Loan watch: Nordtveit makes first Salamanca start and Traoré’s Pompey are thrashed by City

Armand Traoré- Man.City 6 Portsmouth 0

Armand played the whole 90 minutes as Portsmouth were thrashed 6-0 by newly-rich Manchester City at Eastlands. What made the result even more suprising was the fact that there were six different scorers for City.

Confidence was high amongst the Pompey ranks after Harry Redknapp’s side had won their last two league games and followed it up with a win in the UEFA Cup over Guimares on Thursday, but today was just a step too far.

Jo got the ball rolling for City on 13 minutes after being set up by Robinho and Richard Dunne made it two just five minutes later. Pompey tried to get back into the game but former Arsenal men Sol Campbell and Lassana Diarra couldn’t make the most of their chances and then Papa Bouba Diop got his head to Traoré’s cross but knocked it wide.

The game was now becoming more physical with both sides guilty of commiting reckless challenges but City were gaining a foothold and cemented their lead when Jo’s ball found Robinho who drilled his shot into the bottom corner from 18 yards out. Shaun Wright-Phillips then added a fourth on 67 minutes after being played through by Ireland and then Wright-Phillips turned provider for sub Ched Evans who added a fifth. Another sub, Gelson Fernandes, made it 6-0 eight minutes from time but by now Pompey were demoralised and had nothing to play for.

If you look at the statistics then both sides had similar amounts of possession and it doesn’t take a genius to work out which side used their’s more wisely. Traoré didn’t have a good game but then neither did any of his team-mates.

Harry Redknapp will have a big job lifting his players after this heavy defeat and things don’t get any easier for Pompey, their next game is against Chelsea in the Carling Cup in midweek.

Håvard Nordtveit, Pedro Botelho- Girona 0 Salamanca 1

After being left on the bench last week, Håvard Nordtveit made his first start for Salamanca as they travelled to face Girona. His Arsenal team-mate Pedro Botelho was left out of the squad

Håvard found himself in the unfamiliar position of central midfield alongside Spaniard Cristian Bustos. Salamanca were playing a 4-4-1-1 formation and Nordtveit struggled to adapt early on and found the physical aspect of the game hard to cope with.

Salamanca pushed forward and had a penalty appeal turned down. Meanwhile, Nordtveit was becoming more involved in the game and was booked for a crunching challenge in the first-half.

The two sides went into the break all square at 0-0.

The second half was a scrappy affair as both sides pushed for the decisive goal. Salamanca’s goalkeeper Alberto looked badly injured at one stage but in the end he was okay to carry on.

Håvard was replaced 12 minutes from time by Jorge Alonso and, considering he was playing out of position, can take some heart from this performance. He certainly has the technical ability to play in the centre and has a decent passing range but seemed to be lacking fitness today and found it difficult to keep up with the pace of the game.

Håvard watched on from the bench as his team-mates piled pressure on the Girona goal and they got it nine minutes from time with Isaac on target for the Union.

Because of the earlier injury to Alberto, Salamanca had to endure five minutes of stoppage time but they held on for the victory.