In the first half today I thought we were excellent. We seemed to be passing the ball with confidence and skill, and weren't giving them time to settle. Every time either of their strkers got the ball we were right onto them, closing down their midfield well, and generally bossing the game. Then of course in typical Portsmouth fashion, we go and gift them the opener - but it's to our credit that we still kept on going and managed to work our way back into the game. For the rest of the half we dominated the game and, although I'm praising us for that fact, it's also bad news. In any league in the world - ESPECIALLY the Premiership - when you are having all the possession and getting in all the good positions, you absolutely have to take your chances. No ifs and buts, you have to score goals as after all, that's what wins you matches. Now I'll happily concede that we didn't have our fair share of luck today and the woodwork at the Fratton End was probably Villa's first half man of the match, but we have to take our chances when we're on top.
The second half in comparison was far closer. It seemed to be that whilst our game was dropping off slightly, they were improving. When the goal came I don't think it was really that undeserved, and to be fair it was a cracking finish. Having said that, everybody knows what Hitzlsperger does when he gets the ball on the edge of the box and we should've closed him down sooner. But on the balance of play in the second half as it was, Villa deserved to take the lead - Angel hit the bar and had another well saved, and Mellberg could've scored but with a header too, from a chance stemming from a Chalkias error (gasp).
Some will point the finger at the substitutions, in particular the removal of Yakubu and the fact Villa took the lead shortly after. But let's look at the facts here, he was playing a poor game. He didn't look interested (again), did very little running (again) and his passing was rubbish (again). The situation as it was, I probably also would've thrown on LuaLua to see what he could bring to the game if I had been in charge, god forbid. If anything, I would say bringing off Skopelitis did us more damage than the Yakubu change. He had been working his socks off in midfield and allowed Berger the licence to get forward, but once we lost him we seemed to lose the midfield as a whole - he really had been carrying us. For the remainder of the game we seemed so panicked at the thought of losing that we just hoofed it forward time after time, hoping for the lucky break or the good knock-down. I guess Kamara should've scored an equaliser late on, and from the first half performance alone I think a draw was possibly a fair result, but the fact we couldn't keep it up means we only have ourselves to blame.
Berger played a lot better than he has recently, I thought. A few fantastic long shots as well as moving the ball around well; he can really tick the team over. Steve Stone had a fantastic comeback and was doing well linking up with Cissé in the first half, but I think it's no coincidence that as he began to tire, the team started to do worse. He was really pushing us on at the start of the game but by the end was completely out of puff. Taylor did ok in the first half, but was absolutely rubbish in the second and made far too many mistakes for my liking. Based on recent form, hopefully it's just an off day. Chalkias had a better game, but even so a few moments of madness crept in which we really can't afford. It's all very well and good that yes, he dealt with a few crosses with no problem, but you expect that from your keeper. That's standard. The mark of a good keeper is one who does the basics as well as that little bit extra; the fact that he struggled with a few more crosses as well as almost gifting Villa a goalscoring opportunity when punching a shot straight to their strikers, it's not a recipe for success. But he is getting better, even though Ashdown will be back between the sticks for Manchester United.
A couple of other minor points; what was the ref up to? Stefanovic and Hughes both booked for tackles in which they won the ball, whilst Villa could cynically hack away at us all afternoon and get away with it. Ridgewell commits a nasty tackle on Stone without touching the ball, but doesn't get booked - nothing to do with the fact it would've been his second and he would've got sent off, I'm sure, despite the fact he was already guilty of four or five niggly fouls throughout the game. And my final point - just what is that Cissé chant all about. Out of all the witty possibilities for his name, "olé olé olé olé, Cissé, Cissé" really is plumbing the depths. Bah.