Portsmouth 0 Swansea 2:"WE'RE GONNA scrap," was Tony Adams answer to the question of how he will deal with Portsmouth's nightmare form that is threatening to sink their season. His choice of words was illuminating.
On Saturday Portsmouth were ragged in their defeat to Swansea, a disharmony of leftover scraps that Adams will have a tough job of transforming into a team coherent enough to withstand getting sucked into a relegation battle. With just two wins in their last 12 games, and lying three points above the drop zone, surviving will take some doing.
After their humiliating defeat to a Championship side, “outplayed and outclassed” Adams described it, Portsmouth’s focus must return to the league and an unenviable fixture against an in form Aston Villa tomorrow evening. Adams insisted: “I’m certainly gonna scrap. I’m not gonna run away, I’ll be here Tuesday night, motivating the team, trying to get them going, and against a very good Villa team.”
Whether it will be enough is the big question. Portsmouth supporters have had their fill of relegation dodging. Last season gave them a taste of success and the FA Cup victory and Uefa cup competition were experiences they had hoped to build on. On Saturday the many empty seats at Fratton Park, a ground usually known for its great atmosphere and support, indicated a new frustration.
The Pompey faithful resisted joining in Swansea’s stinging chorus of “you’re getting sacked in the morning”, but for how long will their patience extend? In some ways Adams is an unfair target. As the former Arsenal captain hinted after the game, this mess is an inherited one. “I have got no control over that,” he said of selling two of Portsmouth’s best players in the transfer window. He lamented the club funds available for transfers. “You’re competing with some very big clubs with very big finances and that’s going to be difficult,” he said.
Off the field financial problems, with owner Sacha Gaydamak eager to sell, continue to dictate Portsmouth’s transfer market action. Saturday’s performance showed again how desperately the side needs to bulk up their midfield and employ a goalscorer.
All this would appear to detract from Swansea’s performance. But the truth is however poor Portsmouth were, Swansea arrived in form, organised and motivated. Roberto Martinez’s stunning managerial achievement, after less than two years in his debut role, has been to create a side who are going places. This time last year Swansea were dumped out of the Cup by non-league side Havant Waterlooville; this year it is they who are executing the giants.
Martinez’s transformational ability is best described by the story of one of Saturday’s stars, 21-year-old Nathan Dyer. The Swansea striker, who slipped Sylvain Distin’s usually watchful defence to give his team the lead, is on loan from Southampton having been farmed out to several clubs including Burnley and Sheffield United. Dyer was convicted of petty theft last July and sentenced to 60 hours community service. Getting his head right to score his debut goal for the club could have been no small undertaking.
It was the goal that caused Portsmouth to fall apart, after which even new loan signing Jermaine Pennant was rendered obsolete as the team around him failed to withhold Swansea’s counter-attacks.
A controversial penalty given in extra-time in the first half dealt the final blow to the Cup holders, as Nadir Belhadj was adjudged to have brought down Jordi Gomez when in fact the midfielder was just outside the penalty area.
