After a glorious week on holiday with poshpete, his girlfriend and my dog, camping and walking in the Norfolk Broads (I certainly did more Broad walking than Stuart) we came back just in time for the start of the pre-season home matches. We were warm enough sitting in the shade in the South Stand, goodness knows how the players felt running around in the blazing sunshine on the pitch. As ever, for me at least, in this sort of match the result is meaningless and performance everything. QPR fielded a strong team yet were lethargic and disjointed, clearly content to stroll around, leaving Posh players to win the majority of the challenges and 50/50 balls. Posh played neat, passing football most of the time, occasionally firing a long pass to the head of Tyrone Barnett. If I were a player that had been transfer listed as not wanted (rather than the likes of Rowe and Zak who are entering the last year of their contract) then I would be busting a gut to prove to the Manager I was worthy of a place in the team, or to impress scouts of other teams. Whilst Barnett, Ajose and Sinclair did OK none of them in my opinion showed the desire or skill to hold down a regular 1st team place, unlike Danny Kearns who ran, harried and battled, frequently winning the ball and using it to good effect and, even though he only played for 60 minutes, was rightly named as Man of the Match by the sponsors. Grant McCann, sitting deep, ran the midfield to good effect. Other players to put in a good showing were French triallist Yohann Lasimant, predominantly an attacking mid-fielder but playing upfront alongside Barnett today, showing skill, intelligence and desire. I would hope he gets another run-out, Paul Taylor, another triallist 2 seasons ago, did not turn out too bad a player for Posh. Tommy Rowe, playing on the left side of midfield, was his usual competent self until a clash of heads forced him off (hopefully nothing too serious) being replaced by Joe Newell, who started shakily, giving the ball away on a couple of occasions, before settling down and producing a reasonable performance, indeed it was his surging runs that led to 1 goal and Posh could have had another late in the second half. The back 4 of Alcock, Ntlhe, Bostwick and Knight-Percival looked comfortable on the ball and were rarely stretched by the lethargic QPR. Virtually the whole of the Posh team were changed on 60 minutes and, not surprisingly, QPR had more of the ball and pushed back Posh for 15-20 minutes without creating a lot of danger, though Joe Day was called upon to make a couple of fine saves. In the current squad Posh have 10 players who haven risen from the youth ranks. Newell and Ntlhe both look fitter and stronger and will be pushing for a regular starting place. Michael Richens and Peter Grant played for the last 30 minutes and neither did their cause any harm, though it is without doubt stiffer tests lie ahead than the one provided by a rusty, out-of-sorts QPR who clearly viewed this match as no more that a training ground exercise, rarely showing Championship quality, let alone Premiership. I do not know why Daniel Kearns has never really been given a chance at Posh, on today's showing he deserves one. Lasimant showed enough to warrant another match or two before a decision needs to be made. conversely Barnett, Sinclair and Ajose proved to me why they are listed. Without the likes of George Boyd Posh lack a 'star player', what we do have though is a good team, with strong back-up players and quality youngsters progressing from the youth set-up. After the despair at Palace last season I feel quietly confident. Yes it was only a friendly, but I saw enough to think we will be one of the teams challenging for promotion, provided we do not suffer an horrendous run of injuries or loss of form.
Cheers OPP .... as ever a great match report Great to see so many of our own youth players coming through See we don't have a No 9 for the side yet .... any rumours ?
Opp. You couldn't have picked a nice part of the country. Were you based in one place, or all over? Just out of curiosity, what has happened to Joe Lewis? He seemed to have great promise when he was with us
Lots of rumours Minxy but nothing confirmed yet - I am sure DF will find the right player to wear the shirt Maestro - We stayed at the Norwich campsite (about 1 mile from Carrow Road). I think Joe Lewis has become a bench-warmer at Cardiff, happy to take the money without having to work.
Confirmed by Darragh that Tommy Rowe's injury is 'nothing more than a scratch' and Lee Tomlin will be fit enough to play at Mansfield
slightly off topic but I was in your town for the music festival (which was a great weekend out) when it was disrupted by a group of stupid drunk QPR fans trying to kick off with anyone enjoy the fun, I was just wondering if it was all peaceful in the ground?
A few noisy QPR fans in one of the Corporate boxes (which are in the Home Stand) but otherwise peaceful Mighty Horse. There was not a lot to get excited about during the match so presumably they went looking elsewhere.
