Portsmouth's Storrie: Two Out of Three Ain't Bad?

Portsmouth football club have had a whirlwind summer before the start of the 2008-2009 Premier League season, but with the Community Shield opener done-and-dusted and the first competitive game of the season on Sunday, what are the pros and cons of the summer dealings at Fratton Park?

The early signing of free-transfer Glen Little from Reading did little to ease many fans post-season worries. We've never had more than one striker capable of hitting the back of the net regularly; Yakubu, Benjani, and Kanu have been the only players to break double digits in our recent stint in the Premier league, and none of them ever did it together.

In the midfield, strong wingers have been lacking since our Division One winning season, with Matty Taylor being the only shining winger over the past few seasons. On the right, however, we've never had a proper winger to fill a massive lack of width that was dreadfully apparent this weekend at Wembley.

And at the back, Glen Johnson is the youngest capable defender we have had in a long time, with manager Harry Redknapp constantly opting for experience and age rather than the long-term investment of a pacey, younger centre back to replace the rapidly ageing Sol Campbell, Sylvain Distin, and the returning Linvoy Primus.

The summer has seen Redknapp cope with two of these three glaring issues in our team, bringing in big-name striker Peter Crouch from Liverpool and young defender Younes Kaboul from Tottenham. Glen Little, however, is hardly the solution to our problem wide-right, and Niko Kranjcar's finest performances in a Pompey shirt have always come when playing more centrally, rather than on the left.

Nearing the end of last season, Redknapp and Portsmouth Chief Executive Peter Storrie made comments to the media that he was hoping to bring in three "big name signings" into the team, assumingly to cover our three weak areas.

And supporters—although incredibly uncharacteristically—were accepting of the arrival of Little, viewing him as a useful squad member for the added games that come along with European qualification.

No one, however, has certainly viewed him as the answer to our right wing problem.

Today, however, Sky Sports interviewed Storrie again on the prospect of who the final "big name signing" of the club's summer would be, to be met with a simple response.

There won't be anyone.

Storrie has cited the "credit crunch" of world banks and the elaborate spending that the club has done over the past two seasons as the reason for the halt to large spending, something Redknapp had been eluding to for several weeks.

And while the media would have it appear that this is the end to transfer activity altogether at Fratton Park, I disagree—I believe there will still be another signing or two, but that anything more than squad players can't be expected. And I can't help but feel to finance these two bit-players, we are going to see the back of David Nugent.

And those of you who caught the Community Shield game this weekend will almost certainly have noticed our significant lack of width while battling Manchester United. While taking the Champions of Europe all the way to penalties is by no means a poor effort, the lack of a strong right midfield player IS going to hurt us this season. 

And Harry? Papa Bouba Diop has always looked very out of his depth there; he definitely isn't the answer.

Of the two most expensive signings we have made, I firmly believe that Crouch is going to be a huge success in his partnership with Defoe and that Younes Kaboul is going to put his poor season at Tottenham behind him under the tutelage of Campbell, Distin, and Assistant Manager Tony Adams.

But I think that winning the FA Cup has put thoughts of grandeur into the minds of many Pompey supporters.

In reading many of the pundits predictions for the season, almost all of them are predicting us to finish within the top six, and many supporters have begun mentioning that we could be the team to challenge the top four.

Perhaps, I'm being too pessimistic, but I believe such predictions to be too much. Challenging for the top six certainly, but anything beyond is simply ridiculous.

I feel that we are going to have another consistent season along with a distinctly unspectacular European campaign, a decent effort in the Carling Cup, and failed defense of our FA Cup; by the middle of the season, I believe you'll see a Portsmouth squad stretched thin.

The performances of David James are going to be the deciding factor in how well we are doing come the January transfer window.

The loan signing of Ben Sahar, however, I believe will prove a shrewd acquisition and Glen Little will prove to be a hard working value signing. Overall, I am looking forward to an exciting season.

Realistically, however, I can't help but feel a bit of deja vu in considering current predictions and Tottenham's last season…