A massive apology for a lack of articles lately, I have recently started a master’s degree at University and I have also fractured my ankle (playing 5-a-side) as well as a number of other things that have been happening. But, I am back now and an article from Josh Ashdown of the Guardian recently appeared that suggested the top and bottom spot in the Championship is pretty much decided if you look at history. At the time of writing the article it suggested that QPR would go up and Pompey would go down if you look at similar clubs in those positions in recent seasons. I am not trying to instil hindsight here on John, but on Friday night, Pompey picked up as massive 6-1 win against a 10 man Leicester side and it got me wondering if they could really go against the trend.
Even though the result was against ten men it was still very impressive from a side that has struggled from the first game week and will really give everyone involved with the club a boost. It will have delighted Steve Cotterill to see four of the six goals scored by new signings Liam Lawrence and Dave Kitson, as well as Dave Nugent getting himself reacquainted with England’s second tier. Kitson could be a massive signing for Pompey as managers know he has great ability but I always felt that in the Premier League he often lacked a bit of confidence to really drive himself forward and he has a real chance to get that confidence back in the Championship. Liam Lawrence is another great signing for the club who will provide a lot of depth in midfield and a real cutting edge for the club, they may have lost Marc Wilson, but they gained two players who will really be effective for them this season.
The result unsurprisingly came as a massive relief to Cotterill who is really pressed for resources on the South Coast and he will need to use all his man management skills in order to help Pompey survive. It was a 6-1 result, but I said at the start of the season that Pompey would struggle this year and I still believe that they have a long hard relegation battle ahead of them. Cotterill is a great manager though and we saw on Friday that there are goals in this side and he will be hoping that that result will springboard their season and help them get a bit of form going into the winter months. They do have a very small squad which is bound to catch up on them as injuries are inevitable for any football club, so it is best that they get as many points on the board as soon as possible.
Another home tie comes up tonight against fellow strugglers Bristol City and Portsmouth will be reunited with a familiar face in that of David James, but old union’s aside, this is a pretty big game for both clubs. Both are at the foot of the table and are in desperate need of the points. It will be interesting to see how Pompey play after the Leicester result and fans will be hopeful that they can play with confidence and put in another good display. So are Pompey destined to go down, or can they buck the trend?
I think Pompey will end mid-table.
Their players are too good to be relegated. OK a lousy start but some of those players were not there for most of those games (Kitson and Lawrence for instance) and they were fielding players who knew they were on the way out the door to raise cash. What’s more the new players and juniors brought into the team at the start of the season had no time to play together.
It can only get better.
Another great result for them today, I think they need to really make home a fortress in order to gain surivival.
They do have good players who have Premier League experience in their squad, but I wonder if they get injured then it may be a different story. And I’m sorry Chip, but I don’t believe any team has players too good to go down, I’ve seen countless great players be relegated, it’s why I think Cotterill really needs to man manage well at Pompey as they’re a bit of an unstable entity.
We had players last year that were supposedly too good to get relegated. Look how that worked out.
I don’t believe we’ll be relegated. We’re already fighting the injury bug. Several players have missed significant playing time, yet we’ve managed to climb out of the relegation zone with points in three straight matches. I’m pretty certain we won’t zoom up the table, but I can foresee us being relatively safe come April or so.
I don’t think we’ll really know the full extent of who is in this year’s relegation battle until the new year, I think it is very importanr for Pompey in particular to get points in 2010, I just think its a thin squad that could struggle towards the end
Point taken guys. There have been plenty of relegated teams with “good players” but I still think that we have the quality to stay up.
Regarding the potential injury problem that’s a big worry right now as our squad is so small. However, I’m hoping that come the end of this week we’ll be out of administration and will add a few players. But then hoping is something we Pompey fans have got used to!
Are Dickinson and Lawrence on long term loans? I think Pompey will need to use up all the available long term loans for some quality in their team and a few short term ones while they can!