New Portsmouth boss Tony Adams insists that England striker Jermain Defoe is fully behind his appointment despite being left on the bench at Anfield on Wednesday night.
Defoe's poaching qualities were not called upon until the final frantic minutes of Pompey's 1-0 defeat to the Barclays Premier League leaders.
But with Defoe already being linked with a return to Tottenham to be re-united with former Pompey chief Harry Redknapp, Adams made it clear: ‘I am Jermain's biggest fan.’
Adams, in his first game in charge after replacing Redknapp at the weekend, may well have got something from the match had he utilised Defoe's talents earlier.
He started with a 4-5-1 formation with former Liverpool man Peter Crouch on his own up front.
But when Defoe came on for a last ditch attempt to save a point, it caused panic in the Liverpool rearguard.
But Adams said: ‘Defoe wasn't dropped, of course not. I will make tactical decisions, technical decisions and emotional decisions. This time it was a tactical one.
‘I want Jermain to be the top goalscorer for Portsmouth, he will be. I want him to be top scorer in the league and I think he can.
‘But against the league leaders I wanted something different. We have been getting smashed up away from home, we have lost 3-0 at Braga, 6-0 at Manchester City.
‘I felt we needed to be resilient and hard to beat first time out for me. That is why Jermain was rested.
‘Jermain took it fine, he is 100 per cent behind me. I have had great support from everybody, but particularly from Defoe.
‘I am a big fan of Defoe, maybe it was crazy to keep him on the bench for so long, but next time out it will be different.’
He added: ‘Next time it may be Crouch left out, who knows. We have Wigan at home on Saturday and maybe they will both play.’
Portsmouth lost to a late penalty from Steven Gerrard, with Adams refusing to blame midfielder Papa Bouba Diop for the crazy hand-ball that gave away the spot-kick when the visitors were heading towards a point.
Adams said: ‘‘I was very proud of the side, on another day we may well have come away from Anfield with a 1-0 win.
‘We had a couple of great chances, but Liverpool are league leaders and a fantastic team and it is never easy at Anfield.
‘Steven Gerrard is one of the best players in the world, but (Lassana) Diarra was exceptional against him. He kept Steven quiet and was still able to get on the ball and play really well to make us tick.
‘It is hard to be pleased when we have lost 1-0, but for my first game I am pretty pleased with the performance.
‘If they show that lever of commitment to me, to themselves and the club we will not go far wrong.’
It would have been easy for Adams to launch into a furious rant at Diop, but he chose the calmer route.
Adams said: ‘I did not blame Diop afterwards. I gave him my opinion, though. I simply said that Sami Hyypia had got away from him, a yard clear, and he panicked.
‘But he still had to get it past England's number one, so he should have got his body in the way to put him off. I was trying to be technical with him rather than throwing a tea-cup.
‘But we played really well, some good stuff and kept the ball.
‘I've only had the job a few days, but I am really excited by it.’
