Talking Posh

The 2^nd round cup tie with MK produced the worst outcome as having already gone to a replay it went into extra time, something our depleted squad really didn’t need.

I felt our best opportunity was to win it at home but we failed and the rest was almost a forgone conclusion.

I didn’t go but one of my lads did and as he was sitting on the opposite side of the ground apparently had a different view to Karl who talked up our performance.

I’m all for putting a positive spin on things ( that’s right eh, Si ? ) but a little too much and folk will start to wonder. Nothing wrong with talking up players etc. but it all seems a bit over the top.

I’m in agreement with Blackheath Addick in his recent post (http://blackheathaddicted.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/the-sound-of-silence.html ) I don’t care how animated, passionate or otherwise our manager appears to be the bottom line is results. All that bluster will only take you so far.

Robinson has repeatedly said that he needs to recruit a certain type of player to enable the team to play the type of football he wants to see. That’s fair enough and perfectly understandable. However, in the meantime if you believe you haven’t got the players to deliver that it seems more than a little naïve to attempt to do so.

I think he understands that you can’t change things overnight but I sense a bull in a chine-shop approach. As much as Allardyce was criticised for his style of football he took a pragmatic view that delivered the aforementioned results.

That doesn’t mean that we need to win ugly. However, I think I would have continued with whatever Nugent was doing. That was working and I can’t see why that couldn’t have continued in the meantime until Robinson’s players arrived.

The temptation as a new boss in almost any walk of life is to make changes for change’s sake. The desire to make an impact in an attempt to justify yourself. It’s a mistake I made myself in a previous job.

If things are working well then the smartest of cookies will not make many, if any, changes. Robinson would do well to do the same.

One thing he has been successful with is bringing Chicksen into the team. I’ve no idea what Slade was thinking in not playing him. The lad has been great. He should be offered a long term deal now but we know what our CEO is like so don’t hold your breath !

Fox should be feeling the pressure and the need to up his game accordingly. Let’s hope he responds.

The Posh offer a tough test tomorrow. We will need to be at our very best tomorrow to beat them.

It’s sad to see that Pearce will almost certainly miss the rest of the season. I’m sure he’ll be aiming to get back as soon as he can. Thankfully, at present we are well covered in the centre back position short term injuries and suspensions aside.

A confidence building win is essential on Saturday not just for Robinson’s sake but ahead of the Millwall game. A gutless performance there will do no good at all ahead of the next MK Dons encounter.

Come On You Reds !