Peterborough United's players told they must start doing their jobs or be replaced

Ferguson has a big job on his hands in turning around the fortunes of his side, who have now started the season with four straight defeats in all competitions. The latest came on Saturday (August 16) with a 2-0 League One defeat at Wigan.

Posh found themselves behind after just five minutes before conceding a second just before the half hour mark. Despite some second half pressure, and they had over 70% of the possession, Posh once again failed to score from open play.

Ferguson’s side are level with Reading and Plymouth at the foot of the table as the only three sides yet to pick up a point this season.

The Posh boss admitted watching his side struggle is hurting him, but he has taken full responsibility for the results. However, he has called for his players to show more or he will be forced to replace them in a quest to improve results.

Ferguson said: “It’s another game where we’ve had a lot of possession, but we’ve not scored a goal and we’ve conceded two really soft goals. Unless these things change, the results won’t.

“It’s simple, if there are players that don’t do their jobs, then we will have to replace them. That can be within the squad or outside of it, I have to find a way.

“It is hurting me watching what I am watching, seeing us lose games. It’s too many. I am fully taking responsibility for results, like I always will, but I need to see more from the players. Quite frankly, if I don’t, my job is to find a way of changing that.

"I have to keep working with the players and they have to trust me now with where I want to take this. They have to have a lot of trust and we will find out if they want to go with that. My job is to support them and if they are lacking confidence, help them. I also need to see things that have happened too often change. I am not panicking. I can definitely cope with this situation, but I need to see more desire to keep the ball out of the not and more quality to score a goal.

“We spoke about doing the basics right and I’m just left repeating myself. For the first goal, the manner of it is awful, especially after the defeat on Tuesday. We lose a tackle, we don’t stop the cross, the winger skips past us, we let the cross come in, it’s a free header and it’s a goal. Unless we start taking that out of our game, it’s going to be a problem. It’s just so easy for the opposition to score, we don’t get goals like that.

“We then got ourselves back into it without scoring - we knew where the spaces were and Cian Hayes was a threat - but we are left saying the same things. We just haven’t got the quality in both boxes.

“The second goal is a set piece again and we lose the first contact, lose the second contact.

“We had pretty much all of the ball in the second half, but they had the better chances on the counter. You hope to break them down with a bit of quality, but for all our crosses into the box, they always seemed to get the first contact. I’ve seen positives - Kyrell Lisbie and Klaidi Lolos were good when they came on as they gave us energy – so I’ve got to keep working with them. but in terms of having that real desire to keep the ball out of the net, that has to improve. I can change tactics, formations and players, but the ones who are here need to be better. Some are certainly not showing their true ability. “We spoke in pre-season about having to start the season well after the season we had last year. It is important this run does not go any further and we need to get some points on the table to swing the momentum.”

Posh host unbeaten Barnsley on Tuesday (August 19) in a League One game. The Tykes have taken seven points from their opening three games.