Harry Redknapp told sky sports how pleased he was with our 2nd half showing against Boro yesterday, which saw us come back from 1-0 down to eventually win – deservingly so! – 2-1.
The 3-5-2, which although saw us pretty much dominate the game, could not see us create enough openings for the front men and changes were made at half time to see us revert to a 4-4-2 and these changes made a difference, particularly Nadir Belhadj who linked up brilliantly with Armand Traore on the left: ‘if you’re coming back from 1-0 down at half-time it’s never easy.
‘But at half-time I thought we could still get back into it. In the second half we really got at them.
‘The two lads down the left-hand side were fantastic – Belhadj and Traore showed great pace and skill and were willing to get down the sides to pick Crouchy out up front with Defoe a real threat and Glen got forward on the other side with John Utaka. It was just a much better second half.’
Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe also earned his praises, with the pairing seemingly getting better by the game: ‘they’re learning to play together and we’re learning to play with Crouchy.
‘You’ve got to drop quality balls up to him and if you can drop good balls up to him then he can hold it up and bring Defoe into play. That’s how he wants to play.
‘I thought we got the blend right, especially second half today, we had a bit of width, we got crosses in, and we always looked a threat.’
Everyone was good, and to be fair in both halves, but Lassana Diarra was the dogs nuts! The fella was unbelievable yesterday and gave one of the best performances that I have ever seen from a player – in a Pompey shirt or otherwise!
PLAY UP POMPEY!
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