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Player ratings
Taylor - did enough with some fine stops and saves - 7
Upson - slow start but grew in stature as he watched Cunningham - 6
Cuningham - MOTM. He just seems to get better. A captain's performance - 9
Clapham - Some nice work on the left marred by wayward balls forward - 7
Johnson - learning the role of right back - 7
Clemence - Showed the others how to bounce back - 7
Savage - quiet game and started to get impatient near the end - 6
Dunn - stuck to his right role a little more than usual - 7
Lazaridis - Stan at his best. Great crosses and deserved goal - 8
Dugarry - clearly not match fit. More simple stuff please - 6
Forssell - Good runs to draw defenders - 7

Tebily - Solid showing - 7
Cisse - getting back to his old self - 7
Lucy - small part to play but slowly adapting - 6

Blues went into 4th in the league and top of the table in terms of the tightest defence and number of clean sheets. My man of the match domainted the back and obvioulsy disheartened the Pompey team as each move they made was countered by the Blues captain. Upson looked a little sluggish but he seemed to feed off Kenny's confidence, leaving Taylor with little to do. However, Taylor did his job when called and the 3 of them meant Blues earned another clean sheet. Clapham and Johnson complimented the central pairing by playing some nice moves forward and getting the ball out of the defensive third of the pitch.

It was a different story up front. Dugarry seemed content to treat the game as an exhibition and wanted to please the crowd more with tricks than attacking football. 1-2's with back heels looks good and does unsettle a defense but I prefer to see the basics until we're comfortably in the lead.

Forssell soon realised he wasn't get the usual service so he intelligently ran at defenders to create gaps for our surprise strike force of Lazaridis and Clemence. Clemence, the midweek villan, shrugged off the embarrassing publicity by scoring one and creating one, both goals seeing him and Stan link to breach the stubborn seawall.

Dunn showed his strenghts by not only running at players with the ball at his feet but he also broke down a few of their attacks. I would prefer to see him in a more central role with Savage out on the right, who looked lost and not at the races.

Cisse soon stamped his presence on the game with an early booking but the Portsmouth players heeded the warning and were quick to release the balls when they saw him steaming towards them. I would like to see Cisse as a sweeper in front of a 3 man back line. Tebily looks a much better player than last season and I think has a role to play in shoring up the midfield once we're in the final third of a game.




posted by kwacky at 11:40 am