Muntari show flashes of quality

New Portsmouth signing Sulley Muntari showed flashes of quality in the 1-0 Asia Trophy win over Fulham but, unsurprisingly, still needs some time to adapt to the pace of the English game.

The Ghana midfielder was playing in a deeper role than that he normally plays for his country and for former club Udinese, but apart from the occasional lapse of concentration one would expect in the off-season he looked more than capable of filling the role vacated by Manuel Fernandes.

Almost from the kick-off Muntari showed good skill and awareness to dispossess Clint Dempsey in midfield and initiate a counter attack in one deft move. Five minutes later he had a wild effort fly high and wide from the left after finding some good space on the break.

In the first he generally performed a decent role holding the midfield although Fulham - who were unlucky to go behind at the break - were bossing possession for large parts of the period.

Ten minutes after the restart he was caught out of position after giving the ball away in an incident which saw Simon Davies free Diomansy Kamara, who raced clear of the defence but was unable to finish thanks to good goalkeeping from David James.

Pompey had their backs against the wall for a while as Fulham pressed for an equaliser, but with 12 minutes remaining Muntari re-stamped his authority on the game with a no-holds-barred, un-friendly tackle on David Healy for which he was lucky to escape a booking.

Late on the talented left-footer hammered in a brilliant long-range drive that flashed just past the post from 25 yards out as Pompey held on for the win.

In general Muntari's all-round skill levels seem high, he is not afraid to have a shot from distance and - crucially - he does not shy from the physical aspect of the English game, as one would expect of an Italian-trained African player. The only thing remaining is for him to adapt to his team-mates and play it simple and consistent and he will be a hit for Pompey - which, at only 22, he has plenty of time to do.