I didn't think it was anywhere near as poor a performance as many are suggesting and there were quite a few positives to take from the game (and a few negatives of course). Personally, I thought Butcher was fine in the first half, especially as he had to spend a lot of time helping to shore up the left side of the defence (see Endacott below):
+ Lonwijk - he missed one or two tackles and interceptions but in general he read the game well, made some great saving tackles and carried the ball forwards with confidence. At times, particularly in the second half, he was almost a midfielder which I think is what you want from the central defender in a back three when your team is on top (think Harry Darling at MK Dons in the last couple of seasons)
+ Endacott - boy is he quick, and from an attacking perspective he looks really exciting showing confidence and willingness to get past people and put a cross in. In the attacking half of the field he was a major positive
+ Galloway - looked assured and confident. It won't be long before he's back in the starting line-up for league games
+ Randell - he's our best all-round midfielder and should always start ahead of Houghton and Butcher
+ Whittaker - nothing outstanding but I think he started to show us what he can bring to the team - he's skillful and pacy and prepared to take defenders on
+ Azaz - he's a player and made a real difference when he came on. He finds space, makes space for himself once he has the ball and is ALWAYS looking to have an end produce - he obviously LOVES shooting. He's a very exciting addition to the squad. Hopefully he will stop shooting at the moon though.
- Endacott - obviously I don't want to be critical of a young lad starting off and there were lots of positives from him BUT, defensively he was fairly easily beaten on many occasions so there is work to be done there. Mind you, I could have written the same comments about pretty much any player who has played left-wing-back for Argyle over the last few seasons so perhaps it is the position/formation that is at fault rather than the players...
- Wilson - this one might be controversial but I think his performances have gone down from when he first joined. To me he seems always to slow the game down too much and he is quite frequently caught out of position after he has bombed rather recklessly forwards. He also just doesn't look very happy with things and quite often commits unnecessary fouls, usually because he is out of position and resorts to desperate measures. But he's obviously a strong player for us so hopefully this is just a bit of a dip in form that is easily corrected.
- Ennis - I have sympathy for him (and Jephcott) as he hasn't had a good run of games to settle into position and find his touch but at the moment I don't really see what he offers. He often wins the first ball but then is usually quite easily robbed as his control is not good enough. He also overplays a bit and in the wrong places (which led to the first goal last night).
- Forwards - at the moment it is difficult to see how best to deploy the forwards we have. None of them is suited to being a lone striker, only Whittaker looks like he could be a wide attacker, Jephcott needs to be in the penalty area not deeper etc.
- Tackling - the thing I noticed most last night was that Peterborough were simply MUCH better at tacking than we were. People have been crying out for more aggression but I don't think that is what is missing. Peterborough were not aggressive, they were just more effective/skillful and quicker. We need to tackle better.
- Formation - to be honest I am not really sure what the formation was last night but it seems to me that we need: 2 up front, 2 central (not attacking) midfielders AND 2 linking (attacking) midfielders and that only having 1 of any of these leaves us thin on numbers and easily over-run. But 2+2+2 = 6 which, of course, leaves only 4 other outfield players to form the defence. So, playing 3 at the back with wing-backs inevitably means that either our midfield presence, creative/forward linkage or attacking threat is lacking. Personally, I would play 4 at the back but I know that this won't happen. I suppose that if Lonwijk became our main central defender and continued to join the midfield well then we might be able to dispense with one of the central midfielders. Anyway, I just don't see how the current formation is supposed to work reliably with the current personnel.
Onwards to Saturday - a completely different test which will have a completely different feel to the game.
