The Pompey Crimes
Date: Tuesday 21st April 2009
5am start, Longest trip of the year (500 miles round) devoid of any ideas on the pitch, and yet again Bolton willingly gift another three points to those in need. The ship has well and truly been sunk .Welcome to the life of being a Wanderer.
I’ve got to stop writing these reports. Every time I do, I feel that bit more dejected. Each time I’ve written an article, we’ve failed to show up (Everton, Liverpool, Fulham) and this occasion is no different. I did have hopes for this game. The previous week we put three past Chelsea, and the confidence and self believe on display during that game should have been carried all the way down to Portsmouth.
Pre-game I met up with poster Enfield White who I hadn’t seen since Arsenal away. We had a good chat about a magnitude of topics, ranging from Phil Gartside, If Megson had really made progress to no beer being available for away fans.
Unfortunately early into the game Ricardo Gardner got taken off for an apparent hamstring injury. Let’s hope it doesn’t keep him out too long. This minor or major set back (whichever way you want to interpret it) completely changed our game plan. Our attacking options it seems were pinned on this one man. Not the greatest of starts nine minutes into the game. From that moment on it all went a little pear shaped.
Davo and Taylor didn’t seem interested in being at the game, and Johan was trying his best but again as per usual to no avail. Its quiet clear our current system doesn’t accommodate his style of play, so why does Megson carry on with it? Is it to save face on his record signing, to prove the fans wrong or the fact that the team scores more goals when he is in the squad (a-la Nolan). The jury is still out.
With Bolton already a man down, Porstmouth started the game more confidently, slowly building up their play into our half. Had it not been for Jussi who made three excellent saves from Glen Johnson, the score could have read something like a rugby result even before the half was out. Even after these attempts, Bolton still defended far too deep and invited unnecessary pressure. If its one thing Gary Megson has to sort out, it’s this simple issue. Even an amateur from the stands can evaluate that we as a team need to push up field more.
Our only chance of the game fell to Elmander, who forced a decent save from David James, and that was pretty much it for the whole game. Even Matty Taylor's free kicks were being hit like a rugby ball. It looked like he wasn’t motivated enough to be there. Andy O’Brien, who has come in for a lot of stick recently, did make one error that resulted in Porstmouth breaking from the half way line into our 12 yard box, for Johnson to force a brilliant save from Jussi. He was at every aerial ball and dealt with the danger more than adequately.
Crouch had a relatively low key game. For what its worth, Megson did get his tactics spot on in regards to this threat. Having two Bolton players challenging for the ball whenever it was played into him kept him in the background for the majority off the afternoon. When the breakthrough did come, however controversial the shove on Jussi was, Pompey did deserve their goal. Kanu, who replaced Nugent, got the faintest of touches to make it 1-0, and send Fratton Park into euphoria. Just like Stoke away previous, the home fans burst into the song "we are staying up." A feeling of deja vu hit me right then. Not only was the chant the same, so was Bolton’s performance, and so was the manner in which we went into a defeat. It was shocking defending, our back line yet again prone to errors. McCann missed a free header then Samuel and Jussi.
The game was crying for changes to be made, I would have thrown on Riga and Ebi just to mix things up. Predictably no changes at all were made, except when Muamba, who was largely in the background for the entire game, came on for Ricky.
To sum up the game, we showed nothing going forward and it was another no show. Lets not kid ourselves - the performance was awful, along with the tactics and game plan. Bolton should not settle for 0-0 games, and I can’t understand why Megson would plan for a game to finish this way. Arguably, against the top four but against Portsmouth? Away from home, our shape and style changes drastically. Maybe this is why we have seen such an inconsistent season. We crave continuity not change.
It’s the 'business end’ of the season now. Our players need to perform more productively and give 100%. The skills they posses need to be exploited and put to good use, not just periodically. We need to get our final papers and house in order or else we’re going to go bust into the Championship.
