Pompey's Robert may revisit bench
After a week in which he called a crisis meeting with his team-mates, Laurent Robert may have inadvertently stumbled upon the answer to Portsmouth’s recent Barclays Premiership afflictions.
Claiming injury, Robert pulled out of his side’s crucial Stadium of Light clash with Sunderland after discovering he had only been named on the bench. He then watched from the stands as his team-mates scored their best win of the season.
Pompey boss Alain Perrin has every reason to feel vindicated by his side’s spectacular come-from-behind 4-1 win, especially given that one of Robert’s recent criticisms was of an over-reliance on defensive tactics.
And Perrin made little attempt to hide his frustration over Robert’s late withdrawal which left him with only four substitutes in the north east after Salif Diao failed a pre-match test.
Confirming he had intended to start with Robert on the bench, Perrin said: “I announced the team at 1.30pm before the match and he called me to tell me he can’t play because he has a groin injury.
“He was very calm and he explained he is not able to play and maybe it is better for the other players so he preferred not to play.”
Pompey did not miss him as they stormed back from conceding a fourth-minute penalty to Dean Whitehead, capping an ultimately easy victory with Matthew Taylor’s stunning 67th-minute strike from fully 40 yards.
“Embarrassing“, “shambolic” and “poor” were some of the adjectives used by beleaguered Sunderland boss Mick McCarthy to describe a defeat that dumped his side back to the foot of the Premiership.
A second half of almost complete meltdown ended in one supporter running onto the pitch to confront unfortunate Black Cats keeper Kelvin Davis, who was roundly booed for his part in the farcical second goal that gave Portsmouth the lead.
McCarthy insisted: “He is not just to blame, we are all in it together. In booing Kelvin they are booing me and everyone else and it is not something I like to hear.”
Meanwhile Perrin celebrated with a clenched fist in the direction of chairman Milan Mandaric who has continued to offer support during his side’s difficult start to the season.
And he gave a strong hint that the price for Robert’s withdrawal could be another place on the sidelines for nex week’s Fratton Park clash with second-placed Wigan.
“When the team is good it is difficult to change and to make changes we have to leave out other players so we will see in the week.
“A week is a very long time because sometimes you have injured players and I don’t know who will be available. I will wait until Friday to decide my team.”
