Neville Dalton is a journalist and a
Well, a month on from my rather uncharacteristic tirade at Paul Hart and so much has changed - and yet so much has stayed the same.
A month ago, we were frightened to attack
Oh yes, and we refused to play the Greek international captain (who had looked promising in his rare outings for the club) and a Greek international forward with a goalscoring record when the odd goal might have given us more chance of safety
So what's happened since that historic day when I dared to vent my frustration at Pompey's direction under the man who seemed to be revolutionising our youth system before he was rudely interrupted by some desperate - dare I suggest almost destitute? - management team?
Well, the veneer has started to peel, for a start.
RESULTS
Mr Hart - and his supporters - would answer criticism of the dire, negative approach to games under his stewardship by pointing to the team's record under him.
In those first seven games in charge before my article, Pompey lost only once - and that to
They even managed to win the game immediately after my piece (maybe I should write more columns!), thanks in part to a steelier, dynamic approach, though in all honesty also partly due to Bolton's very un-Bolton-like, meek performance.
But since that 1-0 triumph nearly a month ago, the team hasn't scored; they've lost to Manchester United and Arsenal, managed a draw at one of the relegation-threatened clubs and succumbed to a humbling by another fellow struggler who can barely find a forward to field.
The reason? Difficult to say. Mr Hart insists it's too many players out of form at the same time.
Could be spot-on there. But no prizes for discovering that - Mr H has, barring injuries, fielded virtually the same side for the past couple of boring months, even though it has been patently clear that many of them have been out of form for much of that time.
In fact, most of them have lost their form during the manager's tenure, as he continues to adopt a narrow-minded approach to the game.
Think Peter Crouch - no support; lonely furrow; poor service.
Think David Nugent - virtually the only man not paired alongside Crouch when Hart reverts to plan 1A when it dawns on him we're losing. Hart admirably kept faith with Big Dave following his goalscoring breakthrough under Tony Adams… but has played him principally on the left wing - except when he's played him on the right wing!
In the meantime, Kanu (frequently), Niko Kranjcar, John Utaka and even Jermaine Pennant have all been tried at the front of the midfield or even - daringly - alongside Crouch.
Think Glen Johnson - admittedly not helped by recent injuries, he's seemed less sure of his role since being pushed forward to right midfield.
Think Richard Hughes - a man I have plenty of time for, but who should not be a first-team regular in any Premier League team I support - who has been a virtual ever-present under Hart despite increasingly ineffective midfield performances.
And think Hayden Mullins. Even his supporters are admitting he's not good enough now. Never was, and from what I've seen so far, never will be.
Yet the poor man's Richard Hughes continues to keep Angelos Basinas out of the side.
Actually, that's not fair. Paul Hart's stubbornness; Pompey's complex financial arrangements, or Basinas' wooden leg (if only someone would tell us which) - is keeping the Greek captain out.
It's only right to point out that Hart has had to contend with some key injuries, not least to Kranjcar. He inherited the under-strength squad (although you could argue he knew what he was getting when he agreed to take the job), and on paper, his record still stands scrutiny with either of his predecessors this season.
But as we all know, the margins between success and failure are so narrow. No, we didn't lose many in Hart's early days, but we could have.
Equally, we failed to win several that we should have - precisely the criticism used so heavily against
Now, over rather more games, the shortcomings are being exposed in the results as well as plainly on the pitch (to most of us, at least).
And suddenly, a record of three wins in 12 matches (including failures to win against Stoke,
STYLE OF PLAY
My views on how football should be played may be far more idealistic than those of most fans - it's something that tends to happen as you get older.
And most of Hart's praise - from within the club, in the media and among fans - has been of the faint variety, no more than a case of we'll take whatever it takes to keep us up (I'll come back to that point later).
Of course I don't want Pompey to go down. Under the current financial constraints, I fear for their very existence if we are relegated.
But I've hated most of the games I've watched since Hart took over. I wasn't happy about some under Harry Redknapp, even during our FA Cup run last season, and some of the performances in
However, Paul Hart has taken negativity to another level - and as I said before, it's not so much about
Crouch is struggling on his own, but for all that has actually put in some admirable performances as a lone striker.
