Portsmouth Football Club News

• Nickname:Pompey
• Founded:1898
• Manager:Michael Appleton

• Ground:Fratton Park
• Capacity:19,179

Adams explains Defoe position

30 Oct 2008 - 16:08:41

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New Portsmouth manager Tony Adams has defended his decision to leave leading scorer Jermain Defoe on the bench for the 1-0 midweek defeat at Liverpool.

The 25-year-old England international has already scored eight goals for Pompey this season, but Adams left him out against the Reds to try and end a run of poor results away from home.

He said: "Jermain wasn't dropped, of course not. I will make tactical decisions, technical decisions and emotional decisions. This time it was a tactical one.

"I want Jermain to be the top goalscorer for Portsmouth, he will be. I want him to be top scorer in the league and I think he can.

"But against the league leaders I wanted something different. We have been getting smashed up away from home, we have lost 3-0 at Braga, 6-0 at Manchester City.

"I felt we needed to be resilient and hard to beat first time out for me. That is why Jermain was rested.

"He took it fine, he is 100 per cent behind me. I have had great support from everybody, but particularly from Jermain Defoe.

"I am a big fan of Jermain, maybe it was crazy to keep him on the bench for so long, but next time out it will be different.

"Next time it may be Peter Crouch left out, who knows. We have Wigan at home on Saturday and maybe they will both play."