Avram Grant To Field Weakened Teams?

[THFC6061]

Avram Grant: I'll ruin relegation dogfight by fielding weakened Portsmouth teams

Avram Grant has hinted he will make a farce of the Barclays Premier League survival race by fielding weakened teams for the rest of the season.

The Portsmouth manager is furious his team have been condemned to play Championship football next term after being deducted nine points for going into administration.

He will hold a crisis meeting with his players today in an attempt to discover how they want to approach their remaining nine league games, when they have nothing left to play for.

And in a threat to the integrity of the Premier League he has refused to rule out two stark possibilities.

He may field weakened teams, preferring to keep his best players fit for their April 10 FA Cup semi-final date against Fulham or Tottenham at Wembley.

And he may listen sympathetically to players like David James, Nadir Belhadj and Hassan Yebda if they say they do not want to risk getting injured before the World Cup.

Grant is in no mood to bow to any league dictat that he should field his strongest team in every game.

Grant said: ‘We don’t have a duty to the other Premier League teams. The Premier League has a duty to the other teams.

‘We have a duty to Portsmouth, and I have a duty to football.

‘We’ve tried everything in the last months to keep the spirit of football and what I think football is about and I don’t see any reason to do it when we haven’t got a target. Of course our target now is the semi-final.’

Avram Grant: I'll field weakened Portsmouth teams | Mail Online





This is very interesting as far as Spurs are concerned for two reasons.

Firstly, it could effect our Premier League clash with Portsmouth at White Hart Lane on 27th March - a weakened Pompey team would be to our favour, although I still would have fancied our chances against a full-strength team anyway.

Secondly, if we manage to beat Fulham in the FA Cup (not such an easy matter after their fantastic win over Juventus!) we'll meet Portsmouth at Wembley in the Semi-Final and they could have the advantage if their top players have been rested.

[mattyvw]

sorry but it's the rules and pompey only have them selves to blame. And if he wants to field a weakened team bloody give us Jamie back!

[hastings.spur]

will Jamie be able to play against us on 27th?

[THFC6061]

will Jamie be able to play against us on 27th?

No.

The terms of O'Hara's loan arrangement with Portsmouth prohibit him from playing against Tottenham in both League and Cup matches.

[funkfish]

i dont care what he does. we should have no problem with a weak team or a strong team and jamie cant play. mind i can understand him resting players who are going to the world cup

[juergensdive]

I think this is a bit of bluster....probably to hide future bad results, even with a full strength side. I can't help feeling sorry for the Pompey fans, but the club have to play by the rules....and they apply to all clubs.

[HeroesComesandGoes]

Sorry - but wrong attitude Avram. Though I'd like the prospect of Spurs playing a weakened team, if I was in his position, I would make sure that I aim to win every single game and end the season in a blaze of glory. I'm going to read between the lines here - he mentioned the Premiership, not the FA Cup - I think he's going to be concentrating on that...

[jason.and.the.yids.]

Strong or weak if we beat Fulham i fancy us to beat them and reach the final.

coys..........

[samuel007]

Ok sounds good to me, I would proberbly react the same way, deducting the 9 pts does serve a lesson for anyone else BUT in what way does it help the club financial wise or investment wise knowing they will get relegated anyway?

They should get deducted 9 pts NEXT SEASON, making this season "still to paly for".

[weirddave]

Sorry - but wrong attitude Avram. Though I'd like the prospect of Spurs playing a weakened team, if I was in his position, I would make sure that I aim to win every single game and end the season in a blaze of glory. I'm going to read between the lines here - he mentioned the Premiership, not the FA Cup - I think he's going to be concentrating on that...

But what if he loses the semi-final as well?
He's going to look and feel quite stupid for saying he'll intentionally lose league games. There'll literally be 'nothing to play for' after that.

[SirBillyNick]

what a brothel visiting twat that man is

[Eighteen82]

Oh well, an easier 3 pts for us

[steelktm]

hopefully that weakend team beats Man Citeh or any of our other 4th place teams race they may have left. if we are the last then i like the idea of a weakend team.

[PotterLou]

This makes me lose a lot of respect for Grant.

There may well be a case for changing the rules for punishment for clubs going into administration, and if Grant feels that's the case then he should have worked, calmly and sensibly, with the FA in looking for a viable alternative.

But every manager in football knows what the rules are, and in agreeing to manage in this country, they've agreed to follow the rules. Regardless of whether or not Grant thinks the rules need changing, he's agreed to follow them as they are now until such change occurs.

I feel sorry for Portsmouth fans, who've done nothing to deserve this. But the people in charge at the club, including Grant (regardless of the fact their problems seem to have started long before he got there), shouldn't throw their toys out of the pram just because what they were told would happen has happened.

If you don't want to be docked points, run your club properly.

[SirBillyNick]

hopefully that weakend team beats Man Citeh or any of our other 4th place teams race they may have left. if we are the last then i like the idea of a weakend team.

Not Citeh, but Villa.

Saturday, 20 March 2010
Barclays Premier League
Portsmouth v Hull, 15:00
Wednesday, 24 March 2010
Barclays Premier League
Portsmouth v Chelsea, 19:45
Saturday, 27 March 2010
Barclays Premier League
Tottenham v Portsmouth, 15:00
Saturday, 3 April 2010
Barclays Premier League
Portsmouth v Blackburn, 15:00
Sunday, 11 April 2010
The FA Cup
Tottenham v Portsmouth, SF, 16:00
Wednesday, 14 April 2010
Barclays Premier League
Wigan v Portsmouth, 19:45
Sunday, 18 April 2010
Barclays Premier League
Portsmouth v Aston Villa, 16:00
Saturday, 24 April 2010
Barclays Premier League
Bolton v Portsmouth, 15:00
Saturday, 1 May 2010
Barclays Premier League
Portsmouth v Wolverhampton, 15:00
Sunday, 9 May 2010
Barclays Premier League
Everton v Portsmouth, 15:00