Job done and pressure maintained

The starting eleven was as expected, Ramsey coming in for the injured Denilson and otherwise unchanged. Pompey started with a rather defensive line up, just the lone striker up front. The game was pretty bitty early on, both sides pressuring the other into errors, but we did gradually look the stronger side and it appeared only a matter of time before a goal came.

Encouragingly Ramsey was very involved early on, there was plenty of give and go as he drove onto support the forwards. Our first decent chance came when Eduardo made a great run, got inside his marker and flicked a cross towards the goal, unfortunately his touch was not strong enough and the ball flicked harmlessly wide. Eduardo was looking lively, he had already made some excellent forward runs, and then just before the twenty minute mark he set up Diaby with an excellent cut back, Diaby forced a great save from the Pompey keeps. Diaby was also finding his passing range with some lovely flighted through balls. Sagna was also having a strong game.

Mokoena was having an impact for all the wrong reasons, off the pace and caught diving in on several occasions. At the other end we were lucky to escape when Boateng sprung our offside trap, only to miscontrol when completely through on Almunia. The playing conditions were rather tricky, the cold pitch was making it very difficult for players to keep their footing when just contemplating a turn. The first goal came after a free kick was given for Mokoena's dive in on Ramsey, Eduardo stepped up, a firm low shot was massively deflected in off Kaboul, how Eduardo deserved this slice of luck though.

Diaby was elegant in possession, Nasri was bright and very involved, Song brushed aside bullets and mortar fire as he got his body between man and ball to hold onto possession, Arshavin wasn't having his greatest game and was a bit slack at times. The crucial second goal came just before half time, Eduardo again involved as he broke into the box and cut the ball back to Samir Nasri via Aaron Ramsey's cut touch, Nasri finished with gusto into the bottom corner. The importance of this second goal at the time it came cannot be understated.

We started the second half well, the neat passing combined with the width given by our full backs looked like opening Pompey up at any time. Arshavin looked bright, the linesman denied him one certain goal, while he almost played in Ramsey moments later. Our high offside line continued to look a tad dangerous at times. Ramsey capped a fine performance with a belter, cutting in from the inside right position and striking the utter belter into the corner of the net with his weaker left foot, an outstanding goal. Pompey got one back with a well worked effort, arguably we could have been tighter but it was a decent goal. Rosicky came on to threaten the Pompey goal with a decent twenty yarder, Song then completed the rout with a very well placed header from a pin point Nasri cross.

One can't really grumble after a 4-1 win like this, Pompey are not as poor as their league position suggests, they do have some decent players and bit of technique/pace that some other lower sides do not. The most encouraging thing was the fact that a few players really stepped up their games yesterday, Nasri, Ramsey and Sagna were my pick of the bunch, Song and Diaby were also outstanding again. We will miss Alex Song big time, his ability to shield and ball and dominate the midfield has been phenomenal of late. If we can keep picking up three points against the weaker sides that we can really challenge for the title, I don't think we should become obsessed with beating all the big boys, simply don't drop points against the lesser sides. Three points against Bolton is as valuable as three points against a top four side.

On the striker issue, I think it is very easy to call for more signings. However when one considers just how few decent players are available in January then it looks rather likely to me that there would be no one around who could improve our squad. Bendtner is about a couple of weeks off, Eduardo is finding some form, Arshavin can do a job up front, Walcott and Vela both give us options. Fine, if the new Drogba was available for 2 million then I'm not going to argue, but what would be the point in bringing in mediocrity when have quite a few options already?