Portsmouth Football Club News

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

• Ground:Fratton Park
• Capacity:19,179

Lack of fight annoys Adams

21 Dec 2008 - 11:06:31

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Portsmouth manager Tony Adams accused his players of lacking fight after their 2-1 defeat at Bolton Wanderers.

Pompey's second successive Premier League loss had appeared to be on the cards after they started slowly at the Reebok Stadium and found themselves 2-0 down with just three minutes on the clock.

Peter Crouch reduced the arrears midway through the first half, but the defeat saw the struggling south coast club drop to tenth place in the table.

"We weren't up for the fight and we didn't turn up. It was horrendous, awful," admitted Adams.

"I had a bit of a go at them and asked which part of my pre-match team talk they didn't understand.

"When you come to a place like Bolton you have to defend set-plays and win the battle but we lost too many one-on-ones."

Meanwhile, Adams revealed that Lassana Diarra will continue to be part of his squad despite his impending move to Real Madrid.

The France midfielder, who has been the subject of a £20million approach from the Spanish champions, was a second-half substitute at the Reebok Stadium.

"Lassana is still our player and he remains committed to the club," added Adams.

"He is a great guy, a great professional, who wants to play and train. He wanted to be in the squad.

"He is negotiating personal terms with Real after we agreed a fee with them but I still needed him on the pitch."