I was just browsing a few of the threads, and noticed there seems to be a great deal of dislike towards our own Ginger Ninja, Dave Kitson. Although he didn't have a particularly brilliant season, I urge my fellow Pompey fans to give him another season before judging him too harshly. Anybody remember Glen Johnson's first season at Pompey when he arrived on loan from Chelsea? He was AWFUL, truly terrible, and we all released a collective breathe of relief when he went back to Chelsea. Then one "dark" day in August, it was confirmed that Redknapp was signing Johnson on a permanent transfer. "WTF!?" we all shouted, but Harry knew wht he was doing, and Johnson later became a highly successful member of the team (both club and country). It'll be interesting to see whether Kitson improves in his second season at Pompey, gotta have faith And on a final note, I have everything crossed that these rumors about about The King (Kanu) retiring are completely false.
Totally agree with you there Jake. There was too much disruption at the club last year which seemed to affect several players. As for the King - my understanding is that he is thinking of retiring from "international" football. He's got 2 more years on his Pompey contract and then will go into coaching for us - I choose to believe!!!!!!!
With all due respect, Johnson is in a different league to our very own swan vesta. (Literally). I don't think I've ever been so disappointed with a Pompey player as I was with him last season. I remember his contribution to Reading's promotion a while back and thought Pulis must be mad to get rid so relatively cheaply. I now know better. IMO, Cotterill did'nt get much out of him because he tended to use him as a lone frontman. Circumstances being what they were, I can understand that. When he was at Reading, he played up front with Doyle in close attendance. His little flicks and passes were used by Doyle to good effect and they worked well together, along with Stephen Hunt providing plenty of crosses for him. He never really had that luxury last season and I don't think Nugent is half the player Doyle is. He's never really clicked with Kitson. So, I suppose we'll give him a little more time but there is no excuse for lack of effort. He needs to look like he's interested and get a lot of us back on side with him because sometimes last season he looked like a lost soul who could'nt give a toss.
To be honest, i think a lot of people dont take into consideration what hard work kitson actually puts in to the team , just because he wasnt too prolific in front of goal last season people judge him. He done all the donkey work up front for the team because we didnt have any strikers apart from nuge and kanu to play with him, however nuge was always played on the wing as we had midfield injuries etc and Kanu & Kitson wouldnt work. Taking this into account, Kitson would always chase the ball down, even when its in our own half because he wants to do well for the team, which i think was his downfall as we needed him upfront to pick up the loose ball, plus with the team captaincy towards the end of the season, he probably felt he had a responsability to defend more from the front to set an example to the rest! To conclude....the poor guy is far too harshly criticised by the pompey fans! get another striker in and play him 4-4-2 next season!
I agree Towards the end of last season he didn't look at all interested, and as a result looked very poor. Perhaps that was because he didn't really have anyone else challenging his place? Either way, I don't think he's good enough for us to be relying on him next season. We need to bring in 2/3 strikers, and drop Kits to the bench so he sees he's got to work hard to get a place on the pitch. Kanu isn't retiring, it's a charity match for his Heart foundation Charity, been organised for ages
I agree give him a bit more time, but i can understand the amount of criticism that he has received. Like FFD has said his lack of effort is terrible and there is no excuse for it. I remember the QPR game at Loftus road last season, the ball was rolling into the corner and out for a QPR goal kick, Kitson could easily of got it if he had bothered running and putting in 100% effort, all the pompey fans were urging him to run and get the ball instead he just watched it roll out of play looked at all the pompey fans as if to say "what?" and shrugged his shoulders. He is such a frustrating player to watch and often seems to be on another waive length to the other players in the team, trying to pull off flicks which never come off and he cannot hold the ball up, which is what we need him to do, also for his size he does not win many headers. Other than that he's a good player.....
He always seems to have his hands high up in the air when he attempts to head the ball - always a risk of committing a hand ball offense in my opinion. I do believe though, that if we can sign the right type of striker, that they could link up well together in attack. With his reputation, he owes us bigtime next season.
