Peterborough United Post Match Thoughts

[NorthWestCorner]

Have to disagree yak.. were above AVG for this division...
I said by the end of October we will be in the top 8 and still believe we will be.
We again had enough chances to win and whilst we only had around 30 percent of the possession we attacked with purpose. Posh 70 percent resulted in less chances at goal and less time in the opposition box.

As others have said I give up with hugill. I wouldn't even bother giving him a seat on the bench though again as others have said he will probably be captain against wrexham

Totally agree. Poor defending for their goals but we could and should have had six. It was literally men v boys and ok, they pass it nicely and some of them will probably go on to bigger and better things, but I think we are starting to come together. This is league one - remember that. Rarely does pure football work. However, if jch is out for a spell, we will miss him. His goal is what he is all about - and we don’t have anyone else to replace him.

[ragingpup]

A game that showed what is good and poor about our mix of players and our manager. 3-1 up at half time and, had we held them at that for another 45 minutes, everybody would be singing the praises of Evans and the team. We didn't and Ferguson found a way to expose our weaknesses. Give him credit for that.

We seemed not to have a clue how to respond to the change in circumstances and hold on to a lead. That is partly down to the way the team has largely been thrown together and is still apparently learning how to play as a team. It was the first time they found themselves in a commanding lead and had no tactics to deal with the evolving circumstances.

And that has to be a glaring weakness one can lay firmly at Evans's feet. Presumably he had no game plan for playing out a second half from a comfortable winning position against a capable side that were obviously well-marshaled during the half time break. OK, he wasn't expecting to be in that position but pretty shocking that he couldn't manage a tactical response for the circumstances he found himself in.

First half gave me hope for the future. The second half was further evidence that this is a collection of individuals who still have a lot to do to be called a team and who struggle with Evans's seat of the pants management style.

Interesting that Evans conceded that we were being battered straight after half term and he response paid off when he brought on Bramall and Hughes. But why did he leave it so long after we all could see we were being battered in the first couple of minutes and especially when they equalised, did he not bring his match changing substitutes on earlier, instead of 65 mins (Bramall) and 75 (Hughes). That's 12 mins after we conceded their equaliser before actually making the change and we could have been further behind by then. To delay it, fair enough, but to then claim that your changes changed the way the match was going is a bit rich when he took so long to change it.

In short, for me:

- Again awful defending throughout as team, with the same void between defence and any willing midfield defenders as we've seen several times. We just don't seem to be able to defend as a unit, and we look vulnerable even throughout the first half when we took our chances
- But great to see the attack looking properly dangerous and taking their chances. I agree with Evans in that we should have won it after we made those changes but found our wasteful heads and a worldie keeper save against us once more.
- Set piece defending awful - worth checking Ragget out to see if he can marshall the troops better all round defensively and harsh as it may seem, I'd change him for McCart
- JCH finally shows us his worth, and injures himself at the very moment of doing so. That is so Millers!
- Hugill - I thought he would prosper at this level, and don't think he isn't trying. It just seems a chord has been cut between his brain and his legs. Awful competitiveness for their equaliser though, certainly made it look like he wasn't trying.
- Still open minded to the season, as I am about progressive football in league 1. As has been said, it's one thing to pass the ball around in your own half, but you need big resources for the kind of forward quality that will turn it into goals, and in the meantime, you can get overpowered by more direct teams. I don't think that if Evans makes it click, and we win a few games we will call the approach boring. At least we've stopped losing but need to get some wins in to get more fans onside with this approach. Width certainly seemed to help on Saturday, so hope evans took note of that going forward.

[millavanilla]

Interesting that Evans conceded that we were being battered straight after half term and he response paid off when he brought on Bramall and Hughes. But why did he leave it so long after we all could see we were being battered in the first couple of minutes and especially when they equalised, did he not bring his match changing substitutes on earlier, instead of 65 mins (Bramall) and 75 (Hughes). That's 12 mins after we conceded their equaliser before actually making the change and we could have been further behind by then. To delay it, fair enough, but to then claim that your changes changed the way the match was going is a bit rich when he took so long to change it.

In short, for me:

- Again awful defending throughout as team, with the same void between defence and any willing midfield defenders as we've seen several times. We just don't seem to be able to defend as a unit, and we look vulnerable even throughout the first half when we took our chances
- But great to see the attack looking properly dangerous and taking their chances. I agree with Evans in that we should have won it after we made those changes but found our wasteful heads and a worldie keeper save against us once more.
- Set piece defending awful - worth checking Ragget out to see if he can marshall the troops better all round defensively and harsh as it may seem, I'd change him for McCart
- JCH finally shows us his worth, and injures himself at the very moment of doing so. That is so Millers!
- Hugill - I thought he would prosper at this level, and don't think he isn't trying. It just seems a chord has been cut between his brain and his legs. Awful competitiveness for their equaliser though, certainly made it look like he wasn't trying.
- Still open minded to the season, as I am about progressive football in league 1. As has been said, it's one thing to pass the ball around in your own half, but you need big resources for the kind of forward quality that will turn it into goals, and in the meantime, you can get overpowered by more direct teams. I don't think that if Evans makes it click, and we win a few games we will call the approach boring. At least we've stopped losing but need to get some wins in to get more fans onside with this approach. Width certainly seemed to help on Saturday, so hope evans took note of that going forward.

