FourFourTwo UK – September 2019

The bigtalkingpointamongthefans

is the returntosigningplayerswho

are youngandhungry.Ourexperiment

last seasonwithrecruitingguysfrom

Scotland,orplayerswhowereatthe

midpointoftheircareers– someof

them onbigwages– didn’tpayoff.

This seasonwillbedifferentbecause

Steve Evansisn’tincharge.It willbe

interestingtoseeif therelationship

betweenbossDarrenFergusonand

chairmanDarraghMacAnthonycan

be successfulfora thirdtime.

Save thedateforSunderlandaway

on EasterMonday.Thatcouldbehuge.

The bestPeterboroughsocialmedia

accountis@PoshMatchLive,excellent

for in-gameupdates,and@DMAC102.

The oppositionplayerI secretly

admireisBenCloseatPortsmouth.

Our mostunderratedplayerisJoe

Ward [below],atfull-backoronthe

wing. Hedoesa lotofworkwithout

recordingthenumbersthatMarcus

MaddisonandSirikiDembeledo.

Ourkeyplayerwillbemidfielder

MarcusMaddison[above].If heturns

upeveryweek,we’llberightupthere.

LookoutforSerhatTasdemir,bought

fromFylde,andFrazerBlake-Tracey

fromKing’sLynnTown,whois moving

upfourlevelsofthefootballpyramid.

TheplayerI’dhappilydriveto

anotherclubisIsaacBuckley-Ricketts,

aftertwoforgettableappearancesin

theCheckatradeTrophy.

Thebestthingaboutthematchday

experienceatPeterboroughisthe

inflatabledartboardoutside.

TheonechangeI’dmaketotheclub

wouldbetoimprovethefacilities.

Therearechallengeswiththeground,

butrunningoutoffoodanddrinkby

half-timeandnotbeingabletopayby

cardinsomeareasisn’tgoodenough.

Didyouknowthatinanawaygame

atWycombein2000,weconceded

twicewithouttouchingtheballin

between[eithersideofhalf-time].

Thefans’opinionofthegafferis

thathe’spopular,butaftersixyears

inLeagueOnethepressureis onto

takeusupthisyear,especiallywith

thecalibreofnewplayersbroughtin.

We’llfinish3rd.

Thebigtalkingpointamongthefans

isthemassiveblowofmissingout

onpromotionlastterm,havinglost

toSunderlandintheplay-offs.We

hopetoseemoneyreinvestedfrom

thesaleofMattClarketoBrighton.

Thisseasonwillbedifferentbecause

inthepastfiveseasonswe’veseen

steadyprogress,butthishastobethe

yeartogetbacktotheChampionship.

I’mnotsurethatbossKennyJackett

[below]willbeaffordedanotheryear

if wedon’tgetovertheline.

I won’tbehappyunlesswesecure

promotion.It’sthatsimple.

OurkeyplayerwillbeTomNaylor,

massivelyunderratedasa central

midfielder.HejoinedPortsmouth

fromBurtonlastyearandmakesus

tickupanddownthepitch.

Theonerecommendationforaway

fansisa visittotheD-Daymuseum.

Portsmouthis steepedinhistory.

ThepantomimevillainwillbeJoey

Barton,afterlastseason’santics.

OurmostunderratedplayerisBen

Close.Theyoungmidfielderemerged

asa standoutplayerinthesecond

halfoflastseason.

Thebestthingaboutthematchday

experienceatPortsmouthisthatwe

playa videoshortlybeforetheplayers

comeout,whichshowsthehistory

ofthecityandtheclub.Assoftasit

sounds,thefactthatwe’vebeenthere

anddoneit alwaysmakesmea bit

misty-eyedbeforekickoff,andthen

I’mbangupforit.

ThebestawaygroundistheStadium

ofLight,andthere’ssomerivalrythere

afterourfivegameswithSunderland

lastseason.It’soneofourfirstaway

tripsofthecampaign,soit’llbepretty

tasty.BothSunderlandgameswillbe

hugeforusasa barometer,because

theystillhavesomefundsandwillbe

strongthisseason.

Thefans’opinionofthegafferis

thatJackettis experiencedatgetting

teamsoutofLeagueOne,although

thefootballis pragmatic.I hatetosay

it, butI nowmissthefireofPaulCook.

We’llfinishinthetopsixagain,but

it’sdifficulttoseemuchbeyondthat

untiltheseasongetsgoing.

FAn FILE

BRENDONBONE

@brendonvbone

FAn FILE

CHRISDOWSETT

@ChrisDowsett17

LASTSEASON

LEAGUEONE4thFACUPFourthRound

LEAGUECUPFirstRoundTOPSCORERJamalLowe(17)

LASTSEASON

LEAGUE ONE 7th FA CUP Third Round

LEAGUE CUP First Round TOP SCORER Ivan Toney (23)

FourFourTwo Season Preview 2019-20 67

PETERBOROUGH UnITED PORTSMOUTH

SEASOn PREVIEW

FFTVERDICT

4

TH FFT VERDICT

3

RD

Posh are always busy buyers, and

a club-record fee for Mo Eisa is very

intriguing after he failed to make

an impact in the Championship.

Having mined League Two for the

best defensive talent going, they

will be looking to challenge for

the automatic promotion places.

A turn-of-the-year blip put paid to

Pompey’s top-two hopes, but it’s

hard to see them finishing too far

short with the dependable Kenny

Jackett in the dugout. Matt Clarke

earning a Premier League move

to Brighton left the club with cash

to improve an already fine squad.