Football News
James blames Adams for Pompey plight
David James has laid the blame for Portsmouth's poor recent run of form with former manager Tony Adams and believes the club were right to dismiss the former Arsenal defender. The England goalkeeper is convinced his team can haul themselves out trouble but reckons they need to replicate the form they showed under old boss Harry Redknapp.James will set a record of 536 Premier League appearances on Saturday when Pompey take on Manchester City but the 38-year-old is more worried about escaping the relegation scrap.
He said: "We're all guilty as players for individual mistakes which have cost us, but as a team we were not set up to replicate what we did last season.
"Players don't pick the team and individual mistakes are obviously to blame to a degree, but when that happens time and time again things have to be said or else people get used to it and take it as the norm.
"We are still basically the same team as in the first half of last season and we've still got enough quality to stay up.
"I certainly don't want to go down to the Championship because I did it before with West Ham, but we've got only 14 games to save ourselves and need strong management.
"It is a strong-minded team here but all players need guidance. They need to be told what is expected of them and what their role is.
"You need somebody who is going to address situations that have been repeated this season here on numerous occasions.
"It has to be said it has been a little bit quiet on occasions when we lost matches that we really shouldn't have. Things were not great, I think it's fair to say.
"When we've lost some games in the past Harry Redknapp has come in and torn strips off everybody. He would let off steam and maybe sometimes apologise the next day but you needed that."