Peterborough United chairman Darragh MacAnthony believes his team are ‘one win away from something special happening’, despite their dreadful start to the season.
Posh have lost all of their opening four League One games and also crashed out of the Carabao Cup at the first round stage with a 2-1 defeat against League Two’s Accrington Stanley. They have also found the back of the net just once in the league, which came from the penalty spot in the opening day loss at Cardiff City.
There are concerns that this season could follow a similar pattern to the last one. After back-to-back play-off campaigns, they briefly flirted with relegation last term and have had to contend with the loss of big stars, such as Kwame Poku, Hector Kyprianou and Emmanuel Fernandez.
MacAnthony Optimistic For The Future
Peterborough welcome a Bradford City side to the Weston Homes Stadium on Saturday who are flying. Having only returned to the third tier last month, the Bantams sit fourth in the table and are yet to taste defeat.
It’s set to be another physical encounter and one that MacAnthony believes will provide a platform for his players to show they can cope in that department whilst believing Darren Ferguson is on the cusp of something special. Speaking on his Hard Truth podcast, he said:
“I sometimes feel I my losing my mind as I don’t feel we are as awful as some have been making out. We were good at Wigan with 70% possession, but as well as we play we are not creating enough chances and we are not defending well enough.
“For 40 minutes against Barnsley we were very good, but conceded a bad goal. I wish sometimes our players would indulge in the dark arts and consider fouling opponents if they threaten.
“Teams probably look at us and believe we can be bullied. We need to change that perception and we have signed some big men. We don’t want to get away from our style and become the land of the giants, but we do need to become more physical. When we wake up to the bullies and come out of this trough we will in a lot of games in a row. You might think I’m insane, but I smell us going, bang, bang, bang when we win a game.
“We are building and we will have a good season. I’m looking forward to what’s to come.
“No team should be losing their first five matches and our run has gone on too long. We’ve scored one penalty in four games and that’s nowhere near good enough.
“We are a young team, but we can’t use that as an excuse because we took a really young team into the play-offs not so long ago. The fans might not believe it, but we are one win away from something special happening. The proof will be be in the pudding I guess.”
Writer’s View
There’s no getting away from the fact that Peterborough have endured a dreadful start but they have the perfect opportunity to put that right on Saturday. Bradford have been excellent thus far but Posh will still fancy their chances of ending their point drought. Whether that kicks off something special remains to be seen, but it is a bold claim nonetheless.
