COLUMNIST KEN BUCKLEY

From my seat: Portsmouth (a)

By Ken Buckley :  02/12/2007 :  Comments (7) :

Two teams who have racked up seven goals against Premier League opposition this season seemed to suggest an end-to-end thriller rather than the dour stalemate that we got. It wasn't long into the game when '0-0 written all over it' came to mind.

Pompey had the better of the attacking in the first half without ever looking composed enough to do us much harm, while we seemed caught being hard to beat, at the expense of creative build up Sunderland style. I thought our course wasn't helped by two of our most creative players, Arteta and Pienaar, having an off game.

Arteta just didn't seem the same influential player as he shows at home games. And Pienaar... well, l dont know if his recent praise had gone to his head but he seemed to abandon all that he showed against Sunderland and went into headless chicken mode and put in enough reckless tackles to get a justified booking and compounded that by carrying on in the same vein and came within a hairs breadth of being sent off but for a kindly understanding ref!!.

Having these two players not contributing much at all left it to the back five and some wasteful Pompey finishing to ensure 0-0 at half time.

The second half started with a Pompey onslaught that lasted a good 15 minutes and I was fearing a goal against was just a matter of time. Then I thought our manager earned his corn with a positive substitution. He introduced AJ at the expense of the non-contributing Pienaar and went 4-4-2 with Cahill going 'tucked in', right midfield. This occupied the opposition more and the half settled once again into two teams cancelling each other out.

On 70 mins the manager again made a good move by introducing Big Vic for the labouring Yak. In fairness to Yakubu, he had not had the type of ball he thrives on all match. Big Vic gave them something different to think about and put himself about and more than matched the big physical back four of Pompey, so much so that after one foray at them that had James dashing for the ball, a bout of handbags broke out with much pushing and shoving. I mention this only because it livened up a boring spectacle.

Big Vic also caught one shot with such venom that if it had hit the net it would have removed it from the posts; instead it threatened the life of the corner flag more. Both defences had been solid and that is where I found my man of the match, Lescott, who put in another super centre-back show and was aided in no short measure by Yobo Howard and Carsley.

Lescott also deserves a mention for his contribution near the end when, in a show of further versatility, he got the ball wide at their end and danced past the fullback, took it to the byline, looked up, and picked out the unmarked Osman on the edge ? who made a mess of it.

In our quest for a Euro-place finish we will come up against a clutch of teams about on a par with us at the moment which leaves my mind unchanged that we still need a dominant central midfielder who can dictate when times are hard and a natural wideman to further stretch well-drilled defences.

Off the pitch, the drums banged, the bell rang out and both sets of fans sang and chanted to ensure a crackling atmosphere... but on the pitch it was all a damp squib. Still, hard to beat away, free-flowing at home ? that will do for me until we can sort midfield.

Next up: the Russians... let's hope we free-flow and stay top of the group. UP THE BLUES.

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