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Portsmouth defender Sol Campbell fears behind-the-scenes issues could impact on the second half of Pompey’s Premier League season.

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Sol Campbell fears behind-the-scenes issues could impact on Portsmouth's season.

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Police have bailed three more people in connection with chanting aimed at Sol Campbell.

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Police investigating racist and homophobic chanting towards Portsmouth defender Sol Campbell are to question seven further suspects.

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Harry Redknapp is confident Dimitar Berbatov won't receive the same level of abuse as Sol Campbell.

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divimg alt=”" src=”http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/67625?ns=guardianpageName=Football%3A+Inzaghi+strikes+late+to+deny+plucky+Portsmouthch=Footballc3=The+Guardianc4=Uefa+Cup%2CPortsmouth+%28Football%29%2CAC+Milan+%28Football+club%29%2CFootball%2CSportc5=Not+commercially+useful%2CChampions+League%2CPremier+Leaguec6=Kevin+McCarrac7=2008_11_27c8=1125520c9=articlec10=GUc11=Footballc12=Uefa+Cupc13=c14=h2=GU%2FFootball%2FUefa+Cup” width=”1″ height=”1″ //divpPortsmouth were on the verge of a historic night, and will rue the stoppage-time equaliser they conceded here to Milan. Before Filippo Inzaghi skillfully controlled Gianluca Zambrotta’s cross with one foot, Portsmouth had controlled much of the game, showing more adventure and even accuracy than the opposition, and fully deserved a victory. /ppThe warning signs had been there for Portsmouth, once Carlo Ancelloti showed off the assets at his disposal in bringing on Ronaldinho and Alexandre Pato for Kaka and Andriy Shevchenko with 15 minutes remaining. That led to Milan’s sublime reply with an 84th minute free-kick from Ronaldinho. /ppThe second of Portsmouth’s goals, following a Younes Kaboul opener, saw Glen Johnson, an outstanding performer, picking out Kanu to leave him with what was almost an open goal after 73 minutes. /ppIt has been said that Portsmouth followers could never have dreamed of a match against Milan, but it is exactly images of this sort that run through the minds of sleeping supporters everywhere. The aspect that will have been beyond the imagining of Fratton Park fan was the concept of taking on such august opponents with a weakened team./ppPortsmouth couldn’t even come up with a full complement of substitutes. They were a man short and the sextet on the bench included Sean Davis, who has been affected by flu. Furthermore, Tony Adams had to accept that the roll call of absentees, such as Sol Campbell, Lassana Diarra and Jermain Defoe, might have been taken as a short list of candidates in his ranks for home side’s the most influential player award./ppPortsmouth would not, of course, have been disconsolate. It has been the essence of the club to compete strongly with better-equipped rivals. The side indeed is adept enough at that task to be holders of the FA Cup. Having come up with a victory away to Manchester United in the quarter-finals in that competition, there cannot have been any dread of meeting Milan at Fratton Park./ppNo signs of an inferiority complex are permitted at this ground, where the sound is deafening and uninterrupted. The side, too, was free of timidity, with Richard Hughes booked for a foul on Mathieu Flamini in the ninth minute. In picking the former Arsenal midfielder and Philippe Senderos, who is on loan from the Emirates, the Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti, however, may have been ensuring that he had men versed in the ways of the Premier League./ppWhen Peter Crouch looked as if he might head a delivery from the impressive Glen Johnson down to Kanu in the goalmouth, the trajectory of the ball, skidding off a wet surface, meant that he could not connect properly./ppWhile Milan did come closer it was not because of the wiles of virtuosos like Kaka. Filippo Inzaghi’s first opportunity, in the ninth minute, came to him because Andriy Shevchenko’s free-kick had broken off the defensive wall. The prolific forward then dragged his finish and struck the far post./ppIt was not a cunning cameo that lay at the heart of a Milan opening after 26 minutes. Rino Gattuso’s through pass reached Inzaghi with the aid of a deflection from the centre-half Younes Kaboul. The Milan striker, who do does not always look like a lethal predator despite a remarkable record, grazed the bar with his shot./ppCrouch, too, could have been reproaching himself on the verge of the interval when he missed with a diving header after being picked out by the influential Johnson. Even so, Portsmouth were adept at manufacturing mayhem. With 52 minutes gone, Kanu fired the ball in from the left and Glen Little’s volley made the net ripple, but only the side-netting. Milan would have felt alarm then but there was also intermittent anxiety in the Portsmouth area, where David James crashed into his own midfielder Pape Bouba Diop while coping with one cross./ppPortsmouth sensed Milan’s vulnerability and it was not such a shock that Adams’ line-up should take the lead after 62 minutes. A free-kick from the right was not cleared properly and Kanu recovered possession before find Johnson. The full-back’s delivery was as telling as expected and Kaboul leapt to head past Dida./ppMilan were in difficulties but turned first to Clarence Seedorf, as a substitute for Gattuso, perhaps feeling initially that this was no place or a virtuoso entertainer such as Ronaldinho. In truth Ancelotti, six points already accumulated in the group, did not fear for his club’s survival in the Uefa Cup, but this must have been a discomfiting night as Milan lagged and floundered. The second goal, from Kanu, was entirely what Portsmouth deserved./pdiv style=”float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;”ullia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/uefa”Uefa Cup/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/portsmouth”Portsmouth/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/acmilan”Milan/a/li/ul/diva href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk”guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href=”http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html”Terms Conditions/a | a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html”More Feeds/a
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Original post by Kevin McCarra

