Peterborough United should be concerned, but they shouldn't panic as recent history tells us how quickly form can change

Of course it’s been a most frustrating few weeks for a team supposed to be delivering ‘the greatest show on turf’ as well as promotion from League One.

They’ve lost five of their nine matches already – they only lost 11 of 46 in their promotion season of 2020-21 – and only bottom club Burton have suffered defeat more times this season.

It should hurt Posh to be sitting below local rivals Cambridge United and it should be a concern they are now far closer to the relegation zone (four points) than the automatic promotion places (nine points).

It’s certainly painful watching Grant McCann’s register three shots on goal without finding the target once during Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Bolton Wanderers. It’s also worrying that all three of those shots were taken from outside the penalty area, one flew well wide and the other two were blocked.

They are all points raised angrily on social media last night, but then Twitter is the natural home for the disaffected and those who want change without giving deep thought to what a different chairman and manager might deliver.

There have been nine League One matches. Not a quarter of the season has been completed. Things can change quickly without the need for drastic action. You never know Posh might find an official who refuses to be initimidated by noisy and large home crowds and they might receive some luck rather than witness a double deflection like the one which costs them a battling point at Bolton.

TALKING POINTS…

1) Posh were handed a brutal start away from home this season. They’ve already visited four of the current top seven and were unlucky to return pointless from two of them. There were signs of promise for 25 minutes at the University of Bolton Stadium yesterday, but it was promise without penetration or precision, hence the pitiful attacking stats. In the first quarter of the game Posh passed the ball better than Bolton, until the decisive bits in the final third. When Bolton took control they managed to hit the post, miss two sitters and be denied a goal by one outstanding save. Posh also enjoyed good spells of possession in the defeats at Portsmouth and Derby County, but the lack of a creative spark in the squad was pretty obvious when the dust settled on the summer transfer window without an oven-ready replacement for Sammie Szmodics in the building.

2) It was a bold selection by McCann to field a teenager, Ricky-Jade Jones, still finding his feet at Football League level rather than a proven goalscorer in Jack Marriott. The switch to a flat back four and a 4-3-3 formation was understandable, if the players were available to make it work. A big issue though is how much less effective Jonson Clarke-Harris is without someone playing alongside him. Yesterday the skipper was manhandled into insignificance by Ricardo Santos, a player who started the game so shakily he was probably relieved he didn’t have to deal with the clever movement of Marriott as well. No matter how poorly Marriott has played – and he was poor in the previous game –he remains the most likely source of a goal and the threeat of his partnership with Clarke-Harris is what all opponents mention publicly before a game, so when one is absent it must give an opposition dressing room a huge lift.

3) The commitment and attitude of the players was faultless at Bolton. They worked hard, didn’t shirk any of many physical confrontations and, considering for an hour the ball kept coming back towards their goal, they defended pretty well against a team in good form. The fact on-loan goalkeeper Lucas Bergstrom would probably win a player-of-the-season poll if one was held right now is however a reflection on how tough Posh have found it to be solid at the back this season.

4) Defender Nathan Thompson spoke well after the game at Bolton and pointed out Posh had similar bad runs of form in the team’s last promotion season. He was right as Posh lost four League One games in a row in November/December 2020 before embarking on a run of one defeat in 15 matches. Form can turn that quickly.

5) Posh have tried to be creative with set-pieces this season, but with scant reward. When chances are not being created in open play, goals from corners and free kicks become more important. They have played a big part in Rotherham’s success at League One level this season, but Posh can’t find a successful routine and it just adds to the attacking issues.

6) We’re abandoning the ref watch feature. It’s become too repetitive as they are all so poor. Carl Brook delivered a horrible first-half display yesterday when he never threatened to keep control of what became a fiesty contest.