campaign under Fabio Capello.

Team balance and the ability to outwit opponents are key.

It's why Stewart Downing, for all his shortcomings, is a better bet on the left than Frank Lampard or Steven Gerrard.

And it's why England will do better with a legitimate partnership upfront. For example, Heskey/Owen worked. Owen/Rooney will not offer the same threat.

It's one thing spouting these thngs off in a blog, of course, but getting them right in real life requires the sharpest football brain

Step forward Mr Capello. We hope.

No credit crunch at City!

Man City’s mind-blowing takeover makes Sacha Gaydamak look like a pauper.

And the new multi-billionaire owners at Eastlands even dwarf Roman Abramovich’s millions.

It all puts credit-crunch stricken Pompey in the shade.

When Sacha took over from Milan Mandaric at the helm of Fratton Park, Pompey suddenly had more cash than a lot of their rivals.

But the game moves on at a lightening pace.

Suddenly, it looks like we needed Sacha’s cash simply to hold our own in the league rather than push on to the top six.

That’s the nature of the Premier League now. It’s the perfect playground for the world’s wealthiest people.

City have now taken that on to a totally new level.

The other debate raging is the role of a football manager.

Harry Redknapp, as he is quick to point out, has control other the make-up of his team.

Alan Curbishley didn’t at West Ham and Mark Hughes certainly doesn’t now.

It’s one of the major reasons Harry will not be tempted back to Upton Park, and why he eventually turned down Newcastle.

Let’s be honest, who wants Dennis Wise picking your players for you.
Newcastle are a mess and Pompey look in rude health in comparison!

Sacha has never hiden his dislike for The News - he’s never spoken to us.

But Pompey fans must be pleased he isn’t in the Fratton End on matchday in his replica kit downing pints before trying to sell Jermain Defoe behind Harry’s back.

We aren’t the richest, but we are still a proper football club.

Deadline? What deadline?

By Pompey’s standards last night’s transfer deadline day was a non-event.
No last-minute deals to get Harry Redknapp’s adrenaline pumping.

No Benjani-style hold-ups or paperwork dramas.

Instead, fans had to be content with the arrival of Algerian Nadir Belhadj on a season-long loan.

It wasn’t the Wright-Phillips arrival everyone had hoped for a few weeks ago but there is a reason to be relatively cheerful - no-one left.

Well, no-one except Jean-Francois Christophe and, let’s be honest, he doesn’t really count.

As usual there were a lot of rumours knocking about.

The People reckoned Lassana Diarra was all set to join Spurs, but the sports desk reckoned they’d got the wrong end of the stick.

Harry Redknapp insisted he wanted only to get rid of fringe players and Diarra is certainly not that.

More importantly, we knew Diarra’s agent’s dislike of Spurs director of football Damien Comoli would count against the move.

The other rumour was Pompey were involved in last-gasp talks with fresh-out-of jail Joey Barton.

You can read Harry’s empahatic respone to that in tomorrow’s News.

The heartening thing for fans is none of Fratton Park’s top stars have followed Sulley Muntari or Pedro Mendes out the door to balance the books.

With a trip to Portugal in the UEFA Cup on the horizon, that would have been a disaster.

So while Pompey’s ‘credit crunch’ has dampened expectation, there is still reason to be confident of another decent season.

- So it looks like the way forward this season is 3-5-2.
And why not after Pompey’s wing wonders destroyed Everton at the weekend.
Playing Chelsea and Manchester United first thing made Pompey look a worse side then we are.
They are the two top teams in Europe, don’t forget.
Crouch and Defoe got service and got involved at Goodison Park.
The result - Pompey turned on the style.
- Finally, yours truly is cycling 160 miles this weekend.
Not just for fun, mind you. I’m doing the Pedal for Primus challenge - with 40 other riders - cycling between all four of Linvoy’s professional clubs.
It’s in aid of Faith and Football and their work to get the game into the poorer areas of our community.
We set off Friday and return on Sunday to be greeted by a Community Fun Day at Fratton Park.
The Fun Day is free to enter, starts at 3pm and features face painting, a bouncy castle, penalty shoot-out as well as food and drink.
Get down there and join in the fun.