The amount of ground he has to cover in that isolated position - combined with the fact that he is always required to help defend set-pieces at the other end, too - is taking its inevitable toll on the striker, whose poor miss against Arsenal last week might have had something to do with the fact that he looked knackered before he swung his boot at the ball after his excellent one-two with Nadir Belhadj.
But if you are going to persist with one forward, the very least you need is attack-minded players breaking from midfield.
Sean Davis has the energy, but neither the pace nor the composure to play that role, and as for Hughes and Mullins? I'm sure they'd both admit that those are not exactly their prime attributes, either.
Yes, there is pace on the flanks, although even Pennant, Johnson and Belhadj tend to come inside at the slightest opportunity, negating much of their potential effectiveness.
But they rely on quality service, and from James, through the back four to the midfield trio, that has been conspicuously lacking this season.
Paul Hart maintains Pompey are hard to beat, but the fact is they are currently pretty easy for any Premier League team to play against, thanks to their pedestrian approach, the backward and sideways passing and the absence of alternative to the long, high ball to Crouch.
There is little pace - and certainly none in the crucial centre of midfield - and precious little creativity, particularly since Kranjcar has been injured.
WE'RE HARD TO BEAT
I'm not even sure that was true when we were by and large not losing. It's certainly not true now.
If such defence-minded approaches against Stoke,
The ends have begun to fail to justify the means, under any measure.
A more relevant mantra would be we're hard to lose to.
HE'S MADE US SAFE
I acknowledged last time that Mr H might well keep us up, and while three defeats in the last four goalless games have hardly enhanced that possibility, that might still be the case.
But if Pompey do stay up it will have far less to do with our performances under Hart, or any magical transformation he might have effected, than the incompetence of the confidence-shy strugglers below us.
Rarely can the Premier League have produced so many mediocre teams putting together mediocre performances for so much of the season.
HE'S A TACTICAL GENIUS
Yes, I'm sure I read it somewhere.
I've certainly heard pundits on local radio almost wetting themselves with excitement that Hart had switched tactics after going 2-0 down to Arsenal and shortly before conceding a second against
Good old Harty. We're stringing a brick wall across midfield to prevent the other team scoring; it doesn't work, so we still play the same way; then it finally dawns that there's only half a game to go (or in the Blackburn case, 20 minutes or so), so we change our style to 4-4-2/4-3-3.
Ingenious! No wonder he's being lauded.
Well, I've got another idea. How about actually starting matches - particularly those against other struggling teams bereft of confidence - with a more attacking inclination?
Pace, power and aggression - it always captures the imagination and appreciation of the crowd (witness the spell just after half-time against Arsenal), and that provides us with almost an extra player.
Or if that's a bit giddy for you, Mr H, how about switching to trying to score goals after going behind? After all, it's pretty tricky to even draw - let alone win - a match when you're losing if you don't try to put the ball in the opponents' net?
And yet I picked up The News - a publication I like and tend to defend against many of you critics - the other week and read of Hart's "tactical imagination" against the Gunners.
No, it wasn't a quote from Peter Storrie or a readers' competition to find the most outstanding oxy-moron associated with the Pompey manager.
It was apparently an honestly-held view of one of the Pompey writers. I know they're having an incredibly hard time at the hands of the Pompey hierarchy at the moment, but surely to write about the games, they do have to have attended?
Changing to a slightly more positive approach after going 2-0 down at home - with only half the match left - is hardly a sign of a brilliant mind.
Rather, one of a desperate man, frustrated that he couldn't stick to his one and only Plan A for the entire season.
THE ENDS JUSTIFY THE MEANS
Well, most of you will argue that they do.
In our apparently parlous financial situation, with little obvious sign of a buyer, that may prove to be the case.
But let's not forget, at the time of writing we're actually not yet safe, and even though we may well be soon, surely we could all have been spared the anxiety and misery of recent weeks if we had bothered to try to win some of our winnable games earlier?
In the meantime, I expect most of us know of at least someone who has decided not to renew his season ticket on the back of what we've seen over the past three months.
As I said before, Paul Hart might proclaim vindication if sufficient points are accrued.
But the fact is, his chosen style reduces the margin for error. And Pompey have made plenty of those.