Midfield Wish List

This is the area of the team which I believe was grossly under manned last season after the departure of Muntari, Mendes and Diarra.

The present midfield of Davis, Mullins, Hughes, Diop (back from injury in pre-season?) and Bassinas are all defensive midfielders or stoppers. That is a bit unfair on Bassinas, who I believe is correctly termed a central midfield and is after all the Greek national captain. He wasn't ever used correctly and his rare appearances (was it 2 or 3?) showed he was a ball passer. Davis and Diop would be my main stoppers (if the latter can recover and return to his status as the Wardrobe). The former is a worker and wants to get in amongst the action but he isn't what I call a ball carrier or a creative midfield player. In Kranjcar we have got a ball carrier and a creative player but he lacks the killer pace to keep up with the strikers or even on occasion to get into the box ahead of them. However he is the sort of player we should be thinking of building a team around and possibly with the arrival of Bilic (Croatia manager) as prospective Pompey boss this could happen.

We do need a handful of ball carrying, creative midfield players who can carry the game to the opposition. If you count the defence and the two stoppers, we have a defensive unit of six plus goalkeeper. We need an offensive unit willing and able to take the attack to the opposition as I believe offence is the best form of defence. I also believe that when you have got the ball you need players who can keep it and who can use it accurately and with deadly effect. These players don't have to be huge like the Wardrobe they can be nippy small players like the Barca trio (I was so impressed by them as you might tell from this and previous posts). I would like to play a trio in midfield with a single striker, knowing that these four players can interchange at will. This would maintain the nominal formation of 4 - 5 - 1 as used by Hart and Kidd last season but would be a much more potent force in attack as well as defence. The defence and stoppers would know that their job once the ball was won would be to get it to one of the ball carriers. Once the offensive unit had it, the idea would be to keep the ball and yet anyone of the quartet would be able to inflict damage on the opposition goal. In order to have tactical variation, it might be necessary to have a second striker on the bench to replace one of the trio of midfield carriers in order to press home an advantage and go 4-4-2. In my wish list for the strike force I have also included wide players as right and/or left wingers so that the team can be 4-3-3 and that this formation can also be more offensive minded by replacing a stopper with either a ball carrier or a wide player or a second striker.

Enough of tactics for the moment, who are the players we could be thinking about purchasing? There are four from Spurs who could do a job for us. Huddlestone (wanted by half a dozen teams and priced at £7 million), Bentley (wanted by Villa and priced at £10 million),Jenas and Modric. The last two are doubtful because I think the Spurs manager will probably want to build his revamped team around them whereas the former two seem to have lost his favour. However Modric is a Croatian and with Bilic as a possible Pompey boss might be persuaded to team up with his countryman, Kranjcar. Modric is the ideal ball carrying player I envisaged in the previous paragraph.

Lawrence (Stoke) and Nolan (Newcastle) are not in the same mould as described above for Modric but both are very experienced PL players and could do a worthwhile job for the squad. Two Everton players, Cahill and Arteta, would fit the mould but I cannot see them being allowed to leave a very successful and resourceful Everton team. Young and Sidwell of Villa would both be very useful additions, and the former almost falls into the wide player role as well. Johnson and Gelson Fernandes of Manchester City also fall into this category. Except for Nolan most of these are in their early or mid twenties and so could be the backbone of the team for some time.

These would be the players I would be looking at this summer. I am sorry but I wouldn't be able to offer a return berth to Gary O'Neil or Matt Taylor. I loved what these players did for the club but we need to look forward not back. If I failed in my purchases elsewhere I might be tempted but they are not the way of the future.

In the longer term I would be looking at Argentinians either playing now in Europe or in South America. I believe Argentinians are better suited to the demands and rigours of the PL without losing the technique or silky skills or the ability to hold on to the ball. My prize buy this summer would be Tevez of Manchester United and I would be tempted to add his compatriot, Mascheranas, from Liverpool. I love Brazilian players but for me they lack the steel of the Argentine. In the future I would also hope to see Pompey working with other feeder clubs in Europe to provide experience and acclimatisation for South American players before joining us in the PL.

The two stoppers (Davis and Diop - leaving Hughes as a squad player and probably selling Mullins at a knock-down price), the Greek skipper (Bassinas), the two Croatians (Kranjcar and Modric - this is probably what the Spurs manager has in mind but we've got more money now so yah boo!) and the two Argentinians (Tevez and Mascheranas) would certainly provide a mouth watering midfield for the new Pompey Squad of 2009/2010.

If we could match them up with sufficient strikers (see my upcoming wish list) of power and pace plus right and left wingers, Pompey would truly be a force to be reckoned with and that would be without the Kaka, Ronaldo, Robinho, Messi and other superstars. We would have a team and squad to get us into the top 10 easily and to lay down the foundations for a footballing style of the future.