Grant McCann 'can't accept' performance of his Peterborough United players as he hits out at Plymouth loss his side 'deserved'

Peterborough United Manager Grant McCann was left angered by the club's performance at Plymouth on Saturday (August 13).

Peterborough United boss Grant McCann has hit out at the performance of his players this afternoon (August 13), saying he “can’t accept” what they gave him.

Posh were beaten 2-0 in a dismal afternoon on the Devon coast. They trailed 1-0 at the break and McCann said his side could be grateful it was not five or six after what he described as an “abysmal” half.

Four changes before the second half helped Posh back into the match somewhat but their good work was undone when Frankie Kent conceded a penalty, for a trip on Bali Mumba, to allow Plymouth to make it 2-0.

McCann said: “We were not good enough from start to finish. We had no energy, no aggression and we lost every contact and second ball.

“I briefed the players that it would be different to the cup game and that the tactics would be important but we just did not compete. We didn’t get the basics right and that’s hard for me to accept.

“I can accept people beating you with their tactics and you learn from it but I can’t accept people not running and not sprinting. These are things I have to address over the next couple of days.

“It was a Cheltenham situation all over again, the first half was abysmal. We were 2-0 down there and it could have been four or five and today 1-0 could have been five or six.

“We weren’t creating anything, we kept giving the ball away, we kept kicking the ball long, we were just nowhere near.”

McCann made a bold move at half time, replacing the regulars Ronnie Edwards, Jack Taylor, Joe Ward and Jack Marriott with Nathan Thompson and youngsters Joel Randall, Ricky-Jade Jones and Joe Taylor.

Randall missed Posh’s best chance to level the scores, just minutes before the Plymouth penalty, but McCann was still far from satisfied with his side.

He added: “I thought the performance in the second half was alright but nothing to write home about. We had chances, Ricky’s had a good chance, Joe Taylor has hit the post, Joel Randall has had a chance at 1-0 and if that goes in then maybe something sparks but the truth is we got what we deserved.

“it was a little bit better than the first but not much and it wasn’t enough to win the game. I expect more from everybody.

"There’s just no excuse, none of us did our jobs, including myself, Cliff, Dale, Tyles, all my staff and we got what we deserved.

"It’s three games in so no one is throwing their toys out of the pram but we just came unstuck in everything we did today.”