It was a bit of an unusual Saturday for me in terms of my viewing habits. I began the day by watching Portsmouth against Birmingham City in the FA Cup. But instead of watching my customary 10am ET Premier League match, I watched Nottingham Forest against Swansea City and later regretted it after seeing Forest’s late winner go in to the back of the net. To end my day of soccer viewing, I watched Wolverhampton Wanderers against Manchester United, which ended up being a predictable win for United in a physical but boring match.

Out of the three matches I watched Saturday, the one that was by far the most entertaining was Portsmouth against Birmingham City. These are two teams that have been playing some of the best football outside the Big Four in the Premier League this season. But their positions in the league couldn’t be more different.

But in the FA Cup, anything is possible, so it was lovely to see Portsmouth put on another brave display in front of a sold-out crowd at Fratton Park. Not to take anything away from Birmingham City who could have easily won the game too with an admirable display, but it was Portsmouth who deservedly won the match and now find themselves in the draw for the semi-final of the FA Cup and will be playing at Wembley Stadium.

Portsmouth’s season is a Cinderella story with a ton of baggage. If you watched many of their matches this season, you know they’ve been playing an entertaining and attacking style that many oppositions have had a difficult time defending against such is their speed down the middle and flanks. Watching Portsmouth is a wonderful experience, whether it’s the football on the pitch or the passionate supporters who crowd into Fratton Park. But the club hasn’t been able to transfer that into much needed points in the league despite the herculean efforts of Paul Hart and now Avram Grant.

Commentator Guy Mowbray best summed it up on Saturday when he spoke of the joy of football and seeing Frédéric Piquionne celebrate his first goal with such glee as he bounced up and down across the pitch and encouraged the crowd to get even louder. Then, at the full time whistle, when the camera zoomed back to show the North Stand erupting with fans giving the players a standing ovation and unfurling flags and scarves, Mowbray again mentioned the joy of football.

It’s a joy that has been sadly missing for most of this season at Fratton Park. Not because of the flowing football, but because of the incompetent financial decisions made by the people in charge of the club. But such is the game of football that no matter how treacherous the financial state of a club is, the players can play out of their skin and turn the reality on the pitch into a completely different experience that what is being seen by the administrator assigned to clean up the financial mess at Pompey.

If you could predict what type of football Portsmouth would play this season based on the financial predicament they’re in, you would imagine it would be a tense type of football with the team playing pretty desperately by floating long balls into the box hoping that someone would latch on to it for a lucky winner. In fact, it would remind you of what Tony Adams was doing with Portsmouth last season before he got sacked.

But the Portsmouth players have been producing an exceptional brand of football that they should be applauded. I have a lot more respect for the Pompey players, many of them who have no idea when and where their next paycheck is going to come from, than I do for players at other Premier League clubs.

Speaking of players, Frédéric Piquionne has been inspirational this season. It’s not just the slinky skills he has, but it’s also his attitude. But my favorite Portsmouth player this season has been Jamie O’Hara who has so often been the playmaker in the middle of the park and has delivered so many inch-perfect passes to his strikers and wingers that have led to goals for Portsmouth.

I say that Portsmouth has been my guilty pleasure this season, which is true. I’m supposed to be unbiased and not supporting any club in particular in this league. While I’m not a supporter of Portsmouth Football Club, I have a deep amount of respect for what they’ve done on the pitch this season especially considering the hell that the players have been put through and how wonderful the football has been to watch.

With the end of the Premier League season just weeks away and a FA Cup semi-final on the horizon, I’ll continue watching Portsmouth with a deep amount of interest and a hope that more soccer fans will join me in this pleasurable experience.

Photo credit: Beefy_n1

It was a weekend that was at times as smooth as a Guti backheel, as bleak as a cold stare from the lugubrious one and as heroic as a late winner off the head of a man who looks to save face for club and country. There was a relegation 6-pointer and a massive title implication match between old foes, all offering the best of the Barclays Premier League. There were of course quality performances all across England, Jozy Altidore energetically for Hull City setting up a goal and winning a penalty, Dirk Kuyt’s workmanlike performance at Anfield and Steven Fletcher’s fine piece of skill to slot home and equalize for Burnley against Chelsea. Before the second ever Premier League Footballer of the Week is awarded, here are a few more than worthy performances that shouldn’t go unnoticed.

Honorable Mention -

Jamie O’Hara, Portsmouth – His side came out on the short end of a 2-0 scoreline at Eastlands to Manchester City, but the on-loan midfielder from Spurs was beyond solid for Pompey. Portsmouth set up with a 4-3-3 with O’Hara starting on the left side of midfield. What impressed me about O’Hara was his ability to be defensive minded when he needed to be coupled with his ability to think forward when the opportunity presented itself. Pompey were unlucky not to take the lead in the first half as O’Hara’s low, well-struck shot took a deflection and should have found it’s way into Given’s goal. City cleared their line with O’Hara left to rue his luck. O’Hara rarely misplaced a pass the entire day, I counted one failed attempt in the second half to twenty plus successful forward passes. His 54th minute attempt on goal trickled just past the post, but was another low, well struck shot after some nifty 1, 2 passing that could have resulted in a goal.

