After the buzz wears off and the hangover sets in, it is easy to forget about the next opponent. Especially when that club is without a manager and is mired in mediocrity, like Pompey. They have managed to improve their form over last season and are quietly poised to give the Gunners a run.
Portsmouth sit at 10th with a 6-5-6 record. Middle of the road in scoring and middle of the road in defense, they remind me of a “Seinfeld” episode where everything just evens out for Jerry. Things just even out for Pompey.
Certainly the biggest news from Portsmouth is the departure of Harry Redknapp. Now the manager at Southampton, things must have been really bad for him to make that move. He states he was not having fun at football any longer and needed a rest from it all. Two weeks later he is managing one of the worst sides in the land. Go figure.
Being without a manager has not hurt Pompey though, as they are now without defeat in their last 4. Draws to Liverpool on Tuesday and Newcastle before, they also have managed wins against WBA and Bolton. They even beat ManUtd several weeks back. These results show that Pompey is not a club to just overlook.
Shaka Hislop has had an injury allowing Jamie Ashdown to come into goal. He does not appear to have a great deal of confidence but he makes the saves when he’s called upon. Several difficult ones against Liverpool kept them in the match. Andy Griffin has come over from Newcastle on a free and though he has been solid he can present a weak point in the back line. Andy Faye and Patrick Berger are still called upon to run this midfield and have been effective. They hold possession well but it’s the transfer to the strike force that has eluded them. Lua-Lua and Yakubu have been the offense, mostly by themselves. Yakubu has done an excellent job of creating on his own while Lua-Lua has been a great clean-up man. Yakubu was not in the line-up on Tuesday at Liverpool and that certianly won’t help Pompey.
Most notable from Liverpool’s match with Pompey was the way the Reds moved the ball in the Portsmouth half. Flowing, possession oriented attack should work to create goals, which works for the Gunners. Pompey did not play a physical style but tried to interfere in the passing lanes. I see this as an excellent opportunity for the Gunners to play that “sexy” style we love to watch and get all three points from this match.
20 Responses to “Portsmouth, Pompey Preview”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
December 16th, 2004 at 9:33 am
Again, I dont’ care about our oppositions in the EPL, because we are better than most of them in terms of QUALITY, as long as we don’t concede a goal from set-pieces, chance is our oppositions would find it not easy to score against us. And our attackers can always score. But if we are sloppy from set-pieces again, then no matter how we analysis and prepare for our oppostions, even it is the bottom team, there is still no guarantee we could get result.
December 16th, 2004 at 9:52 am
No more zonal marking system! We must mark man to man on set pieces and we need to go to the ball. Watched the Chelsea game again last night and that seemed to be the biggest difference on the set plays we waited for the ball to come in and Chelsea attacked the ball. If we attack the ball on set pieces we will be fine.
December 16th, 2004 at 10:03 am
Agree. I watched some of the game as well last night and noticed that after John Terry scored, Sol marked him closely. The second goal was that kind of flukey, dribbly thing that Gudjohnsen always seems to get.
December 16th, 2004 at 10:08 am
Good point Sclarke!
December 16th, 2004 at 11:23 am
I’ll be interested in seeing who plays on Sunday!
Will it be Vieira / Cesc, Vieira / Flamini, or Cesc / Flamini!
I think Vieira, (In Theory), should help some on some pieces with his height alone. Cesc & Flamini are not big or tall players.
Edu is about ready to come back into action, will he? will he be a Gunner for much longer? or will he be sent to Spain?
Gilberto, where art thou?
Does anyone know the status of Gilberto’s injury… and is he still estimated to return in Jan/Feb?
I don’t think we will be losing any points to Portsmouth… I believe we have gotten some form back, and we are back to playing at a better level than our slump period. Even if we let in a goal from a set-piece… we should still beat Portsmouth by a few goals.
Welcome back the NEW / OLD Arsenal!
3-1 Arsenal.
December 16th, 2004 at 11:49 am
I have to agree with you. Portsmouth is showing some pluck after losing Redknapp, and grinding out points here and there against teams they shouldn’t have a chance with. They’re pretty big, and are lurking somwhere between mediocrity and slightly above mediocrity. They’ll be up for it.
But so will we. What’s changed? I think the shake up with Lehmann and Almunia has injected a new fire in the squad. I can’t say why Wenger has suddenly dropped his unbeaten keeper, but its working. Almunia should reward him again this Sunday for having faith in him, and the lads seem to like the new blood.
