Portsmouth vs Villa Preview

These days, so I'm told, it's impossible to just be a Portsmouth supporter. Whilst it would be easy to simply turn up at a football ground on a Saturday (or whatever day Sky/the FA decide to stick us on) and cheer the lads on, that would almost be TOO easy. The current trend is that we can all be stuck into one of two handy groups - you're either a happy clappy, or a doom and gloom merchant. There's no half way at all, of course. You're either completely behind the club and want to get physically closer to Peter Storrie, or you hate everyone and think the "powers that be" are diddling the fans over before our impending relegation.

And of course, it's absolutely impossible that your views can be a mixture of the two. You HAVE to be one or the other.

"Fratton Faithful" likes to think it can adapt to these times of civil war, but at the same time wouldn't like to alienate fans from either side of the divide. Which is why I have something very special for you - for the first time ever, a double match preview. If you're excited and looking forward to tomorrow, read the first one. If you're dreading it like a trip to the dentist, skip straight to the second.

THREE POINTS ON THE HORIZON
Aston Villa head down to the South Coast tomorrow for a trip they certainly won't be relishing after an indifferent early start to the season. They lost at Old Trafford at the weekend (no real surprise) but struggled defensively on the first day during a 2-2 draw with Bolton. There are certainly easier journeys than a midweek game at Fratton Park, especially considering how we've spent big on plenty of talented new players this summer, leaving us much better off than last year now we've ditched all the old deadwood; we can beat anyone on our day and evening matches always seem to have a certain special atmosphere - the crowd seem more up for it under floodlights for whatever reason.

Saturday - unlucky

Our own start to the season hasn't been as bad as some would like to make out, especially considering two defeats, but did anyone expect much different by this stage? Spurs have spent big and will challenge for Europe, whilst West Brom was an away game and we all know what that means during the last couple of years. What's more, things aren't really as bad as people have been making out - we all but matched Spurs in the first half and can count ourselves unlucky not to have got all three points at the weekend. We certainly have played some nice stuff at times, created our fair share of opportunities and but for a bit of luck could easily find ourselves having already notched up some points and looking up the table. The Baggies, for example, certainly couldn't have complained if we'd walked away with a share of the spoils and some of those elusive half chances could've ended up in the back of the net on another day.

The squad has also been strengthened further since the weekend with the arrival of another international star; our illustrious leader, Milan Mandaric, deigned to reach into his wallet for us and purchase Danish international Brian Priske. The former Racing Genk player can play at centre or right back and will be good cover, not to mention a challenger to Griff. I can't claim to know too much about him but given how he capably kept Rooney, Owen et al quiet during Denmark's 4-1 win over England, he clearly must have something about him and expect big things from our new man.

Karadas

Elsewhere, Linvoy and Cissé will still sit out injured - the same fate befalling Mornar. Karadas will still start up front despite getting a hard time, although sadly people don't seem to take into account the fact that he's agreed to battle on with six stitches in his knee when he could easily just sit on the sidelines and leave us short up front. It's slightly harsh on the big man who has toiled away up front and certainly looks a more than adequate replacement for Yakubu, showing that the club haven't been afraid to splash out and that if you look hard enough (as we have thanks to Zajec's well set up scouting network) there is talent out there. Still even if he can't make it through the game, we do have Todorov and Pericard to come back into the side who look stronger every week. Mbesuma won't be ready until the Everton game though according to Perrin - which is lucky for Villa as surely he'll be itching at the chance to show the world he can equal the 35 goals he got last season.

For the visitors, Patrik Berger is likely to miss out with an injury - which is just as well for his sake, as no doubt Laurent Robert and Gregory Vignal would show that there is "life after Berger" on the left wing at Fratton Park - and what's more, they're both equal, if not better, than the Czech man. This surely backs up Alain Perrin's decision to release him and shows that he has a shrewd football brain, and if anyone is the right man to lead us to an eventual European challenge this season, it's the quiet Frenchman.

So the result? There's been some nerves, panic and downright knee jerk bollocks spouted lately but the players will have faith in their ability to get a result. With Viafara in the middle, LuaLua and Karadas up front and a solid defence with a world class keeper, there's no reason why we can't hit top gear and claim a 3 or 4 goal win. The only downside is that there's only nine days of the transfer window left afterwards and we're going to have very little time left to sift through the players keen to join our European challenge.

WHY WE'LL LOSE
Aston Villa head down to the South Coast tomorrow for a trip they'll certainly be relishing after their indifferent start to the season. They lost at Old Trafford at the weekend (no real surprise) and struggled defensively on the first day during a 2-2 draw with Bolton, but showed they're capable of goals - one scored by Kevin Phillips, a supposed target for ourselves until Milan decided he didn't want to spend any money again. There aren't many easier journeys than a midweek game at Fratton Park, especially on our current form. Admittedly the atmosphere can be good at the ground under floodlights but since we should be at our new stadium already that's hardly a valid argument.

Saturday - thrashed

Our own start to the season has been appalling and we'll probably be relegated, especially when you consider the games we've played. Spurs have spent big but according to Peter "tell us a new" Storrie, we're supposed to have done as well. West Brom was an away game but at the end of the day it's only West Brom and we should be beating small teams like them all the time. Worst of all is the fact we were so humiliatingingly played off the park on both occasions, never looked anywhere near like scoring and showed a complete lack of any footballing ability.

Since the weekend we've added one more player; yet another foreign nobody in the shape of Brian Priske. He comes from the Belgian league - the same place we signed Rodic, and look how good he was - and what's more he's another defender. What we need is a 20 goal a season striker and a right winger, possibly spending £3m on David Bentley who is well worth it because he's under contract at Arsenal and played for the England U21s once. I can't claim to know much about Priske so surely if he was much good he would've come across here before; he kept Rooney, Owen et al quiet during Denmark's 4-1 win over England, but considering how bad England were that's no achievement. No doubt Zajec scouted him as well.

Karadas

Elsewhere, Linvoy and Cissé will still sit out injured (no thanks to the training ground) - the same fate befalling Mornar. Karadas will start up front which just goes to show how bad we are. After 155 minutes of football for us with six stitches it's blatantly obvious he's not up to Premiership standard, so the only real solution is to boo ourselves silly. At least we have Todorov and Pericard on the bench, although thanks to our medical staff they're still not fully fit. Mbesuma (another dodgy cheap foreigner) is still not ready, which is just as well.

For the visitors, former Fratton star Patrik Berger is likely to miss out with an injury. It's a shame for the talented Czech who was brilliant in all his time here as it would be the perfect chance for him to show Alain Perrin what a horrendous mistake he made in releasing him, especially since Laurent Robert is still struggling to adequately replace his ability to sulk and go missing (er, "make a huge impact on the left wing", surely? - Ed)

So for the result? We'll be very lucky to get anything out of this one. Anything less than a 5-0 defeat should be taken as a successful run out; worse still, we'll only have nine days to rebuild the squad after that although we might as well not bother since we'll have to ditch them all when we get relegated anyway.