Peterborough & Opposition Irish

After nearly twenty years living near the club ground there are enough Eire men floating around and the side are in the right division finally ( for now at least ) to maybe merit this thread. Went to the home game V Bournemouth on Wednesday, Taylor, Coventry, Szmodics & Travers all saw action.

Taylor started & was good, when he plays like this you can see why there is talk about him, only downside is it has taken ten league games to see this performance level. Always available for the ball, on it a lot and recycles it quickly with a nice tempo, he does this most weeks but on Wednesday in the first half he added more in the opposition half, one beautiful raking diagonal, one thirty yard plus dipper that had Travers scrabbling and just cleared the angle of post and crossbar. Three or four good pieces of ball also from fifty fifty second ball clearances by Bournemouth where he won it, took a good second touch away from the opponent and played it out to the winger and kept Bournemouth pinned in. Second half, he played one bad ball to his striker, wrong height hit too hard and he took a loose touch inside the area which was pounced on & was lucky the shot was just over the bar. Overall I was surprised he was taken off though and he didn't seem happy about it either.

Conor Coventry replaced him on 63 minutes, I was sitting right behind the bench, Taylor shook his head as he approached Coventry, just about did that double high five thing and did not look at Coventry at all. No fellow Eireman bonhomie here, just two guys unexpectedly fighting for one spot as Norburn a 28yo signing from L2 is doing better than them both at the moment.

Coventry did ok, the team were under sustained pressure and he did find a team mate mostly. He picked up a half cleared ball at one stage and looked to spread it to the right where he had two team mates, full back was the safe ball but he tried to hit his winger and pushed the pass badly into an opponents chest, he was lucky the guy didn't control it and it got bundled out for a throw because there was an open pitch behind the full back & one CB on halfway. Could have gotten very messy but he got away with it. He gave it away similarly V Reading recently trying to slide it down the right channel but it was read and turned over, he was taken off straight after.

He has work to do, he isn't starting recently and has not demonstrated yet why he is the clubs main piece of transfer window business. Underwhelming is fair, not bad but now wow either. Equally the environment isn't ideal for such a key loan, there is a striker playing under appeal for a homophobic tweeting FA charge, club had to appeal to buy time because all other strikers are long term injuries. There is an 18yo playing CB, he's very good but raw and needs protecting, he's playing because of a long injury list there too. The goalkeeper attacked the manager with his football boot after the Reading loss & Sam Szmodics kicked the contents of the dugout around when the last sub V Coventry was not him last week.

Szmodics came on with just over twenty to play & was very good, his team had been pinned in the entire second half and he provided a key outlet in them somehow hanging on for the 0-0 v a side clearly a lot better than them. Took up good positions, held onto it each time, won some free kicks, won some throws, even got a couple of crosses in. Each time they found him he did enough that Bournemouth had to filter back and defend and gave his own back line time to re set and breathe for a minute. Should start today V Bristol IMO, but let's see.

Travers had very little to do, his side dominated the game but somehow didn't win. Did the basics, didn't mess up, didn't concede. Best moment was him and Taylor taking a moment to smile at one and other after Taylor very nearly dipped it in his top corner from a way out.

I think, of the Irish players at Peterborough at the moment, Taylor is the one I'd have most hope for. I think he will establish himself as a solid Championship standard midfielder in the next couple of seasons, either at Peterborough or by moving elsewhere. He might even develop further than that and play EPL eventually but it's too early to say. I do think he has potential though.

Coventry I'm less convinced by. He's certainly a tidy player, but he rarely seems to do a whole lot in the games I have seen him play in. A solid 6 out of 10 every time, but is that enough to make it at a high level - I'm not sure it is. Hopefully the loan in the Championship will bring him on. He is a couple of years younger than Taylor to be fair to him.

Pym I suspect will fall back down to League 1, even before the flying boot incident I wasn't convinced by him. Szmodics I honestly haven't seen enough of to comment on.

Hull 1 Peterborough 2

Taylor and Szmodics started and both played the full match in the sides first points away from home this season, which also moved them out of the drop zone. Taylor had a decent game, playing in a midfield with no fit first team strikers ahead of him and a bone china defence behind him, with a keeper who has started flapping behind that but he did play well. He also scored a wonderful goal from distance, a really top strike which had no business in this game as it was poor throughout. Showed confidence to take it on as he was in a good shooting position earlier but curled it weakly over.

