Two weeks without a goal. It’s not something that Peterborough United fans have had to put up with much in recent times, but currently the side seem to be better defensively than offensively.
With Brighton on the horizon Darren Ferguson will be doing everything he can to ensure that Posh’s famed attacking talents don’t continue to falter.
Of course, whilst we are speaking of attacking talents, it is impossible not to mention Craig Mackail-Smith who is part of the visitor’s side for the weekend, the first time he will have played at London Road in a strip not holding the Peterborough United crest.
It promises to be an exciting clash between two of League One’s top side last season and two teams that encourage aesthetically pleasing football. Add to this the Mackail-Smith factor and Brighton’s first visit to Posh’s home ground – when they trounced Peterborough United 3-0 – and it is all set-up perfectly.
The Brighton View
Ahead of the game I spoke to The Seagull Love Review – http://theseagulllovereview.blogspot.com/ -(https://twitter.com/#!/tslr) an
excellent website covering all things Brighton and got their thoughts on Poyet, Mackail-Smith and Falmer Stadium amongst other things.
There was a lot of talk of you making the playoffs and, although you are not too far off, your form has been a little inconsistent throughout the season. How happy are you with the first half of this campaign – did you expect better at the start of the season?
There has been broad inconsistency and now regular inconsistency; we won a few at the start, then lost a lot, now we’re a bit all over the place. There is, however, a feeling that certain things haven’t really gone our way and that is hindering our progress. I say not gone our way, we’ve got an awful disciplinary record and some rough injury problems so apart from CMS all our first team have been in and out of the squad for the last 2 months.
I think there was a real mix of opinions amongst the fans in August about what we could achieve. On one hand we spent an awful lot of money on top of what was already a good team so loads of people were hoping for a strong – even spectacular – season. Others had a more strategic view and were aiming for 21st position! I think Norwich City made a big point last season and I think all 3 promoted teams have been excellent this season while in reality some of the stalwart Championship teams we’ve played this year have been pretty dire.
The goals seem to have dried up as a whole – especially as last season you seemed to be particularly free-scoring and completely tore us apart at London Road – what do you feel is the reason for this?
Not sure, perhaps we under estimated the impact of Elliott Bennett and Glenn Murray from last season’s team plus the defences are bigger and better organised in this league. As mentioned before, apart from CMS, all of our attacking players have been missing through injuries or suspensions so we’ve never really had a flow going. Poyet brought in Billy Paynter on loan from Leeds United to add a different, more direct, dynamic to our attack and it was really, really awful but I believe we’re still in the hunt for another striker.
Also, it seemed that last season everything just went in, that’s what happens when you’re top of the league and confidence is high. Last year our full back would fart and the ball would go top corner, it was just one of those years. London Road was good but everyone is free-scoring there, right?
Following on from this subject, what is your opinion on Craig Mackail-Smith’s performances so far this season? Has he impressed or is his goal record a worry?
Everyone loves CMS so no-chance of any significant number of fans getting on his back about scoring but, and it is a big but, something is not quite clicking. I have heard from some corners about Gus not playing to CMS’s strengths and if that’s true then it must be frustrating for him. I don’t think anyone is completely convinced that we have provided him with the right sort of partner or even a partner at all at times, so there’s work to do there.
The idea is that we build a team around Mackail-Smith, and it is clear that he can do wonderful things, so maybe it’s a management or tactics issue as opposed to a player issue.
I noticed yesterday in our awful FA Cup win at Wrexham that CMS took our last penalty. I think that’s the measure of the guy and was very symbolic of a) his status at the club as a senior player and b) his role amongst the team as a leader and goal-scorer.
He’s also cut his hair off, he has a sort of mullet now, so this is obviously a massive deal for everybody at the Albion.
There were a few murmurings of fans’ discontent with Poyet as manager a few weeks ago. Although it wasn’t wide-spread are you still as convinced with his managerial ability as you were in the summer of 2011?
