Peterborough United 1 – 3 Fleetwood Town
Report Overview
And so Peterborough’s 2019-2020 League One season is
underway. Following a summer of hype and bluster from Posh’s charismatic chairman
which was for once underpinned by some seemingly shrewd summer signings and
less upheaval and stripping of the squad than 12 months ago, most Posh fans entered
the London Road (Weston Homes) Stadium full of excitement and anticipation for
the new season. What followed was 90 minutes which will at best temper, and at
worst strip, most fans of their pre-season optimism. Posh were slow and
ponderous in possession, often running out of ideas following a string of
unopposed passes in their own half before resorting to a long and hopeful ball
up to Ivan Toney, who often struggled aerially against two commanding centre
backs. In the first 15 minutes they were carved open far too easily on three separate
occasions, showing an inability to defend either set pieces or long balls, conceding
two early goals which ultimately cost them the game and set up 75 minutes of
what looked like a very slow, half-baked attack v defence training session. It
was only the first game of a long season, things will surely get better given
the supposed talent within the squad and the paucity of this performance
leaving little room to travel in the opposite direction. New signings will
hopefully grow into their new roles after shaky starts, but this was a very
disconcerting opening day performance.
Match Report
There were seven debutants on display for Posh on Saturday,
a statistic which was somewhat surprising following as summer which felt more like
one of evolution than last season’s short lived Steve Evans revolution. It was
still 2 fewer than the 9 new signings who powered Posh to the upper echelons of
league one early last season before characteristically fading and narrowly
missing out on the playoffs. However, rather than making a flying start like
the new boys last season, the 11 players on the pitch looked both jittery and
unfamiliar with each other early on. In fact they couldn’t have started worse. Just
three minutes into the season new keeper Pym, who looked generally confident
with the ball at feet, misplaced a clipped pass to the right wing and right
back Niall Mason sliced his clearance from the resulting turnover out for a
needless corner. From the corner new Posh skipper Mark Beevers was out-muscled
by giant Fleetwood centre back Harry Souter who powered a header home from
inside the six yard box. 3 minutes gone and 3 mistakes from 3 new signings had
cost Posh a goal. One could also question if Pym, who is shorter and stockier
than most keepers, could have made an effort to deal with the cross from the
corner which was whipped in no more than 5 yards from his goal, however this
was hardly the costliest error leading to the goal.
A few minutes later and Fleetwood nearly doubled their lead.
A long ball down Posh’s right flank to Wes Burn and one simple pass completely
carved Posh open at the back. Although on this occasion the fisherman were
unable to capitalise on the opportunity as Connor McAlney fired over. Serious questions
were now being asked of this new look Peterborough defence and unsurprisingly
the reprieve did not last long. In the 13th minute when another
long, hopeful punt upfield was mysteriously allowed to bounce by Mark Beevers Josh
Morris to nipped in to loft the ball over a stranded Pym to make it 2-0. It was
another wretched goal for Posh to concede and posed more questions for this new
look Posh back five to answer. It appeared as though Beevers was unaware of the
threat of Morris behind him and quite why Pym failed to inform him and call for
a header back is mystifying.
2-0 and confidence buoyed Fleetwood retreated into a
defensive, organised 4-1-4-1 shape. For the remainder of the first half
Fleetwood offered little to no attacking threat but posed one simple challenge
to Posh. Break us down. It was a problem this new look Peterborough side rarely
looked like solving. Dominating possession but struggling to get the ball to
their attacking players in dangerous areas. The passing was slow and ponderous,
with Fleetwood happy for Posh to knock the ball about relatively unopposed in
their own half. Unable to play through a packed midfield Posh resorted to long
balls up to Ivan Toney who toiled away but struggled aerially against two
mammoth centre backs. It was an infuriating, almost relentless pattern for 30 minutes.
Posh looking comfortable in possession but unable to progress forward along the
deck, get frustrated a play long, lose possession. Repeat.
The only time Posh managed to work the Fleetwood keeper came
from Woodyard pressing high up the pitch and winning the ball, a nice pass by
Toney set up a dribble and shot from Dembele which drew a good save with his
feet from Cairns. It was Posh’s only shot on target for the half despite
dominating possession and came from getting the ball to Dembele, who looked
Posh’s most dangerous player, high up the pitch.
There was a sense of déjà vu about the start of the second
half as it drifted into the same tedious pattern early on. This was only broken
with the introduction of Marcus Maddison as a 59th minute sub. He
may be a divisive figure amongst Posh fans however he’s a player who oozes
talent at this level and it did not take long for him to make an impact. A
delightful 67th minute free kick was steered home on the volley by
Ivan Toney to give hope to the home fans. And while Posh did try to respond by lifting
the tempo slightly, the passing was still too slow for them to break down an
organised and hardworking Fleetwood.
Any hope of a comeback was extinguished in the 81st
minute when the Posh defence reacquainted themselves with the self-destruct
button which had amazingly seen over 65 minutes of football without any action.
Another seemingly innocuous high ball which this time Frankie Kent, who had
looked calm and composed in possession until this point but comes with a
reputation for being error prone, missed first with his knee followed by foot,
head and desperate swipe. Mason then bundled hunter to the ground before Andrew
struck the resulting 30 yard free kick past Pym. Questions must be asked of the
new Posh stopper on the back of this display. Excellent in pre-season he had a
hand in all three goals and the third was not in the corner suggesting his
start position was too far left especially given left footers tending to favour
the opposite side around the wall. It was a well struck freekick, but also a
very saveable one.
The game pretty much fizzled out at that point. Fleetwood
deservedly collected all 3 points having scored 3 goals without having to offered
much of an attacking threat. More worryingly in doing so they offered a
blueprint to others on how to beat this Posh side which others will surely
follow. Be organised, pack the defensive half and wait for the errors at the
other end of the pitch to score. Posh will have to be much smarter and more
reliable at the back to avoid this becoming a concerning pattern throughout the
rest of the season. Let’s hope they can do so.
Tactical analysis and player ratings to follow.
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