Let's start with international week! Is it just me or are qualifiers against minnow sides extremely boring? They just seem so pointless to me, because in reality, without being arrogant, it's very unlikely that these countries are going to qualify for a major European tournament. It might be just the blue blood in me but I found it hard to cheer as the fifth goal went in against Andorra. As a Pompey fan I am used to cheering on the underdog, in fact I enjoy it and whenever England play in qualifying, we are always going to be favourites and therefore the expectation is to beat the minnows quite comfortably at home and just get the job done in the hostile environment of their country. There's personally no fun in watching a match we are expected to win easily.
Yesterday I found myself yawning as England were away to Macedonia. I got bored and at half time I actually went out to play indoor football, and I rarely play indoor football, and I certainly wouldn't stop watching a decent game to play it! Obviously, it's expected to be a tough game but the whole "England Expects" feeling is still there and predictably, we narrowly won. It just seems so pointless to play the likes of Andorra et al when all they're going to do is get humiliated. I'd be all for the suggestion of having the minnows pre-qualify for the qualifiers so they don't have to waste our time and congest our fixture list further. Reading back on that it does seem a bit self-centred but being completely realistic, all these matches against minnow teams are more than likely going to result in the big nations winning, and maybe some unwanted injuries for clubs whilst congesting domestic fixture lists.
Staying on the topic of congested fixture lists, I see Alex Ferguson is calling for a winter break again. I personally don't care if he thinks that it will tire out his players. Every team in the league has to go through it so nobody gets any sort of advantage, and footballers get paid a fortune to play football, so they have no real reason to complain about multiple games a week either. I, like many others really look forward to the festive football period and I'd be pissed off if they moved it forward.
Comedy moment of the week goes to Chelsea for their outburst over William Gallas. Those are some pretty harsh accusations and if true, Chelsea fans have every right to know the true colours of one of their players who is renouned for moaning. If false, it's going to draw out into a very long and boring saga that football could do without. Either way, the actions of Chelsea are childish and the whole issue would have been better handled in a discrete manner, not that Chelsea know the meaning of the word "discrete". It was still a good laugh to read mind you...
Football is all about opinions at the end of it though, and some of you might disagree with me on the above issues which is fair enough. I have added a new link on the site which will take you to a survey where you can voice your views on the latest football issues. As Pompey fans we're never short of an of an opinion or two are we?
Finally, congratulations to Mick Quirk and Peter Dean on winning the Fratton Faithful competition! A copy of the Pompey Yearbook 06/07 is on its way to you!
I know this article may seem like filler, but the norm will resume now the boring internationals are over and we can get back to the ups and downs of supporting Pompey once again!