1 June 2006, by Sean Gillen

Pedro Mendes 2005/06 season review

“Rocket man” reborn at Portsmouth

Pedro Mendes readily admitted that he took a gamble when agreeing to join Portsmouth, who were deep in relegation trouble, in the January transfer window. The gamble paid off. Handsomely. Just ask any Portsmouth fan.

The former Porto midfielder was enduring a nightmare 2005/06 season with Premiership side Tottenham Hotspur, until a January move to struggling south-coast club reignited his career.

The Portugal international moved to Spurs from Porto in 2004, and after a decent first season in London in 2004/05, the beginning of his second campaign saw Mendes desperate to leave Tottenham after injury problems and strong competition made it difficult for the talented midfielder to stake his claim for a place in the team.

Mendes began Tottenham’s first two games on the bench, before starting his side’s third game against Blackburn in late August. He would have to wait one month for his next start in the 1-0 win over Fulham, and kept his place in the starting line-up for the win over Charlton a week later.

But that would be his last full appearance for the club, with injuries and the form of Michael Carrick and Jermaine Jenas limiting Mendes to late sub showings against Manchester United and Arsenal.

Discontent at Spurs

Mendes was open in his frustration at the club, saying: “I want a return to Portugal. I don’t want to be ignored anymore.”

After further criticism of his manager Martin Jol, the match against Arsenal in late October would prove to be his last for the club. After links with Celtic, Porto and Sporting, Harry Redknapp took Mendes to Fratton Park as one of several new signings to strengthen his squad for their battle against relegation.

The new signings took time to settle, and Portsmouth were strong favourites for relegation before Mendes produced the moment that many regard as the turning point in the team’s season against Manchester City in March. Having already seen his earlier goal cancelled out by City, Mendes smashed home a long-range winner in the 93rd minute to give Pompey a crucial 2-1 win.

His performance unsurprisingly left Redknapp gushing with praise, “He was simply fantastic in this match. He scores those kinds of goals almost every day in training. I even said to him the other day, ‘Save one of those goals for Saturday’s game, Pedro!’”.

“Rocket man” is born

His brace against City was followed by scoring Pompey’s third goal in the 4-2 win at West Ham one week later, another superb shot earning himself the nickname ‘Rocket Man’ from his fans.

Having picked up just one point from seven games before the City match, the win set Mendes’ men on a run which saw them win six and draw two of their next nine games to secure safety with one game remaining.

Mendes was without doubt one of Portsmouth’s key players in fighting relegation, and recently admitted that he had “won back the will to play football” at the south-coast club.

Season Highlight

Portsmouth 2-1 Manchester City - 11/03/05

With his side on a terrible run of form, Mendes single-handedly inspired Portsmouth to a crucial three points, scoring both goals to secure the side’s first league win of 2006. And they were two magnificent long-range efforts to boot.

                                       Season stats

* League appearances only; substitute appearances in brackets