Agree with this ^^ but what worries me is if nombe gets injured, and Clarke Harris is gonna keep being in and out we've had it..hugill has had his chance now, one of the worst forwards we've had at the club..apart from fouling players and falling down, just exactly what does he bring to the team..I'm hoping we can stumble along until January, then if we don't sign a decent forward or even two, we're doomed to mediocrity in my opinion..but apart from calamitous defending, we were pretty good at peterborough..dont think many teams will get much there..with a bit of luck, we can still come good.. we'll see how good or bad we are after the next 5 games.. especially on Saturday, as Wrexham will be roared on..

[Tigerish]

Who's Hughes when he's at Holmes? The ghost of Emlyn

[Brin]

Interesting that Evans conceded that we were being battered straight after half term and he response paid off when he brought on Bramall and Hughes. But why did he leave it so long after we all could see we were being battered in the first couple of minutes and especially when they equalised, did he not bring his match changing substitutes on earlier, instead of 65 mins (Bramall) and 75 (Hughes). That's 12 mins after we conceded their equaliser before actually making the change and we could have been further behind by then. To delay it, fair enough, but to then claim that your changes changed the way the match was going is a bit rich when he took so long to change it.

In short, for me:

- Again awful defending throughout as team, with the same void between defence and any willing midfield defenders as we've seen several times. We just don't seem to be able to defend as a unit, and we look vulnerable even throughout the first half when we took our chances
- But great to see the attack looking properly dangerous and taking their chances. I agree with Evans in that we should have won it after we made those changes but found our wasteful heads and a worldie keeper save against us once more.
- Set piece defending awful - worth checking Ragget out to see if he can marshall the troops better all round defensively and harsh as it may seem, I'd change him for McCart
- JCH finally shows us his worth, and injures himself at the very moment of doing so. That is so Millers!
- Hugill - I thought he would prosper at this level, and don't think he isn't trying. It just seems a chord has been cut between his brain and his legs. Awful competitiveness for their equaliser though, certainly made it look like he wasn't trying.
- Still open minded to the season, as I am about progressive football in league 1. As has been said, it's one thing to pass the ball around in your own half, but you need big resources for the kind of forward quality that will turn it into goals, and in the meantime, you can get overpowered by more direct teams. I don't think that if Evans makes it click, and we win a few games we will call the approach boring. At least we've stopped losing but need to get some wins in to get more fans onside with this approach. Width certainly seemed to help on Saturday, so hope evans took note of that going forward.

RG, that's a good write up. The only daunting thing is, quite a few of us have sounded out time and again, that Evans is afraid to play with width. Look how we respond/play when using using Bramall and Hungbo down the left. They are a right pairing and a handful to deal with.

Holmes was absolutely unplayable against Newcastle's U21's. Okay they were young players but so is he. He looked well up for it and rightly got the MOTM. I was surprised not to see him start at P'Boro but, that Evans for you, doesn't know a good player eager to please when he's stood in front of him.

Width from both sides Saturday and hopefully both Kelly and Raggett are back in time to play to give Wrexham a game they won't forget.

[sawmiller]

The Hollywood taffs could give us a proper hiding if we aren’t on it from start to finish - hope we do a Stevenage on them

[Beaufighter]

I mentioned in the match thread how, at half time, Ronnie was talking about Hugill throwing himself to the ground all the time and how the fans won’t have it, he mentioned that he actually spoken to Hugill about this. When he came out for the second half I was thinking “right oh then, let’s see”. Oh dear.

[a123]

To the people who have been questioning what Clarke-Harris has brought to the team this season he keeps Hugebill out of the team, that’s a massive plus before he even kicks a ball.

I am seriously thinking of giving Saturday a miss because I can’t stomach more of Hugebill constantly falling over screaming at the referee for a foul and when that doesn’t work tackling the opposition centre half in the style of a rugby prop forward.

I was frustrated that Hugebill was still at the club when the summer transfer window closed and he has done nothing to show that frustration was correct.

[UlleyMiller]

To the people who have been questioning what Clarke-Harris has brought to the team this season he keeps Hugebill out of the team, that’s a massive plus before he even kicks a ball.

I am seriously thinking of giving Saturday a miss because I can’t stomach more of Hugebill constantly falling over screaming at the referee for a foul and when that doesn’t work tackling the opposition centre half in the style of a rugby prop forward.

I was frustrated that Hugebill was still at the club when the summer transfer window closed and he has done nothing to show that frustration was correct.

If this forum is in any way indicative of the general mood of the fanbase, I can see Hugill getting a fair bit of grief from the stands if he continues with the theatrics on Saturday. It feels like almost everyone has lost patience with him.

[Derbymiller]

If this forum is in any way indicative of the general mood of the fanbase, I can see Hugill getting a fair bit of grief from the stands if he continues with the theatrics on Saturday. It feels like almost everyone has lost patience with him.

Except Evans?