Last Season: 14th.
Say hello to your new teammates: Frederic Piquionne, Steve Finnan, Aaron Mokoena, Antti Niemi.
Close the door on your way out: Glen Johnson, Peter Crouch, Djimi Traore, Sean Davis, Sol Campbell, Lauren, Noe Pamarot, Glen Little, Jerome Thomas.
Predicted star: Hard to pick one when there are hardly any left. A lot will depend on Niko Kranjcar who is the best player still at Fratton Park. He has already announced he will leave next summer but he’ll hopefully give Pompey fans one last season of creative play.
A golden goodbye?
Needs a big year: David James will be very busy this season as a disintegrated Pompey side will no doubt struggle all season long. He showed signs of ageing last season and bear in mind he is 39 years old after all. If he has a good season however, he’ll go to the World Cup. The result of this is if he has a good season, he might just ensure Portsmouth don’t go down.
One to watch: Frederic Piquionne has been signed on loan from Lyon and scored twice on his pre-season debut against Rangers. He might be a good bet to score ten goals this season, which would go a long way to helping Portsmouth fight for survival.
What they want to happen: The takeover to go through, some players to come in rather than go out. Survival.
Nightmare scenario: The takeover doesn’t go through, Pompey go down, administration and the related consequences follow.
Plan A: Find sixteen players to play and form a bench. Try and use the duo of Belhadj and Kranjcar to create something down the left and use the pace and unknown quality of Piquionne to surprise a few people.
Plan B, just in case: Erm, rely on Kanu to produce a random bit of skill? He’s even older than James despite what his passport might say.
He gets stuck in his old age.
Predicted finish: 20th.
Why? I have nothing against Portsmouth and would sooner see many other clubs go down ahead of them but I just can’t see them staying up with the squad they currently have. Since last summer Peter Crouch, Jermaine Defoe, Sulley Muntari, Glen Johnson, Lassana Diarra and Pedro Mendes have all been sold, Sol Campbell released and Sylvain Distin likely to be on his way too before the window closes.
The reason for all this is that after spending big for several seasons and winning an FA Cup, the loans are now due and Pompey have no money with which to pay them with. No team could survive that level of talent leaving and they find themselves going into the new season with just 22 players, four of which are goalkeepers. The defence is old and slow and Steve Finnan will do nothing to improve it. There is some midfield quality in Diop and Hughes but neither of them are as good as Diarra. Kranjcar remains the player on whom they will completely rely on but he only played 21 league games last season having been seriously injured.
Piquionne.
In terms of goals, Paul Hart will be relying on loanee Piquionne as you can’t rely on old man Kanu or Championship man Nugent. It’s an interesting signing but not one which will prevent the inevitable. As for Hart himself, you feel he’s only there as he’s cheap. It doesn’t really make sense that a man feted for his work with young players is at a club full of thirty somethings. The only hope for Portsmouth is that the takeover by al-Fahim goes through at some point before January, allowing for desperately needed reinforcements. Without this I think it will be an end to Pompey’s seven year stay in the Premier League.
.
T.
Tags: 2009/10, al fahim, david james, diop, fratton park, Harry Redknapp, kranjcar, paul hart, piquionne, pompey, Premier League, relegation, season previews, sol campbell
The Sportboys 
13/08/2009 at 16:23 |
interesting to see ur top 4 prediction… totally different perspective than mine.
For me Chelsea’s the 1st, with the italian style of football ancelotti will bring in, their defense will be tougher than ever.
Man Utd the 2nd. Their weakest area – CM will prove to give them the biggest problems of all given that Valencia won’t be able to copy Ronaldo’s ultimate offense.
Liverpool behind of Utd again. The leaving of Xabi left a big scar on the team. Unless Aquilani performs a far superior role than him, a 3rd is a sure.
Arsenal will grab #4 again. Their sloppy defense will bring them down, not to be forgotten their consistency. Bendtner cannot replace Adebayor eventually and Eduardo will need a lot of time to find back his predator’s sense. Vermaelen’ll need some time to adjust to the Gunner’s defense.
13/08/2009 at 18:12 |
Yeah I’ve found it really hard to decide this season and to be honest any one of the four are in a position to win it.
I like the fact Chelsea haven’t lost anyone but I’m not convinced Ancelotti will make it work straight away – can’t remember a diamond ever being successful in a league like this one.
Man Utd have suffered the biggest loss with Ronaldo but you can never write them off. They have enough midfield quality to see off the majority of teams and it will just come down to how they approach the games against their rivals.
I don’t fancy Liverpool this year, I think they won’t go as close as last year. They’ve been sloppy pre-season and too much is dependant on Torres and Gerrard, who could both go down at any time. Aquilani won’t match Alonso’s heights, not this season at least.
I’ve been optimistic with Arsenal as I support them but I genuinely think they will be better. I think Eduardo predatory instincts are fine (he was already scoring great goals last season) but it’s just a case of building up his fitness again. As long as Silvestre isn’t required too often the defence should be better with Vermaelen but as ever with the Gunners it might all come unstuck as soon as a couple of players get injured.
I’ll come back to my predictions in May and see how I did!