Mental Toughness

Harry brought Joe Jordan and that proved to be a masterstroke. A lot of the praise headed up Redknapp Drive at the time, but I'm pretty sure that Jordan must have had a piece to play in the way our fortunes turned around.

I remember watching Joe Jordan in action when he was playing for Milan in the early eighties. They were playing Lazio away in the league and were 2-1 down. He came on for the second half. Milan won the game 2-4. After that game, everyone sat up and took notice of Joe and not because he had his teeth missing. If I've ever seen a player take his team by the scruff of the neck, it was in this game.

I remember the Milan captain, Maldera, asking Jordan to calm down after he screamed his team mates to get on with taking a free-kick. Joe was so annoyed with the pace of the Italian game and it made him mad when his team mates took their time. In the Lazio game, Milan midfielder, Ruben Buriani took his time trying to place the ball the way he wanted it, so Jordan rushed up to him, pulled him away from the ball by the scruff of his neck and took it himself. The fiery Scotsman still burns inside the hearts of the Rossoneri.

If we are to win tonight against Hull, we need to be mentally strong. If we can muster up even an ounce of Joe Jordan's spirit, we'll be okay, not only in this match, but for the remaining fixtures.

Harry is still on the look out for some more players, but they've got to be mentally strong. He spoke well of Pompey's Niko Kranjčar. It's been well reported that Portsmouth need to sell a couple more players, so maybe Harry will take the plunge on Niko, after all, he loves Croatians.

If it was up to me, I'd go all out for Sissoko. He's strong both physically and mentally, but unfortunately costs more than Jordan's two front teeth.