Source: Daily_Mail
Portsmouth 1 Tottenham 2: Redknapp has a rollicking for 'silly' Defoe
This match was meant to be all about the return of Harry Redknapp to Fratton Park, but it was another Portsmouth old boy, Jermain Defoe, who let the occasion get the better of him.
After receiving a straight red card on 61 minutes for a petulant stamp on Portsmouth captain Aaron Mokoena’s outstretched left leg, Defoe got a dressing down from Redknapp that was far worse than the Tottenham boss’s mild reception.
Jermain Defoe
Off you go: Jermain Defoe and Peter Crouch look stunned as referee Phil Dowd brandishes the red card
Redknapp said: ‘I gave him a b******ing in front of all the lads. I said to them all before the game that there was a lot of hype around this match and we’ve got to go out and play football.
‘Anyone who’s going to get carried away and start kicking and fighting people — that’s not what we’re here to do.’
Whereas Redknapp signed autographs, shook supporters’ hands and restrained his celebrations when Tottenham scored, Defoe was noticeably edgy throughout.
An obvious target for home fans for jumping ship after just a year, it seemed the 27-year-old had reacted to the jeers in the best way when he scored Tottenham’s second goal just before half-time.
But the spoilt kid re-emerged in the second half. One assumes Fabio Capello, the England manager, will be less than impressed with the striker’s capacity to handle pressure - and this, remember, was Fratton Park, not the 94,700-capacity Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg.
Harry Redknapp
Welcome back: Spurs manager Harry Redknapp was happy to sign autographs for Portsmouth fans
Defoe will also receive a three-match ban that will give Peter Crouch an opportunity in the starting XI.
Redknapp said: ‘Defoe can be like that. He has to learn to curb that. I couldn’t have told him more. I sat him down at half-time and said to him: “Don’t do anything silly. We can’t afford to go down to 10 men here. We have to have 11 players on the pitch. Don’t let us down.”
‘But he let himself down, he let us down as well. He could have cost us the game. The way he reacted, it was disappointing.’
Mokoena said Defoe had apologised after the match, but added: ‘We know Jermain, he’s a committed player. But that one was out of this world. Jermain has a bright future in the England squad, but doing what he did is embarrassing. It was a cheap shot.
‘He said to me the referee was against him the whole game. That’s his view. I didn’t see that at all.’
Portsmouth also had a man sent off. Michael Brown received a second yellow card in the fourth minute of injury time, but Paul Hart’s side, yet again, played well without reward.
Sloppy defending allowed Ledley King to head home Tottenham’s first goal from a Nico Kranjcar corner and Defoe’s clinical finishing supplied the second strike.
Pompey’s Aruna Dindane missed two clear chances to score but Kevin-Prince Boateng, a £4million capture from Tottenham in August, showed his old club what he could do with a superb display at the point of the midfield diamond.
Ledley King and Kevin-Prince Boateng
Close encounter: Goalscorers Ledley King and Kevin-Prince Boateng challenge for the ball
The 22-year-old capped his performance with a goal when he drilled Brown’s cross past the excellent Heurelho Gomes, but Portsmouth remain rooted to the bottom of the Premier League with just three points from nine games.
Hart said: ‘It’s about time we didn’t make the opposition goalkeeper the man of the match. If we were getting trounced, pummelled and battered, or outdone tactically or strategically, I wouldn’t be here and I wouldn’t hold out much hope - but we’re not.’
New owner Ali Al Faraj, non-executive chairman Sulaiman Al Fahim and director of football Avram Grant were all absent, so it was left to Hart, chief executive Peter Storrie and executive director Mark Jacob to hold the fort.
Storrie’s programme notes were not without irony as he announced the arrival of another new owner, commenting: ‘Ali is a very private person and I think he will be much more like Sacha (Gaydamak) than Sulaiman in terms of publicity.’
Portsmouth’s new owner would have been pleased by the fans’ decision to get behind their team instead of concentrating on the army of Pompey old boys — Redknapp and his backroom staff, Defoe, Crouch and Kranjcar.
What a shame Defoe couldn’t show them the same respect.
PORTSMOUTH (4-4-2): James 6; Finnan 6 (Utaka 90min), Kaboul 6, Wilson 6, Ben Haim 6; Mokoena 5 (Belhadj 78), Yebda 6, Brown 5, Boateng 7; Smith 6 (Piquionne 63, 5), Dindane 4. Booked: Mokoena, Brown, Yebda. Sent off: Brown.
TOTTENHAM (4-4-2): Gomes 8; Corluka 5, King 6, Bassong 6, Assou-Ekotto 5; Lennon 5, Huddlestone 6 (Dawson 87), Jenas 6, Kranjcar 5 (Palacios 66, 6); Keane 5 (Crouch 56, 6), Defoe 5. Booked: Jenas, Assou-Ekotto, Palacios. Sent off: Defoe.
Man of the match: Heurelho Gomes.
Referee: Phil Dowd.