Szmodics was an irritant for defenders without having a great outing, he missed two close range chances which have to go in, he managed to hit the keeper both times. Late on he had a shooting chance, right side of the box curling it into the far post which he put wide. It would have killed the game and Hull hit the post with the last kick to equalise so he got way with those misses.

Coventry got ten minutes at the end, brought on for an attacking player to try to see it out & to be fair he got through some work, shutting down passing avenues and options well, threw a couple of tackles in. He was in decent middle third possession twice and once passed it into touch looking for his left winger, the other one he tried a first time ball to put a striker away but hit it straight to an opponent. He probably needed to turn inside both times and consolidate possession IMO at that stage of being 1-2 up away late on having lost every away game this season and conceded an equaliser thirty seconds after going 0-1 up tonight, just keep the thing.

Interview here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5XfUxczDnw
Last week on his time away with Ireland & how he is finding the Championship.
Says its tough, being away with Ireland means a lot to him.

Taylor's finish was fantastic!

Taylor interviewed post match.
Confident, in contrast with the Coventry one I thought, one guy playing well, one who knows he needs to play better. Saying he is fully up to speed now post injury again also.

https://youtu.be/82QdgQvEfY0

He's more than a prospect - he's a player who has been poxed to get injured at the wrong times. He needs a full clear path for the rest of the season. There's no reason why he wont be in Kenny's spring squads. Tall strong, good in the tackle, good runner with the ball, and can score (as Crafty has shown). He's not unlike Keith Andrews to be honest, but maybe a bit more athletic.
High hopes for him.

As for CC, if the best he does is providing a great base for a number of the 21s to get settled into nearly mens international football, and doesn't kick on, then he's done his country some good service, because he's been fantastic for 2 yrs with the 21s.

Peterborough 1 Huddersfield 1

Went to this one last night, a real tough match, an edge to it. Attendance down by 1k on recent home games despite the home side somehow winning two from the last three and clawing clear of the bottom three. Dark cold wet weather onset with CL on TV maybe a factor.

Taylor started, played the 90 in a very congested middle third where ball carrying players were repeatedly and systematically taken out all night by both teams, his sides main creative outlet was visibly hobbling near the end with all subs used. He took some heavy hits himself and in the first half I counted 12 times he dispossessed a Huddersfield player. Not as much to admire from him on the ball, one diagonal, one spread of the play when he held onto it under pressure just long enough before releasing at the right time. With ten to play he needed to stop a break and his shirt tug trip combo didn't manage to stop play so he caught up with the guy again and put him on the ground with a challenge from behind & took the yellow. It was like that in the middle all night and he was well able for it, but not a match for the neutrals, or purists.

Szmodics also played the 90 but he's filling in as a striker due to injuries / bans and he is not a striker. He worked constantly, he did give defenders work to do to his credit. He had two sights of goal, the first one was a foot race to a through ball where he had just enough time to toe poke it past the advancing keeper and hope it finds its way in but he wanted a touch, he took the touch and got snow ploughed by two CBs. The other one was a shot from the edge of the area, he had time, two touches, went for top corner and missed the goal, it needed to work the keeper IMO.

Coventry didn't get off the bench for the second game in a row, Peterborough have the worst defence in the top five divisions in England and the whole team is coming under focus for how its defending. Its a side a defensive midfielder should be able to get in, particularly one who is the clubs big piece of transfer dealing, but he can't. Hopefully a chance comes and he does well when it does.

Probably a division too low, although on loan Peter Kioso was made captain of Peterborough some time back, he's flying & the team is unexpectedly flying too, it's mostly kids & they weren't supposed to be in the promotion mix this season. He's in the fans top three rated players most weeks & in the mix for player of the season so far, now considering they win most weeks that's impressive from a full back. He's 24 & left Ireland at 11. Rotherham making noises about recalling him from his loan lately. We've a tradition of late bloomers winning caps down the years but he has the DR Congo possibility as well. Too soon to say & a division at least too low but he's going well at the moment.