Portsmouth striker Peter Crouch is eyeing a European renaissance for Pompey - but he insists it will only happen if they tighten up in defense.

Pompey head for Wolfsburg in Germany for their next UEFA Cup assignment on Thursday with only one point on the board from two second-round matches, despite their heroics last week in drawing 2-2 with mighty AC Milan.

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Group Stage Matchday 4

Wed., Dec. 3

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Standard Liege vs. Sampdoria

Sevilla vs. Partizan Belgrade

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Thu., Dec. 4

Wolfsburg vs. Portsmouth

Heerenveen vs. Braga

Slavia Prague vs. Hamburg

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Valencia vs. FC Brugge

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Another defeat like the 3-0 humbling at Portugal’s Sporting Braga in October will almost certainly scupper their hopes of reaching the last 32, but £11million striker Crouch insists his team can still make it.

Milan already have seven points and are through, Wolfsburg have six and only three teams can qualify from Group E.

But Crouch said: “I’m sure there is still a chance for us and while that’s the case we’ll go for it. A win on Thursday leaves it wide open.

“Liverpool always had that attitude even when losing two and drawing one of the first three games in the Champions League when I was there last season.

“We still dug ourselves out of it and went on to reach the semi-finals and that sort of thing happened a few times with Liverpool. If Liverpool can do it, why not Portsmouth ?”

Crouch, who played as a substitute in the 2007 Champions League final which Liverpool lost 2-1 to Milan, never really fulfilled his European dream at Anfield, thanks to manager Rafael Benitez’s controversial rotation system and the arrival of Fernando Torres.

He is therefore keen to make an impact on the continent with Pompey who still have hopes of overtaking Braga for third place by winning the last two matches in Wolfsburg and at home to so far pointless Dutch side Heerenveen in two weeks.

Crouch, who grabbed his eighth goal of the season to spark Sunday’s rollercoaster 3-2 home win over Blackburn, knows however that Pompey’s recent defensive shortcomings must be put right now - with Wolfsburg having notched eight goals already in their two pool matches.

He said: “We are all aware of that and we need to work on it. It’s not just the defenders, the midfield and strikers have got to improve in shielding that area as well.

“We don’t know why it’s gone like this. It’s very frustrating but we know we have to work on it and the only place is on the training ground.”

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For the third home match in a row, Pompey looked like squandering a winning position when 2-0 ahead on Sunday - after Milan’s stunning late comeback last Thursday and Hull’s recovery from 2-1 behind to snatch a point the previous Saturday.

Blackburn’s Matt Derbyshire pulled a goal back for them after strikes by Crouch and Jermain Defoe appeared to have put Pompey in total command just after half-time.

Substitute Derbyshire was unlucky to have another effort disallowed for a team-mate’s alleged foul on keeper David James before Pompey’s own replacement Sean Davis snaffled the late winner after Tugay had briefly levelled the match.

Crouch said: “It was a big relief when Sean popped up with that one because everybody thought ‘here we go again’ after Milan.

“When you look back at it, though, most teams in the world would take a 2-2 draw with them (Milan) and the boys deserved a lot of credit for the way we played overall that night.”

Wolfsburg, managed by former Bayern Munich boss and Germany international Felix Magath and currently eighth in the Bundesliga, are almost certain to be without their top scorer, the Brazilian Grafite, who has missed the last two games, including Saturday’s goalless draw at Borussia Dortmund, with a severe head injury.

But in the UEFA Cup they have already defeated Heerenveen 5-1 at the Volkswagen Stadion and last week came from behind to win in Braga with two goals in the last seven minutes from Bosnian midfielder Zvjedan Misimovic.

A point for Pompey would still maintain qualification hopes if Braga lose their last match in the group at Heerenveen on the same night.

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