Peterborough United manager orders his players to ‘take the handbrake off’ and become fearless Championship competitors

Posh travel to Middlesbrough tomorrow (October 16, 3pm) and Hull City next Wednesday (October 20) before returning to the Weston Homes Stadium on October 23 to take on Queens Park Rangers.

Posh have dropped into the relegation zone after a run of one win and six defeats in the last eight matches. Posh have lost all five of their away games and self-belief has become a big issue according to the boss.

“It is a very important week or so,” Ferguson said. “We’ve had a break and now it’s full steam ahead again with three games in quick succession.

“It goes without saying we need to start winning, especially away from home, and we’ve done plenty of analysis with the players regarding the first 11 matches.

“It’s time for them to take the handbrake off now. You even see the reluctance to relax and play in training and that’s something we have addressed in our fortnight off.

“It it dosn’t happen and the players clam up, and I’m not saying that is what they’ve done, they will never see the best of themselves.

“We’ve worked so hard to get into the Championship we need to bust a gut to make sure we stay there. That’s what I’m doing, that’s what Nathan Thompson has been doing, but we all need to do it. Nathan is very experienced, but he has never played in the Championship before and yet he has been fearless.

“We cannot waste this opportunity to become an established Championship football club.

“The stats make it very clear what we need to improve on. We will come under the cosh at times in every game we play this season and Middlesbrough will be no exception, but if things go wrong and we concede a goal we need to stick to our gameplan and play our way through it.

“If we do score first or get in front away from home I’m sure the confidence will go through the team and we will start playing as we can.

“Things can turn around quickly in football and getting one win could turn things around for us.”