Portsmouth News 24/7Writer: pompeyrug 
Date:Sunday April 5 2009
Time: 11:01AM
UK time is: 19:53:12
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Hart's Chemistry, the substance we need
So many articles this morning and yesterday evening suggested that Portsmouth are too defensive minded lately, especially following a 0-0 draw against fellow strugglers Hull at the weekend. This might be true, but gaining points away from home is what we need at the moment. Some say that the way forward is to attack, but what we have been seeing since Hart took over is that the way forward is to defend. If a side does not concede goals, and not score any either, there will be a gain of one point. Fact.
Although against Hull Portsmouth looked as if they were pleased with a draw, Paul Hart and Brian Kidd, at some point, hoped that we would score. But Hart was clever enough to ensure that his men do not concede while looking for that goal. And this is Hart's chemistry.
Looking back, just a match before Hart took over, Portsmouth lost to Liverpool in a match we could have won only if then manager knew about the importance of defending your lead, especially against a top-four side.
However, against Hull, Portsmouth did not try very hard to score, but it was evident that we were not going to concede. Having said that, Portsmouth recent performances have underlined that we are a side capable of defending and ease off the pressure off our goalkeeper.
Recently, I have submitted an article 'The Magic of Hart' in which I praised Hart's decision to play a 4/5 men defence line; (Johnson), Kaboul, Campbell, Distin and Hreidarsson in order to be more composed at the back. Hart, against Hull opted to use the same system, and this implies that defending is the way forward. History can prove that Portsmouth have won the FA Cup by doing so.
Hart is the man who has a defensive mind of football and that is why he is the best man to manage Portsmouth, the side who was giving away goals for fun this season.
Well done Hart and Kidd, another brilliance proved worth it.
Written by Pompey Malta.
The views within this article are the views of the individual who wrote and submitted this piece, sometimes solely theirs. They are not necessarily shared by the Vital Pompey Site Journalists.
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i said this in the forum, so i will copy and paste it here as i feel it is relevent to this...
'west brom will have a go at us, that is what they have done most of the season - altho i feel they will huff and puff then run out of steam, not taking enough of the chances they create then we will win...
we need to be more positive at home, and surely we will be even with a 4-5-1 - which can be positive if we use it right - granted, against a team that are almost certainly going down i would much prefer we went with 2 up top but yep feel it is 'accomodating' niko at the moment, and that isnt doing us many favours - he 'will not' play on the left, he proved that when told to again yesterday at a short time when nugent was still on, and certainly after nugent went off, hence why belhadj came on.
niko is a talented player but pulled out of just about everything yesterday, maybe harsh but i feel he 'might' be the player that jamo was talking about as 'playing for a move more than planning to keep us up...'
i would certainly go 4-4-2 against west brom with nugent alongside crouch, put niko on the left - as he will play - if he doesnt do a job maybe switch back to 4-5-1 but then bring belhadj on for niko and go 4-4-2 again. the set-up gives us a chance to switch from 4-5-1 to 4-4-2 but we are rarely doing this, it is clear that for away games we are going for a draw, parking the bus and if we get anymore great, if not we will take a precious point.
the game was poor yesterday - but staying up is the priority, we must and i mean 'must' get a 'proper' manager in the summer tho, as we cannot survive a whole season with the tactics we are employing at the moment, granted they are working but will not yield enough points over 38 games and 'if' top players go, it is even less likely...'
so, all in all i agree with you Malta, hart is doing what we need him to do this season but i feel we will certainly need more than this next season, and im not convinced he will be able to grind out these results next season if he stayed in charge...