It has been one hell of a start to a season for Paul Hart at Portsmouth but it looks like patience is finally paying off. Protracted takeovers and a firesale of players in the summer left Pompey staring down the barrel and seven straight defeats left the club facing a long season but Hart kept his cool.
Thirteen players arrived at Fratton Park after the takeover was finally complete and they needed to gel but it looks as though the glue is finally coming together. The south coast club are still bottom of the Premier League but have rattled in eight goals in a week in the Carling Cup and Premier League and are facing the future with a little more confidence.
Q: Did you ever feel like walking away after such a difficult start to the season?
A: I have never walked away from a job. I've been sacked, but I've never walked away. To be fair, who would want to take this job on? What people do is they wait until you get into a good position and then all of a sudden they say 'oh, that's a good job’.
Q: It looks like there are goals in your team now that Aruna Dindane has broken his duck in style with a hat-trick?
A: I think that's what he has been missing.
Aruna is very hard on himself and he felt that he should have scored before then. Now he has to maintain that form, but apart from scoring goals, his performances have been excellent. He has managed his frustrations and got on with his job. It's like all centre forwards, they want to score. But I was telling him that he was getting there to miss them and that if he continued to do that, it would come.
Q: And Frederic Piquionne has netter in the last three games?
A:
Freddie's done very well. We took him out of the firing line and we gave him a few pointers in the difference between the English game and the French game. He is beginning to pick things up now. It is massive, definitely, in the Premier League. It's the intensity. There are tests of different sorts in every game you play. There are big boys, small and quick fellas. You have to be able to cope with these things and adapt to whoever you are playing against. There are all those sorts of things that he has now worked out. And he's doing okay.
Q: Are you expecting a tough battle at Blackburn on Saturday as they are also in the relegation zone?
A: At the moment he (Sam Allardyce –
Blackburn manager) is being direct – we will certainly have to head it – and at home they will be looking to put us under pressure. And they are certainly well organised and difficult to play against. I think we have to be prepared to fight before we get the good stuff so, in that respect; it's another game where precious points are at stake. With the way they play it makes life difficult. If you can cope with that you can get a foothold on the game.
Q: Are you excited about what the future holds for Portsmouth?
A: Things are coming together. It's what we deserved for our efforts over the past couple of months. It was pleasing to get a performance against Wigan which got us goals, and the goals got us a result. I thought we may have moved on Saturday. It's a bit disappointing, but if these results continue it's inevitable we will. It would have been good to see movement. It would have established the belief that we are making progress. They are a tough lot of lads, though. They get on with it. It is looking prettier now we have a few more points, but we are still bottom and that keeps us well anchored. We have been playing well for two months. That has not been in question. The results have to start coming. We're still bottom. The bottom is not good. We're not getting carried away.
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