Peterborough United boss bemused by 'bizarre' game as his side created all of their own problems

Posh were thumped in the early kick-off at Bloomfield Road in a game where strong initial play and good chances created gave way to a heavy defeat caused by a string of errors at the back. Bads things began in the first half with Posh conceding twice in two minutes before the hosts scored twice more in the second half.

It’s now seven goals conceded in the opening three League One games for Posh and just three points taken, but Williams insisted that there were plenty of positives to take from the game. He could not, however, hide his frustration about the nature of the goals conceded and how Posh created their own problems.

Williams said: “It was a bizarre game in some ways because we started as well as you could want to start an away game and we should probably be 1-0 up before Blackpool even had a shot.

“Then, some really lethargic, sloppy play and not taking control in an action allows the opposition to score. The second one is a small amount of misfortune for us because there’s a deflection and if you concede that type of goal there’s a different feeling inside the group. When that was the second one in less than 20 minutes, there was a whole different atmosphere in the stadium, amongst the fans and players.

“It is bizarre to start so well and be 2-0 down after 20 minutes. We had so much intensity in the attacking actions and we created a massive opening to go 1-0 up, and we had five shots in that period. We had breakaways that looked like they were really big openings and there was anxiety in the opposition bench and in their players.

“We then just completely lost concentration and went a goal down. We have nine players in the box for the first two goals and we don’t manage to assert ourselves to get the ball away. Then of course, it’s very difficult because the opposition are playing with a lot more confidence and there’s more noise in the stands. We caused ourselves a huge amount of problems.

“We have to be more assertive for the first goal especially. The ball is in our possession with two players and somehow an opposition player manages to pick their pocket and score. It’s a disaster.

“We had nine players inside the box for pretty much every goal. There’s a huge amount of work that goes into defending the box and there’s a clear strategy, which everybody is aware of, but we weren’t able to implement that correctly and we were punished massively.

“There should be a lot of positives from today even though it is really difficult standing here after a heavy defeat. There are a lot of things we should really feel confident of correcting. We made obvious errors, but we had 60% of the ball away from home, we had a fair amount of shots and we created We didn’t get ripped through and gave up massive chances and we had plenty of bodies around to clear the box.

"If we keep doing these things and eradicate the bad things then we will be in a really good place.”

Posh were without Vernon Masara with Williams confirming that he was still suffering from discomfort following the clash that forced him off at half time against Watford in midweek.

Posh have the chance to put the defeat behind them quickly as they host Stevenage in league action on Tuesday night (September 1, 7:45pm). Stevenage drew 2-2 at home against Doncaster on Saturday.