Peterborough United boss Robbie Savage shoulders responsibility for 'embarrassing and unacceptable' FA Cup defeat to Reading
Peterborough United boss Robbie Savage has shouldered the majority of the blame for his side’s ‘embarrassing and unacceptable’ FA Cup first round loss at home to Reading on Saturday evening.
Posh found themselves 3-0 down at half time and were ultimately thumped 5-0 in front of a crowd of just 4,003 fans by their League One rivals.
Robbie Savage’s son Charlie was among the scorers on a night the Posh boss described as ‘embarrassing.’
Posh do not play next Saturday, but will now be in every day next week working to improve and the attention must now return to improving in League One with the club now out of both the FA and League Cups.
Savage said: “I’m devastated. It’s not acceptable, it’s embarrassing. It’s on me, I pick the players and I pick the tactics. I’ll protect those players as long as I can, but tonight, as a collective, is not acceptable. It’s embarrassing.
“People will be able to recall us being called weak, feeble and fragile and tonight we were all of those things, me included. I am the one they are looking to, I will take full responsibility for that.
“We couldn’t win headers, duels or second balls. We played four in the midfield and they only had three, but they ran the midfield with one less player and we couldn’t stop crosses.
“There's real good people at the club behind the scenes who do everything they can for us and then we put in a performance like that. It is not acceptable and the buck stops with me.
“It was a good start, we pressured them, but they won 100% of their tackles, they sprinted more and the amount of times I saw Reading players outsprint our players and then sprint back the other way was quite remarkable. It you can’t do the fundamentals, you have no chance.
“We can talk about tactics and formations, but inevitably it is always about the players. If you consistently pick the wrong players, those who give everything, but maybe haven’t got the quality, then we will be in trouble. I still believe in the group though.
“It’s so frustrating, but credit to Reading. They had more hunger, desire and effort. They were clinical too and everything we weren’t.
“It was embarrassing. I felt sorry for our fans, a lot of whom stuck with us. The support was incredible. If I was in the crowd tonight, I wouldn’t have been happy either.
“Tonight, I was looking in people’s eyes at half time and there was a fear factor.
“They were told some home truths. They were told in no uncertain terms at half time. I just hope the players care as much as me and my backroom staff do.
“If we haven’t got the desire to defend like they did, then we have no chance. It was just an incredibly poor performance.
“We will be in every day next week now and work harder than we ever have done before.
"I would have put young Nathaniel Joseph on at the end, but I’d already used five subs. Some of those players on the pitch at the end were very lucky to stay on. At times, it looked like we were playing with seven or eight. I would have taken off more if I could.”
Joseph is a left-back in the Posh Academy who was preferred on the bench to some more senior players.
Posh were due to face Oxford United on Saturday (November 14) but that has been postponed due to international call-ups. Posh instead return to action next Tuesday (November 17, 7pm) with their final match in the EFL Trophy group stage at Luton Town. Both sides have already sealed their progression. The next League One game comes in the form of the mammoth trip to Plymouth on Saturday, November 21.