FAN’S VIEW 23/24 – NO.22: PETERBOROUGH AWAY

PETERBOROUGH UNITED 3 OXFORD UNITED 0

The football part of the day was all gloom 

After some games I’m so miffed that I think why bother to write a Fan’s View? Or if I do, just whack it out quickly with little thought. This was such an occasion. Sometimes they’re cathartic. Other times it’s gone beyond that.

In the car on the return journey my language was, how shall I put it, colourful? Probably summing up our performance with one expletive after another.

Peterborough were better than us in every department. They thoroughly deserved their win and it could have been by more. Make no mistake they are a very good side. On this form they’ll be right up there. They’d won their previous two home league games 5-0 and 4-0 but that was against Cambridge and Burton (league positions 18^th and 19^th). We’re supposed to be a lot better than that.

We’re supposed to be contenders. We lost 2-0 at Cheltenham two league games back. Cheltenham currently sit bottom of the table but hey, no worries because we play better against the better teams. Except we often don’t and didn’t here. Second best by a country mile.

The Posh played at pace. They had players who could run with the ball with purpose, move it, control it and constantly threaten. We never got to grips with that. By comparison we had nothing. No striker, no strike force. This was another game where to me it looked like Mark Harris is nowhere near what’s required but whilst having this weekly debate it has to be noted that we’re creating very few chances.

It was all Peterborough in the first half but for the first five minutes or so of the second we came out as if we really meant it. The introduction of Josh Murphy was instrumental in this. He replaced Stan Mills who never got away from his marker once. Is that down to our loanee or again his team mates for not giving him the passes necessary for damage to be inflicted? Probably all part of the overall poorness of our play and set up. That brief spell soon fizzled out and normal service was resumed except for another few minutes later in the half. Even then we didn’t have their defence creaking. We never played with the speed that they did.

The stats again were telling. Possession, the number of passes and their accuracy were just about even BUT Peterborough had 16 shots with an impressive 9 on target. We had just 2 on target from 8. Most of our fans have James Beadle as our man of the match and rightly so but no-one else bothered to apply.

Des Buckingham has been in charge for three league games. Goals scored – none.

It doesn’t look to me like we have the belief we had when we were going well under our previous manager. Is there something new the players are supposed to have bought into but haven’t for some reason? Can’t DB motivate them? Something doesn’t seem right. The togetherness we saw at Orient has vanished. Where’s that bit extra which is nearly always needed to win football matches or at least give a good account? Many teams have it so it’s not really that bit extra. Real winners need a bit extra on top of that first bit of extra. How can we allow 16 shots on goal? Was it down to desire?  Probably not. So shape then and who is responsible for that?

You’ve probably worked out that I’m not very happy but in all this crappiness one little incident pissed me off the most. We’re 2-0 down. We’re in added time at the end of the first half with about 30 seconds to go. We have a free-kick near the half way line. Got to at least get Elliott Moore and Ciaron Brown in the box and launch it surely. No, we play it sideways and go nowhere. This caused me to yell “sort it out Buckingham”, probably not for the first time.

After the game I said, “The board need to spend big in January on two counts, got to get a proper striker in and pay off Des”. I was joking of course about the latter but that’s how I felt. When I say joking that’s about 95% right but I am beginning to wonder a tiny bit. I was one of those who wanted DB in. I didn’t fancy the idea of having most of those other candidates.  Obviously there’s still plenty of time for him to turn it around but the evidence thus far is somewhat alarming.

As for the proper striker, that’s easier said than done. I suspect well over 50% of fans of EFL clubs are thinking the same. Supply and demand.

I’m also not one who thinks that just throwing money at a perceived problem is a solution. From what I can gather the board had given the previous manager a big financial backing. I’m guessing that the accounts for the current period are likely to make alarming reading without giving DB a sizeable wad to use when the window opens. Also the Salary Cost Management Protocol has to be considered. League 1 clubs can spend a maximum of 60% of their turnover on wages. The amount can be impacted by an injection of equity or net transfer spend.

I doubt our owners will want to keep throwing money in. They’ll want to see a return, built on firm ground, on the pitch sometime soon.  As for players we’d be better off getting money for instead of having on our books, not a clue.

For the first goal on 24 minutes we were chasing shadows or more like ball chasing and not marking men. Did anyone know what their jobs were in this defensive situation? Stan Mills, Ruben Rodrigues and Marcus McGuane all followed Ephron Mason-Clark leaving two blue shirts free. When the ball did arrive at Archie Collins’s feet, courtesy of a first time pass, he was a long way out to be fair but he had time aplenty to fire off a great shot with his second touch. Beadle did reasonably well to keep it out but not away from danger. Harrison Burrows was onto it in a shot to give Hector Kyprianou a tap in. Brown and Jordan Thorniley were flat footed spectators.

Ten minutes later they just walked through us for their second. It was embarrassing. No cohesion, no understanding. Straight down the middle. A little slip from Beadle didn’t help but Thorniley just let the scorer go as if none of it was his responsibility. In that attack it should also be noted that there was a blue shirt free on the left wing. We were all over the place. We had defenders who on the day didn’t defend but nor did the entire outfield team. The worst defensive display of the season. Shocking.

What can one say about the third goal? Easy, easy, easy. Half-hearted flimsy efforts to keep them out. They pissed all over us.

We all know how passionate a sport football is and how immersed we become when following our team and how wound up some of us get when we lose. It’s not a choice it’s just there in me.

What I feel I need to do is retrain my brain to think differently. This season I thought we were genuine contenders. I knew we weren’t perfect but felt so optimistic a few games in. Dare to believe? Well I did. But I have to tell myself to accept that it will end in disappointment. We’re L1 at best. Something will always go wrong when it seems we’re on the right path. Just get used to it. Accept that and just enjoy each away day – and home for that matter too – experience for what it is. Enjoy the beer (and cider), the company, the different pubs, the crack and expect nothing more. Anything that then comes by way of good performances and points won is just a bonus knowing full well it will go tits up next time. I’m already licking my lips at the thought of looking up at the blackboard above the bar listing the 12 real ales that will be on in the Nag’s Head on Tuesday afternoon. (Actually you can go online to see what’s on the hand pumps at any time and also the cost of a pint.) And that’s before getting onto the ciders.

On Saturday we arrived in Peterborough a little after 12:00, parked up and walked to the Wonky Donkey micro pub. Time after time I say “top pub” and mean it. I wouldn’t go back to an establishment which in my eyes I deemed substandard.  Sat in this establishment we started discussing top 10 pubs. Why I’m not sure. A pub is either worth being in or it is not. Same goes with  rating players, giving them marks each game, picking a man of the match, saying player x is better than player y. Basically comes down to do you want that player in your team or do you not. But we nearly all do it.

The Wonky Donkey would be in the top 10. As would another pub we popped in to on the return journey. The Donkey ticks every box. Beer quality. Choice. I thought there were just 3 ales on (idiot) but apparently there were six. Then the ciders, Broadoak rum and raisin, lovely. But it’s the no music; social interaction; absolutely natural to chat to the locals; couldn’t be made to feel more welcome. Oh, and lined glasses too. Four quid a pint. We had planned to try another pub not far away in the Good Beer Guide. A pub not previously visited. It just felt so right being in the Wonky Donkey that we stayed put until it was time to walk to the ground and have our afternoon ruined.

The steak and ale pie in the ground was very tasty though and I didn’t drop it. I should have though, shouldn’t I? My fault we lost.

Now down to 6^th with the worst goal difference in the top eight. Stop it, just think of the Nag’s Head.

1000 away fans wasn’t a bad turnout but not a sellout by any means. Belief?