Posh
“It`s up to the players how good a season we have,” Ferguson stated. “They will decide whether we have a good season or a mediocre one.
“The lads I have in the dressing room are good enough to do well in this division. They have shown that consistently by being competitive in every match.
“If we lack anything, it`s a bit of self-belief. Saturday`s match was a prime example of that because, in the first half in particular, we didn`t seem to believe we could get a result at West Ham.
“I tell the players all the time how good they are. I told them again at half-time and they responded with a much better performance, but we need to start with the same level of belief.
“West Ham are certain to be in the promotion shake-up at the end of the season, but they didn`t hurt us and at the end they were hanging on to their lead.”
Ferguson on Tomlin`s Injury
Tomlin fell awkwardly after a strong challenge from West Ham defender Abdoulaye Faye. He was substituted moments later with suspected ankle ligament damage.
“It looks a bad one and I feel for Lee,” Ferguson added. “The problem area became swollen very quickly which is usually a sign of ligament damage.
“I fear the worst, but we will wait and see what the scan reveals.”
Tomlin went for a scan yesterday, the results of which should be known today.
West Ham
“We haven`t lost in seven games and we are fourth in the league so it`s difficult to justify changing the system.” Said Sam Allardyce.
“Everything went perfectly for us in this game apart from our finishing and our final ball.
“We set out to stop them playing in the knowledge that we could break out in the space they left behind.
“They created very little after having half a chance from a corner in the first minute, but we had many opportunities and situations to score more goals.
“We didn`t finish well enough, but it was still a more comfortable win than the scoreline would suggest.
“The biggest difference between this division and the Premier League is the finishing.
“People say we play 4-5-1, but really it`s 4-3-3. The match stats will show that we dominated most aspects of the game.
“We played even better when the substitutes came on and it`s good to know that we have players of that quality on the bench.
“There was a lot of nervousness around the place towards the end as we have conceded some late goals, but we saw this game out comfortably.”
Vital Posh Thoughts
Saturday`s game against West Ham brought back many memories of the previous time Posh were in the Championship?Posh seemed overawed by the occasion!
Not only did Posh seem overawed, but I couldn`t work out what formation Posh were meant to be playing!
Without the off-form Lee Tomlin, was George Boyd playing up front with Emile Sinclair? If he was, why was he seen playing deep to collect the ball from the defence and goalkeeper Paul Jones on many occasions? Were we playing with just one up front and 5 in midfield?
Whatever formation it was meant to be, it just seemed a mess and very disjointed which resulted in a very poor first half performance by Posh.
On a more positive note, Posh battled bravely and defended very well against a team loaded with Premiership quality players. West Ham were always on top once the referee had awarded a very soft penalty?Premiership quality diving came in to play in my opinion!
When you compare the slightest of touches fells a West Ham player for a penalty against a blatant shove from behind by Woodgate on Chicarito in the Stoke v Man Utd game where no penalty was awarded; you have to question where the consistency is in refereeing.
West Ham were definitely a class above Posh, yet they lacked the killer touch and incisiveness to penetrate a well organised Posh back four. If West Ham are to get back to the Premiership at the first attempt, they need to start turning their obvious quality into goals and from the games I`ve seen so far, I think there are far better teams that will finish ahead of West Ham. Even Burnley, who Posh beat last week, posed more threats to the Posh backline than West Ham did. West Ham and Sam Allardyce certainly need to up their game if they are to get out of this league as it`s not as easy as they might think it`s going to be.
Back to Posh though.
Posh certainly played better in the second half and this was a result of bringing on Lee Tomlin. He has been off-form in recent matches but he was determined to put on a good show to cement a starting place in the next game.
Tomlin was instrumental in a number of chances created by Posh including one delightful chip over the defence to George Boyd who only needed to direct his effort on target for what would surely have been the equalising goal. However, his awful effort went way wide of the goal. Chances like this need to be put away otherwise Posh will soon be looking over their shoulders nervously at the teams below them in the league.
Tomlins injury will come as a big blow to Posh as he can produce something out of nothing which can be the difference between winning and losing. It`s the first major injury Posh have suffered this season so it will be interesting to see if our “better than last time” squad is actually better and that we won`t miss Tomlin too much.
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