Curse of Late Kickoffs (Portsmouth 2 - Manchester United 1)

The cushion which we've been sitting so comfortably on has just gotten significantly harder. Chelsea beating Spurs (seriously, who couldn't see that coming!) and us losing to Portsmouth has cut our lead in the table to just 3 points with 6 games to go. It's still a commanding lead, especially when you factor in our superior goal difference.

It's just a minor road bump on our journey to wrestle the title from Chelsea. As long as there are no major road blocks in the form of late kickoffs, we should do fine. If at the start of the season, given the option to be in this position, I would gladly grab it with both hands. That's how far we've come, and I doubt neither the players, the management team nor the fans will willingly let this one go, especially not since we've worked so hard to come this far.

As for the game, all I can say is that Portsmouth played well, we looked tired and were undone by individual errors. None more glaring than from our stand-in captain Rio and our keeper Van der Sar.

The game was played at a franatical pace right at kickoff and neither side really got a hold of the game in the first half. This, of course, didn't help our cause since we never got into our rhythm. Both teams were guilty of giving away possession under pressure from the opposite side, but Portsmouth made theirs count. On the half hour, Richardson conceded possession and Benjani took a pot shot at goal. Van der Sar parried the ball straight in front of him and Matthew Taylor, my favourite Portsmouth player, got in front of Rio and knocked in the rebound.

Kinda hard to find fault when 3 of our players were involved in the boo-boo. They were:
1. Richardson for gaving away possession in a dangerous area.
2. VDS for parrying the ball in front of him. I'm sure in goalkeeping 101, you're taught to parry the ball to the side if you can't hold it.
3. Rio for standing rooted to the ground and allowing Taylor to get in front of him to score.

We were poor and rattled by the goal. In the second half, we were significantly better and piled up the pressure on the Portsmouth goal. Unfortunately, the final ball was always found wanting. When we did get it right, David James was in outstanding form. A couple of saves he made were simply marvelous, leaving Kentona and I rooted to our seats wondering in amazement how he kept them out.

With 2 minutes left to go in regulation time, our stand-in captain decided to make our task doubly difficult. In a moment of sheer madness and lack of communication between defender and keeper, Rio and EVS somehow made a goal out of a seemingly innoculous backpass. It was an epic comedy of errors, which no United fan could find joy in. It was horrible defending and equally horrible goalkeeping. I couldn't believe how Rio could make a backpass like that without even looking up to see where his keeper was. I was equally shocked at EVS for coming off his line when there was absolutely no reason to.

Credit to the lads, they never once held their heads down and carried on plugging away. Although time was running down, they did manage to pull one back, albeit too little too late. Ole's shot was spilled by James and O'Shea was on hand to poke in the rebound.

As Kentona noted to me, Rooney was particularly disappointing. In the run up to our injury time goal, Rooney ran up to the referee to complain about something when he should be focusing on the game. It's a part of his game he must get rid off. The constant whining when decision do not go his way must stop. Ronaldo has learnt it, and now Rooney must learn it if he's going to be of any use, especially when the chips are down. If he cannot concentrate for the good of the team, then he's useless to us in such circumstances, no matter what a brilliant player he is.

Oh, and last but not least, PLEASE NO MORE CAPTAIN'S ARMBAND FOR RIO EVER!!!!!