Neville Dalton is a journalist with the BBC News website and a Portsmouth fan of 40 years. His expressed views are his and not necessarily those of the BBC.

Open letter to Harry Redknapp

Dear Harry,

You've done a great job, provided some great entertainment and taken the club to heights only dreamt about before.

But why oh why when you've really had a chance to seal your place among the elite of Pompey's history have you bottled it?

That can be the only reason that you've retreated into your shell after such an exhilarating start to the season.

To a degree, when we faced the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool away, the decision to play just one man up front could be understood, if not entirely welcomed.

And yes, draws at The Emirates and Anfield are vindication of sorts of your tactics in those four games (though to be effective they needed to be accompanied by wins in some of the easier fixtures, especially at home).

But against virtually every team? Even after we were safe and had the chance to kick on to the next level?

Unforgivable

It's little short of a shameful that Pompey have not had the bottle to play their attacking, expansive games against some of the more mediocre teams in the Premiership when for half the season it looked like we were one of the best in the league.

And it reached its nadir at Fulham on Saturday when we got what we deserved when yet another inferior team stole two points from us in the last minute just because we not so much failed as refused to kill the game off.

With a full complement of forwards to choose from - and against a team with notable defensive shortcomings this season - it was even more unforgivable that you should choose to persist with just one player up front, inadequately supported from midfield.

I can't believe you bemoaned Pompey's luck after the game, wondering how we could have conceded such a late equaliser. Yes, it was a lucky deflection, but surely you could see it was coming. Most of us alongside the Thames could.

We had to score more.

Fulham were there for the taking - especially after Pearce was reduced to a hobbling figure with the mobility of a Subbuteo player.

But after a bright, enterprising first 20 minutes when we looked as if we could pick off Fulham at will, we went into our shells and hardly threatened Niemi's goal thereafter.

Surely that must have been an instruction from the bench?

With the pressure that Fulham inevitably applied, especially in the second half, they were always likely to pinch something, probably from a scrambled deflection (they did) or inspired shot out of nothing (like Kranjcar's).

So why oh why didn't we hit them where it hurts and attack directly with two or even three forwards rather than pussyfooting about on the edge of the area, refusing to shoot (Kranjcar excepted) or trying Arsenal-style intricate passes (but with less effect)?

Honourable failure

In our position, three points lost is not much different from losing two (and indeed, being pulled back in added-on time feels like a loss, too). So why not take the gamble and kill them off while we could?

It's the umpteenth time we've been so tentative away from home this season, and while it might have been understandable in previous seasons, when we've usually been struggling to maintain our top-flight status at this time of the year, there really is no excuse this time.

At best we could boost our once-excellent goal difference, rack up the points and possibly find ourselves in a UEFA Cup spot next season. At worst, we could fail, end up around halfway with plenty of goals scored but maybe plenty conceded, too. But at least it would have been an honourable failure, and enabled everyone to remember the season for its many highs.

Instead, we're fannying around, picking up no more than scraps against teams we were beating out of sight earlier in the season, and dropping down the league like a stone while the likes of Reading and Spurs trade wins and losses in a flurry of attacking football.

Going down the table with a whimper may well colour the way history views this season.

At the current rate, we could well finish around 13th - the same position as our inaugural season in the Premiership.

That was viewed as something of a triumph, not only because we were new to the division but also because we played our way out of a relegation battle.

Yet this would be regarded as a failure, a season of what-might-have-been.

You only have to turn your minds back 12 months when on virtually the corresponding weekend of the season we played Fulham - again at Craven Cottage - just a few days after clinching that turnaround win against Manchester City.

We tore Fulham apart that day, playing the sort of flowing, enterprising football that Redknapp's Pompey teams are best at. We were virtually down and played with no fear - a little like Watford did on Saturday against Chelsea (only with flair!).

We found our best and most effective response came when we ignored caution and took the game to the opposition... an approach that was to net us plenty more crucial wins and ultimately keep us in the Premiership.

This time round we've much less to lose, yet so much still to gain.

Let's not go out with a straitjacketed whimper.

Let's shed those ties, spread our wings and let the rest of the Premiership know they've been in a football match... not an ultra-cautious chess game.

Starting on Saturday against Manchester United.

Yours sincerely,

Neville Dalton