Neville Dalton is a journalist with the BBC News website and a
Who would have thought it?
With all that close-season transfer activity; millions spent and more than half a team's worth of new faces - including more than £10m of attacking talent - our opening-day strikeforce could well consist of familiar faces Benjani Mwaruwari and… Lomano LuaLua!
Yep, I know Harry could still conjure up Jermain Defoe or Fredi Kanoute before the season starts - and there will be many who think he wouldn't dare leave David Nugent on the bench after paying £6m for him.
But I've got a hunch he'll go for two of Pompey's older heads when the new season kicks off at
And if he doesn't, I reckon the thought will at least have crossed his mind.
OK, Benjani's selection (assuming he's recovered from his hamstring strain) is hardly surprising, even though his goal record is hardly that of a first-choice Premiership striker.
It's not just his workrate that justifies his regular inclusion in my opinion.
I reckon he's responsible for at least half Pompey's goals.
For if he's not scoring them, he's either making them directly with incisive passes or decent crosses - or he's providing them indirectly through his exceptional, intelligent running, which while not always the most noticeable aspect of his play, so often creates precious space for fellow forwards.
No, I accept it's LuaLua's inclusion that will surprise. Let's face it, he's hardly most fans' first, second or even third choice striker at Fratton.
Frustrating
Yet it's not just his recent pre-season goal glut that makes me argue his case for first-day inclusion.
I honestly planned to base this column on his likely promotion even before then.
No, I knew you wouldn't believe me. Even I wouldn't believe me if I hadn't already started writing a column along those lines several weeks ago.
I'm afraid I line up alongside what appears to be a small majority of Pompey fans in believing his worth to the team is outweighed by his frustrating play.
I loved what he brought to the team in his early days at Fratton, but I grew more and more frustrated - to the point of despair in many games - by his failure to acknowledge the existence of any team-mates on the pitch; by his insistence on beating an opponent a second or even third time.
I even found myself condemning his goal celebrations after resultant injuries twice cost him his place in the team when he was a valuable member of it - although not to the extent that many posters on the Portsmouth Mad site seemed to.
But most important was the damaging effect his play in the past couple of seasons appeared to be having on the team.
LuaLua's individuality is an asset, which - harnessed in the right way - could be a match-winning attribute.
But so many times a flowing passing move, cutting midfields and defences apart foundered once the ball reached Lua.
He would stop, swivel, back into a player, his studs perched on top of the ball, and then as he tried some spectacular pirouette or triple salchow to prise himself free of defensive attentions, someone would make off with the ball and start a counter-attack.
Yet, towards the end of last season, when he finally started getting back in the side, I saw something that made me think he still had something to offer Pompey.
Fitter
Yes, he still lost the ball, but far more, he was bringing other players into the game - and more significantly, he was doing it with his first touch.
It had the effect of not slowing our attacks and gave him the opportunity to try his tricks and use his skill in more damaging positions, where there was little else on and his shimmies and movement bamboozled some of the world's finest defenders.
It was only a glimmer, but it was promising.
Add to that lat month's
His hat-trick and other spectacular goals in recent weeks have obviously added to his ever-stronger case for inclusion on the first day of the season, although I gather there were signs of the old LuaLua at
But what about Nugent?
Yes, he cost a lot of money, but I do believe he is an excellent signing, not just because I think he's a talented player who will score goals, but also because I think it sent a message of Pompey's intent to the rest of the Premiership.
And he's even joined our ever-growing list of pre-season goalscorers in the past couple of games.
But he's still young, never played in the Premiership - and cost a lot of money that seems to have divided football experts.
That means pressure. More pressure than making his debut for
Nugent has already admitted that going five games without a goal in pre-season friendlies - relatively meaningless matches that don't count, other than to build team understanding and match fitness -was getting to him.
Imagine if he fails to score in his first four or five Premiership starts.
It would hardly be a sign of failure, would it? But people will start counting the games - "That's another blank for £6m Nugent."
Risks
Expectation - and pressure - will rise with every outing.
And his career at the top echelon of English football could be stalled before it's started.
Contrast that with a few 20-minute appearances as substitute. What if he doesn't score in three or four substitute appearances when he's not been on the pitch more than a few minutes at a time - and maybe the equivalent of a full game in total.
No problem. He's gaining Premiership experience, finding the measure of international defenders, without the pressure of having to deliver.
And think of all that energy being unleashed on tiring defenders in the final quarters of games.
Harry's a shrewd judge of players and appears to be an excellent man-manager.
I don't think the risks will be lost on him.
And while he may decide he's worth throwing in at the deep end, despite the unprecedented additional attacking talent (given Kanu's re-signing and the presence of winger-cum-forward John Utaka, too) at his disposal this season, I believe he would be hard-pressed to justify not starting with our longest-serving forwards on Saturday.
Unless, of course, Nugent grabs a hat-trick!