Pompey reax

James Ducker, The Times

“We didn’t play well,” said Roberto Mancini, the City manager, with considerable understatement. But, given that Liverpool and Aston Villa won on Saturday, the Italian could have been forgiven for not getting too worked up about the performance and instead savouring the three points and the goalscoring return of Emmanuel Adebayor.

The outcome might have been very different had John Utaka, in the fifth minute, and Anthony vanden Borre, in the 37th, not spurned excellent chances to take the lead. But even with City out of sorts, there seemed little chance of Portsmouth mounting a fightback after conceding twice in the closing stages of the first half.

Louise Taylor, The Guardian

Indeed after a low-tempo 45 minutes City were somewhat flattered by a ­two-goal half-time lead. With their usual attacking catalyst, Craig Bellamy, benched and Barry taking time to reacquaint ­himself with the wide left-midfield role, ­Mancini's team stuttered.

Michael Walker, Daily Mail

City are one point behind Tottenham in the all-important fourth place with two games in hand. Adebayor is back in the fold. Superficially things are looking up.

But this victory was achieved without anything approaching eloquence.

As Roberto Mancini said: ‘It’s a victory, it’s a clean sheet, but we didn’t play well. But today is important because sometimes it’s like this.’

Pompey player ratings

Given Unsettled under one high cross in the first half, but generally a comfortable game. Saved from Piquionne at close range late on but it was straight at him. 6

Zabaleta Played 37 minutes before going off with a broken nose but he looked very lively when on the pitch: snapping into tackles and linking up well when going forward. 7

Touré Did well in his first game back since the African Cup of Nations. Made some crucial tackles and brought the ball out from the back from time to time. 7

Kompany Another confident defensive performance from our best centre-back this season. Won us the game with a towering header from a corner, his second goal for City and first since September 2009. Went off with a groin strain after an hour, which is a shame for him and for the team. 7

Garrido A very dodgy first half hour - he was very unsettled and should have conceded a penalty, but he improved as the game went on, standing up for himself in tackles and attacking well. But I want Wayne Bridge back in the side, and that's not just out of solidarity. 6

Petrov Again asked to play out of position - in the hole at first, and then out on the right. Neither seems to suit him too well. Was always running into bodies, tried a few through balls but with little success. Fired a free-kick into the wall. 6

de Jong Probably our best player. Tackled hard, doing his clear-up job as well as ever. Got forward a bit more than usual too. Eager not to lose his place to Vieira or Mariga. 7

Barry Another quiet game from a man in need of a rest. He had a few nice touches - he always does - and won a few free-kicks but in terms of his ability to dictate the pace of a game he's not near his level last Autumn. 6

Ireland Did not quite re-produce his performance in this fixture last season, but it was his best performance for a while. Put a perfect pass through to Adebayor for our first goal, and tracked and tackled well enough to suggest he might be able to play in a 4-4-2 after all. 7

Tévez No goals for once but he ran hard and almost made things happen. Hit the post in the second half. Might be carrying a bit of a strain. 7

Adebayor Delighted to see him score today, in his first game since the events in Angola. Took the ball down well and slammed it past David James. That aside, he ran quite hard, taking the ball wide and trying to beat players. 7

Subs:

Onuoha Played most of the game at right back, coming on for Zabaleta. Got into good attacking positions and was untroubled defensively. 7

Boyata Another half hour at centre-back, confident and assured again. 7

Bellamy Took pressure off with his direct running late on. 7

City 2 - 0 Pompey

• A poor game, and not a particularly good performance - but three points, and the strides of our rivals matched. The risk of letting Wednesday night suck the life out of our season seems to have been avoided. I said before that this could provide the same buzz of optimism a few weeks into the Mancini era as the 6-0 did last season, a few weeks into Hughes' reign. It wasn't nearly as thrilling as that. But it was good enough: one point behind fourth with two games in hand.

• As predicted, Emmanuel Adebayor returned to partner Carlos Tévez up front. But the midfield was a surprise: Nigel de Jong and Gareth Barry kept their places, and were joined by Martin Petrov and Stephen Ireland. The team started off in a 4-3-1-2 with Petrov in the hole, later moving to a 4-4-2 with Petrov wide on the right and Gareth Barry on the left. Set up like that, we could only really play through the middle, which when it does not work is rather frustrating. And Portsmouth contributed to this, of course, being much better organised than we could have expected.

• They even unsettled us, at times. There were spells where they built up pressure. Jamie O'Hara hit the bar and hit a shot wide. Frédéric Piquionne nearly scored by accident late on. If this had been the Portsmouth of Niko Kranjčar, Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe we would not have got away with it. But it wasn't. So we did.

• And it was occassional moments of quality than swung the game towards us. First Stephen Ireland picked out Adebayor with a 40 yard through ball reminiscent of some of those he played in this fixture last season. Ade controlled it well and finished expertly past City old-boy David James. The second goal - just before the break - came as Vincent Kompany evaded another former blue, Tal Ben Haim, to head in Petrov's corner. With a 2-0 lead at half time the points looked assured.

• Now it's one week off before a run of six big games in twenty-one days. A full back and maybe a winger in within the next twenty four hours and we will be well set.
  

Portsmouth preview

After the disappointment of Wednesday night it's important that we realise that the season isn't over. Losing the semi-final hurt bitterly, but letting it spoil the rest of our season would leave a longer ache. We're well placed in the hunt for fourth place, and can continue this pursuit tomorrow in our game at home to Portsmouth.

And Portsmouth should be easy victims tomorrow. It's sad how quickly they have declined from being a dynamic overachieving club to an utter shambles of one, but it's been an ever steeper such decline than Leeds United seven or eight years ago. City fans ought to have a particular sympathy for Portsmouth because we've scored such starkly contrasted outcomes on the foreign owner lottery. But the fact is that they are there for the taking tomorrow - having just lost Younes Kaboul to Spurs, and with question marks over both goalkeepers. And we need an opposition who we can really batter tomorrow - to regenerate some confidence and momentum before a crucial run of six games in 22 days.

I imagine there will be some change to the team from Wednesday night. Like Danny, I anticipate a return to 4-4-2, with Emmanuel Adebayor at the peak. Carlos Tévez will probably be behind Adebayor but Craig Bellamy or Martin Petrov could also do the job. One player who will surely be rested is Gareth Barry, who has looked exhausted for some time. I would like Stephen Ireland to replace him but Sylvinho or Pablo Zabaleta might also do so. Kolo Touré at centre back instead of Dedryck Boyata is another possibility.

This fixture last season was a triumph. We smashed them 6-0, inspired by Robinho and Stephen Ireland and buoyed by post-takeover optimism. Since then we've found out that performances like that would still be the exception rather than the rule. We only finished tenth in the league last season, exited both domestic cups at the first hurdle but salvaged some pride with a brave quarter-final exit of the UEFA Cup. We've also changed managers, lost our first semi-final since 1981 in dramatic circumstances and shipped out our record signing. It's been a turbulent period but there is a sense now, as there was the September before last, that we are entering a new era - or at the least, a new phase. That optimism can be prolonged and enhanced by a result akin to last season's. I predict 3-0.