Mido Rings Pompey Chimes! (a.k.a. The Portsmouth Preview)

So you’re not keeping the fans happy as you fail to score in your 5th game running, and you’re not playing particularly well either, what could you do to keep them onside? How about taunting their most hated player? Well, that could work. At least that must be what Mido thought when he was quoted as saying :

“Portsmouth is a really important game for us. They have Sol Campbell at the back and he is the easiest defender I have ever played against. I'm not scared
of him.”

A rather cocky comment, especially from someone who isn’t exactly doing the business on the pitch at the moment. Still, he’s confident, which we like, and he did give Campbell a rough ride in the North London Derby at the Lane last season. Poor old Sol was so bad that day, every pass went to a Spurs player or ball boy, and he looked visibly shaken by the whole experience. There will much of the same in store again on Sunday, except this time it will all be directed at him, rather than him and his team mates which was the schedule for the games against the Goons.

Spurs will need to step up a gear from the one they were in against Slavia Prague in order to beat Harry Redknapp’s boys, who are flying at the moment, and contain 4 ex Spurs players all rather hungry to prove a point. If Spurs weren’t in a bit of a slump then this sort of game should be a home banker, but things aren’t going well in terms of finding the net and it is going to be a dicey affair. Our friends at MANSION have Pompey at 7/2 in old money to win on Sunday, which is mighty generous given the two teams respective form cards. Harry’s teams are always fired up, and play decent effective football.

Despite Mido’s verbal jousting, he might not actually play as Martin Jol talked during the week about Dimtiar Berbatov possibly being back to face Portsmouth. That would be a big boost, as you can’t quite imagine our Suave Slav missing all of those chances last night. Having Ledley back would also convince The Waddler not to take up those generous odds on Pompey, and would get Spurs ever closer to fielding a full strength side. It’s a sorry state of affairs, but if Spurs can come out unscathed on Sunday, then they can go into the international break and re-group, patch up those weary limbs, and maybe even get Aaron Lennon back in the fold. There is a two week break then before the next match against the Premier League’s other resurgent team, Aston Villa, run by the man that should be in the Spurs hot seat, Martin O’Neill.

Let’s keep all fingers and toes crossed that King and Berbatov pull through and that Spurs step it up on Sunday. A midfield of Jenas, Ghaly, Zokora and BAE or Ziegler would be an interesting one to see, as Ghaly certainly looked effective last night, and Murphy certainly did not, yet again. Jenas did a pretty good Lennon impression, and BAE or Ziegler would still offer us balance on the left. As to who makes it though, who knows, as the Big Man’s team sheets are becoming harder to predict than where a Mido header is going to land.

Come On You Spurs!

The Waddler.

www.thewaddler.com