New Portsmouth manager Tony Adams said late last week that he would quit if Portsmouth sold Jermain Defoe. While I'm sure that most Pompey fans would agree that Defoe needs to stay, Adams's comment shows his immaturity as a manager. Threatening your new owners after recently getting the job is no way to impress the owners, [. Click to continue reading...

  When Harry Redknapp walked out on Portsmouth for the second time at the end of October, the general consensus was that the immediate future looked bleak at Fratton Park. Redknapp, with the help of Milan Mandaric and whichever Gaydamak is actually pulling the strings, dragged Portsmouth kicking and screaming into Premier League regular status. Click to continue reading...

'Arry's transfer dealings give the game away 1. Noe Pamarot 2. Younes Kaboul 3. Sol Campbell 4. Sean Davis 5. Jermain Defoe This guy has been running a Spurs team on the south coast for the last few years right under our noses. His new job is basically a promotion from Tottenham reserve coach to Tottenham first team coach. Click to continue reading...

Tottenham lose (is that news?) 2-0 to Portsmouth, credit Jermain Defoe with a goal and essentially an assist on Peter Crouch's.

Manchester City lose 2-1 to Wigan. Anyone surprised that they appear to be super schizophrenic? Amr Zaki with another goal. That's tied for an EPL best with 4, I think. Click to continue reading...

Tottenham remain bottom of the Premier League after yet another defeat. This time they have been beaten by Harry Redknapp's Portsmouth to leave them with just two points from a possible eighteen, leaving manager Juande Ramos under severe pressure at the helm.

It was two former Spurs strikers that bagged all three points for Pompey. Click to continue reading...

STUNNING CHARLOTTE MEARS has revealed the incredible truth about her fabulous life as a WAG with ex JERMAIN DEFOE.

But Jermain, 25, broke their engagement off in November and traded 22-year-old Charlotte in for a new model, pin-up DANIELLE LLOYD. In an exclusive interview with the paper, Charlotte admitted she was so devastated she needed THERAPY to recover and is investing in £4,000 worth of new boobs.

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Chelsea's attempt to regain the Carling Cup begins Wednesday against Portsmouth at Fratton Park. Pompey will no doubt be out for revenge, following the 4-0 thrashing theytook in their Premier League season opener at Stamford Bridge a month ago.

They'll have a hard time doing so.

Portsmouth enters this match on the heels of its most embarrassing defeat in quite some time a 6-0 slump against Manchester City at the weekend.

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Soccerword's Premiership Team of the Week - 04

We're going with a 3-4-3 formation for this week's team:

Goalkeeper: Manuel Almunia (Arsenal)

Defenders: Ricardo Carvalho (Chelsea), Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Kolo Toure (Arsenal)

Midfielders: Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Mikel Arteta (Everton), Tim Cahill (Everton), Chris Brunt (West Brom)

Forwards: Emmanuel Adebayor (Arsenal), Marlon King (Hull City), Jermain Defoe (Portsmouth)

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Liverpool 2-1 Manchester Utd
Hey look, the perennial also-rans in the Premiership scored a nice early-season win. Carlos Tevez had an early goal equalized by an own goal, before Ryan Babel netted the game-winner with a powerful strike in front of the net. Would you believe it was Rafa's first win over United? Click to continue reading...

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Whether hooped socks really go with hooped shirt and blue shorts...? QPR's Hoops (Given that many - if not most - other Championship clubs already have their team photos up on their websites, presumably QPR will soon have their team photo posted.)


Ex-QPR loan, Ben Sahar, Profiled
Haaretz/By Neil Allen and Uzi Dann - Slow down, Ben, you move too fast
Ben Sahar really wants to make it in the Premier League. Click to continue reading...

Photo from the Telgraph via the AP.

First batch of match reviews from the past weekend. The final batch will be up tomorrow morning. Note there won't be a second full match review as I was unable to see Sunderland v Manchester City in full.

