There has been no cunning Peterborough United plan, but the club have now acted decisively and correctly to try and make things better

Posh boss Darren Ferguson actually has a hard-to-manage 34 players over 18 years of age available for selection, but 4 will doubtless be downgraded to the under 21s and 5 are on the transfer list because they no longer have a future at London Road. That’s still 25 players with 3 currently sidelined by injury. Posh now have 5 loan players, 3 of them defenders, which again would not have been a policy introduced by any squad-building strategy in the summer.

The last couple of weeks appear to have been an exercise in trying to right the wrongs of recent transfer windows. It’s been a scramble to improve a squad which was quickly exposed as unfit for purpose at League One level. Recruitment reputations needed restoring and all of us with Posh in our hearts will hope it all proves successful.

I applaud the Posh hierarchy for realising the error of their ways, even if they haven’t be too hasty to admit to them. Without surgery Posh were probably doomed, but now they have a squad which should be able to creep up a third tier table, although how high they can go remains unanswerable. Currently 20th place will do so a lessening of the hype on podcasts would be no bad thing.

Posh appear to have partly abandoned their ‘young and hungry’ attitude towards new signings, an expedient decision to be fair. They have signed two young strikers, but new defenders Jacob Mendy and Thomas O’Connor are 28 and 26 respectively and could easily form a three-man central defensive line with 34 year-old Tom Lees.

There’s every chance Ferguson will now ditch his preferred formation of two wingers and one central striker. It’s hard to argue against this given the form of first-choice wide men Abraham Odoh and Cian Hayes, although the latter has occasionally been good from the bench. If you only deploy one striker he needs to be better than the current version of Gustav Lindgren. Brad Ihionvien has gone now, but he only really offered nuisance value, sometimes towards his own manager.

The introduction of two young and fit forwards in Harry Leonard and Jimmy Jay Morgan should improve an attacking press which has been virtually non-existent since the departure of Ricky-Jade Jones. The newcomers have just 6 EFL goals between them though so Posh are gambling, expensively in one case, on potential. If Leonard really cost £1 million he will be under the sort of pressure that has helped Lindgren, at half the price, to crumble.

Like Morgan, Malik Mothersille pretty much came straight to Posh from Chelsea’s Under 21 side and he coped with League One football in more than one position.

Posh chairman Darragh MacAnthony has often said he wouldn’t loan strikers, but he has pivoted in the case of Morgan because of changes in market forces. MacAnthony said: ‘It’s not desperation. The market is not good for permanent deals in this area so pivoting.’ Regular critics were quick to point out this apparent U turn, but they were probably the ones who believed the chairman was skint and therefore unable to splash out on new players.

Wing-backs and those 3 central defenders could be the way forward in the immediate future. Struggling sides need to stop conceding first and foremost. Mendy and Mills will be well suited to left-sided wing-back roles and Peter Kioso has the attributes to succeed on the other flank.

Where this leaves specialist right-backs Carl Johnston and James Dornelly is anyone’s guess, but they’ve had many chances to tie down a place in a side that hasn’t been able to stop conceding daft goals. Mills would probably relish a switch to wing-back given his attacking ability, but he probably won’t relish Mendy’s arrival, although the younger man has more League One experience.

Similarly the arrival of O’Connor might mean George Nevett becoming a 'project’ again despite a recent show of improved form. Oscar Wallin looks like being given a lengthy leave to sort out personal issues.

Keeping Archie Collins ensures the midfield still looks the strongest part of the squad, especially if Matthew Garbett builds on the excellent first-half he delivered at Exeter City on his first start for the club.

A club functioning smoothly, as Posh have for most of the last 20 years, would not be switching players and formations after just 7 competitive games, but they’ve now acted decisively and correctly and they deserve our support to make things better.

They couldn’t get much worse, but Posh might now even get a half decent attendance for an EFL Trophy tie on Tuesday night. New players always attract interest and a positive start for those who tackle Orient can only lift some of ever-present London Road gloom.

Full Squad:

Goalkeepers (5): Alex Bass, Nick Bilokapic, Bastian Smith, Will Blackmore, Vicente Reyes.

Full-backs (6): James Dornelly, Harley Mills, Carl Johnston, Jacob Mendy, Rio Adebisi, Peter Kioso.

Centre-backs (7): Tom Lees, Oscar Wallin, Thomas O’Connor, David Okagbue, George Nevett, Lucca Mendonca, Sam Hughes.

Central midfielders (6): Archie Collins, Ryan De Havilland, Joe Andrews, Brandon Khela, Matthew Garbett, Donay O’Brien-Brady, Ben Woods.

Wingers (4): Cian Hayes, Abraham Odoh, Kyrell Lisbie, Declan Frith.

Forwards (6): Gustav Lindgren, Jimmy Jay Morgan, Harry Leonard, Klaidi Lolos, David Kamara, Jacob Wakeling, Chris Conn-Clarke

Bilokapic, Blackmore, Conn-Clarke, Wakeling and De Havilland won’t be involved with the first-team squad unless there is a serious injury crisis as all are available for transfer. Players can still sign for National League clubs. Collins is also available for transfer, but remains a key first-team player.

Adebisi, Hughes and Woods are currently sidelined by injury.

Andrews, Mendonca, Smith and Kamara will be involved with the under 21s rather than the first team.

A club can name a maximum of 5 loan players in any one matchday squad.