The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Manager pleased with character, even in defeat
Peterborough United manager Steve Evans has praised the character of his players in victory and in defeat.
Posh followed an impressive 4-1 League One win at Rochdale last Saturday with a tame 2-0 Carabao Cup first round exit at Championship club QPR on Tuesday.
In both games Posh fell behind early before recovering to play well, but they could find no way through at Loftus Road.
“OfthetwogamesI’drather have won the Rochdale game,” Evans stated. “But I don’t like losing any game so I was grumpy after the QPR defeat.
“We started both games very slowly, but while we came back strongly to get an impressive result at Rochdale, we couldn’t break through QPR even though we were excellent in the second-half.
“The pleasing thing for me was the amount of character we showed in both games. We were poor for the first 20 minutes at Rochdale, but we then turned things round quickly after falling behind.
“But giving a Championship side a two-goal headstart in five minutes was too much of a handicap.
“Two individual players failed to track runners in that match, but we don’t play the blame game here. We win together, we lose together and if anyone wants to give us some stick they should aim their criticism at me. The change of shape and personnel didn’t work even though we looked like we had mastered it during training.
“I was happier with the gameplan we executed at Rochdale. They are a good side, but we prepared well for that game and we got the result we wanted.”
Posh are joint second with Grant McCann’s Doncaster Rovers after two wins in two League One matches, but Evans is certainly not getting carried away.
He believes his completely rebuilt squad won’t show their best form until the second half of the season.
“It is a great start for us,” Evans admitted. “But we should be judged properly in January as that’s when we should be hitting our peak.
“We changed the squad completely at Mansfield last season and we were inconsistent to start with before really coming on strong. When I left we had lost two of twenty-odd games.
“I see managers at Championship and Premier League clubs saying they need two years to build a squad, but I only need one. I probably wouldn’t be given two years anyway! I’ve been impressed with how some players have hit the ground running though. Siriki Dembele assisted on three goals at Rochdale and he already delivers a better set-piece than Marcus Maddison and that’s a big compliment.
“Matt Godden has done well as has Alex Woodyard, and we have looked strong defensively in the League One matches.
“We need to work on the match fitness of players like Ivan Toney and Jason Cummings, but we will get there quickly.
“We are a work in progress. We could do with a couple of additions, but we already have many good players in the building.”
Manager Steve Evans has praised the character of his Posh squad.
Posh striker Jason Cummings is still working towards full match fitness.
Steve Evans: “I probably wouldn’t be given two years to build a squad.”