ALAN SWANN’s Peterborough United talking points from defeat to Hull City: ‘It’s all over, probably, after a feeble February, but if Barnsley can recover why can’t Posh? Managerial myths and pointless calls for change’

Not mathematically of course, but February was a month that supposedly offered hope. Posh started it two points from safety with two teams below them in the table. A game in hand meant their fate was in their own hands. They were to face four teams also in the bottom six in 18 days.

Six matches, one goal, one point and one change of manager later, Posh have slumped to the bottom and it would take a foolish. or remarkably optimistic, man to bet on them improving that position before the end of the season.

Relegation rivals Barnsley made up eight points on Posh in February, Derby gained five, Reading gained six, Cardiff City gained nine and now Hull City have stretched their advantage by four points after strolling to a 3-0 victory with ridiculous ease at the Weston Homes Stadium yesterday (February 26).

This was the peformance of a team who have accepted they are doomed. Not the fault of new manager Grant McCann of course who has inherited a squad that is nowhere near fit for purpose. It was also a performance that suggested Darren Ferguson shouldn’t carry all the blame, unless he really did have the casting vote on every single new signing and contract extension.

TALKING POINTS FROM Posh 0, Hull City 3...

1) It was interesting to hear Posh co-owner Stewart ‘Randy’ Thompson admit last week that Ferguson felt he wasn’t backed in the January transfer window. It’s not something that Ferguson ever suggested publicly. I believe the owners did try to generate a late dash to safety in the new year, but ran into a financial brick wall with the standard of loan players they could afford. The real problem was last summer with player fitness issues as well as overly-optimistic recruitment. The team Posh sent to play Luton on the opening day of the season still makes me shudder.

2) New boss Grant McCann kept saying improvement would take time in his post-match press conference yesterday, which is perfectly fair, even if Posh don’t have any time to spare this season. Having watched the previous manager change formation and personnel regularly in a vain attempt to improve results it would be wrong to slam McCann for yesterday. There were a couple of surprises though for a game against an out-of-sorts team. Three centre-backs against a side with one striker who hadn’t scored a Championship goal all season? Employing that formation at Fulham was understandable, but against this level of opposition it seemed unnecessarily negative. Posh had played solidly with a back four in the three games before Fulham. They have two specialist full-backs in Bali Mumba and Hayden Coulson (excellent for half an hour yesterday) who have shown attacking dash in their short spells at the club. And switching Joe Ward and Harrison Burrows for most of the first half so they were effectively playing the opposite side of the pitch to their stronger foot seemed strange. It played a big part in the first Hull goal as Burrows failed to control a ball with his weaker right foot enabling the Tigers to pounce.

3) New manager bounces are largely a myth, like the manager of the month curse, but McCann had started both his spells as Posh caretaker-manager and his first spell as permanent boss with wins by respective margins of 5-1, 4-1 and 3-2. He never looked like making it four in a row yesterday.

4) McCann paired Morton and Marriott together up front which would have pleased the army of fans who have lost faith in Jonson Clarke-Harris. But their relative speed was negated by three centre-backs who sat deep and a Posh team who don’t hit many accurate long passes or indeed incisive short passes. Calling for change has been pointless this season as those who come in are rarely more effective than those who drop out. Some fans have been crying out for Sammie Szmodics to return to the starting line-up and they have been obliged in the two games since Ferguson left. Unfortunately honest endeavour alone is not enough at Championship level.

5) In the spirit of calling for change that won’t make a lot of difference to results I’d play Ricky-Jade Jones against Manchester City from the start on Tuesday night. Why not? Let’s give the teenager a run of games to see what he can do. He can’t be any less effective than the other forwards. He looks big and strong as well as rapid these days and he would at least guarantee the odd hairy moment for opposition defenders who have things far too easy against this Posh team.

6) Let’s end on a positive. Barnsley, who were awful at London Road in November, couldn’t see where their next win was coming from as February approached. They hadn’t won in 14 Championship matches. Now they’ve won three out of four, jumped above Posh and Derby, and closed the gap to Reading to six points and they have a game in hand. They are at Derby next Saturday (March 5) and they have home games against Reading and Posh to come. One win can breed confidence, but Posh need to get it soon. Not likely when away games at Huddersfield (third) and Bournemouth (second) are next up.