WALTER Smith is not the only manager this week to wrestle with the dilemma of whether to play a 4-5-1 or 4-4-2 system in a cup final. Harry Redknapp, the Ibrox manager's opposite number at Portsmouth, must decide between employing either his 'away' f
ormation for this afternoon's FA Cup final at Wembley or the system he has used to mostly good effect at Fratton Park, where he has satisfied the passionate locals by employing two strikers.
Whether he can regard a ground where Portsmouth last won the FA Cup nearly 70 years ago as home territory is another question, although they undoubtedly have more claim to it than a team of invaders from Wales. At least the local paper in Portsmouth has been able to round-up ten pensioners who were present when Pompey, with skipper Jimmy Guthrie contributing a hat-trick in a surprise 4-1 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers, lifted the famous trophy, in 1939. This would have been a tougher assignment for the Portsmouth News' equivalent publication in Cardiff, although a few remain who can recall at first-hand an ancient Welsh tale of derring-do. During the BBC's coverage of Cardiff's semi-final win over Barnsley the cameras picked out one grey-haired gentleman who still clasped a precious memory in his leathery palms.
Cardiff City, Portsmouth's opponents in the 127th FA Cup final this afternoon, must bury back further than the year of the outbreak of the Second World War for their last success in the competition. Included in the Wembley crowd on the last, and so far only, occasion when the FA Cup left England were King George V, Winston Churchill and former Prime Minister David Lloyd George. It has also been well recorded how a Scotsman scored the winning goal on that April day in 1927. Glaswegian Hughie Ferguson's legendary status in the south Wales valleys was sealed with the clincher in a 1-0 victory over Arsenal.
While Gavin Rae and Kevin McNaughton are set to start this afternoon for Cardiff, the last of Cardiff's current trio of Scottish players, Steven Thompson, can hope for a place on the bench at best. The attacking positions are almost certainly to be taken up by Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink and Paul Parry. Robbie Fowler will warrant a place on the bench at best.
A win today would top Cardiff's 1927 result, and also better the club's other greatest moment. In 1971 the Bluebirds pulled-off a shock when defeating Real Madrid 1-0 at Ninian Park in the European Cup Winners' Cup. A 2-0 loss in the return leg soothed some of the embarrassment for Real, whose reputation was soon repaired. Cardiff, though, have since flirted with liquidation, and even now, as they dare to dream of glory, financial fears continue to haunt them.
The identity of today's opposition might persuade Redknapp to opt for the more offensive of his formation choices, with Cardiff, despite their progress in the FA Cup, having experienced only a moderate season in the Championship, where they finished in twelfth place. Portsmouth, despite ending the league season with four consecutive defeats, finished in eighth position, although they, like Cardiff, faded following a strong opening to the campaign.
Redknapp has acknowledged his options when considering how to set-out his team this afternoon.
Jermain Defoe is cup-tied having played 70 minutes for Tottenham Hotspur in the competition before his move to Fratton Park in January, which means Kanu is likely to play up front. Scotland international midfielder Richard Hughes, who hasn't played since making a substitute's appearance in April, looks to have missed out on his chance, while Sol Campbell will play his last game for the club in the centre of defence.
"I might have to disappoint one or two lads who have played in previous rounds when I pick the team," Redknapp has admitted. "That will be hard.
"Our best form this season has been had been when we've played 4-5-1, but it's not about systems really. It's about how systems suits us. We've mixed it up a bit with Jermain, who suits 4-4-2, coming in, but lately our form in the league hasn't been good, and he can't play at Wembley. But I know what I am going to do, it's just that I don't want to tell anyone yet.
Redknapp has endured a stressful few months, having been arrested as part of an on-going inquiry into financial irregularities at British football clubs. He was also given a headache, if a pleasant one, in January when Newcastle United invited him to become manager. Most devastating, however, was the recent loss of his wife Sandra's twin sister, Pat, who was also mother of the Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard. As ever today's rendition of Abide With Me – first sung before the 1927 final involving Cardiff City –
will be shot-through with emotion.
"I go to the cup final nearly every year. Now I am at last part of it," said Redknapp. "But it will only be a good day if we win. That's what I want after what's been a tough year personally for me and my family. They will all be there at Wembley, including six grandchildren all in their Pompey shirts. I think it will lift my wife as well if we can win it."
Portsmouth are the clear favourites going into a game which is hoped will prove, at the very least, marginally more entertaining than last year's final. Indeed, the FA Cup final, like the Scottish Cup final, is in desperate need of a thriller. Only once in the last ten years can it be reckoned to have produced a game which has genuinely lived up to the hype –
Liverpool's 3-3 draw with West Ham United in 2006, during the cup final's residency at the Millennium stadium in Cardiff. For the last great Wembley final one has to go back as far as 1990, when Manchester United and Crystal Palace, together with Jim Leighton, conspired to produce a clash decorated by six goals. The Scotland goalkeeper was controversially dropped in favour of the late Les Sealey for the replay. This ended in a more humdrum 1-0 win for United, a result which set Ferguson on his way at Old Trafford and laid the foundations for the great teams he subsequently built.
The time since has included a stretch of seven consecutive finals, between 1994 and 2000, when one of the two competing teams failed to score.
The hope today is that two teams not infected with the fear of losing might raise the bar and produce a game that will ring through the ages, just as their previous glories echo in a very distant past.
The full article contains 1151 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
