Play up, Pompey Welcome to our new feature Hard Tackle, which will celebrate football's funny and surprisingly frequent homoerotic moments. On the field of play is one thing, but here are Portsmouth's David James and Sylvain Distin showing what a tight defensive unit they are. The pair celebrated Pompey's UEFA Cup victory in Portugal by getting [. Click to continue reading...

Picture from the Independent via Getty Images.

2 games, 0 points. No goals scored and five goals allowed.

What those numbers don't tell you are the two opponents in question. At Stamford Bridge against Chelsea and then host to Manchester United.

When Portsmouth saw their early season schedule, they had to be a little concerned.

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Former Newcastle United defender Sylvain Distin has been fined £2,000 for failing to attend the assault trial of former team-mate Joey Barton. Distin while on loan at Newcastle during the 2001-2002 season Click to continue reading...

Is it just me or has Man City made all the right moves? First they accept the bid of the Thai version of Abramovich. Then they hire one of the most successful unemployed-at-the-time coaches in Sven-Göran Eriksson. Finally, they give Sven a huge spending purse to buy what he feels the team needs.

The thing is, though, it's no coincidence that Eriksson chose to come to Man City. Click to continue reading...