Harry Redknapp was left a frustrated and disappointed man when reflecting on sky sports on our defeat at Citeh yesterday.
The terrible mess that David James and Sol Campbell got themselves in for the first goal was the start of his disappointment: ‘it was an unbelievable game considering the way both sides were set up to play. There were chances galore.
‘We gave two terrible goals away and gave ourselves a mountain to climb. They played well and had good movement.
‘I think someone has to take responsibility there. One of them has to deal with the situation. It was one of those things’.
I still do not quite know what happened for the first goal to be honest!
At the time in the stadium all seemed fairly safe one minute, the next Citeh were ahead – all I can remember is seeing James out by the touchline and Darius Vassell managing to finish, what was a shot not a pass from Stephen Ireland.
At half time I was able to look at one of the screens by the bar at the City of Manchester Stadium but still could not make out what happened? I was told that James had told Campbell to leave it as he had it covered, but then again others said that it was the other way round? all I know is it was a goal that could have been avoided and up until that point we were the better side without doubt.
Speaking about Hreidarsson’s sending off he added: ‘it looks like he has got his arm across him. It was a challenge he didn’t have to make’.
Seeing the event as it happened, at first glance I was not convinced it was a red card to be honest. Looking at the screen at half time he did have his arm round Vassell’s neck so although I still think it was maybe harsh you could see why the ref gave the red – so all in all it was a needless red really.
Even with 10 men we more than gave Citeh a game and I could still see us getting a win let alone a draw but Redknapp’s refusal to go more positive at half time probably costs us this to be honest, in my opinion anyway…
All in all though it was a cracking day out, the game was most enjoyable and the Pompey fans – even though we were small in numbers were fantastic. We never stopped singing from beginning to end, and the Citeh fans knew it and on the whole appreciated this.
One of the highlights was Benjani acknowledging us when we sang ‘his song’ before kick off, clearly changing it to ‘he’s not gonna score today’, which as we know he did. Even when he did score he did not celebrate at all as he promised yet we sang his song again to him again but obviously changed it to how it should be! We were hoping that he ‘might’ come over to us at full time, but I think that would have been a bit too difficult for him really wouldn’t it…
PLAY UP POMPEY!
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