what were they doing to this lad at pompy?
On a day that saw the majority of premier league clubs struggle to achieve a solid attendance for their FA Cup 3rd round ties. Whilst this is a bit of a damning indictment and a sign of the times we managed to turn the clock back a few decades for a sell out at the lane. The coverage on the other hand left a little to be desired. as despite being a high scoring and epic tie ITV managed to fail in terms of predicting the potential of the tie and whilst Liverpool would undoubtedly grab all the headlines for their inadequacies, we were limited to 45 seconds of highlights at the very end of the show.
I guess that’s lesson learnt now though; as watching Liverpool, (which I found myself doing for lack of anything better to do), was tantamount to self harm yesterday. Sooner or later the broadcasters will catch on to this, or at the very least send the smear campaign against Benitez into overdrive just to get him as far away from the club as possible.
Bentley was notable in his absence yesterday, as he failed to even find his way onto the bench. Before the match on 606 there was word that he was seen heading towards a train station in full club garb. Whilst this is almost certainly not true, the fact that he was unable to even make the bench today whilst also being locked out of the squad (arguably for good) by the stellar performances of Niko and Luka, it’s safe to say we’ve seen the last of him in my eyes.
This whole thing perplexes me a little as before the renowned Grays Athletic spat with Harry, Bentley was receiving plaudits for his positive attitude despite lack of appearance once Lennon came into form.
Niko and Luka were great though; seemingly in the shape of these two croatians we’ve found our Plan C, (Plan A obviously Lennon – Defoe, Plan B Dawson – Crouch). Niko for me has something that truly embodies the best of our club and is certainly a finished article, whereas Luka has seemingly unlimited potential, and certainly if he continues his rehabilitation, could potentially be as clinical in front of goal as his countryman.
What a turnaround to his fortunes too; with an unprecedented swoop Harry Redknapp brings what many Pompy fans suggested was a troublemaker to our club. A player in the mould of Arteta was something that I had always considered one of the missing pieces in our squad, especially with Jenas managing to display his inadequacies week in week out. I imagined Kranjcar, (who was in bad form at Pompy), would for the most part be a fairly good addition but due to his reported issues would certainly never match or eclipse Modric in his performances. As such it was genius to bring him to a club that can be said to match his philosophy of play, as well as allowing him the bonus to play alongside two of his settled countrymen. Moreover it has been suggested that Harry is aiming to consolidate this core within the club with moves for Dejan Lovren and Stipe Pletikosa mooted. This may well certainly be a move to cement Modric’s club status for the next few years; but it certainly adds a level of consistency at the club that arguably will underpin our future successes. (This further underlined by Harry’s suggestion that the Croatian players at our club he feels are the most professional, and best role models for the younger players coming through the academy).
The match itself, (despite only hearing it on radio) seemed to start off in a seasoned Spurs manner; with us making plenty of chances though finding ourselves unable to capitalize for the most part. But the score line speaks for itself, and Peterborough never really gave Gomes too much to worry about in all honesty. The goals came flowing by the end of the match leaving a healthy four goal deficit.
Last year we were looking for little runs like this to take ourselves into the more important games in the season; and we can be happy that we’re playing Liverpool next week I feel. Though it can be said that Rafa is looking to reinforce his squad as a matter of urgency and as such there may be a few surprises in the hat before the match comes to pass. A win next week would send me into raptures.
