A WAY THROUGH THIS
PETERBOROUGH UNITED v MIDDLESBROUGH
Jonathan Way, 28 Nov 2009
Making Progress.
The 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forest on Saturday felt like another defeat for Boro fans, as Robert Earnshaw's 73rd minute free-kick snatched away two points from the Teessiders. Still needing to vastly improve, Strachan's side have now fallen to 11th in the table after a run of just one win in six fixtures.
After securing back-to-back promotions from League Two, Darren Ferguson had a tough start to life in the Championship, winning just two of his 16 games in charge. Now with new manager, Mark Cooper, Posh fans will be hoping that he can work some magic and finally lift them off the foot of the table.
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Joe Lewis v Brad Jones
The 22-year-old played a big part in Peterborough's promotions after signing from Norwich for £400,000. Having conceded the second highest number of goals in the division, hopefully Lewis's record will get even worse when Boro visit London Road.
Despite our number one making some good saves and being unlucky not to save the free-kick against Forest, Jones still doesn't convince me. Brad's nervousness and indecisive decisions seem to effect the whole back four and, personally, Coyne should never have been dropped.
Scott Griffiths v Rhys Williams
The on-loan defender from Dagenham & Redbridge played a decent game for new boss Cooper at Sheffield United, despite his side's 1-0 defeat. Griffiths will be hoping to repeat the kind of form with which he started the campaign, having helped steer Dagenham into the League Two automatic promotion places.
Williams has certainly been one of Boro's most influential players this season and has played the majority of it in the centre of midfield. However, after what Strachan described as an "excellent performance" at right-back against Forest, it seems the Australian will remain there for the next few matches at least.
George Boyd v Julio Arca
Since moving from Stevenage Borough in 2007, Boyd has become a key part of Peterborough's side, appearing in every game for the Posh this campaign. The Scottish international will definitely pose a big threat this weekend as he has scored an outstanding 10 goals already this season.
Despite Julio's shot leading to Boro's only goal under our new manager, the 28-year-old played one of his worst games of the campaign against Forest. If Arca keeps giving these unimpressive performances and being this inconsistent, there's no doubt that Digard should rightly regain his starting place in the team.
Aaron McLean v Dave Kitson
The Posh striker has an excellent goalscoring record, netting 47 goals in their past two promotion seasons. Without a goal in his last five matches, McLean will be hoping he can finally break his goal drought against Middlesbrough and add to his five goal tally for the campaign.
Kitson had a decent start to his loan spell on Teesside, but was unable to cap his debut with his first goal of the season. After he has had a few games under his belt, hopefully the big £5.5million striker will score us the vital goals we need and help push us up the Championship table.
This game will be a tough test, despite Mark Cooper's team being bottom of the league. The Posh's new manager will be aiming to make a sudden impact in his first home game in charge.
With Peterborough scoring in every home fixture this campaign, we're certainly guaranteed goals.
However, Middlesbrough have netted nearly twice as many away from home than at the Riverside. Therefore I think Strachan will finally clinch his first victory, winning 2-1.
