Here We Go...: Pompey Start to Click

Portsmouth 3 Bristol City 1

Successive victories were key this week for the Blues, and we did it. Another fine performance in another vastly entertaining game, Pompey deserved to beat Bristol City at an electric Fratton Park. With Ashdown keeping us in it until the second half, John Utaka's moment of magic lifted the roof off of Fratton and was a fine strike from someone who is starting to win over his doubters. It wouldn't be Pompey if they didn't concede almost straight after, but Mokoena's thumping header and Mullins' late counter-attacking goal sealed a win that the Blues had earned. The only poor performances came from left-back Dickinson, who is still struggling to keep up with anyone with even the slightest bit of pace, and the referee, who made some very odd decisions. No matter though, Pompey on the up and out of the relegation zone. And once again, the Blues fans showed their class as David James received an amazing reception from the Fratton End, as any club legend should. No hard feelings at the result though, Jamo.

Champions League: It's Coming Home

I might walk down to Ladbrokes now and put a bet on the Champions League coming to an English club this season. Manchester United and Tottenham joined Arsenal and Chelsea in gaining victories to give themselves good respective chances of progressing. Chelsea in particular didn't need to blitz Marseille, while Arsenal and United came away from difficult away ties with all three points. And Tottenham are the early front-runners for the tournament's most entertaining team, with twelve goals scored in four games. And fair-play to Rangers aswell for getting a win. Britain is doing well, especially as you see Real Madrid need a late goal to see off Auxerre and Barcelona drawing with Russian minnows Rubin Kazan. Although there is still a long way to go, and the likes of Inter Milan, Bayern Munich and Lyon to think about, I'm confident England's finest can bring Europe's most prestigious trophy home. If I had to plump for a team, it might finally be Chelsea's year.

The Weekend Word - 25th/26th Sept

As always, here's what has been going on in the wonderful world of sport:

Chelsea unstuck as City show credentials

I think Roberto Mancini is hasty to say his team has no chance of winning the title. They showed in their display against Chelsea that they can mix it with the big boys, hassling and harrying them to grind out a horrible-looking one-nil victory. There is no doubt about the quality and depth of their squad, they are still to hit top-form and Mario Balotelli can be a big hit when he returns from injury. So there is potential there for the Eastlands side to go for the title - the derby's against United will be key. As for Chelsea, Carlo Ancelotti's side have suddenly showed their weaknesses with two defeats in a week. They failed to test City as they can, and the decision to take off Didier Drogba for Daniel Sturridge was an odd one. They are still the team to beat, but will need to improve. It's shaping up to be an interesting season.

Ryder Cup around the corner

The Ryder Cup takes place this week, with the USA and Europe battling it out once again. 2008's tournament saw the Americans take the coveted trophy that the Europeans had held since 2002, so Colin Montgomerie's lads will be eager to get it back. It promises to be an interesting tussle, with Lee Westwood the one to watch for the Europeans. As always, eyes will be on under-fire Tiger Woods, with the US legend in poor form since revelations about his private life last year. He has really struggled to get back to his best since then, and I don't think he will hit top form at Celtic Manor this weekend. Europe for me.

Commonwealth Games: Mockery of the Modern Games

The state of the accommodation for participants at the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi have been inescapable in the news recently, and rightfully so. No disrespect to anyone over there, but in this modern age, the disgusting state of some of the facilities is a joke. We don't know the whole story and the organizers proclaim they are ready, but something isn't right over there. The Indian government has spent over $6billion on the event, which is a ridiculous sum. Admittedly, I'm no expert on the subject but surely that is too high a price for what is just a multi-sport event? It shows the outrageous amounts of money that are poured into sport.

Fernando Perfection, Hamilton Out Again

Fernando Alonso put in an expert performance to win the Singapore Grand Prix this weekend, holding off Sebastian Vettel in an entertaining race to Mark Webber's nearest rival in the driver's championship. It was a spectacular drive from Alonso, but once again Lewis Hamilton crashed out to give himself an uphill struggle for the pole position. He was out after a collision with Webber, and now finds himself twenty points behind the Australian in the chase for the title of World Champion. It might just be too late for the 2008 winner, but don't rule out Spaniard Alonso with just four races left. Bring on Japan.

