Peterborough United manager calls on his team to stop playing safe after Huddersfield defeat that lacked aggression

After frustrating Manchester City for an hour on Tuesday (March 1), McCann’s side looked beaten after just eight minutes at The John Smith’s Stadium when they fell two goals behind.

Huddersfield then sat off for large parts of the remaining 80 minutes before making it 3-0 with a second Tom Lees goal from a corner.

Posh had the ball for long spells in the match but McCann was left frustrated by what he described as his team playing too safe.

He said: “I just feel we get through the thirds quite well to the top end of the pitch but then we turn back and play it safe. This sort of thing takes work and time on the training ground and I’m looking forward to doing it with them.

“Confidence is a big thing in football and when you’re losing games, it plays on your mind that you don’t want to take a risk, you don’t want to pass forward, you don’t want to beat somebody, you’d rather keep it and be safe and we need to get that out of them in the coming weeks and months.

“I just said to the players, I’d rather you lose the ball and try something than be safe and came back out. I want my team to play with an edge about them.

“It is getting tough but you have to embrace it and enjoy the challenge. Huddersfield are flying at the minute; you can see their confidence in the way they play and the energy they move the ball with. That comes from winning games, a real good togetherness and a real good structure and these are things we want to emulate with time.”

McCann brought Oliver Norburn on for Kwame Poku after just 25 minutes as Posh were getting pulled apart at the back and did look slightly more solid but never seriously threatened to get back in the game. Long range shots from Sammie Szmodics and Jack Marriott were the closest they came to scoring.

McCann added: “The start is poor. The first 20 minutes were really poor, we lost every first ball, we lost every second ball and they started the game much brighter, with more energy and aggression. We didn’t get it right in terms of what we were doing, we weren’t aggressive enough in the press and weren’t aggressive enough with the second balls and we were a little bit shy in terms of coming into contact with people.

“I made an early change as I felt we needed to protect the back three and after that, I thought we were better but it was too late by then. I can see there is going to be a lot of work to do with this group to find that killing edge that we need at the top end of the pitch.

“In the second half we got better without really threatening too much. To lose two goals to set plays is disappointing. It’s a simple thing, you be aggressive, you stay with your man and you don’t let people block you.

“I think the third one is a free-kick though. I think there is a pull on Sammie for the header back, which the referee has missed. There’s lots and lots of work for us to do though.”

Posh remain at the foot of the table on 21 points, level with Derby, but could fall further adrift on Saturday (March 5) as Derby and Barnsley meet and Reading host Millwall.