divimg alt=”" src=”http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/21744?ns=guardianpageName=Football%3A+Inzaghi+strike+denies+Portsmouth+famous+winch=Footballc3=The+Guardianc4=Uefa+Cup%2CPortsmouth+%28Football%29%2CAC+Milan+%28Football+club%29%2CFootball%2CSportc5=Not+commercially+useful%2CChampions+League%2CPremier+Leaguec6=Kevin+McCarrac7=2008_11_28c8=1125520c9=articlec10=GUc11=Footballc12=Uefa+Cupc13=c14=h2=GU%2FFootball%2FUefa+Cup” width=”1″ height=”1″ //divpThis night will still go down in a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/portsmouth”Portsmouth/a legend and when the tale is told there should be glowing pride to accompany the rueful looks. The team, after all, not only led until stoppage time in this a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/uefa”Uefa Cup/a group fixture but deserved to do so. It was, indeed, their achievement to provoke a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/acmilan”Milan/a into the fine play with which they redeemed themselves after being 2-0 down./ppSix minutes from the end the substitute Ronaldinho converted a superb free-kick, dubiously awarded though it had been. Portsmouth still looked capable of protecting the reduced lead. Filippo Inzaghi, who had clipped the woodwork on three occasions, needed to be devastatingly accurate in the second of the three minutes of added time to dash those hopes. He tamed a Gianluca Zambrotta cross with an exquisite touch and directed a finish low past David James./ppIn driving themselves to a remarkable performance for much of the night Portsmouth ultimately called forth the best from a club that has had seven European Cup triumphs. Tony Adams’ side achieved all that despite having only six substitutes instead of the seven allowed. Moreover, the manager was without some of his most influential footballers because of the injuries to Sol Campbell, Lassana Diarra and Jermain Defoe./ppThis fixture may have seemed beyond the imaginings of Portsmouth fans, yet the truth is that all supporters dream of occasions of this distinction. For all their volume, they might have fallen mute if they had paused to consider the sheer improbability of the events taking place./ppNwankwo Kanu, for instance, was making his first start of the season, yet he was still going strongly enough to touch in Portsmouth’s second in the 73rd minute. His provider was the excellent full-back Glen Johnson, who had also been the key to the opener after 62 minutes. A free-kick from the right was not cleared properly and Kanu recovered possession before finding Johnson. The full-back’s delivery was pinpoint accurate and Kaboul leapt to head past Dida./ppIt is those incidents, along with other incisive episodes, that will hearten the manager Tony Adams. “It was a really great display,” he said. “I’m very proud of them. They are a little bit disappointed but I am not.”/ppCarlo Ancelotti, the Milan coach, made no bones about the alarm the opposition had caused, particularly after the interval. This was not exactly his ideal line-up but well-known names such as Kaka did participate from the start. Andriy Shevchenko was also among them but Ancelotti had to fend off critical comments from the Italian press about his showing./ppBack in England and experiencing scorn, Shevchenko must have felt as if he was still at Chelsea. Milan, to take a practical view, have seven points in the group. Portsmouth, already beaten in Braga, risk not being among the three clubs who qualify. Of course, this game, with its glamorous visitors, was not really about anything so prosaic./ppIt is the essence of Portsmouth to compete strongly with better-equipped rivals. The side indeed is adept enough at that task to be holders of the FA Cup. Having come up with a victory away to Manchester United in the quarter-finals in that competition, there was no dread about meeting Milan at Fratton Park./ppPortsmouth had an endearing emphasis on old-fashioned width, with crosses aimed as often as possible for Kanu and Peter Crouch. There was, all the same, far more expectation than fulfilment before the interval. When Crouch, for instance, looked as if he might head a delivery from Johnson down to Kanu in the goalmouth, the trajectory of the ball, skidding off a wet surface, meant that he could not connect properly./ppWhile Milan did come closer it was not because of the wiles of virtuosos. Inzaghi’s first opportunity, in the ninth minute, came to him because Shevchenko’s free-kick had broken off the defensive wall and the forward then dragged his finish against the far post./ppIt was not a cunning cameo that lay at the heart of a Milan opening after 26 minutes. Gennaro Gattuso’s through- pass reached Inzaghi with the aid of abr /deflection from the centre-half Kaboul. The striker grazed the bar with his shot./ppDespite all the speculation beforehand about how Milan might feel claustrophobic in Fratton Park’s diminutive dressing rooms, those are not the club’s real anxieties. They won the most recent of their seven European Cups, in 2007, with an elderly line-up and they are now attempting to revitalise themselves. Milan did recover here, but purely in a fashion that underlined how more progress is needed under Ancelotti./pdiv style=”float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;”ullia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/uefa”Uefa Cup/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/portsmouth”Portsmouth/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/acmilan”Milan/a/li/ul/diva href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk”guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href=”http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html”Terms Conditions/a | a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html”More Feeds/a
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Original post by Kevin McCarra