Everton v Portsmouth: Jermain Defoe's two goals and assist see Portsmouth go away and get an emphatic 3-0 victory at Goodison Park.

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Much was made of Portsmouth's pairing of Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe, a seemingly classic big man little man combo that produced exactly zero goals in the first two games. But today it finally happened like we all imagined it would, when Crouch flicked on for Defoe, and Defoe turned Lescott to score. Click to continue reading...

Manchester City have completed the expected re-signing of their former winger Shaun Wright-Phillips from Chelsea. Twenty-six year old Wright-Phillips' career has stalled since his £21 million move from City to Chelsea back in 2005. He had just established himself as an England international and was looking like one of the brightest prospects England had seen for some time. Click to continue reading...

Anyone that knows me knows that I really aspire to be part of the ‘cool' crowd that goes to Faces and Movida more than I actually care about being a footballer, and this story underlines just exactly why. Not only do loads of Big Brother wasters frequent the clubs in the vain hope that someone of slight ethnicity might accidently trip and knock them up, page 3 models genuinely fight over you, even if you're a pint-sized loser like Jermain Defoe. Click to continue reading...

Gabriele Marcotti has added some good commentary on the criticism Fabio Cappello was receiving about his position of Steven Gerrard in last week's friendly defeat to the Czech Republic,

I was a bit nonplussed last week. After the friendly against the Czech Republic, I found out that Fabio Capello was apparently "killing" Steven Gerrard's career by playing him "on the left wing". Click to continue reading...

From link man to left midfielder, they will find a way to squeeze Steven Gerrard into this England team somehow.

They shoehorn the Liverpool midfielder into the side and encourage him to slide up and down the greasy pole that has become England's left midfield. Poor blighter.

Too good to leave out and too flexible to hold down his own position, he was stationed out there again last night. Click to continue reading...

• It's clear that England is really lacking in two positions – left wing and center forward. Steven Gerrard is a very good player and performed well on the left today, but that's not his natural position and he doesn't give England much width. He needs to play in the position Frank Lampard occupied today. Click to continue reading...

• Well, I had it wrong earlier when I said Gareth Barry would be on the left and Steven Gerrard in the middle. The two were reversed to start, though Gerrard ended up drifting inside anyway. Ashley Cole and Wes Brown, the left and right backs, respectively, both needed to get forward and provide some necessary width to the team. Click to continue reading...

Martin Samuel from the London Times writes about how England are lacking in quality forwards and I agree with him. Wayne Rooney can't carry the team upfront by himself, and he really does seem to be more of a setup man then an out and out finisher. With Michael Owen not being fit again, I think Fabio Capello needs to look at either Jermain Defoe or Darren Bent. Click to continue reading...

England have been missing a rampaging forward ever since Alan Shearer retired from national duty in 2000.  Gabriel Agbonlahor has the physique, the skill and the attitude to finally replace Shearer at the center of England's attack. A potted history of England's strikers since 2000: Michael Owen has continued to shine whenever he's pulled on the England [. Click to continue reading...

Steven Gerrard has been named in Fabio Capello's England squad for Wednesday's friendly clash with the Czech Republic at Wembley.

The 28-year-old showed no signs of a reaction to the thigh injury that he sustained in pre-season and will now take his place as the sole Liverpool representative in the pool of 23 players after featuring for the full 90 minutes in yesterday's 1-0 win at Sunderland. Click to continue reading...

Peter Crouch has been axed from the England squad for the friendly game against Czech Republic on Wednesday. The Portsmouth striker was an almost certainty to take the injured Dean Ashton's place in the 23-man squad, however Fabio Capello has decided to call up Emile Heskey instead.

Paul Robinson has surprisingly been included in the squad whilst Ashley Young also misses out. Click to continue reading...

