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 Saturday 17th December 2005, Barclays Premiership, Fratton Park, Kick-Off 3:00pm
Portsmouth:
Ashdown, Primus, O'Brien, Stefanovic, Griffin, O'Neil, Hughes, Taylor,
Robert, Pericard (Todorov 6 - Priske 90), LuaLua.
Subs not used:
Westerveld (gk), Viafara, Cisse
Albion:
Kuszczak, Albrechtsen, C Davies, Clement, Robinson, Kamara (Earnshaw 65),
Wallwork, Inamoto, Greening (Campbell 90), Kanu, Ellington.
Subs not used:
Kirkland (gk), Moore, Carter
Referee: Mark Halsey (Lancashire)
Assistant Referees: Mike Mullarkey (Devon),
Gavin Ward (Kent)
Half-Time:
Portsmouth 0-0 Albion
Attendance:
20,052
Conditions:
MATCH REPORT
BY: ALBION TEAM NEWS: Albion boss Bryan Robson makes just one change to the team that beat Manchester City at The Hawthorns last week with Danish defender Martin Albrechtsen coming in at right-back for hamstring injury victim Steve Watson. Despite returning to training Zoltan Gera was not considered ready for a return to first team action.PORTSMOUTH TEAM NEWS: Pompey keeper Jamie Ashdown won his fitness battle and continued in goal. Harry Redknapp made just one change to the team that lost 3-1 at Spurs on Monday with Laurent Robert replacing John Viafara in midfield.POOR ALBION SLUMP AT FRATTON PARK It’s perhaps apt that Albion saved their worst performance of the season for the worst ground in the Premiership. On a day memorable only for the parachutists that dropped in with the match ball prior to kick off Albion put on a display lacking ideas, energy and quality. After the euphoria of last weekend’s victory over Manchester City, hopes were high that the Baggies would record a victory and so put nine points between themselves and the team from the South Coast - it was sadly not to be. With all the press attention focusing on the returning Harry Redknapp it was rather amusing that to no fanfare whatsoever he quietly slipped into the Fratton Park directors box before kick-off. Whether the decision was made so to avoid any possible negative chanting towards him or whether it was made to deflect all attention off him and on to his team, it worked either way. The only negative chanting towards him came from the travelling fans whilst the Pompey fans got behind their team with real enthusiasm. The team news offered no surprises with Bryan Robson keeping faith with virtually the same side that beat City last week - the only change being Martin Albrechtsen coming in for the injured Steve Watson. Want-away striker Rob Earnshaw was named as a substitute despite handing in a transfer-request earlier in the week. Albion started fairly well against an out of sorts Pompey team and actually played some decent football for a 20 minute spell but without ever looking likely to score. Japanese star Junichi Inamoto had the visitors first effort of the game on four minutes when he blazed wildy over after Portsmouth had failed to properly clear a Diomansy Kamara corner. Two minutes later Pompey were forced into a change with Svetoslav Todorov coming on to replace the injured Vincent Pericard. Judging by the reaction of the home support towards Todorov the substitution was a welcome, if unavoided move. Albion continued to play the better football but still had to rely on a couple of timely interceptions by the excellent Curtis Davies to prevent the hosts breaking clear. Although nowhere near as influential as he was last week ex-Pompey star Kamara was causing the home defence problems and in the 14th minute he had a good shout for a penalty turned down by referee Mark Halsey. After awarding us two penalties last season Halsey could well be the most popular referee there is amongst Albion fans however he was doing his best to lose that tag with a series of decisions that infuriated the visiting support. On 23 minutes Albion came as close to scoring as they did all afternoon when after being set-up by Kanu, Nathan Ellington tested home keeper Ashdown with a shot from the edge of the box. It was a routine save for the keeper and was probably the only one he made all afternoon. In the 34th minute Laurent Robert came desperately close to repeating his goal scored at The Hawthorns in August when he fired in a 25 yard free-kick that went just inches wide. If it had gone in it would have very harsh on Albion, the free-kick being given for a perfectly fair challenge by Paul Robinson on Lomana LuaLua. Albion started the second half in the same manner as how they finished the first - very sloppy in possession and second best in almost everything. As so often this season Bryan Robson’s men resorted to a long-ball game which was totally ineffective against the Portsmouth defence. Neil Clement in particular was guilty more than anyone else of launching long pointless and often misdirected ‘hoofs’ upfield. Clement was having a nightmare of a game with LuaLua causing him all sorts of