Pompey: Time to Push On

We've got that all-important first victory under our belts, and now it's time to really push on and climb the table. We are in a false position at the moment, but we need to show the rest of the Championship what we can do. And hopefully that starts tonight with the return of Jamo with Bristol City. The England man will hopefully get the warm welcome he deserves for his time here, where he really was the best keeper in the Premier League at times. But tonight he's hopefully going to be picking the ball out of his net a few times.

Play Up Pompey

NWR

At Long Last: Pompey Finally Do It!!

Sorry for the lack of activity in the past week, Blogspot has been on the fritz along with my internet, but it has been a big seven days. The Weekend Word is on its way, but here's the latest on Pompey:

Portsmouth 1 Leicester 2: Out of the Carling Cup

With the gift of hindsight, this doesn't seem like the worse defeat in the world, but at the time, it was another blow for the beleaguered Blues. Going behind early and two down by half-time, Hughesy being sent off and Nugent well on form (don't worry Nuge, you will redeem yourself), it was all gloom and doom in front of 8,000-odd fans at Fratton Park. The Carling Cup had been a welcome distraction, supplying the only wins so far against Stevenage and Crystal Palace, but Liam Lawrence's late goal was not enough to keep it going. A run in the cup would have been nice, but we would have swapped it for league points against the same side just three days later.

So, moving swiftly on...

Portsmouth 6 Leicester 1: Off The Mark

Everything that went wrong in the Carling Cup went right in the league as Pompey registered their first league win of the season in style. New-boys Lawrence and Kitson got two each, with goals from David Nugent and a quality strike from Michael Brown saw them blitz the side that put them out of the cup just three days earlier, although the Blues were helped by the Foxes' Miguel Vitor being sent off before the half hour. But I don't care. It has been coming and it came without a doubt in front of the Sky cameras, a fantastic performance and for once, Pompey took their chances and got the three points. After the weekend results, it means Pompey are off the bottom of the table and can finally start looking up. Bring on Jamo and the Bristol lads on Tuesday.

Play Up Pompey.

NWR

The Weekend Word - 18th/19th Sept.

Here's what I think about what has happened this weekend:

Chelsea early favourites, but United will push for Berbatop

Carlo Ancelotti's side have cemented their place as the favourites for the Premier League this season, but never write off Manchester United. It seems impossible to stop Drogba, Anelka and Malouda in their current mood, and Blackpool found it difficult this weekend, conceding four first half goals. With Frank Lampard out of the team, they still found that one too easy and are the team to beat this season. But United proved in their entertaining victory over Liverpool that they are always in with a shout. They were much the better side and could have been up by five by half-time, but had to rely on the top-class Dimitar Berbatov to win them the game. Sir Alex Ferguson's side will always be near the top, and never know when to give up, so bet on another tussle between the Red Devils and the Blues for the title.

Cricket In A Mess

The once-honourable and boring sport of cricket has become a cheat-infested chaos in recent weeks because of allegations of match-fixing in matches between England and Pakistan. It seems since the stories broke last month that it has all come rushing out, with a new rumour and more speculation coming everyday. Whatever did happen to the traditional game of cricket? The test against Pakistan has tarnished the game, and the integrity of cricket seems to have been affected by the money pumped in since the Twenty20 boom of the past decade. Although not a new thing within sport and even within cricket, it needs to be sorted out to bring back the reputation the gentleman's sport of cricket deserves.

Boing, Boing, Bang? Baggies To Stop Bouncing?

West Brom got a very good result against Birmingham this weekend, scoring three second half goals to win the match three-one, and I reckon this could be a good year for Roberto Di Matteo's side. The Baggies have held a reputation for fluent attacking football and shaky defence, and to some point that is still the truth. Scott Carson can be a liability and I'm not sure he has a first choice defence set yet, but Jonas Olsson and Nicky Shorey are decent players. Then they have Chris Brunt, Marc-Antoine Fortune, Jerome Thomas and last season's star Graham Dorrans to spearhead a talented attack, and flying new winger Peter Odemwingie has made an instant impact. This could be the year that they lose that 'bouncing Baggies' reputation.

Sheffield United 1 Portsmouth 0: I'm getting tired of this

Once again, Pompey did themselves proud this weekend, going to a difficult Championship ground and performed admirably. We created the more chances and had the bigger domination. But once again, we lost. Ched Evans' free-kick in the 77th minute condemned the Blues to a harsh and undeserved defeat, but a defeat nonetheless. We need to turn our luck around and very quickly, because it's getting very boring losing every game but playing well. I think Cotterill's the man to do it and we have a team capable of much more than we're giving at the moment, but it just needs that one moment of good luck to change our season. Please, please, please let that moment come soon though!

