Now today it is being reported that Lua Lua's son had died during the African Nations Cup but Lomana wasn't told by Congo because they didn't want such news to affect him during the tournament. Now if this does turn out to be true then my heartfelt condolences go out to Lomana Lua Lua and anyone associated with his son. How Congo could not let him know about something so serious and more important than football is beyond me which is half the reason why I'm not taking this news as 100% authentic. I haven't seen this news on any of the major sports news sites and if anyone has done then please do direct me to it. If this does turn out to be true then it's going to be an extreme shock to Lomana and he'll certainly question if he'll play for his country ever again. If this whole thing turns out to be a farce then serious questions are going to be asked...
Moving on... even when the transfer window has shut the speculation still continues and the latest one is Lua Lua to Spurs, one that we have heard before. Whatever happens if we're going to be relegated then he's off anyway. If we do manage to survive then he could well be off anyway with a possible permanent deal for Wayne Routledge. I think it's a very possible move seeing how Tottenham are in such a strong position at the moment and have a bright future whereas there's a strong possibility we'll be travelling to Hull and Luton next season. He's also a Tottenham fan so the writing could well be on the wall.
But would we really miss him? Would he even get in our starting lineup at the moment? There's a case for and against here. The facts are that we haven't won a single game without him and he's also our joint top goalscorer. However many times he has been unproductive and wasteful but then I suppose we're to expect that. If he was more consistant he would probably be our best player but so many times we're left wanting as fans after he's failed to pass or blazed a close range shot over.
So should he start? There's every possibility that he could form a deadly, pacy partnership with Benjani that would give defenders hell. There's also a good possibility that it could be the most wasteful Pompey partnership in recent history! I think that they'll both start on Saturday if the story about Lua Lua's son isn't true. I still think Toddy should be given a chance to prove himself at this level. He's never looked bad when he has come on and we're in need of a finisher desperately. I suppose we can only speculate until the game.
In fact this whole column has been speculation.. I hope we get some answers, and good news as soon as possible.