Why 'Modern Keeper' Christy Pym is Crucial to Posh's Build Up Play Under Fergie

Darren Ferguson demands his sides play a certain way, prising quality in possession, a retention of the ball through quick accurate passes and the breaking of opposition lines with the intelligent use of space. When Fergie's Posh have come unstuck in the past it is because they have been unable to consistently work the ball up the pitch. The passing would become slow and lack purpose, often with Posh unable to break out of their own half and resorting to long hopeful kicks up field. This issue was exacerbated as previous Posh keepers (e.g. Lewis, Alnwick, Olejnik and most recently Chapman) were never comfortable contributing to Posh's build up play. Now not only do Posh have players in deep lying roles (Reed & Kent) who pass with speed and accuracy but they have a keeper who can contribute to the build-up as well. To my memory Posh have never had a keeper so comfortable in possession as Pym. 

With Pym in goal Posh are multidimensional when attempting to build attacks from deep. Yes they still split the centre backs and rely on the holding midfielder to find space centrally, and in recent matches have done this far better thanks to Reed's and Kent's comfort on the ball. But now, as well as relying on Posh’s deep lying players to play out, they have a keeper who is capable of hitting accurate chipped balls to the full backs or long accurate kicks up to Toney when the opposition press high. Unlike previous Fergie reigns, Posh now have both a plan B and C when building attacks and a keeper who is comfortable playing out with both feet.

There were numerous examples of Pym confidently playing accurate clipped passes to Posh's fullbacks, the most impressive of which came when Pym controlled a bouncing ball in the right hand side of his box before playing a left footed pass to FBT in the left back zone. Pym's competence in possession allows Posh to attempt to play both through, over and round the press while Pym's decision making on when to play short and long was exemplary on Saturday. As a result, Posh should now be comfortable building up against teams who sit deep and press high given Pym’s range of distribution.

Whilst Toney’s ability to win aerial duels and unsettle opponents is key to allowing Posh to play long, the low trajectory, accuracy and speed of Pym’s long kicks also make them incredibly challenging for opposition defenders to defend against. On one occasion a long, accurate and low flying Pym kick allowed Toney to easily win a flick on in front of his defender, releasing Maddison for a shot on goal. No longer are long kicks from the area hopeful looping punts up field, instead they are homing missiles aimed at the head of the Posh number 17. 

Combining Pym's excellent distribution with full backs who are looking progressively more comfortable in possession, deep lying central players who are enjoy having the ball and the human wrecking ball that is Ivan Toney,  Posh now look a side capable of using the ball accurately and efficiently when building attacks from deep, just as Darren Ferguson demands.