04/11/06: Premiership Matchday #11: Manchester United 3 Pompey 0
This game was over before kick-off as Glen Johnson, Linvoy Primus and Sol Campbell were all out either injured or ill. When the match did begin we were behind almost straight away when Wayne Rooney went down very easily in the box under Stefanovic's challenge and Louis Saha dispatched the resulting penalty. Andy O'Brien then gave away a foolish free kick that Cristiano Ronaldo bent in to put the result beyond doubt in the first ten minutes.
Nemanja Vidic headed in a third in the second half and it could have been more if it wasn't for another outstanding performance by David James. We would get our own back in the return fixture though....
Theatre of Nightmares
A survey concluded that Pompey fans were the loudest in the Premiership, and we needed to continue our great support for the visit of Fulham.
11/11/06: Premiership Matchday #12: Pompey 1 Fulham 1
Despite peppering Antti "Scummer" Niemi's goal in the first half, Fulham took a shock lead after the break as poor marking from Stefanovic left Zat Knight with a free header to score a goal we could all see coming. Former Cottager Andy Cole then came off the bench to score against his former club after some "crab football" during a scrap in the box enabled him to toe poke in an equaliser. Pompey charged for the winner but Niemi would not be denied.
How!?
The following Monday saw Havant & Waterlooville take on the old enemy in Millwall at Fratton Park. The Hawks put on a spirited display but were ultimately beaten 2-1 by a side who played a bit like our next opponents; Watford.
18/11/06: Premiership Matchday #13: Pompey 2 Watford 1
This game was possibly the most frustrating game I have ever seen us play in the top flight. We found it hard to deal with the overly-physical defending and horrid hoof-ball tactics of Aidy Boothroyd's team and things got worse after Jay DeMerit headed in from a corner again due to more poor marking.
Kanu grabbed the equaliser just before half time by scooping the ball into the top corner from about 3 yards out. Pompey were the only team trying to play football in search of a winner but it never looked like coming until Watford's goal scorer pulled down Kanu in the area and the ref gave a penalty.
Lomana LuaLua; determined to prove a point after the criticism he got during the week, stepped up and scored the spot kick in the 89th minute. Everyone in blue were relieved and the messageboarders were all wishing Watford a quick return back to the Championship after such an awful game.
Relief
Before the next game, it was rumoured that LuaLua would leave after some so-called Pompey "fans" said that they were glad that his son was dead. Roudolphe Douala wasn't happy with his lack of playing time whilst Kanu was being linked to Ajax after his impressive start to the season.
Tony Adams also publicly criticised Dejan Stefanovic's recent defending, which was met with an angry retort with the captain claiming that he didn't have to play with an injury if he didn't want to. It turned out that he would be having surgery after the game at St. James' Park.
26/11/06: Premiership Matchday #14: Newcastle United 1 Pompey 0
David James sported a terrible new hairstyle for this game which reflected our performance on the day: terrible. Pompey offered nothing all game and it was inevitable that the Geordies would win as Antoine Sibierski found the net in this instantly forgettable game. What made the game worse was that Matt Taylor went off injured in a game full of injuries.
Battleground
When your team is injury ravaged and have been beaten in their last 5 away games, the last thing you want is a midweek trip to Anfield but that is what we got!
29/11/06: Premiership Matchday #15: Liverpool 0 Pompey 0
A determined, gritty performance saw the Scousers frustrated as a solid defensive performance against a pretty awful Liverpool side saw us pick up our first point on the road since beating Charlton. Steven Gerrard hit the side netting in stoppage time but David James was only forced to make one decent save the whole boring 90 minutes.
Kop Contained
Despite all the frustration in this month, we had still ended it in third place and now genuine questions about Europe were starting to be asked...
Premiership Table After Matchday 15
1st: Manchester United - 38pts
2nd: Chelsea - 35pts
3rd: Portsmouth - 24pts
4th: Bolton - 24pts
5th: Aston Villa - 23pts
6th: Arsenal - 22pts