Peterborough United comment: Bonkers to make Marcus Maddison the whipping boy, Mo Eisa will improve with the arrival of new midfielders, finding a position for Boyd has become difficult, embarrassing, macho posturing, only good news is Posh staying in the top six despite brutal festive period

The festive period is brutal. Three games in a week can cause great fluctuations in league positions.

Posh have lost nine points on Rotherham, six on Coventry (who only played twice) and six on Oxford. It’s rather fortunate Posh have ‘only’ dropped four places to sixth given how congested the division is, but they remain in a play-off place and they must now regroup after FA Cup weekend and concentrate on getting six points from the next two League One matches against Gillingham and AFC Wimbledon, a possibility if some injuries clear up, and if new signings have arrived.

Pleasingly, straight after yesterday’s game, Posh boss Darren Ferguson was making positive noises about a new midfielder arriving before the FA Cup tie at Burnley on Saturday (January 4).

Other talking points from yesterday’s game...

Ferguson’s midfield choices are so weak Josh Knight has turned into a cross between Grant McCann and Bryan Robson in his absence when he has often looked like a centre-back converted into a midfielder this season.

That said he is superior to both Alex Woodyard and Louis Reed, epecially as the latter’s impressive form just before the Christmas break has vanished in a fortnight.

It doesn’t help deploying Joe Ward on the ‘wrong’ side for a right-footed footballer and Ferguson can’t be far away from recognising that George Boyd has struggled for most of the season and his role needs a re-think. Boyd has played in four different positions this season and is yet to convince in any of them.

Woodyard, whose attitude is admirable, is unsuited to the midfield diamond. These re-inforcements can’t come soon enough. Even a play-off place depends on some quality and creativity pitching up at London Road...

...Mo Eisa is one who must be praying for the arrival of a midfielder with vision and a decent passing range. Eisa needs to play on the shoulder of the last defender and latch onto balls in the penalty area. Too often he has to come back for the ball and play with his back to goal which is not a strength. He’s not as quick over the ground as I expected, but he would only have to be quick over the first yard inside the penalty area ...

...Back-to-back hat-tricks for Coventry City’s former Posh striker Matt Godden is now ammunition for the moaners. Of course it would have been great if Godden had stayed, but he wasn’t a certain starter, wanted to leave and Posh got good money for him. Few were complaining when he scored four goals up to December 21 while Eisa and Ivan Toney were heading the League One goalscoring charts. Oh, actually Toney remains top scorer in Division One with 15 goals and Eisa is joint-second with 13. Marcus Maddison aside, Godden is playing ahead of some far more talented players than the Posh pair as well so Ferguson does not have to justify his summer decision to anyone.

...A quick read of social media told me Maddison was to blame as much as Siriki Dembele for yesterday’s defeat which is clearly nonsense. One was rightly sent off within minutes of arriving as a second-half substitute, the other, along with Ivan Toney, offered what little attacking threat there was in the second-half. Maddison is often the whipping boy for trolls who react badly to defeats when he’s the least of Ferguson’s problems. He’s often accused of not tracking back, but he did yesterday and conceded the free-kick from which Lincoln scored their winning goals so he was hammered for that as well. Maddison is far from his best currently, but he remains he remains the man most likely to make something good happen when the team is struggling...

..If Posh win or draw that game yesterday, many fans would view the same performance completely differently, i.e positively. It’s a fact that results colour opinions, especially in the heat of the moment. It has always been this way, but social media has become a lovely platform for those who spout incoherent, reactionary drivel...

...Dembele confirmed what Rotherham defender Joe Mattock had started in the previous Posh game, namely that some footballers remain pretty stupid. Two players who shoved their head into opponents’ faces right in front of the match referee with hardly any provocation. It’s macho posturing and it’s embarrassing to witness.