Fort Fratton Breached

Last updated : 16 December 2007 By Jim Bonner
Many people, including myself thought that the game with Tottenham today was not going to finish 0-0 but I don't think many imagined that Spurs would walk away with a single goal victory as Pompey failed to find the net for the fourth home league game running.

The Blues were blunt and couldn't string two passes together whilst Tottenham were first to every loose ball and always carried a threat up front that had us pinned in our own half for many periods of the game.

The first half was quite scrappy with only Utaka's close range miss, Muntari's free kick and Diop's blocked volley being the only chances for Pompey of note. Malbranque scored a disallowed goal for offside after James had saved from Boateng and although the visitors didn't create anything else that was clear-cut, the ball was at our end of the pitch far more often than theirs.

Harry tried to change things at half time by changing from the 4-3-3 to a 4-4-2 and substituting the off-colour Mendes for Sean Davis and moving Utaka up front. That just made things worse though as the players continued to give the ball away easily in midfield and the defenders were always on the back foot with Tottenham's pace going forward.

The only real chance we had in the second half fell to David Nugent, on for Sulley Muntari, as he headed Kranjcar's corner onto the roof of the net. That was as good as it got for us and I wasn't surprised when Dimitar Berbatov struck from close range to give Spurs the lead as it was coming.

Pompey didn't make any real effort to get back into the game in the remaining 10 minutes and if anything, Spurs could have added a second as Defoe hit the woodwork late on.

Perhaps this result will serve as a wake up call for Harry Redknapp to work on changing the system at home and to give the players a kick up the arse. It's not been very entertaining at Fratton Park recently as we're not playing the slick, passing football of previous seasons that was worth paying to watch.

I'm not even going to blame the inept refereeing of Martin Atkinson for this result, and this was a "performance" that was possibly the worst I have seen since Matt Messias took charge of our FA Cup replay against Liverpool a few seasons ago.

Atkinson gave Tottenham free kicks when their players went down easily and blatantly fouled Pompey players. How he gave a free kick to Tottenham after Lennon shoulder charged Pamarot into the advertising boards (that he was subsequently injured from) I will never know.

All credit to Tottenham for their win though as it was well deserved from their point of view. This defeat has cost us two places in the table and now with games against Liverpool and Arsenal coming up, we could slip further if this performance is anything to go by.

It looks like it could be our home form that costs us Europe this season!

Pompey Player Ratings

David James: 7 - Made a couple of good saves but also got away with a couple of bad decisions.

Glen Johnson: 5 - Just as he is toued for an England recall, he has his worst game for quite as he was ran ragged.

Sol Campbell: 6 - Strong for most of the game but he couldn't block the cross that led to Tottenham's goal.

Sylvain Distin: 6 - Was given a hard time by Spurs' movement.

Noe Pamarot: 6 - Struggled to cope with Lennon.

Pedro Mendes: 5 - Awful first touch and was rightfully subbed at half-time.

Papa Bouba Diop: 6 - Strong on the ball but was often wrongly penalised by the ref. His passing was terrible though.

Sulley Muntari: 5 - One decent free kick in an otherwise quiet game. Didn't have a bigger impact when moved to left midfield.

Niko Kranjcar: 6 - His delivery was awful and despite looking bright at times, never really looked like opening Tottenham up.

John Utaka: 6 - I don't think he was as bad as some people are saying, but he still wasn't involved as much as he could have been.

Benjani: 5 - Anonymous due to absolutely no service from the midfield.

Substitutes

Jamie Ashdown

Hermann Hreidarsson: 6 - Replaced the injured Pamarot late on.

Sean Davis: 5 - Replaced Mendes but was just as bad.

Matthew Taylor

David Nugent: 6 - Great work ethic but the goal never came.