Floodgates

Last updated : 26 September 2008 By Jim Bonner
16 goals conceded in 7 games is a very worrying fact to read if you're a Portsmouth fan. It could easily be 18 too if the missed penalties were converted.

If you put this stat into context then you'll see that it took 18 games in all competitions before we leaked the same amount of goals last season as we were extremely tough to break down.

So what the hell has happened? Our start of last campaign was just as tough as this one so we can't use the quality of the opposition as an excuse. The back five is the same as last year if you swap Hreidarsson for either Traore or Belhadj so that can't be the reason either.

I think the reason could perhaps lie in the midfield area as we are considerably weaker there than what we were last season.

As often as he gave away needless free kicks coupled with a bad habit of giving the ball away, Sulley Muntari gave Pompey a presence in the centre of the park that nobody else in the squad had.

Couple that with Diop and Davis and you had a very tough centre to crack before you even got to our defence. I suppose the rigid 4-5-1 system with that contained a striker who defended from the front played a significant part in keeping the amount of clean sheets we did but I do think we genuinely miss Muntari more than some fans realise.

Of course, we've still got Davis and Diop but the former excels in a defensive midfield role whilst the latter has been playing right midfield for the majority of the season. We need to get that physical presence back and Stephen Appiah would have fit the bill perfectly if his wage demands weren't so high.

However, I believe the biggest reason why we have conceded so many goals is because of a certain David James...

I'm not going to bash him too much as he has been top class for us since he joined but he has made a catalogue of errors this campaign which has cost us goals. He could have saved Deco's strike on the opening day and he was mainly responsible for three of the goals conceded against City as well as another terrible mistake for Chelsea's third on Wednesday.

In his defence he hasn't been helped by a back four who seem to have forgotten the basics and instead go cavaliering forward or carelessly give the ball away. What happened to "If in doubt, put it out"?

I hope Harry and Tony have got the team on the training ground and have practised the basics over and over so when the ball is in a danger area we can just clear it rather than try and play it out of trouble where the biggest mistakes are made and we end up conceding.

I am quietly confident that the woeful defending is just a blip and we will soon be keeping clean sheets again, hopefully starting with Tottenham on Sunday.