Portsmouth 1, Sunderland 0
Feb 25 2008 by Stuart Rayner, The Journal
PORTSMOUTH manager Harry Redknapp’s fondness for a flutter is well known but at Fratton Park on Saturday it was Roy Keane who took the big gamble – and lost.
On the face of it, packing your midfield, seldom venturing into opposition territory and setting out to claim a 0-0 draw is the safest of safe options. But in the Premier League it takes one moment of brilliance by the other team or one of misfortune for your own and Plan A is out of the window. The latter of the two reasons is why Sunderland’s miserable run of consecutive away defeats has now reached double figures.
They defended pretty well for most of the game against a side which has struggled to score at home. But a debatable penalty was all it took to end Craig Gordon’s hopes of a fourth clean sheet in six matches and suddenly the Wearsiders had 21 minutes to score the goal that would lift spirits on the trip home.
The trouble is, when you have spent so long showing no inclination to trouble the opposition goalkeeper, it is very difficult to suddenly change tack.
Pity Kenwyne Jones, who must have felt like the most unpopular man at a party so rarely did anyone in red and white go near him until Rade Prica and Michael Chopra were thrown on at the death.
There were hardly even any balls played to him from the men in the distance, never mind any which gave him half a chance of causing Pompey’s solid central defensive partnership of Sol Campbell and Sylvain Distin any problems. The 4-5-1 formation is not without its merits, as Pompey showed with their early-season form. But for a squad with seven senior centre-forwards (plus youngster Martyn Waghorn) to field only one up front on a regular basis seems strange. Keane, it would appear, still bears the scars of Goodison Park in November, when his side persisted with two up top as they shipped seven goals.
When the sides met last month Sunderland went 4-5-1 at home and it looked a good choice, Kieran Richardson breaking from midfield to score twice. But without the Londoner – who Keane hopes might figure for the reserves against Bolton on Wednesday – there is no one to break from the middle.
Grant Leadbitter was asked to play the half-and-half role and looked neither one thing nor the other. He did flash a vicious free-kick just wide of David James’ left-hand upright eight minutes into the second half. It was his side’s first and last decent chance of the game.
As toothless as they were up front, the Black Cats are a million miles from that landmark day of defensive ineptitude that was the trip to Everton. All four defenders were solid if unspectacular and while Portsmouth never called on Gordon to make the outstanding saves which were becoming a habit before his enforced two-week break, he did a good job of keeping out what there was.
So it was frustrating the goal Sunderland conceded was such a soft one. Niko Kranjcar, playing in a free role behind Defoe and Milan Baros, easily beat Andy Reid in the area, then fell when he approached Phil Bardsley.
The Mancunian was unhappy with the decision, having seemingly made the conscious effort not to commit to a tackle. Even on television it was hard to spot any contact with the tumbling Croatian.
Penalties do not always equal goals, of course, especially against a side who have had three players (Nwankwo Kanu, Kranjcar and the now-departed Benjani) miss them this season.
But Defoe’s clinical kick sent Gordon the wrong way.
The substitutions only strengthened the hosts’ grip. Kanu, who had come on five minutes earlier, added class to Pompey’s front line, whereas Prica and Chopra only provided extra manpower to Sunderland’s.
That their next game is at Pride Park is fitting. Both sides will be playing for it – the Black Cats because an 11th straight away loss would be a club record, Derby County because they have little else to play for this season, except perhaps Sunderland’s record low Premier League points tally of 15.
The Rams shamefuly threw in the towel before most people had put up their Christmas decorations. If ever there was an occasion for the Black Cats to go for the throat, this is it.
