The first two paragraphs relate to most of the players we had let go in the summer and how much we would miss them. It's safe to say that we haven't missed most of them as they are now either playing in the Championship or disappeared into obscurity. I did mention how we didn't know how well Koroman could do for us only for us to loan him again and still we don't know what the Serb is capable of in a Pompey shirt having hardly played and been subsequently loaned to Red Star Belgrade for the rest of the season.
I did suggest that we would possibly miss Brian Priske and Andres D'Alessandro. In the grand scheme of things we haven't missed either of them considering how good Glen Johnson was in the first half of the season and Matt Taylor's constant improvement on the left. A counter-arguement for this would suggest that we could do with either of them right now considering Johnson's big dip in form with Harry's reluctance to drop him and D'Alessandro is one of the most creative players I've seen in a Pompey shirt and right now a creative spark is something we lack.
Baring in mind we hadn't signed Cole, Douala, Kranjcar and Fernandes I could only run the rule over the signings of James, Campbell, Thompson, Johnson and Kanu. I went on to say that Thompson and Kanu were ultimately squad signings and whilst that was true of the now departed Thompson I don't think even Mystic Meg could have predicted the positive impact the tall Nigerian would have on the team.
In hindsight in regards to the signings, the players who had question marks above their heads have well and truly proved their doubters wrong. "Calamity" James has been one of the best Goalkeepers in the league whilst Sol Campbell has still proven he is one of the best centre backs in the game.
So now I turn to my expectations of the team at the start of the season. I claimed we would finish anywhere from 7th - 17th and indeed we currently lie in 7th position despite a terrible run of form since Boxing Day, which is an achievement in itself. Revising that prediction I'd say that realistically we could finish anywhere from 5th - 15th. We are still only 6 points behind 5th placed Bolton but if the slide continues then we could easily end up in mid-table mediocrity, just above the bottom five strugglers.
In the initial predictions I claimed that our squad (without Kranjcar, Cole, Douala and Fernandes) was not good enough to finish in the top 10. We could still finish outside the top 10 now but I think the slide will stop eventually and we can at least finish in the top half.
Looking back at the reasons I stated for why we weren't going to finish in the top half I couldn't help but laugh at myself a tad. I claimed we needed a quality left winger, a solid centre back and a 15-goals-a-season striker. Matt Taylor has proved himself to be a quality left winger, certainly better than at left back anyway and Kanu has currently scored 11 goals this season but hasn't scored in the league since the Everton game. As for solid centre back, two words: Linvoy Primus.
If you are wondering what the point of this article is, I am merely looking back at my initial predictions and realising how good we have had this season compared to what it could easily have been. All I asked for was a stable season without a relegation battle and so far I have been given much more than that, so much more I've gotten a bit greedy and I'd certainly be disappointed if we didn't manage to qualify for Europe now.
Taking a look at the bigger picture I realise I should be grateful for what we have right now. It's difficult not to be a bit fickle, most fans are in one way or another but that shouldn't mean that our expectations should grow too fast, otherwise we could end up like fans of certain other teams who have delusions of grandeur.
All I'm asking the Pompey fans who continually moan and groan about our current form to do is to take a step back, look at the bigger picture and what they predicted Pompey would do at the start of the season and realise that a) Despite our dip in form we could still achieve something big and b) Whatever happens this season is not going to be anywhere near as stressful or depressing as the last.
Of course, you could have predicted Pompey to win the league before the season started and you'd have every reason to be disappointed.