Peterborough United so far this season: Posh’s big advantage over the rest of League One during ‘Operation Vengeance’ is the amount of goals they will score

Peterborough United boss Darren Ferguson reckons he doesn’t look at the league table until 10 games have been played.
Jonson Clarke-Harris is a key man for Posh this season. Photo: Joe Dent/theposh.comJonson Clarke-Harris is a key man for Posh this season. Photo: Joe Dent/theposh.com
Jonson Clarke-Harris is a key man for Posh this season. Photo: Joe Dent/theposh.com

Good timing as far as this season is concerned as Posh went top of League One for the first time after beating Shrewsbury 5-1 at the Weston Homes Stadium in their 10th match last Saturday.

And moved three points clear after winning their 11th match at Bristol Rovers last night (November 3).

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Posh are now as good as a quarter of the way through the season (further if Covid panics cause an early finish again) so a good time to assess the 2020-21 campaign.

Siriki Dembele must be the best player in League One. Photo: Joe Dent/theposh.com.Siriki Dembele must be the best player in League One. Photo: Joe Dent/theposh.com.
Siriki Dembele must be the best player in League One. Photo: Joe Dent/theposh.com.

OPERATION VENGEANCE

Anyone else cringe when ‘El Presidente’ Darragh MacAnthony announced the 2020-21 season would be dubbed ‘The Vengeance Tour’? It’s the sort of comment that gets opposition backs up, puts unnecessary pressure on your own manager and players, and could easily come back and haunt you.

But how well have Darren Ferguson and his squad reacted to the disappointment from last season which prompted MacAnthony’s inflammatory words? We’re all biased here, but it did look like Posh had generated a head of steam strong enough to carry them to automatic promotion when the 2019-20 campaign was ended unsatisfactorily. To then watch inferior sides battle it out for promotion to the Championship through a low-standard play-off competition must have been galling for the staff and the players.

But if they sulked at all I must have missed it. Instead they’ve looked dedicated, focused and determined to right a wrong. This has been evident by the way they’ve clawed out wins when all seemed lost (v Fleetwood) and by grinding out wins when not at their best (v Hull in particular).

Frankie Kent is playing like Ryan Bennett.Frankie Kent is playing like Ryan Bennett.
Frankie Kent is playing like Ryan Bennett.
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Posh are a couple of failed covid tests and a dodgy penalty decision away from being unbeaten this season.

MOMENTUM

Either side of lockdown Posh have picked up a mightily impressive 47 points out of a possible 60.

They finished last season by winning seven and losing one of their final nine matches and now they’ve won eight of their first 11 games this season despite an enforced six-month break in between those runs.

Recruitment was key. Ferguson was never keeping Ivan Toney, but he wanted as many of the regulars from last season in his side this term and it’s a coup to have 10 of them present. The return of both Sammie Szmodics and Reece Brown was crucial and they found in Jonson Clarke-Harris the one player familiar with League One capable of playing in the same way as Toney.

IMPROVERS

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Joe Ward is getting better by the game, Nathan Thompson has been excellent with a full pre-season behind him, goalkeeper Christy Pym has banished any concerns about his ability (and yes they were still lingering 12 months ago), while Frankie Kent and Mark Beevers look much more secure at the back than at the start of last season.

Kent is the nearest player in terms of style and ability to Ryan Bennett I’ve seen since the promotion winner left for Norwich in 2012.

Siriki Dembele was brilliant towards the end of last season and if anything he looks even more dangerous. He’s the main main in this team now and must be wrapped up in cotton wool between matches.

Posh should expect to get better though as Sammie Szmodics has more to show, while the gifted midfield pairing of Jack Taylor and Brown are again looking formidable.

SQUAD DEPTH

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Posh have most positions covered, but you wouldn’t want too many absences at the same time.

Clarke-Harris is the most irreplaceable player in the side. There is no like-for-like substitute for him. It would be a major surprise if Ferguson didn’t use the forthcoming cup matches against Oxford and Cambridge to plan for matches with Mo Eisa as the main striker.

Ryan Broom can cover any of the three support striker roles. After the summer signing we’re down to Idris Kanu and Ricky-Jade Jones which is currently a big drop in standard.

At the back there are no worries when Niall Mason plays, the same with Frazer Blake-Tracy as long as he’s fit. Thompson could play anywhere in a back three. Indeed he probably played the best football of his career as a middle centre-back who started many attacks in Mark Cooper’s talented Swindon side of several seasons ago.

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Pym is another player to protect at all costs although back-up Dan Gyollai put a nervy first EFL Trophy appearance behind him to play very well in his second game.

Ferguson knows he will have to manage those who are not playing regularly very skilfully.

FITNESS issues

Coming back for pre-season earlier than all other League One teams has helped Posh so far this season, although one hopes it doesn’t catch up with them later down the line.

For now Posh look fit. It’s no coincidence they’ve played better in the second-half of the vast majority of matches this season than the first. They are still running hard when opponents are flagging.

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They’ve scored 14 of their 21 League One goals in the second-half of matches and come from behind to win three times already this season (Fleetwood, Swindon, Hull), something they didn’t manage at all in League One last season.

FEET ON THE GROUND

Last season after 11 games Posh were seventh with 18 points so this has been a far better start, but it’s important not to get too carried away. Recent history tells you that.

Most relevantly Posh had 28 points from their first 11 matches of the 2013-14 season (three more than now) and finished sixth

Posh had 24 points and sat second after 11 matches of the 2018-19 season under Steve Evans and finished seventh after a change of manager at the end of January.

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Posh had 20 points and sat fourth after 11 matches of the 2017-18 season under Grant McCann and finished ninth, again after a change of manager in January.

There won’t be a change of manager no matter what happens in the rest of this season.

OPPOSITION threats

The big advantage Posh have over all the other likely promotion contenders is goals.

Posh haven’t yet reached top gear and yet they are the leading scorers in the division despite the loss of the 2019-20 League One Golden Boot winner.

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I expect the bigger clubs to hang around the top six this season, but Sunderland’s main striker is Charlie Wyke, Ipswich Town made Oli Hawkins a major summer signing and Hull City will switch between one big lump - John Magennis - for another - Tom Eaves - all season.

Charlton became more powerful by changing owners, but they won’t get out of Conor Washington what Graham Westley managed in the 2015-16 season.

Clarke-Harris will outscore all of those, helped by Siriki Dembele who must be the best player in the third tier by a country mile.

There are talented wide players at our likely rivals, namely Chris Maguire and Lynden Gooch at Sunderland, Gwion Edwards at Ipswich and Keane Lewis-Potter and Mallik Wilks at Hull, but unless Dembele is rendered unavilable by the divisional hatchet men I’d expect Posh to outscore those teams by 20 goals or so over a 46-game season.

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Lincoln City could be this season’s Wycombe Wanderers, albeit a more stylish version, and hang around all season and never write off Doncaster with their excellent use of loan players and the presence of Ben Whiteman, a midfielder long coveted by Ferguson.

Portsmouth are a hard team to read, but if they play John Marquis right up top rather than where they used him last season they must be seen as contenders.