divimg alt=”" src=”http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/3192?ns=guardianpageName=Football%3A+Zola+happy+for+a+point+but+way+ahead+full+of+pitfallsch=Footballc3=The+Guardianc4=Premier+League+%28Football%29%2CWest+Ham+United+%28Football%29%2CPortsmouth+%28Football%29%2CFootball%2CSportc5=Not+commercially+useful%2CPremier+Leaguec6=David+Laceyc7=2008_11_17c8=1119001c9=articlec10=GUc11=Footballc12=Premier+Leaguec13=c14=h2=GU%2FFootball%2FPremier+League” width=”1″ height=”1″ //divpWest Ham are clutching at draws. While a scoreless, passably entertaining game on Saturday ended a run of 26 matches without a clean sheet and denied Portsmouth a fourth successive win at Upton Park there were few clues as to how Gianfranco Zola’s side will cope with a particularly awkward run-up to Christmas./pp”That point means a lot to us,” declared the West Ham manager, his glass clearly half full. Yet it was only the second point Zola’s players had taken out of a possible 21, which did not augur well for their fortunes in the sequence of fixtures awaiting them after the visit to Sunderland this weekend, when they face Liverpool, Tottenham, Chelsea and Aston Villa./ppNot that West Ham played badly against Portsmouth. It was just that they did not play well enough when it came to turning some imaginative movements into scoring chances. Even without the injured Sol Campbell Portsmouth defended solidly with good discipline and Carlton Cole, for all his industry, did not have the skill and nous which Dean Ashton, a long-term casualty once more, would have brought to the job of holding the ball up and bringing those around him into the game./ppZola attempted to solve his chronic goal shortage by playing three attackers, flanking Cole with Freddie Sears and Craig Bellamy, but there was no consistent width to West Ham’s attacks. Portsmouth, in spite of losing Lassana Diarra, their principal link between defence and attack, with a sprained ankle after 19 minutes, created the greater number of chances. Three times Jermain Defoe was through on goal and three times he was thwarted by Robert Green. The watching Fabio Capello might have found himself wondering how many opportunities Defoe needed. “Sometimes you can try too hard,’ said his manager, Tony Adams. Either way Defoe may now find himself queueing behind Gabriel Agbonlahor and Darren Bent for a start in Germany on Wednesday./ppWith uncertainties over the future ownership of Portsmouth and the possibility of losing players through the January transfer window Adams is treading warily in the wake of Harry Redknapp’s departure. “I’m not rushing new things in,” he explained. “Harry was a master of man management but I’m a bit different. Maybe I’ll use the fact that I’m a bit younger than him but I’m very protective of what I call my babies. If and when I get the sack it will be my results and my team which does it.”/ppThat sounded a bit like a self-fulfilling prophecy waiting to happen./ppstrongMan of the match/strong Robert Green (West Ham United)/pdiv style=”float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;”ullia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/premierleague”Premier League/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/westhamunited”West Ham United/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/portsmouth”Portsmouth/a/li/ul/diva href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk”guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href=”http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html”Terms Conditions/a | a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html”More Feeds/a