Sacrebleu!: The Demise of the French

A lot can happen in twelve years. Britain was still optimistic about Tony Blair and 'New Labour', The Corrs had the biggest selling album in the UK with 'Talk On Corners' and 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire?' made its TV debut. It was also the year the French Football Team were on top of the world, and it has taken them just twelve years to hit the metaphorical bottom.

In the 1998 World Cup finals, held in their own country, France defied the odds to win the tournament with silky football. Led by the-then best player in the world Zinedine Zidane, the French beat Italy and Croatia before hammering favourites Brazil three-nil in an amazing final. Two years later, they were being crowned the champions of Europe in Rotterdam. Even in 2006, Zidane led an even more unlikely charge to the World Cup final in Germany.

Here in 2010, France has slipped to a record low of 27th in FIFA's World Rankings after a simply disastrous World Cup campaign, followed by defeats to Norway and Belarus. Just how has it gone so wrong?

World Cup 2010 for France descended from ridiculous to laughable, making England's effort look like a serene bliss. Captain Patrice Evra and 'The Incredible Sulk' Nicolas Anelka led

player revolts that saw the entire squad refuse to train for strange manager Raymond Domenech, the fitness coach quit halfway through and a dismal goalless draw with Uruguay was the highlight on the pitch, considering they then lost to Mexico and hosts South Africa. Since then, Domenech has left to cheers from his players, the government has intervened to dissect the goings-on and new manager Laurent Blanc has attempted to refresh the country's football squad. But it's not quite worked.

Domenech has to take most of the blame. His odd management style included selecting players based on their starsigns, and he was never loved by the French despite his success in Germany while at the helm. And how he became the longest-serving manager of the national team in their history I will never know, he majorly outstayed his welcome. Now with promising Blanc at the helm, it should get better.

But there seems to be a bit of a rot in the French squad at the moment. It doesn't matter how much you hate the manager, experienced professionals like Anelka and Evra should be better than what they were in South Africa and deserve the bans they have received since. The likes of Franck Ribery and Karim Benzema haven't turned up for the big games, and don't seem to have the potential to step up to the places now left as the great Zidane and Thierry Henry have left in the French team.

At the end of the day, France is not the 27th best team in world football but deserves that place at the moment. Blanc will sort them out to some degree, but it's up to the players to step up to the mark and improve their country's fortunes. They still have some quality in their ranks; Lassana Diarra, Ribery and Florent Malouda are top players for their clubs and must convert that form to the international stage (don't worry France, us English have the same problem). Next month's double header against Romania and Luxembourg are key.

I suppose then the message of this blog is a hell of a lot can happen in twelve years. I mean, can you remember the names of all The Corrs?

Crystal Palace 4 Portsmouth 1: Oh dear...

Good old Pompey. After an optimistic week and a good performance against Ipswich, we spectacularly capitulate at Selhurst Park to gift one of our divisional rivals a big win. Well it would have been far too easy to have just kept it tight in London now wouldn't it? The defense appeared to have gone missing as James Vaughan tore us apart, while once again good play from the Blues ended with no points in the bag. I'm not the only Pompey fan who's getting tired of the same old story, and it's up to Cotterill to sort the defence out. Rocha needs match practise and to be fair, his partnership with Sonko is still young but the Blues manager needs to get it right before we lose more ground on the rest of the Championship. Atleast Kitson got off the mark, ay?

The Weekend Word

Well it certainly was an interesting sporting weekend, here's my views on the main talking points.

Was Sir Alex Ferguson right to leave Wayne Rooney out?

I think his decision was just about validated. United should have held on for a good victory at Everton; Berbatov has hit form and scored a brilliant third for his side, a goal that should have signalled a win. Any team in the world would miss Rooney, but he would have been a prime target for the Everton fans. As we all know, Wayne is prone to the odd temper tantrum and his off-the-field problems would only have inflamed the situation. It was a disaster waiting to happen, and Sir Alex is experienced enough to know when a player needs to be left and has enough faith in his squad to be able to do that with possibly England's best player. And he got a performance from his team (up until ninety minutes anyway).