trouble. On 54 minutes his poor marking let in the Congo striker who was only denied by a fine from Tomasz Kuszczak. Clement and Albion were not so lucky two minutes later though when another slip from Clement again let in LuaLua who squared the ball in the box to the unmarked Todorov who made no mistake from ten yards. From then on Albion were completely clueless. With Kamara, Greening, Inamoto, Kanu and Ellington all totally anonymous the visitors posed no attacking threat whatsoever. Despite being distinctly poor themselves Portsmouth were still the better side. Even the introduction of Rob Earnshaw in the 65th minute failed to lift Albion. Replacing Kamara, who had been poor on his return to Fratton Park, Earnshaw came on to partner Nathan Ellington up front with Kanu dropping into the ‘hole’ behind them. Whilst it worked perfectly against Bradford in the Carling Cup it just did not work against Pompey and infact the only thing it did result in was Kanu becoming even more ineffective. Albion continued to huff and puff but with no real idea on how to break the Pompey defence down. All too often long balls were launched only for the Portsmouth defence to clear them with ease. Portsmouth were more than content to sit back and attempt to catch Albion on the counter attack. The introduction of Kevin Campbell in the dying stages of the game meant we were basically playing a 4-2-4 system but it made no difference. With only the hard working, but limited Ronnie Wallwork, and the totally ineffective Junichi Inamoto in midfield Albion simply had no one to provide or create chances for any of the strikers. With games against Manchester United, Spurs and Liverpool coming up, this was a result Albion could have really done without. With the points tally from those three games unlikely to be more than one, Albion are once again, much like last season, relying on other teams results going our way to keep us out of the bottom three. Whilst this season we have avoided the dreaded bottom at Christmas position, it is interesting and slightly worrying to note that four times out of the last five years the team in 17th position on Christmas Day has been relegated… MAN OF THE MATCH: Ronnie Wallwork PLAYER RATINGS OUT OF TEN
Kuszczak 7 -
Did nothing wrong, made a fine double save from LuaLua and Todorov.
Albrechtsen
5 - Defended just about well
enough but never got forward.
SUBS:
Earnshaw
4 - Never got into the game. REF WATCH
Mark Halsey 4 -
Very poor first half, infuriated both sets of
supporters but was better in the second.
FAN
WATCH
wba.co.uk
Bryan Robson:
"It was disappointing. It was a scrappy game and neither side
deserved to win.”
“We looked pretty solid in the first half. We didn't have too
many problems defensively. But the disappointing thing for me was that we
were missing the side of the game that we've shown in recent away
performances, when we have been creating chances but missing them. Our wide
players, Jonathan Greening and Diomansy Kamara, never really threatened
their full-backs so we didn't really put
Portsmouth
on the back foot either."
"We conceded a bad goal. We got too adventurous when the ball
was at the other end of the pitch and we left the two centre halves
two-versus-two, which you shouldn't do in an away game. That cost us. But,
on the whole, defensively we were pretty good. I thought Curtis Davies and
Neil Clement did particularly well. But the rest of our game - our passing
and the creative football we've been playing of late - wasn't there.”
"Based on today's performance, the away form is a concern.
But it hasn't been over recent matches because I just felt somewhere along
the line we would put the chances away we have been missing. Today is a bit
of a concern because we didn't really create anything. It was just about our
worst performance in terms of creating chances because in other away games
we have created a lot more."
Source: wba.co.uk
Harry Redknapp:
"I was tremendously happy
with the way the lads battled and it is a great start for me here which will
hopefully lift the confidence and set us up. It was a very important result
but I think we deserved it and the crowd were unbelievable never getting on
the players backs. That is why they are so great.”
"It was a bad blow to lose
Vincent Pericard so early but we even bounced back from that and I was so
pleased for Toddy because it was his goals that got us to the Premier League
and he has suffered terrible injuries since. That must be a very sweet
moment for him.”
"The crowd did not have much
to cheer about in the first half but it was that kind of game and we had to
keep pressing away which we did. The defence was pretty solid and I am just
happy for the players, the supporters and the Chairman."
Source: pompeyfc.co.uk
Neil Clement makes his 250th first team appearance for
the club.
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