West Bromwich Albion 0 Portsmouth 1
It costs Portsmouth about £180,000 a week to field the three players who did most to deny Albion access to next month’s FA Cup final, writes Martin Swain.
And that’s just one reason why the Baggies should not spend any more time than necessary beating themselves up about Saturday’s crushing disappointment.
The weekly pay packet of Pompey’s defensive triumvarate David James, Sylvain Distin and Sol Campbell is a sobering reminder of exactly what Tony Mowbray’s still-developing team were up against at Wembley.
It is to the Championship outfit’s eternal credit and encouragement, then, that beyond the civic boundaries of Portsmouth and outside the mind of Pompey’s England goalkeeper, the view is that Albion were once again more than a little unlucky to finish another appearance on Wembley’s grand stage empty-handed.
“We dominated the game,” claimed James in the immediate aftermath of his team’s 1-0 victory. Hmmm. Really? Well, it’s been nice chatting Dave but we have to get back to the real world now.
Portsmouth certainly did not dominate and only in the final seconds of this game would have felt they had the tie totally under their control.
But, undoubtedly, they did possess the athleticism and power to ensure they reached the final despite playing poorly and that, for Albion, is a reminder of what they must conquer in the future life planned for them by their manager.
The football which has dared to thrive in the war zone of the Championship was good enough to have the sixth-placed team in the Premiership at full stretch.
But while Kevin Phillips, Roman Bednar, Ishmael Miller and their midfield support cast have been able to plunder 99 goals against teams outside the top flight, finding a way past Messrs James, Distin and Campbell proved an all together different proposition.
That’s what Portsmouth have paid for and that, ultimately, is why they can now start planning for their first FA Cup final since Hitler was getting ready for an altogether more disturbing project.
They have also had to dig deep to fund the services of the irritating Milan Baros and while he remains one of the untidiest footballers to earn the multi-millions now on tap to today’s leading players, his one gift of pace was just starting to unsettle Albion before he “armed” Glen Johnson’s pass into his path to set up Portsmouth’s scruffy winner.
Albion proved that in all other areas they are an admirable, progressive team capable of producing wonderful, attractive football.
But Premiership players are quicker, stronger and more powerful animals than their Championship counterparts and Mowbray will have left this game knowing that he must add improved athleticism to his blueprint for the future.
How he does it is interesting. It is unlikely his chairman Jeremy Peace would ever countenance paying such dizzying salaries and in Mowbray he has a manager who does not particularly want to.
Forty-eight hours before the FA Cup semi-final, Albion’s manager spoke with zeal and passion about his vision of a Baggies team polished from gems still buried beneath the top layers of European football. Mowbray would prefer to do it the Hibernian way.
“How much does money mean we’re going to be the best team?” he insisted.
“There’s got to be teams out there who break the mould – teams such as Villareal in Spain. They don’t pay £30m for players. They succeed by getting good, technical players of their own and develop them.
“At Hibs, we had a team which competed with Celtic and was paid a pittance of what they were on.
“If you get your recruitment right you can do it. I understand why there is this media obsession with the big four but someone has to get in among them and be successful. . .”
In the meantime, it is to be hoped that Albion will not be diverted from their path no matter what the final weeks of the season hold for them.
Blackpool tomorrow night gives them an opportunity to announce their intentions to the rest of the division – no, they will not let this setback deter them from the item which has been at the top of their agenda all season.
Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp could afford to be generous on Saturday but I think his reflections were quite genuine and not offered out of sympathy.
Why did you start so badly Harry?
“We didn’t start badly, West Brom just started so much better,” he responded.
“We couldn’t get on them at all. They passed the ball perfectly and their movement was absolutely tremendous.
“I knew all along just how difficult a game this was going to be. They play fantastic football and they have got to know they are on right lines. I can’t believe they won’t go up.”
Now that the bonus challenge of the season has been removed from the schedule, the pressure on Albion turning all this praise and so much promise into points will test the mental toughness of Mowbray’s players.
There are plenty of critics out there – many of whom could be heard at the final whistle – insisting all this pretty football is no good without penetration.
The fact that they are waiting to strike their 100th goal of the season offers an answer, at least in part, to that but Portsmouth’s success was a reminder that the Baggies remain a work in progress and not the finished article.
Happily, the vast majority of Albion’s army of followers gave every indication on Saturday that they have now bought into the Mowbray dream.
With 12 minutes to go and amid a growing sense of foreboding that, for the second season running they were going to lose a Wembley match their team had largely directed, a stirring rendition of The Lord’s My Shepherd rose up from their throng.
It was, perhaps, their way of saying anything worthwhile is everything worth waiting for.
12 Comments
Spot on. Not sure what game Jamo was watching, but the Baggies did very well in the centre of the park. I would say however, that our defence dealt with pretty much everything (couple of half-chances aside) but you had the majority of posession and threat, if not clear-cut chances - up until we scored.
Best of luck in the race for Promotion, would be nice to see you up again.
Steve from Portsmouth,
i totally agree with your comments. we were very comfortable on the ball but lacked the killer instinct in the final third.
would’ve been nice to see a couple more long range “screamers” rather than trying to walk the ball into the net.
still…well done baggies. it was great to watch.
You should include Glen Johnson in this - we’ve had an awful lot of success down our left this season, but on Saturday he seemed to stop everything.
Agree with all three and the article. Portsmouth defence played brilliantly rather than our attack playing badly. Not many prem teams stuff them, ask Man Ure. Good luck Pompey in the final.
Any team can play good outside the box but its goals that count, could have been 5 if Nugent had his striker boots on boys…
and if defoe wasn’t cup tied, it would have been 10. lucky lucky albion, keeping it down to one.
Don’t forget Portsmouth are 6th in the premiership and we out played them in the first half,most of there players are internationals and have a lot of experience in the premiership the baggies came out of it quite well,as there goal was hand ball as was proved on TV
I would like to know how you can say of a team who has scored 100 goals thus far that they did not have a ‘killer instinct’. Portsmouth success is built on defence and that was well known so Mowbray had to unsettle them. Miller should have been on much much earlier. Your forwards paid the Pompey defence too much respect. You didn’t seem to
‘get at them’ in the ‘They don’t like it up um Captain Manwaring’ sort of way.
You must realise that had you beaten them you would probably have won the cup. Cardiff can’t live with you.
Finally other ‘posters’ were quite right. the Pompey fans I spoke to were incredibly arrogant and I hope cardiff play out of their skins and put three past James and company. But that won’t happen.
1steve thanks Steve much appreciated we will meet you in the premiership with out dought
…and there it was a decent football discussion, progressing nicely with well thought intelligent input from Pompey & Albion fans putting bias aside and telling it like it was…sadly along comes No.6 to blow it…just had to be a brain dead dingle (you’d av never av guessed!)
Portsmouth could have scored more but we had to leave more gaps after they scored. Apart from the above named players, I thought Glen Johnson played well too. Pompey obviously did their homework on Brunty as they denied him the yard of space he normally needs to whip the ball in the box. I enjoyed watching us pass the ball through Portsmouth’s midfield and can’t wait to see a Mowbray team in the prem. Here’s hoping.
Martin Swain, that’s one of the best assessments of a match I’ve ever read. Well done mate.