The 3 things wrong with this Peterborough United side after chaotic contest and the remarkable optimism of a chairman threatening to sell up

It’s a similar criticism currently being aimed at Peterborough United who can’t make the most of regular scoring opportunities, who can’t stop conceding soft goals and who can’t emerge with the ball from 50-50 confrontations.

That England team went on to win the Ashes series that followed the journalist’s witty yet caustic comment. Whether or not consistent Posh form will ever follow words effectively spoken by their own manager at Bradford City on Tuesday night is likely to prove an even longer long shot.

‘Chaos theory,’ was once a description offered about Barry Fry’s management style. It could equally be applied now as Posh adopt a harem scarem policy in response to falling behind. It worked with late equalising goals against lesser League One sides like Burton Albion and Bromley, but against the biggest and best teams it could well lead to scoreline hammerings, as at Huddersfield.

There was no surprise about the outcome at Valley Parade last night. It was a third straight 2-0 defeat for Posh at this venue, but how the game panned out wasn’t expected.

Without a functioning set-piece City don’t score many goals. They are hampered by a lack of flair, quality and finishing ability in forward areas, but they don’t concede any goals at all and yet last night could have finished 6-3, which was almost the score in cautions in favour of a side who pushed physical legality to the edge, especially during a cynical first-half display of kicking and tripping to stop any promising breakout attacks.

Thankfully referee Thomas Kirk was unafraid to issue appropriate sanctions and an FA fine will also now follow as well as a suspension from a quarter-final for one of the culprits.

Order was restored after the break and City concentrated on missing multiple scoring chances at one end, while riding their luck at the other. During a dominant Posh opening to the second-half Owura Edwards was denied by a fine save and an Ethan Williams shot was deflected on to the crossbar. Naturally the decisive second goal from home substitute Adam Phillips midway through the second-half only flew past Alex Bass because of a nick off a Posh player. Bass was far more culpable for the first goal, a 13th minute corner strike from Macauley Gillesphey, a centre-back scoring in his third successive appearance against Posh.

That was the the first goal from a corner in 43 attempts for City which helps to explain their pitiful League One goals return of 10 in 12 outings, but their problems are nothing compared to those facing Robbie Savage.

The blueprint to beat a young team assembled for a different manager could have been written by a three year-old. Stay patient, be physically aggressive wait for them to give you the ball and then counter attack into vacant spaces that will inevitably be left behind.

It’s sensible to take risks to try and rescue matches, but these Posh players give possession away too cheaply too often which leaves them vulnerable. Even Bromley almost exposed this weakness at the weekend.

Williams is a livewire at ‘10’ but he rarely receives the ball from fellow midfielders. He’s more likely to get it after a long punt forward has been headed clear by an opposing defender.

Whether or not Kiwi international Matt Garbett can impose some calm and composure to a team of willing runners I guess we will see soon. At least young centre-back Lucca Mendonca took the opportunity to impress again.

The upshot was a Carabao Cup exit rather than the loss of more League One points and an eventful night was capped by the latest social media threat from chairman Darragh MacAnthony to sell up. This one was attached to a bold claim of Posh becoming a top 10 League One team by February, a downward projection of four places from a previous claim this season.

You can’t fault the man’s optimism, only his recruiting skills.