You must be delighted with the way
It's been a roller-coaster following
The Manchester United game early on was an incredible night. It was a great occasion just to play them, but to beat them was the stuff of dreams and it won't be forgotten in a hurry.
Approaching half way in the season, to be sat 12th in the Premier League and playing such easy on the eye football to match really makes me proud to be a Claret. Add to that we're matching and beating some great and colossal clubs and it's safe to say we're all ecstatic at where we find ourselves.
Obviously the away form and defensive lapses are well documented, but people need to remember we're the new guys. It's a new experience for the manager, the chairman, the board, the players, the fans. We've taken giant strides in a short space of time and we're all moving forward and learning from our mistakes together.
We'll go to places we have no right to be and come away having let them know they've been in a game of football. As fans of a small club punching above its weight even last season, I don't think we can ask for anything more than that.
Owen Coyle must be highly thought of up there. Are you worried that he might jump ship in the near future? Celtic were tempting him in the summer...
I've said for a while now that Owen Coyle is the best thing to happen to the football club for years. He's taken us from the gutter of the Championship to the Premier League in his first full season and we did it by getting the ball on the floor and passing it, as well as achieving some cup upsets that will live long in the memory.
Coyle says himself, the only better sight in football than a ball hitting the back of the net is a winger beating his full back, and this sums up his philosophies nicely. As long as he's with us, I'll have confidence we can stick around at this level. He's got all the ingredients in him as a manager to be a success at a big club one day. I think most of us accept that he'll leave eventually, probably for bigger and better things, but he seems a loyal bloke (I don't know what happened with Celtic) and I wouldn't think he'd be leaving any time soon. He's a hero in
We're debt free, have beaten the Champions and are receiving praise from all corners of the globe. None of this will change whatever happens and it is by no means beyond him to keep taking the club forward.
His methods and principles have won us so many friends in football. Only a couple of years ago we'd be slated by fans of teams we had no bad blood with just for being
I think he appears a genuine, sound bloke from a working class background and many football fans can relate to him. Everyday he'll go out of his way and pop into the club shop to greet the staff and the little things like that are a breath of fresh air. The fans adore him as he's restored such pride to the club and town in general, so much so he's now known as "God" to the majority of us!
He's fantastic with the media too.
He says all the right things and manages to conduct himself so positively in the spotlight whilst being an excellent ambassador for the club. You don't have to look any further than the play off final. With 36,000 screaming Lancastrians going berserk behind him, the first thing he did before anything else was offer his condolences to Sheffield United. Top man.
Why are
It's hard to put your finger on one thing to be honest. Partly it must come down to our style of play. At Turf Moor, teams generally come more defensive-minded and play on the counter and we've just gone about our business quietly. Away, we don't change tactics at all and perhaps just get shown up for quality against teams that set up to give us a bit back, I'm not sure.
I think there are psychological factors as well. Errors at Turf Moor are minimal but on the road they're made left, right and centre due to major lapses in concentration. Match of the Day is cringeworthy when we've played away; if you listen carefully enough, you can hear Alan Hansen grit his teeth and groan as the goals fly in against us. We seem to have made a nasty habit of gift-wrapping the opposition goals rather than making them work for them themselves and we need to sort this should we want to stay above the relegation picture.
I don't think we've had the rub of the green in terms of fixtures or had that stroke of luck yet either. Stoke,
Maybe we're naive thinking we can play these teams off the park in their own backyard, but, hopefully starting with you, we can start to pick up points on our travels. We have the firepower - six away goals in two games show that - but it's the other end that has cost us dear.
David Nugent had endured a torrid time in
He's only scored twice, but "Nuge" is a popular figure with us already. I don't know the ins and outs, but I've heard he only played a few games up front for Pompey with the rest of his miserable time there spent out on the wing.
He looked very much low on confidence down there and nothing would really fall for him. He's a player that makes the most out of his ability and needs an arm round him when things aren't going so well. Coyle is a great motivator so works so well with confidence players and he's got that cheeky smile back on Nuge's face. He's showed glimpses of quality - such as that fantastic brace against
Whenever he comes off the bench he buzzes about and makes an impression on the game, which is all you want. I'd like to see him here permanently; I doubt there'd be many complaints from
Not much is known about the current crop of
Steven Fletcher has been largely impressive since his move down from Hibernian. Our record signing at £3million, he's made the step up relatively comfortably and already has eight goals to his name. He'll run all day for the team up top on his own and links up play tidily.
I'm not sure if he's a natural finisher, but recently he's been popping up to net some tap-ins, so you have to give him credit for that.
Chris Eagles is currently enjoying probably his finest run of form since he's been at the club. He has more time at this level to run at defenders and create something, whereas in the Championship the opposition would often gang up on him and leave him struggling to make an impact.
His athletic partnership with our best player so far this season Tyrone Mears makes us a genuine threat down our right hand side. I think Eagles has the talent and flair to establish himself as a top flight player for the best part of his career.
Who are the weak players in your team and are there any major weaknesses that Pompey can exploit on Saturday?
They've all been heroes for me. Stephen Jordan had a nightmare last week, but has been consistently good so far at left back. Brian "The Beast" Jensen is a great shot-stopper, but poor decision-maker - something that has cost us more than once this season. If you bombard crosses into our box we normally crumble as neither the defence nor Jensen seems to like dealing with them.
Our only home loss came against
Virtually every Pompey fan believes that we're down if we fail to win this game. Do you think we have any hope of beating the drop?
I think you do. Whenever I've seen Pompey play they create hosts of chances and are well in the game before conceding against the run of play, much like ourselves. I recall the
You have some quality players in O'Hara, Kanu and James and it's the experience of the latter two, amongst others, that should look to pull you away from trouble. It's been said time and time again, but home form can keep you in the league. I think if Avram Grant gets some stability there after the turbulent times you've had, he can get you up and running at
What sort of game are you expecting?
As you mentioned above, your boys will see this as a very important and winnable game. For that reason I think you'll put us under the cosh for large periods, as you'd expect from any home team. I'm hoping we'll concentrate on ourselves rather than worry about how you'll come at us though, and for that reason I reckon it will be an exciting game with both teams creating chances. We won't come for a point and I can see the game swinging either way.
Predict the outcome of the match.