Original post by David Lacey

The joy of victory is brief, but on a May afternoon in 2005 Arsène Wenger must have set a record for purging euphoria from his system. “I wouldn’t be happy with that every week, but it was not deliberate,” he said of Arsenal’s shoot-out victory over Manchester United following a goalless FA Cup final. It was against all reason that Sir Alex Ferguson’s side had failed to score.

The day marked the close of a period of Arsenal’s history, but Wenger may not have realised how hard it would be to open up a new phase of success. They meet United again today at a time when the club is not expected to collect silverware. That scrambled FA Cup was a valedictory trophy, an encore from men who had been unbeaten on their way to the league title the year before.

Of the line-up at the Millennium Stadium, three players were in their thirties and the number would have been greater had Sol Campbell been fit. Patrick Vieira, who converted the decisive penalty, was making his last appearance for the club. The midfielder, then 28, left for Juventus in a £13.7m transfer that highlighted Wenger’s finesse in getting the maximum return on players who have already given their best years to Arsenal.

For all his shrewdness, the manager has not, of course, delivered a trophy since then. In the immediate aftermath of that 2005 Cup final, he seemed to sense that times were changing and suggested that it might be time for him to go once Arsenal had settled down in their new home. The club, in its third season there, are fully at ease with the surroundings, but yesterday Wenger was declaring his complete commitment to the cause.

The manager, however, is fully aware that Arsenal and United, who could barely be prised apart in 2005, have since gone their separate ways. The signs of divergence were already apparent that afternoon. Sir Alex Ferguson, by then, had already stopped depending on home-grown talent that had sprung in the 1990s. The United attack in that FA Cup final was made up of Cristiano Ronaldo, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Wayne Rooney, who had come at a combined cost of some £56m.

The change of financial gear at the club was signalled as long ago as 2001 with the arrival for £28.1m of Juan Sebastián Verón. He floundered in the Premier League, but that was no deterrent to expenditure and a year later United met Leeds’ price of £30m for Rio Ferdinand. Nowadays, Ferguson has a choice, when both are fit, of Owen Hargreaves or Michael Carrick as deep-lying midfielder. A total of nearly £36m was paid to acquire them. Dimitar Berbatov arrived for £30.75m in August.

Meanwhile, Arsenal’s record signing may still be the £11m Sylvain Wiltord, who joined from Bordeaux in 2000, unless the figure for Samir Nasri, who joined from Marseille in the summer, proves to have been marginally higher. Wenger reached England at a time when clubs in many parts of Europe competed on broadly equal terms.

Arsenal and United once had similar policies, but the contrast is now marked.

While there are funds on offer to Wenger, they are not of the magnitude expended at Old Trafford, Stamford Bridge or Liverpool. He has turned his face against whatever conspicuous expenditure he could afford and, so, the line-up lacks a well-established goalkeeper, centre-half and holding midfielder. Wenger could have compromised by buying a greater number of mature footballers, but he continues to prize the unity of philosophy in a team developed by him. There is enough sturdiness in the policy to ensure that Arsenal have not lost at home to United since February 2005.

If they seem to be in peril this weekend, it may largely be because of injuries that Wenger cannot afford in a small group. Nonetheless, United are not the principal obstacle for Arsenal in the Premier League. The highest barrier is the sheer slog of the programme. When Wenger resorted to fringe players and rested others in the FA Cup tie at Old Trafford last season the outcome was a 4-0 beating that crushed morale in their league campaign.

So long as Arsenal realise the income expected from property development on the Highbury site, the club will be vastly affluent one day. Wenger’s duty now, whether he recognises it or not, may be to keep the team in the Champions League pack. An eventual successor with a conventional attitude to the transfer market would then have the means to spend on squad development as Wenger never has.

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Original post by Kevin McCarra

Peter Tatchell: Tottenham FC has allowed its fans to chant homophobic abuse against Sol Campbell. When will the FA get tough?

Original post by Peter Tatchell