Peterborough United manager admits his side were completely outplayed by Crewe

Peterborough United manager Darren Ferguson admitted his team were second best in all departments during their League One defeat at Crewe Alexandra today (November 14).
Siriki Dembele of Peterborough United gets away from Tom Lowery and Perry Ng of Crewe Alexandra. Photo: Joe Dent/theposh.comSiriki Dembele of Peterborough United gets away from Tom Lowery and Perry Ng of Crewe Alexandra. Photo: Joe Dent/theposh.com
Siriki Dembele of Peterborough United gets away from Tom Lowery and Perry Ng of Crewe Alexandra. Photo: Joe Dent/theposh.com

The hosts won 2-0 to inflict a first defeat in nine League One matches on Posh. Posh’s lead at the top is now down to one point.

First-half goals from Harry Pickering and Charlie Kirk settled the destination of the points for a Crewe wide who had lost their three previous League One games.

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“We’ve been on a magnificent run, but for it to come to an end in this fashion was very disappointing,” Ferguson said. “I haven’t looked at the stats yet, but I don’t have to as Crewe were better than us in all aspects of the game. They passed it better, won more tackles, won all the second balls and ran harder and further.

“We were way off it today which was a surprise because as usual we had prepared well, but some of the things we had worked on we didn’t even pull off once never mind four or five times.

“Most of the problems stemmed from not keeping the ball well enough and when you do that against a team who keep the ball as well as Crewe you will have problems.

“We lacked quality and we played like individuals rather than as a team. Crewe were a team and their mentality was far superior to ours.

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“We had a couple of half chances and we lost to a poor decision and a terrible error from us, but Crewe thoroughly deserved to win. I knew what we were up against today. They are better than their results suggested, but we were just well short of our normal standards.

“It told us that even if you are top of the league you can’t have off days or you will lose.

“All we can do now is react well. We reacted very well when we last lost at Sunderland and now we need to go on another run. We are still top.”

Posh were without first team regulars Nathan Thompson and Jack Taylor, but Ferguson refused to use those absences as an excuse. He changed formations at 1-0 and took Niall Mason, Thompson’s replacement, off at half-time.

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“I could have made more substitutions, but you have to be careful in these situations,” Ferguson added. “We did improve a little in the second-half, but I sent out a team good enough to win that game from the start. They just didn’t perform.”

Posj aree next in League One action at home to Blackpool on Saturday (November 21) before hosting Plymouth on Tuesday, November 24.