It's getting harder by the game to make a case for this Peterborough United defence, leadership issues on and off the pitch and how about making your own luck?
First thing this morning this Peterborough United side should be shown video clips of Gaby Zakuani defending for the club.
Zakuani watched the 3-1 League One defeat at Wycombe Wanderers on Saturday from the press box in his role as a BBC Radio Cambs summariser. He must have shuddered at the defending he witnessed in 10 mad second-half minutes as Posh turned the chance of a rare win at Adams Park into a sad surrender.
Zakuani took pride in throwing his body in the way of shots, of bullying opposition strikers with fearsome tackles and of winning the vast majority of aerial duels. He could head a ball further than some could kick it. The other team had to work for their goals in Zakuani’s day. This season goals have come gift-wrapped because there has been very little desire to stop crosses, no hunger to block shots and no appetite to win headers. It’s been a scary watch and not just in the games Posh have lost. The last 20 minutes against Bristol Rovers and most of the 90 minutes at Leyton Orient were defensive disaster classes which Posh somehow survived.
The bad stats are piling up and so far into a season there can be few excuses. Posh are on course to concede 92 League One goals this term and they have the worst record in the division for the percentage of shots conceded that actually lead to goals.
Posh chairman Darragh MacAnthony blamed regular changes to the back four on his most recent podcast, but it’s tough to see a rock-solid defence no matter what permutation is tried, and it will change again for the visit of Blackpool on Tuesday thanks to an act of unfathomable crassness from captain Manny Fernandez. Unless Rio Adebisi is a cross between Kenny Sansom and Roberto Carlos, Posh are set to struggle at the back until January at least.
TALKING POINTS FROM WYCOMBE 3, POSH 1…
1) Posh boss Darren Ferguson didn’t emerge for a post-match press conference until 45 minutes after the final whistle. I would imagine a riot act was read. At least I hope it was. Fergie shouldered much of the blame for the obvious issues that have seen Posh slip to 15th in League One and he certainly would have had a big say in the defensive recruitment that is looking decidedly dodgy. It was never going to be easy to replace Edwards, Burrows and Knight, but should it really have been this hard? No improvements in the current defence have been detected. If anything the problems are getting worse. This season is shaping up to be one of Ferguson’s biggest tests, probably his biggest at League One level. Hopefully his appetite for the job remains intact. It can’t be easy to see quality teams broken up after one season together and the sales might not have finished yet. It’s tough to find a reason right now why star men Hector Kyprianou and Kwame Poku would sign new contracts ahead of their impending free agency.
2) Interesting to hear Posh midfielder Archie Collins suggest the players are ‘maybe too nice to each other’ in his post-match debrief. The best Posh sides in the MacAnthony/Ferguson era have played great football, but they have also had an ‘edge’ to them. Think of Lee Tomlin, Grant McCann, Micah Hyde and Aaron Mclean, and more recently Jonson Clarke-Harris. They would have words to say if standards slipped. That doesn’t appear to be happening now. Fernandez skippered the side yesterday which seemed sensible, but actually turned out to be a big mistake.
3) Goalkeeper Jed Steer has started copping some flak from Posh fans, not all of it deserved. At 32 he is supposed to be the leader and organiser of this back line so that isn’t going well, but his performance yesterday was a step up on the goalkeeping seen in this fixture last season. It would be a big risk if Ferguson threw a young goalkeeper into a team that already lacks leaders and experience.
4) Posh have not been blessed with much luck this season. There must have been half a dozen goals conceded after wicked deflections as was the first one at Wycombe yesterday. Mind you dangling a lazy leg in the direction of the ball as Oscar Wallin did was asking for trouble. Heading a set-piece straight into a danger zone as Ricky-Jade Jones did for the second goal was also disturbing even if the subsequent volley at goal was so bad it turned into a pass that was headed home.
5) Is it too early to mention the ‘R’ word? Probably, but if the rest of this week turns out badly. a relegation battle certainly seems more likely than a promotion push.
6) Another game and another puzzling refereeing display, albeit one that didn’t really affect the result. This one from Lee Swabey was erratic with Posh somehow picking up five cautions (including two for Fernandez) in a game that wasn’t exactly feisty. Fernandez was unlucky to pick up his first yellow (which in no way excused his second one), but the worst, most ludicrous decision was to play an alleged advantage when Malik Mothersille was hauled down on the edge of the Wycombe area. Swabey appeared to believe a man who got up and ran away from goal pursued by a couple of defenders was better than a certain crack at goal. Obviously he didn’t go back and caution the man who deliberately took Mothersille down. He was much better in making sure re-starts were taken from the right place which is the important thing apparently.