Portsmouth 2 - 0 Vitoria Guimaraes (Thursday 18th September 2008; Fratton Park; Att.: 19,612)
A good friend of mine is a passionate Newcastle United supporter. Like many of the Toon Army he despairs at the current predicament his club are in, but gets equally frustrated at the way the 'Southern' media portray his team. He has a good point. Read between the lines of most daily papers and you'll see the hacks barely containing their spiteful sniggers.
As a Pompey fan, I am starting to get sick of the very same journalists and commentators patronising my club. Friday's Guardian took a swipe at the front page of The News on Thursday. The picture of Harry as an astronaut and the headline "One Small Step" was "overblown giddy anticipation" according to the broadsheet. Well, excuse us for getting excited about our first ever European game. I somehow feel it is slightly more justified than the Ronaldo/Barry melodramas whipped up during the summer by these same publications. But then clubs like Portsmouth aren't supposed to win FA Cups or get into Europe, are they?
I can only apologise to the wider world that our current team is daring to upset the establishment. And on the strength of the performance against Vitoria Guimaraes we are going to keep doing exactly that for some time to come. I didn't dare to think that our team could turn in the kind of performance they did in their debut UEFA Cup appearance. But we were good for the 2-0 victory, and genuinely showed some European class.
I'm by no means getting carried away here - we are only at half-time in the tie, and I have concerns about whether our squad can cope with the rigours of a European campaign on top of the domestic competitions. But forget being realistic for the moment - lets just enjoy the victory!
Aside from the win, there were plenty of other positives to take out of the game. Belhadj and A.Traore look like they could form a frightningly good partnership down the left-hand side. They both have so much pace and are happy running at players. The knock on effect is it challenges Kranjcar, when he is fit, to prove his worth. I am still not sure with Niko whether he is lazy or has been carrying an injury. He has bags of potential but doesn't look interested at times. Alternatively, with options on the left, Harry could choose to play the Krank in the 'free' role he has with Croatia. I don't reckon we get the best out of him out wide.
But I digress... Pompey didn't have a bad player on the pitch, but Diarra again deserves a special mention. We can only hope that progress in the UEFA Cup will convince Diarra to hang around until at least the end of the season. He is our Ronaldo, our Gerrard, our Lampard, our Fabregas... I could go on, but you get the point. He wouldn't be out of place alongside any of those players, but maybe having had his fingers burned at 2 of the 'big 4' clubs Diarra will be happy staying at a club like Pompey. Yet again he controlled the game with his running, movement, passing and vision. It was fitting that he scored Pompey's first ever European goal, the icing on the cake being his run and intelligent one-two with Defoe before burying the ball in he net.
Like I said before, we are only at half-time in the tie, and Guimaraes are likely to be a different proposition at home. But having kept a clean sheet in this first leg we have given ourselves every chance of keeping the European dream alive.
As a Pompey fan, I am starting to get sick of the very same journalists and commentators patronising my club. Friday's Guardian took a swipe at the front page of The News on Thursday. The picture of Harry as an astronaut and the headline "One Small Step" was "overblown giddy anticipation" according to the broadsheet. Well, excuse us for getting excited about our first ever European game. I somehow feel it is slightly more justified than the Ronaldo/Barry melodramas whipped up during the summer by these same publications. But then clubs like Portsmouth aren't supposed to win FA Cups or get into Europe, are they?
I can only apologise to the wider world that our current team is daring to upset the establishment. And on the strength of the performance against Vitoria Guimaraes we are going to keep doing exactly that for some time to come. I didn't dare to think that our team could turn in the kind of performance they did in their debut UEFA Cup appearance. But we were good for the 2-0 victory, and genuinely showed some European class.
I'm by no means getting carried away here - we are only at half-time in the tie, and I have concerns about whether our squad can cope with the rigours of a European campaign on top of the domestic competitions. But forget being realistic for the moment - lets just enjoy the victory!
Aside from the win, there were plenty of other positives to take out of the game. Belhadj and A.Traore look like they could form a frightningly good partnership down the left-hand side. They both have so much pace and are happy running at players. The knock on effect is it challenges Kranjcar, when he is fit, to prove his worth. I am still not sure with Niko whether he is lazy or has been carrying an injury. He has bags of potential but doesn't look interested at times. Alternatively, with options on the left, Harry could choose to play the Krank in the 'free' role he has with Croatia. I don't reckon we get the best out of him out wide.
But I digress... Pompey didn't have a bad player on the pitch, but Diarra again deserves a special mention. We can only hope that progress in the UEFA Cup will convince Diarra to hang around until at least the end of the season. He is our Ronaldo, our Gerrard, our Lampard, our Fabregas... I could go on, but you get the point. He wouldn't be out of place alongside any of those players, but maybe having had his fingers burned at 2 of the 'big 4' clubs Diarra will be happy staying at a club like Pompey. Yet again he controlled the game with his running, movement, passing and vision. It was fitting that he scored Pompey's first ever European goal, the icing on the cake being his run and intelligent one-two with Defoe before burying the ball in he net.
Like I said before, we are only at half-time in the tie, and Guimaraes are likely to be a different proposition at home. But having kept a clean sheet in this first leg we have given ourselves every chance of keeping the European dream alive.
posted by Gliiitches at
Sunday, September 21, 2008
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