Pompey were embarrassed in a 4-0 opening-day defeat at Stamford Bridge as Redknapp dispensed with the 4-5-1 formation that worked so effectively on the road last season.

With Peter Crouch – who was left out of Fabio Capello's England squad for Wednesday's friendly against Czech Republic – signed to partner Jermain Defoe up front, Chelsea's star-studded midfield ran riot as Luiz Felipe Scolari's side raced into a 3-0 half-time lead.

But Redknapp will give his new partnership time to develop, rather than revert to the old system, which would mean leaving one of his England strikers on the bench.

Redknapp said: 'I think we will stick with two strikers – you don't play Chelsea every week.

'I could have stuck with our system from last season – it worked a treat for us – but if I'd have done that, I would have had to leave Defoe out of the team.

'I brought him here to play and it would have meant leaving him out for the first game of the season.

'I went with the two of them up there hoping that we could cause them a few problems, but it does leave you vulnerable in behind.

'We played 4-5-1 and had a fantastic away record all last season.

'But I've made a bit of a rod for my own back in a way.

'I've brought in two strikers and we play 4-4-2.

'Looking at it now, I'm not sure you can come here and play 4-4-2.

'Unless you play 4-5-1, you get overloaded in midfield. Their movement is just too good.'

Chelsea showed exactly why they were a missed penalty away from being crowned champions of Europe last term with a fluent display that simply outclassed Pompey.

Redknapp said: 'It was a tough day.
'They were just too bright and their movement was too much for us really. We couldn't stay with it and we defended poorly.

'People talk about playing systems and they think playing one up front is a negative system. It is what you do within that system.

'Chelsea's movement within that system was fantastic.
'They don't put one man up and just leave him up there.

'They have Deco, Frank Lampard and Joe Cole coming from everywhere and we couldn't handle it.

'They play and run and keep making new positions. That's what the better players do and we had massive problems staying with it.'

The Pompey boss, however, put the poor performance down as a one-off and insisted his team will improve, despite the best efforts of the fixture list.

He said: 'We're better than that and we'll do better than that for sure. It was just a blip.

'It was a difficult game and at least we've got an easy one next week against Manchester United!'

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