Peterborough United talking points: 'A warm welcome back for 'The Entertainers', passing with a purpose, captaincy decision, super Sparkes and a referee who appeared to be taking requests
It looks like ‘The Entertainers’ are back. Saturday was a throw-back to Gary Johnson’s brief management career at London Road when Peterborough United often needed to score four goals to win.
Obviously we’d all prefer to see 1-0 wins than 3-3 draws at the Weston Homes Stadium, but, if you can’t secure three points, delivering excitement and thrills and spills is not a bad consolation prize. The 90 minutes against Rotherham United flew by yesterday with both teams feeling aggrieved not to have won, which suggests maybe the draw was a fair result.
Only two League One games were played yesterday because of the annoying insistence of international breaks and Posh have now played more matches than almost all the other teams in the division. Even so, on the evidence of yesterday, Posh could maintain their current record of outscoring every other team in the top four divisions, while also conceding more goals than any other team in League One!
TALKING POINTS FROM POSH 3 ROTHERHAM 3...
1) Posh usually dominate possession, but yesterday felt different because most of the passing, until the final stages when tired legs meant the safe option was often taken, was quick, accurate and positive. It was passing with a purpose rather passing for the sake of it. For the most part there was an aggressive tempo accompanied by good movement which often stretched an experienced visiting team. Kudos in particular to Donay O’Brien-Brady and Ryan De Havilland for stepping up and coping with the heavy demands on the central midfielders in this Posh style of play. All that was lacking was the killer through ball which is never easy to find when teams defend deep and in numbers. Posh enjoyed a whopping 74% possession according to official post-match stats and yet scored their goals from three corners, one that was recycled and two from deadly near-post deliveries.
2) Jack Sparkes was a key man for eventual League One champions Portsmouth with his set-piece prowess in the first half of last season. He’s been on the money for Posh in the last few matches as well and his relationship with Emmanuel Fernandez is delivering a constant threat. Corners have not been that productive for Posh in recent seasons, but the signs are much better now. Fernandez had been ill in the run-up to yesterday’s game, but you wouldn’t have known it judged on his performance. The captaincy hasn’t affected him and I’d be tempted to let him keep the armband until Hector Kyprianou returns. Let Archie Collins concentrate on running the midfield.
3) The Posh defensive record remains a huge concern though. I actually think Posh have decent individual defenders, but collectively it isn’t working. The gap between Sparkes and Oscar Wallin as Rotherham scored their second goal was horrible. Wallin and Fernandez love to carry the ball forward, but usually when their full-backs are also pretty advanced leading to problems when the ball is lost by the centre-backs, which it often was yesterday.
4) Steve Evans was probably kicking himself on the short drive home. This was a great chance for his Rotherham side to get into the top half of the table given the number of players missing from the home team, most of whom would have started yesterday. Evans made tactical switches which helped stem the Posh threat on occasions, but the massive advantage he had was squad depth which should have been decisive in the final quarter when Darren Ferguson’s side visibly slowed down. There was understandable reluctance to use a limited Posh bench, but thanks to one brilliant save from Jed Steer and one superb piece of tracking back from O’Brien-Brady, Rotherham could not find the winning goal. Evans received his sixth yellow card of the season yesterday during an animated display in the dugout especially after the referee rejected a second-half penalty claim. The press box offered a poor view of the incident, but Sam Nombe, the forward involved, didn’t seem to complain about the decision.
5) I like to check up on referees before Posh matches and I’d never heard of Elliott Bell. And no wonder. Before yesterday he’d refereed four National League games, three EFL Trophy matches and two League Two contests this season and yet here he was thrust into a game that was always likely to be spicy on the pitch and in the technical areas. On paper it was a baffling appointment. According to my records he refereed just twice last season, both times in League One. Presumably Bell is highly thought of, but probably not by many at yesterday’s game when his foul detection was erratic as was his use of the yellow card. Joe Rafferty constantly fouled Malim Mothersille from behind and avoided a caution. Wallin was quite rightly cautioned for one tug back, but seemingly only after the visiting players appeared to point him in that direction. It was a poor performance by a referee who appeared to be taking requests from players and management staff before making decisions.
6) By most accounts Jonson Clarke-Harris has laboured for Rotherham since his summer move from Posh, although his fourth goal of the season yesterday was superbly taken. Rotherham got worse when he went off at half-time with a tight hamstring, but i suspect Posh have already enjoyed the best seasons of the 30 year-old’s career.