Lewis Hamilton's mistake

Lewis, Lewis, Lewis... Inexperience again was key for the former World Champion of Formula One as Lewis Hamilton crashed out of the Italian Grand Prix on the first lap. An eager start, that saw him jump from his starting place of fifth to fourth, became over eager as he tried to overtake Felipe Massa. He clipped the Ferrari driver's car, damaging his front suspension and crashing out of the race at only the second chicane. It's not a fatal mistake to his Championship aspirations, but it has given Mark Webber the momentum heading into the final five races. I'll put my neck out and say Lewis will just about do it, but a good position in Singapore is key.

Nadal Vs Djokovic: Time for Rafael to join the greats

I believe Rafael's time has come. After a difficult time in his career over the past couple of years, he has reached the US Open final for the first time and has the complete set of Grand Slams within his sights. The 24-year-old didn't even drop a set on his way to Flushing Meadows and now has the opportunity to become only the seventh man to win all the major tennis titles. In his way stands Novak Djokovic, who beat the legendary Roger Federer in a brilliant five-set match, and he won't roll over easily. But I can't see Spaniard Nadal losing this one, in simply fantastic form and now with his chance to join the tennis greats. And such a stunning athlete deserves it.

Portsmouth 0 Ipswich 0: Marked Improvement

There was a marked improvement in Pompey this weekend. A solid draw against one of the league's pace-setters is a good result, and it could have been more if we had a bit more luck. Glad to see new-boy Liam Lawrence make an impact, he will be our key player this season, while Dave Kitson, Kanu and Ricardo Rocha also had good games. And get this, we could even rotate with Richard Hughes and Michael Brown given a rest on the bench. Our season is looking up, and the trip tomorrow to Crystal Palace is a good place for us to go for our first league win of the campaign.

Pompey: How Far Can We Go?

The dust is now beginning to settle on the latest in a series of frantic periods in the recent history of Portsmouth Football Club and there is the sparkle of optimism on the horizon. We've fended off the taxman, got to the end of the transfer window with a recognizable squad (just about) and could be coming out of administration very soon. But after a poor start to the season, how far can we think about going this season?

Dave Kitson and Liam Lawrence are very good signings, Premier League class players. Lawrence solves the right-midfield problem, and Kitson is hopefully the goalscorer that we have been searching for; especially if his impressive record at Reading is anything to go by. I, like most Blues fans, was disappointed to see Marc Wilson go, and I think Tommy Smith would have been an important player for us, but the two lads in are quality signings. They should be joined soon by last season's FA Cup hero Ricardo Rocha and the 'King' Nwankwo Kanu, but we still need reinforcement.

Every position would be ideally backed up, but beggars can't be choosers and it seems right-back is Steve Cotterill's preference at the moment. Hayden Mullins has done an okay job there, but is suspect and the addition of either Kyle Naughton or Kyle Walker from Spurs would be ideal. Maybe someone a bit more creative in the centre of midfield, like Jake Livermore of Spurs, Michael Johnson of Manchester City or Henri Lansbury of Arsenal? And maybe some added bodies upfront?

But Cotterill is the most unenviable job in football. He has had to build what he's got on below a shoe-string budget, and hasn't done too badly. The defeat at Preston was the low point, but the fight was there against Coventry, Reading and Cardiff, and a long-running penalties win over Crystal Palace in the Carling Cup was a morale-boosting victory. And that morale will be key.

With a couple of loanees and freebies, Pompey can have a successful season. And a successful season would see the Blues finish around the 15th place mark in the Championship, maybe a tad higher if I'm going with my heart more than my head. There are those who are still championing a quick return to the Premier League, but our club was torn down to the bare bones over the summer and will need to be rebuilt properly this time.

We do have quality in the ranks. I can see the Championship victory we desire coming soon and our form picking up as our additions bed in, and a continuing run in the Carling Cup will do no harm at all. And let's be optimistic. Who knows, as the club to have visited the new Wembley stadium the most besides Chelsea and Manchester United, who could bet against a sixth trip to the home of football?

Play Up Pompey.

NWR

The Beautiful Game

Hi, I'm a 19-year-old Media Studies student and quite possibly my two biggest passions in life are music and football. Elsewhere in the wonderful world of Blogspot you will find my music opinions blog, but here is where you shall find my football blog.

On here I shall talk about a number of things: my beloved Portsmouth Football Club and its many going-ons, events in football in general and stories from the sporting world.

So, enjoy, leave as many hurtful comments as you like and tell all your friends :).

NWR