Pompey News

Harry asks fans to give Benjani time

Yesterday we asked if it was time to drop Benjani, today the press seems to be littered with stories saying that we should give him time.

"He is a very quiet boy and he's had a very poor upbringing. He has come over here and he's finding it tough," Redknapp said.

"One of the lads said that he sits in his room all afternoon and he is not adapting to life here and he is finding it difficult. He is terrific in training."

He goes on to say

"Jason Roberts, who is now fantastic at Wigan, came here for a couple of months and found it very difficult," Redknapp told The Times.

"Henri Camara went to Celtic and he had a nightmare. I remember a Scottish radio station ringing me up and asking if it was his brother playing for Southampton because he was the worst player ever to play for Celtic.

"You look at him now at Wigan and he is a fantastic player. The game is all about confidence."

"He is miles better than he is showing, but he has to win the fans over.

"I spoke to Phil Thompson last week who was at Liverpool and he asked me how Benjani had done and I said he has not really done it yet and Phil said he was absolutely fantastic when he played against us for Auxerre.

"Graeme Souness rang me during the week and asked me how Benjani had done - he said [Jean-Alain] Boumsong said he is an absolutely fantastic talent and he is. He just needs a break. If he gets a goal he will be up and running."

So its pretty clear that Benjani is rated but comparing him to a players that spent time here and didn't succeed and took a drop to the Championship to get them fired up or one that didnt stop Southampton from going down last season doesnt exactly fill me with confidence.  I have no doubt that Benjani is a talent but could a possible price tag of £24 million if he doesnt start scoring and we do get relegated how will he repay our faith, he's already pretty much said that he would look to leave if Pompey we relegated.

I really want Benjani to come good, and with Harry looking to keep playing him it looks like he will get the chance to get that goal that will hopefully give him his confidence to score more.

Although after reading Richard Hughes comments in his column in The News tonight it does give me a bit of confidence, it looks like he is scoring in training and if he can be like Mendes and replicate his training form in match then he could end up being the saviour we hoped he would be when he joined.

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