Source: Daily_Mail
Portsmouth 0 Fulham 1: Diplomatic Murphy says Hart's side can survive
Fulham's influential midfielder Danny Murphy refuses to write off crumbling Portsmouth and insists the Barclays Premier League's crisis club will pull through.
Either he was being very diplomatic, after Fulham filched all three points with a Bobby Zamora fluke deflected goal in the 13th minute, or he is living in dreamland.
Because this Portsmouth team, spiritedly though they battled, look way short of the attacking capabilities needed to survive in the Premier League and cannot keep relying on Croatia midfield star Niko Kranjcar to prop up a rotting regime.
The latest news from Dr Sulaiman Al Fahim on his proposed takeover deal for the club is that 'it has taken longer than I would have liked but it has to be done properly'.
It is all very well for the chairman owner-elect to keep trying to smooth troubled waters by showing frustration over the speed of the deal, but when finances are in such a dire state that players like Peter Crouch and Glen Johnson have to be sold off, and the club still cannot spend a single penny in the transfer market, such words fall on stony ground.
Match factsPortsmouth: (4-1-4-1): James 6; Kaboul 6, Wilson 5, Distin 5, Belhadj 6; Mokoena 7; Utaka 5 (Nugent 86min), Diop 7 (Kanu 76), Mullins 5, Kranjcar 8; Piquionne 6.Booked: Mokoena, Mullins, Diop.
Fulham: (4-1-3-2): Schwarzer 6; Pantsil 6, Hughes 7, Hangeland 7, Konchesky 6; Etuhu 8; Gera 6 (Seol 88), Murphy 7, Dempsey 6; Zamora 7 (Nevland 80), Johnson 5.Booked: Murphy.
Man of the match: Dickson Etuhu.
Referee: Martin Atkinson.
So much so that Portsmouth chief executive Peter Storrie is understood to be attempting to put together an alternative consortium to save the club, who need to repay a £27million loan to South Africa's Standard Bank by August 31 to avoid becoming the first Premier League club to go into administration.
Yet Murphy said: 'I don't think Portsmouth will struggle. Even though some terrific players have left, you only have to look at the teamsheet to know they still have a lot of quality.
'I think they will have enough, especially if they keep everyone fit. They showed enough quality in the second half to indicate they can give teams problems.'
Pompey boss Paul Hart said: 'It's been a frustrating week. What do you do - lie down and die or get up and have a fight? We'll fight.'
