Portsmouth Football Club News

When Pompey played with wing-backs back in the 2002/3 season it led to promotion to the Premier League. Back then it was Matt Taylor and Steve Stone patrolling the flanks as the Blues stormed to the First Division championship. But when Harry Redknapp revived the formation against Everton – with Armand Traore and Glen Johnson out wide – Pompey picked straight up from where they left off. The Blues ran riot at Goodison Park, claiming their first points of the season in a 3-0 victory. Johnson grabbed one of the goals himself, playing a neat one-two with Jermain Defoe before coolly sliding the ball past Tim Howard in the Everton goal. Redknapp says that the England defender and loan signing Traore are perfectly suited to the wing-back roles. “We’ve got two fantastic full-backs who are great going forward,” beamed the Blues boss. “Johnson’s got everything. He can be a bit casual sometimes, but in terms of ability he’s top-class. “Traore’s a wing-back rather than a full-back really. I think it suits the pair of them. “We’ve been working hard on the system all week. I thought about using it against Manchester United but we didn’t have enough time to work on it on the training ground. “We’ve been working solely on the shape of the team, playing with three central defenders and wing-backs. I just thought it would suit us. “It also helps Sol Campbell. It means he doesn’t have to keep running into channels all day because he’s got a guy with pace either side of him. “Not a lot of the players would have played that way before but the result will give them confidence. “They could have been a bit sceptical and if we’d have got beaten then they would probably have blamed the system.” After defeats to Chelsea and Manchester United in the opening two Premier League games, Redknapp was relieved to get some points on the board. He said: “Three points was vital. You don’t want to go into the international break on the back of three defeats. “Everton’s a tough place to come. I don’t care whether they’re in good form or not, you never get an easy game here. “We started the game well. We went one goal up and I thought we were in control. They had to come at us, so there was always space for us to hit them on the counter-attack. “David James was a different class. He made a superb save in the first half to keep us ahead and then saved a penalty as well. He’s a fantastic goalkeeper. “It was a terrific away performance. 3-0 away from home is a great result. “The first two games were tough and we didn’t play well at Chelsea. But we took one point from the same three matches last season – at home to Manchester United – and we’ve taken three this year – that’s an improvement.”

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