Robbie Savage convinced Peterborough United can beat anyone after they delivered the style he hopes will entertain fans, win, lose or draw
Peterborough United boss Robbie Savage insisted his side can beat anyone after watching them run out 4-1 victors over Ipswich Town U21s in the EFL Trophy on Tuesday night.
Harry Leonard (2), Harry Ashfield and Ethan Williams all scored within the space of 10 first half minutes to wrap up the game against the Premier League youngsters at the Weston Homes Stadium.
Savage was pleased with his side’s style of play, insisting that he wants to bring back the historic attacking DNA of the club made famous in the days of Darren Ferguson.
Savage said: “This team can beat anyone. We beat Ipswich Under 21, but you can only beat what’s in front of you. It was the way we played that gives me confidence.
“You have seen the style of football I want to implement. I’ve only had a day on the training pitch with them and the lads did ever so well.
“It is a tough way to play and it’s a relentless way to play as it’s high energy. You saw how many regains we had in the final third and how many chances we created. We scored four goals in 10 minutes, it should have been five because Harry (Leonard) was two yards onside. That’s disappointing because Harry should have had his hat-trick.
“We left him on for that extra 15 minutes to get him that hat-trick for his confidence. We tried a 4-4-2 with him on because we will use that when we are chasing games this season.
“We will concede goals with the way we play though and I accept that. I’m never going to have a go at my centre-halves for a ball in behind like that. The two of them were magnificent, they won every header and second ball.
“We lost the second half, which is disappointing. The message was let’s go and score five, six, seven and eight and we could have. Their youngsters defended ever so well in the second half and were throwing themselves in front of everything.
“It’s a positive start and I think the fans have gone away happy. I appreciate their support because we know it was been a tough week. That is the way we want to play. We know it is going to get harder, but what a game it is on Saturday to go and play like this.
“We know the fans want to be entertained and I want to give them a brand of football that they can relate to. I want to give them back the type of attacking football that is in the historical DNA of the club from the days of Darren Ferguson.
“You can see how we want to play with five on the top line. Everybody contributed and four players that needed minutes came on so it was a good night.
“We are going to need all of the players with the way we play. We need resilience and that’s what we will train. To implement that in a day is a credit to my coaching team.
“You need to be at football 24 hours a day, seven days a week, not just two hours a day. You are going to need to play, rest and recover and it is going to be hard work.
“I want to send the fans home happy regardless of the result, I want to entertain.”
Savage faces his first League One match in charge on Saturday (October 10) when he takes Posh to the King Power Stadium to face Leicester City, one of his previous clubs as a player. The Foxes currently sit 14th in the table after a slow start to the season.