Under the microscope: Peterborough’s escape from the drop zone in the space of two weeks | OneFootball

Peterborough United have gone through a recent change in form, or maybe they have gone through something known as a phase, where they’ve won their most recent two EFL Championship league games.

After the first 12 games of the season, Peterborough United had only won twice and drew twice, losing all the other eight games. They had just eight points in 12 games, and were on 23rd in the league standings, only ahead of Derby County, who were only on three points after their 12 point deduction. After winning their last two games on the spin, The Posh have managed to escape the relegation zone at the moment, and are now 20th with 14 points in their first 14 games.

In this post, we will look at the tactical changes brought about by manager Darren Ferguson for the two most recent league games, and the stats for these games that have changed the fate of The Posh.

Peterborough United were the worst team in the division at the end of 12 matchdays. They were at second-last, but the team below them had definitely been better on the pitch than the Posh themselves.

Even after winning the last two games, the Posh hold the worst defensive record in the Championship, as they have conceded 27 goals in their 14 games, nearly conceding two goals per game on average. They have recorded an xGA(expected goals against) of 25.99, which is the second-highest in the division, only behind Hull City, who are in the relegation and have conceded 20 goals in their 14 games.

The Posh’s own xG or expected goals is the fifth-lowest in the entire championship division with just 13.52. They have managed to overachieve this xG though, as they’ve scored 16 goals this season.

Peterborough United have literally been the worst side so far this season, as they had the lowest number of positional attacks so far. In their first 12 games, when they lurked close to the bottom in the relegation zone, they were simply the worst team when judged on ability on the ball.

Darren Ferguson’s men have not had the desired number of attacks in shots in the various matches. They have the lowest total number of shots with just 113 shots after 14 games, and have the second-lowest shots on target with 39, with only Hull city having less with 37.

They secured a 2-1 victory away at Hull City, before a 2-1 win at home against QPR to drag them out of the relegation zone. Darren Ferguson has not made up his mind or has to found his preferred formation and best eleven at the moment. He has been tweaking and changing the formation every game, and has played a wide range of formations like 4-4-2, 5-4-1, 4-3-3 and 3-4-2-1. In his latest games, it looks like the manager has made up his mind on using three centre-backs and two wing-backs. He has registered wins in games where he used 3-4-3 and 3-5-2 formations. It looks like he will continue to keep playing five at the back in the upcoming weeks.

The above two viz are the shot maps for The Posh against Hull City and Queens Park Rangers. One can notice that they have improved their attacking abilities, having taken shots in double digits, hit the target multiple times, recorded a decent xG and scored two goals each.

The recent form of two wins has dug Peterborough out of the relegation zone, Darren Ferguson will hope his side takes this form with them into the upcoming matchday, as he will hope to keep them up in the Championship at the end of the 2021-22 season.