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Posh will not pass on the passing game
Peterborough United v Portsmouth at London Road: Huseklepp scores Portsmouth's first goal. Photo: Ben Davis/Peterborough ET
DEFIANT Darren Ferguson will not be abandoning his footballing beliefs despite a third straight Championship defeat at the weekend.
Posh went down 3-0 at home to Portsmouth, their biggest beating of the season, to set the relegation alarm bells ringing among the club’s supporters.
Fears are growing that opposition teams have worked out how to stifle the Posh attacking threat that carried them through the first half of the campaign.
Posh enjoyed plenty of possession against a Portsmouth side that had previously won just one of 13 away games, but failed to create a single goal-scoring opportunity.
Portsmouth opened the scoring in the first five minutes, added a second just before the interval and then grabbed a third goal in the final 10 minutes.
But Ferguson said; “It’s my philosophy that the players take out on to the field, I tell the players how to play.
“I want passing football with good movement and for most of the season the players have delivered. It’s how I believe the game should be played and that won’t be changing.
“We have more than one system we can play, but the style of football will remain the same. Teams have come up with ways to stop us and it’s my job to come up with something which can help us break them down.
“We worked hard on things before this game. We put two strikers wide at one point to isolate them against full-backs, but we didn’t get the ball to them quickly enough.
“When we did in good positions out wide, the quality of our crosses, particularly from our full-backs, was poor.
“We lacked composure as well, but for me the timing of their goals had a big effect on the outcome.
“Portsmouth have had problems off the field again this week and although that can bring players closer together, we felt a good, quick start would have put them under pressure.
“We wanted to start the game on the front foot, but instead we conceded a poor goal early on and then another just before the break.
“They were big confidence boosts for them and in all fairness they saw the game out comfortably in the second half.
“We had enough possession, but we couldn’t find a way though. It’s not through a lack of effort and we will be back on track soon. I’m sure of that.”
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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Temperature: 11 C to 23 C
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Comments
There are 4 comments to this article
Page 1 of 1
feduppete
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 09:17 AMLooking at the picture above why didn't Lewis bother getting up after he had spilled the first shot? What a plonker!
smithsj1
Monday, January 30, 2012 at 11:23 PMOne more thing Fergie says the quality of the crossing was poor but on more than one instance we had 3 POSH players all go to the front post on a cross. Why are they not more spaced out which would have had the potential of making more from the crosses which came in?
smithsj1
Monday, January 30, 2012 at 11:17 PMWe've played everyone once and if they didn't suss us out the first time they have now. Its alright Fergie saying this is the system and it was alright for people when we got promoted and the first half of the season so its alright now but when you don't play the best players in that formation you'll be in trouble. Why we have midfielders in defence and up front when we have defenders and forwards on the bench is beyond me. Hopefully Fergie will see the light and get the personnel right and then I think we'll be OK.
feduppete
Monday, January 30, 2012 at 05:39 PMPompey's game plan is what all teams are doing. See how we play and suss us straight away. We seem to have no other way of playing so it is easy for teams of quality to counter our formation and beat us every time. Can't see us winning another game unless we can surprise the opposition on the day which seems unlikely.
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