O’Hara is calm on the ball and takes passes comfortably and with poise. His low shots, whether on target or not are a welcome relief from watching strikers continuously blast delusional shot after shot into row zed. Despite their luck, Portsmouth and specifically O’Hara saw out their shifts in a game that very well could have ended 2-2. O’Hara, the Pompey players and supporters deserve better than their current state of affairs.

Gabriel Agbonlahor, Aston Villa – The England striker scored both of  his teams goals in a business as usual performance as Martin O’Neill’s men look to stay in reach of that coveted fourth spot. Villa are now 2 points off Tottenham who have multiple teams breathing down their back, but Villa stay close having played one less match. Agbonlahor was partnered up front with fellow Englishman Emile Heskey as both forward players looked to benefit from some quality service from Villa’s talented midfield. Agbonlahor did just that. In a first half four minute span, Gabby beat out Chris Smalling in the air to head home Villa’s opener. The Manchester United-bound Smalling failed to recognize Agbonlahor’s aerial prowess and was left rooted to the ground as Mark Schwarzer picked the ball out of the Fulham goal. Minutes later, in one of the weekend’s finest moments of individual skill, Agbonlahor spun circles around Brede Hangeland and curled an impressive shot around Schwarzer to claim all three points for Villa.

Premier League Footballer of the Week -

Wayne Rooney, Manchester United – Sharing the plaudits with a certain mysterious number 17 named Nani who played like a man possessed for United against Arsenal, Wayne Rooney was brilliant yet again for the Champions, leaving United fans chuffed at the outcome and wondering where these performances from Nani have been throughout the ’09-’10 season. Rooney’s pace, fitness levels, striking ability, passing ability and all around desire to play football and win make Rooney a manager’s dream and he certainly carries the hopes and dreams of an entire nation on his shoulders for this summer’s World Cup.

In one of the best examples of effective counter-attacking football since Manchester United sliced Arsenal up in last season’s Champions League semi-final 2nd leg, United (Park to Rooney to Nani back to Rooney) produced a stunning, 13 second (36:10 to 36:23) gem of a goal to go up 2-0 on Arsenal. The quality of the goal itself was Rooney’s ability to burst forward to receive Nani’s ball into the box after passing to Nani in the first place.

After Rooney found Nani out wide on United’s right flank to start the counter attack, he then made up the 10-15 yards he was behind Nani. Nani then carried the ball over half the length of the pitch to find a bursting Rooney who was now 5 yards in front of Nani and two steps into Arsenal’s box where he met the ball with a hard, right footed shot into the back of the net. Simply stunning, breathtaking and if you blinked or looked down to sip your coffee, you’d have missed it.

Manchester United will consider a message sent to Chelsea as this season’s title race continues to gain steam. If Wayne Rooney can continue his current form, United will certainly have a say in this year’s race. Anxious eyes now look to the 3rd of April visit of Chelsea to Old Trafford for what could be a title decider as both clubs stay in top form.

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse for Newcastle United, it just did. In the battle of the two bottom teams of the Premier League, Newcastle lost 2-1 at home tonight to fellow underachievers Tottenham Hotspur in the Carling Cup in front of their lowest attendance in years.

The performance by Newcastle was utterly pathetic, lacking any passion, character, pace and commitment. Newcastle looks like a team with nothing to play for and without the leadership of a permanent manager, which is exactly the situation they find themselves in.

At St James’s Park tonight, there were massive pockets of empty seats visible as United fans decided to stay at home instead of supporting their club. In 1992, 14,000 saw a first-round League Cup game against Mansfield. Tonight the attendance was 19,743. This at a club where their average attendance in the Premier League last season was 51,122. The lowest attendance since St. James’s Park was redeveloped, before tonight, was 33,000.

The attendance was so small that oftentimes you could hear the players shouting instructions to each other from the field.

Tottenham, for most of the first half, looked equally as apathetic until Roman Pavlyuchenko scored his first goal for Spurs with a header, and Jamie O’Hara soon followed up with a second for Tottenham. Michael Owen picked up his fourth goal of the season near the end of the match.

If it wasn’t for Owen, Newcastle would be in even deeper trouble in 2008.

Newcastle To Announce New Manager

Things will seemingly get even worse for the club who, according to newspaper reports, seem likely to appoint Terry Venables as Newcastle manager either on a permanent or temporary basis.

Venables hasn’t managed in more than four years since he was sacked by Leeds United in March, 2003. At Leeds, his managerial skills were pathetic. The last person Newcastle needs now is another Londoner trying to sort the club out. Newcastle fans and players are sick of Dennis Wise and Mike Ashley, and Terry Venables will be no different.

The only thing Venables will be able to do is to schmooze the British media.

Newcastle, if they do decide to hire Venables, will drive the value of the club down even more than now.