It's now been nine hours of league football since we have scored at home and since that game against Reading we have only picked up 4 points from a possible 18. A truly embarrassing statistic that's made even more frustrating by the fact that we've only conceded 2 goals in that time and they've both been very costly.
I don't really want to talk too much about today's "performance" as the more I think about it, the more it angers me. Harry switched to a 4-4-2 formation but if anything that made us worse than in previous games as we lacked any ideas to break down Boro's stubborn defence as well as leaving ourselves open to their counter-attacks.
Gary O'Neil played for the opposition and it wasn't a surprise to see him involved in Middlesbrough's goal as his volley was saved by James only for Tuncay to tap in and for the cries of "offside" to be ignored by the match officials.
Too many players in a blue shirt simply didn't play very well. Niko Kranjcar kept losing the ball which made Hermann Hreidarsson exposed and he didn't have a great game either. Richard Hughes didn't create anything as expected, John Utaka started the game but was frustrating yet again whilst Benjani and Kanu were closed down so quickly by the Boro defence that they had no time or space to create anything.
Harry changed things at half time by bringing on Taylor for Hermann but Matt also kept giving the ball away. David Nugent and Sulley Muntari were also subbed on but didn't have any real impact in a frantic second half that was full of endeavour but no quality.
The most frustrating thing about our play today was that we constantly kept hoofing the ball up front and that isn't going to work against man-mountains such as Woodgate and Huth. Then when we tried to play it on the floor we just kept giving the ball back to Middlesbrough and the frustration continued.
Frustration would be the word to sum up the atmosphere coming from the crowd today. Alan Wiley being his usual inconsistent self didn't help matters but I was very disappointed at the numpties who booed Gary O'Neil after all he has done for the club.
The boos were even louder come the full-time whistle and whilst I agree with all Pompey fans that we were absolutely pathetic, it saddens me to see a reaction that you'd normally associate with Upton Park or St. James' Park.
Still, it's completely understandable given how bad we have been at home and today probably marks our worst performance of the season so far. Give Middlesbrough credit as they did everything right and were pretty impressive for a side who are supposed to be struggling, but we helped them out with our inability to create anything.
Harry blames the awful performance on tiredness and that can be understood after the amount of effort that was put into the Arsenal game. The problem is that we've got yet another game in three days at Reading and that one won't be easy.
For now I'm glad to see the back end of 2007 now as the home form has reached crisis point. I'm thankful that most of our games in January are away from home and the only home game is against Derby where we surely have to win...
Saying all this, it's easy to put things out of perspective when you consider the tragedy that took place in Scotland today. Motherwell's captain, Phil O'Donnell died today after collapsing on the pitch during a match. O'Donnell was only 35-years-old and it's extremely sad to read about these sort of events. I express my condolences to Phil O'Donell's family, friends and team-mates.
Let's hope 2008 starts on a much happier note for all....
Pompey Player Ratings
David James: 7 - Made a couple of good saves and could do nothing about the goal after saving O'Neil's shot.
Lauren: 6 - Solid but Downing got the better of him one more than occasion.
Sol Campbell: 7 - A pretty good showing by all accounts.
Sylvain Distin: 7 - Can't really be faulted.
Hermann Hreidarsson: 5 - Poor, but wasn't helped by Kranjcar's lack of cover.
John Utaka: 5 - Showed flashes of what he could do, but still frustrating.
Papa Bouba Diop: 6 - Our only good midfielder today.
Richard Hughes: 5 - Below average showing.
Niko Kranjcar: 4 - Kept losing the ball and his set-pieces were awful.
Benjani: 6 - Plenty of hard work but was closed down so quickly.
Kanu: 5 - Cluttered by Huth and Woodgate all game.
Substitutes
Asmir Begovic
Djimi Traore
Matthew Taylor: 5 - Poor passing and no impact.
Sulley Muntari: 6 - Didn't have enough time to influence.
David Nugent: 6 - Tried hard.