The mantra is ‘In Gus We Trust’, and everyone sticks to that. There were perhaps some questions asked regarding his off-field opinions and how that might’ve portrayed the club to the wider world, and we’d all rather see his name trending on Twitter because of something positive he’s done, but hey-ho, I’m sure the Chairman had a quiet word.
What we do know is that we wouldn’t want anyone else managing us. This guy came in, turned a pretty stale club around and made supporting the Albion fun again in a really short period.
In hindsight Poyet wasn’t under much pressure last year once we got going. We won the league with relative ease (all credit to him for that, he saw League One tactics like Keanu Reeves saw the bad guys at the end of The Matrix ) so this year is a little tougher and things aren’t always slotting into place for him. The fans were devastated with our performance at home to Palace and that was maybe the toughest time for him but equally we beat Southampton with half of the first team out just the other week so he’s a demi-god again at the moment.
You’ve been in your new home, Falmer Stadium, for 6 months now. Are you still loving it?
Yes, it’s a wonderful place. Unlike a lot of clubs there was no tears leaving our old home, it was like a tramp moving to a mansion, so yes, absolutely loving it. There are some gripes from people but nothing major, and we’ve just submitted plans to increase the capacity to 30k by filling the corners in and adding another tier to the East Stand so that’ll be fun, the ground will be complete then.
It’s an odd process, bedding in a new stadium, and there was somewhat of a baptism of fire when we lost there to Burnley the other week. With us down to 9 men after 15 minutes everyone in the ground got behind the team and produced the best atmosphere yet so we’re going to build on that.
There are also nice little touches that have really got the fan/stadium bond going like the North Stand concourses opening up to all the fans – home and away – after the match. You can just chill out there and chat to loads of random folk while having a pint and occasional staring up at the colossal West Stand. It’s just great.
Are there any Posh players you are worried about this weekend?
Boyd as usual, who we’re pretty sure Poyet made a bid for in the Summer. McCann if he’s fit is a name that people are wary of too. We wrote in the fanzine this month though that we were really disappointed with Posh’s performance on the tele against Sunderland in the Cup. Yeah you had big players missing but where was the mental ‘boro that we all know and, dare I say, love? Don’t think Albion fans are expecting a repeat of last season; a game that made us think we could win the league and is now dubbed ‘Nightmare on London Road’ in Albion circles.
Finally, a score prediction for the weekend’s game and where do you believe your team will finish come the end of the season?
Gut feeling says we’ll lose this one, sadly, so 1-0 Posh, and we will finish about 9th or 10th this season.
Likely Line-Ups
Stat Attack
- Both Grant McCann and Emile Sinclair have scored more goals than Mackail-Smith this season. Paul Taylor is also level with him
on 6 goals in the Championship this campaign. - Brighton have conceded more goals between the 85th and 90th minute of games than any other period. Posh have scored the largest amount of their goals between these minutes this season.
- Brighton have been poor away from home of late, with four of their last five away games ending in defeat. Posh have lost just one of their last five home games, although they have drawn two during this period.
Key Players
Peterborough United: Emile Sinclair – With Mackail-Smith in the blue and white stripes of Brighton and Hove Albion comparisons will be made between him and Sinclair. Whilst they may be a little unfair, Sinclair is not in the same calibre of striker as CMS nor is he the same player, it will happen. The new number 12 will be looking to out-shine the old one at London Road, a player he has more goals than this season, and continue his happy-knack of finding the net fairly regularly.
Brighton and Hove Albion: Craig Mackail-Smith – The Peterborough United legend returns to the stadium where he made his name and will be looking to show the Posh fans exactly what they are missing. Not that they need reminding, much talk still goes on about Brighton’s record signing in these parts and he is still remembered very fondly, after scoring 99 goals for the club. His goals to game ratio hasn’t been quite as impressive at Brighton, but he will be trying to rectify this even if it is against the club that means so much to him.
Match Odds (William Hill)
Peterborough 21/20 – Draw 23/10 – Brighton 13/5
My Tips
- Emile Sinclair first scorer @ 11/2
- Draw/Peterborough @ 4/1
Up The Posh!