Marking in attendance, I say 3-1, as well. Funny though…how rare to predict an Arsenal clean sheet anymore.
December 16th, 2004 at 11:56 am
Wenger was fined 15 thousand pounds for calling RVN a cheat. Cue the drum—> ta-da, splash!
I think ArseAm and other sites should help set up a fund for any future “deliberate speakings of truths” so that Wenger can call the leg-scraping b*stard a cheat whenever he wants.
December 16th, 2004 at 12:43 pm
Scotty, clean sheets don’t mean a thing to me anymore! I want WINS! Just win baby.
If we are up 3-0 and let our guard down in the last 10 minutes and they score… I don’t care!
December 16th, 2004 at 1:43 pm
It proved some people CANNOT HANDLE THE TRUTH!
December 16th, 2004 at 1:43 pm
It proved SOME PEOPLE CANNOT HANDLE THE TRUTH!
December 16th, 2004 at 1:54 pm
True…’tis a luxury.
December 16th, 2004 at 2:56 pm
I was about to reply to Scott and Andez post about how some ppl can’t “Handle the truth” with regards to Wenger getting fined.
Please to the Arsenal fans who really says they care and loved the club please stop blaming everyone but ourselves. I read a good article by a friend on Arsenal Times web site “How should racism be dealt with” Pots and Kettles. And remember Teabag or Kelvin using that phrase.
The law in the land is very clear on what managers can say and can?t say. David Dein even said it. So Wenger was fined and end of story. He knew he was not supposed to say what he said. As Mourinho “God Bless Me” said on Sunday, I wish I can say something but the FA will be watching and don’t want to paid any fines. And lots of managers have done the same thing, so what stops Wenger. As I said the other day is like saying black folks can used the “N” but as soon as a white person says it people start jumping up and down.
All I said to the Arsenal fans please stop the excuses. At times it makes us looks very silly. Wenger knows the law and broke the code of conduct whether “van the horse” is a cheat or not.
Back to football.
December 16th, 2004 at 3:01 pm
Gilberto is done for the rest of the season. I hope we don’t let Edu go for free and I somehow understand his points. He is fighting for what he thinks he “deserves”.
I hope we play Flamini and PV and give Cese a break.
December 16th, 2004 at 4:09 pm
I agree it would be good to rest Cesc and to see how the Viera-Flamini combination works. I’m assuming Freddie won’t be playing? If so, then it’s Pires on the right and Reyes on the left, so what better time to give van Persie a start?
Miranda
December 16th, 2004 at 4:35 pm
I agree Cesc has earned a break for at least a game.
December 16th, 2004 at 5:46 pm
Every game is a must win frankly.
December 16th, 2004 at 11:20 pm
Love G…
I am not doubting your statement on Gilberto… but I have heard nothing at all about him being out for the season. Do you have a mole? (inside source), or did you see this info somewhere?
If he IS done for the year, why wouldn’t we make it public?
December 17th, 2004 at 11:10 am
I actually agree with you, L_G. There was a bit more jest to my post than anything. Its just funny to me that it was RVN that he got busted for. I mean, there are T-shirts about the guy, as there are for Bobby. The fine is justified, but there HAD to be a few chuckles around the FA conference table on that one. Rules are rules, and they are indeed necessary, but I will say this…
…like any reasonable rule, there needs to be balance in interpretation. Labeling someone something is tricky, because, like you said, double standards. Thankfully, Cech is being taken to task for calling Poll an Arsenal supporter. He should have commented on the rules, or learned them first. They had every right to be frustrated (I would have been!), but he went the OTHER way with his mouth.
Still, Mourinho said just as much in choosing to comment about NOT commenting. Is that the wave of the future? If so, the next time a blatant attempt at ending a player’s career is made by RVN, maybe Wenger should say, “I shouldn’t say anything about RVN’s questionable tactics, because the FA will fine me. So I choose not to.”
Just like Mourinho, we’ll all know what he really meant to say.
December 17th, 2004 at 7:06 pm
4 Things I’m looking for. The win, first and foremost above all else. Second, further evidence we are out of our malaise and we show the great one touch flowing football that is our trademark, third, our defending not only on set pieces but as a team is better and fourth, Reyes return to form.
Those things happen I’m a happy camper. The first though if the others can’t happen.
December 18th, 2004 at 10:15 am
That’s it in a nutshell. Well put.