The crunch
Before I talk about Pompey's game today, I must draw your attention to an arguably more important fixture this weekend: namely Havant & Waterlooville's FA Cup game against Brentford. The Hawks will no doubt be hoping to improve on this season's up-and-down league form, and re-create the magical cup run they went on last season.
The fact that ITV are showing the match live is yet another amazing twist in the H&W story, but I urge all local football fans to forget the coverage and to attend the game. ITV's involvement should be seen as a chance for the club to raise it's national profile. It would be a tragedy if the camera's will only be able to show a threadbare attendance.
For regular updates on Havant & Waterlooville, please click here.
I hope to see you at West Leigh Park on Sunday
Onto Pompey's trip to the Stadium of Light, which is looking like a crucial test for both the team and Tony Adams' managerial credentials.
Some people have said that Pompey have suffered bad luck since Tony took over. I disagree. We should have gained seven points from the three games since Redknapp left. Fulham were allowed to equalise late on because players weren't concentrating. At Anfield, one man's moment of madness ruined the dogged display by his teamates. And while the goalposts LITERALLY seemed to be moving against Wigan, it wasn't misfortune that meant we couldn't finish one of the chances we created. Maybe I am being harsh, but hitting the woodwork isn't 'unlucky.' It's a failure to aim 6 inches left/right/down.
The point I'm making is that all of these results were in the hands of the players on the pitch.
A minority of fans have laid the blame at Adams door. Again, I disagree. He had no time to prepare for the Fulham game. He did the right thing against Liverpool (at that point unbeaten and top of the table) in playing a 4-5-1 system, and no manager can lesgislate for an error like Diop's that night. For the Wigan game he picked the right team, played the right formation, and made the right changes... only for errors of judgement, an inability to finish chances, and another failure to concentrate for the full 90 minutes (plus stoppages of course!) to undo us.
As I've noted on a previous post, I am unsure how much influence Adams can really have on the players until after January, when we will see which of them wants to stay at the club. But the performances so far have been encouraging - you certainly can't fault the players for effort at the moment, which buys a lot of goodwill from me (despite what my grumpy attitude might suggest!) The key thing now is to turn that endevour into results, and Sunderland away is a game that we should be looking to win.
The fact that ITV are showing the match live is yet another amazing twist in the H&W story, but I urge all local football fans to forget the coverage and to attend the game. ITV's involvement should be seen as a chance for the club to raise it's national profile. It would be a tragedy if the camera's will only be able to show a threadbare attendance.
For regular updates on Havant & Waterlooville, please click here.
I hope to see you at West Leigh Park on Sunday
Onto Pompey's trip to the Stadium of Light, which is looking like a crucial test for both the team and Tony Adams' managerial credentials.
Some people have said that Pompey have suffered bad luck since Tony took over. I disagree. We should have gained seven points from the three games since Redknapp left. Fulham were allowed to equalise late on because players weren't concentrating. At Anfield, one man's moment of madness ruined the dogged display by his teamates. And while the goalposts LITERALLY seemed to be moving against Wigan, it wasn't misfortune that meant we couldn't finish one of the chances we created. Maybe I am being harsh, but hitting the woodwork isn't 'unlucky.' It's a failure to aim 6 inches left/right/down.
The point I'm making is that all of these results were in the hands of the players on the pitch.
A minority of fans have laid the blame at Adams door. Again, I disagree. He had no time to prepare for the Fulham game. He did the right thing against Liverpool (at that point unbeaten and top of the table) in playing a 4-5-1 system, and no manager can lesgislate for an error like Diop's that night. For the Wigan game he picked the right team, played the right formation, and made the right changes... only for errors of judgement, an inability to finish chances, and another failure to concentrate for the full 90 minutes (plus stoppages of course!) to undo us.
As I've noted on a previous post, I am unsure how much influence Adams can really have on the players until after January, when we will see which of them wants to stay at the club. But the performances so far have been encouraging - you certainly can't fault the players for effort at the moment, which buys a lot of goodwill from me (despite what my grumpy attitude might suggest!) The key thing now is to turn that endevour into results, and Sunderland away is a game that we should be looking to win.
posted by Gliiitches at
Saturday, November 08, 2008
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