It's back! Thank fuck! The Championship and SPL are in full flow already, while the Premiership kicks off in earnest today after 97 painful football-less days. It hasn't been the most explosive offseason in recent memory, dominated by the tedious Ronaldo saga and a mildly enjoyable European Championships devoid of any UK interests, but full of beer. Click to continue reading...

So, Manchester United has picked up another piece of silverware after beating Portsmouth 3-1 on penalties in the annual curtain raiser to the new season. The game, which ended 0-0 in regular time, was a bit of a sleeper at times with Man United controlling large portions of the match but unable to score. Click to continue reading...

Martin Jol loves his attacking football. This time a year ago, he had acquired Darren Bent from Charlton, and was seriously considering a system whereby the player could line up in a three-pronged attack with Robbie Keane and Dimitar Berbatov, perhaps bringing on Jermain Defoe for extra spice and gung-ho . Click to continue reading...

Former Spurs striker Jermain Defoe believes his old club could be heading for big trouble if Dimitar Berbatov follows Robbie Keane out the exit door. The England striker, who quit White Hart Lane in January for Portsmouth in search of first team football, after failing to dislodge the pair, believes the north Londoners could struggle next [. Click to continue reading...

In their final game on the Africa tour Manchester United beat Portsmouth 2 - 1 in a friendly.Portsmouth's newly imported old reliable Peter Crouch showed some signs of a possible fruitful partnership with Jermain Defoe.

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Premier League champs beat FA Cup holders in Africa Goals by Carlos Tevez, who also missed a penalty, and Chris Eagles saw United beat Pompey in a lively encounter in Abuja. Jermain Defoe scored an 89th-minute consolation for Harry Redknapp's... Click to continue reading...

This Friday Premiership Talk focuses on the five teams that pose the biggest threat to the stranglehold that Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, and Liverpool have at the top of the Premier League.

1. Tottenham. Tottenham have been a serious contender to the big four for a long time - but only on paper.

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The English Premier League is a unique league where each season brings one surprise package. Last season Portsmouth had a chance at that glory but the African Cup of Nations hampered the second half of their season. This year, however, Harry Redknapp's team is looking primed and ready to take the Premiership by storm. Click to continue reading...

You have to hand it to Harry Redknapp. Since becoming manager of Portsmouth for the second time, he's managed to convince David James, Glen Johnson, Sol Campbell, Jermain Defoe and Peter Crouch to join the club. Now he's set to land another class act in the guise of Wayne Bridge ... Click to continue reading...

Harry Redknapp is continuing his pursuit of faltering English stars as he sets his sights on Chelsea left-back Wayne Bridge. With Jermain Defoe signed last season and Sol Campbell the season before, Wayne Bridge could be yet another Englishman to join Peter Crouch at Portsmouth. Bridge is out of Chelsea's first team plans as he has fallen well behind Ashley Cole in the pecking order. Click to continue reading...

Well, David James' afro and full beard are still going strong -- in fact, they look better than ever.

Portsmouth's goalkeeper was the best at his position in the Premiership last year, and as he was voted as such by the players in their Team of the Year, it obviously isn't just me who thinks very highly of James. Click to continue reading...

Striker Peter Crouch has finally completed his move from Liverpool to Portsmouth, signing a four-year contract with the FA Cup holders.

The deal, which could be worth up to £11 million, sees the 27-year-old return to Portsmouth six years after leaving the south coast club.

Crouch jumped at the chance of regular first-team football having struggled to establish himself in Liverpool's starting side. Click to continue reading...

Portsmouth has completed a $22 million move to bring Peter Crouch back to Fratton Park after seven years, during which Crouch played for four other clubs and earned his way squarely into the England setup.

Crouch, the tallest player ever to put on a Three Lions shirt at 6′7″, spent the last three seasons at Liverpool, where he scored 22 goals in 85 league matches but led the club in ‘06-'07 with 18 goals in all competitions, including a hat trick in Liverpool's 4-1 victory over Arsenal. Click to continue reading...