Rumours are beginning to circulate that; with the issues surrounding our joint owner and comments made about fighting to keep the club running, our good old friend Balu Chainrai could be forced back in to ownership of PFC. I must admit, I'm not 100% how this would work (maybe somebody could enlighten me?), but it has been in a couple of papers over the last couple of days, and maybe something we have to keep our eyes on. Also, this is my first oppertunity to vent my frustrations regarding Saturday's game! Obviously it is too soon to start critisising the new man in charge, however I am a little concerned about a few of his judgement calls on Saturday, and hope that these will soon be ironed out. First off, he drops Ben Haim, a player who; in my humble opinion, has been outstanding for us this year and has warranted being man of the match in all the games I have been to this season. Secondly, he plays 4-5-1 at home!? Cotterill in disguise maybe, but very disappointed with the way the lads we set up - Kitson up front on his own? Has Appy not had time to look over any of the footage from Cotterill's reign - this system DOES NOT WORK! Finally, he didn't bring on any subs, even though it's what the game clearly needed! I mean, 5 mins after Nugent's goal we were chanting for a good 10mins about wanting to switch to 4-4-2. Maybe Appy was stropping at the majority of Pompey fans telling him how to do his job (cutting his nose off to spite his face), but we seriously needed a fresh pair opf legs brought on in that second half (Kitson off!), and in my opinion Appleton let us down big style. Hope things improve, looking forward to our next game (and apologies for the essay) PUP!
Agree with everything you say about saturdays game, although i do understand why he has dropped Ben Haim. Yes he has been one of our better players this season, but he does not offer much going forward at left back and this is probably what appleton was thinking when he bought in Mattock. Anyway back to saturday, i can't believe he didnt make a sub, especially as you say just after nugents goal, we were all over them and with our away form being as it is we need to win our home games. Also Kitson cannot play upfront on his own, he started to play well when Gray and Whittingham were in charge, when he had a partner upfront, so why has Appleton changed it back?? Maybe things will change when Varney is back. I wasn't impressed with Appletons tactics at all on saturday, he seems a bit gutless and unwilling to take a risk. Also another thing that annoyed me was did he even acknowledge the fans? he definitely didn't after the game.
Agree with what you say about playing just Kitson up front. If Reg Varney was injured, why, or why did he not bring in Benjani to play alongside Kitson, either from the start, or to keep the momentum going after Norris's goal. From what I could see, at one stage, Benji appeared to be getting ready to come on - then he just sat down again, and that was it ! Shame Norris's terrific shot that smashed against the woodwork didn't go in - that could well have clinched it.
The rumours Jake are because, from original reports on the sale, is that the purchase price was being being made in installments rather than paid in full at the outset. Not good. We couldn't understand why Kitson wasn't subbed either, he being harrassed by 3 players at a time, particularly with the number of fouls on him. He was getting nothing from the Ref or linesman.
