Me? I expected Peterborough United would lose if Reading picked a strong team which they did, so I would have been happy to see some semblance of hope for the fight ahead.

Nuggets of optimism, if not too many points, have been spotted since that heady day at Leicester City, but this performance was so bad in terms of team set up, fight, patterns of play, defensive security and basic skill levels, it’s natural to be fearful for what’s to come in the next six months.

Relegation probably for a team who will need a strong following wind and plenty of luck to finish in League One’s top 20 never mind the top 10, top six or whatever outlandish prediction the chairman is currently proposing. An avalanche of goals is coming apparently from a team without a single one in their last three outings and who didn’t create a single scoring opportunity yesterday while slipping to the worst home defeat in the FA Cup in the club’s Football League era.

What is clear from this demolition by a rampant Reading side is Posh are miles off the best teams in League One. They will do well to find four worse teams than them over the course of a season without some dramatic improvement or even some drastic actions.

TALKING POINTS FROM POSH 0, READING 5…

1) It’s already clear Robbie Savage has been thrown one almighty hospital pass. The severe squad limitations would test the ability of more experienced managers, even those who had the counsel of equally experienced support staff. Yesterday’s defensive set-up of three centre-backs and makeshift wing-backs was presumably borne of the need to replace the number one right-back and a desire to include the two experienced central defenders Posh have constantly talked up this season. A lack of mobility would be a huge issue if Sam Hughes and Tom O’Connor were fully fit so leaving them, in their current state of health, to try and deal with a Reading forward line full of pace and power was suicidal, given the naivety of the players either side of them which included two teenagers playing in unfamiliar roles on the right. The first two Reading goals came from that side before the left side became completely unhinged as well. Harley Mills has delivered some ill disciplined displays in recent weeks and yesterday’s was a shocker. Savage saying he would have sent on Academy left-back Nat Joseph if he hadn’t used all his subs was telling, and a warning to Mills.

2) Confusion reigned at both ends of the pitch. Posh haven’t been scoring under Savage lately, but they have been peppering the opposition goal with shots. They had 17 v Luton, 16 at Bradford City, 14 at Huddersfield and 18 at Bromley. That number dropped to 11 yesterday with only one that I can remember coming from inside the penalty area. Too often telegraphed passes were intercepted which is a recipe for disaster against a team with so much counter attacking ability. Posh couldn’t get close enough to Reading to actually show any aggressive intent and if they did they were simply swatted aside by physically superior athletes.

3) Blame games always start in times of strife, and this Posh crisis is playing out in a full glare of publicity given the high profile nature of the manager and the chairman. There are a lot of football fans up and down the country revelling in the discomfort of Savage and Darragh MacAnthony given their regular commentaries on better standards of football than their own club is ever likely to reach. Questions are already being asked about the manager’s apparent omnipresence in the media and, while the negative influence on Posh is overblown, it’s a natural consequence of also managing a struggling side. MacAnthony’s ‘Hard Truth’ podcast is hardly helpful either. His over-generous appraisal of the squad he has built now often borders on parody. Pointing out you spent £600k on a back-up striker who never starts is not a brag until you sell him at a juicy profit. For now it is just confirmation of some rickety recruitment for a team in a relegation battle.

4) Fractures are appearing at Posh. Savage has done a wonderful job of connecting with an increasingly disgruntled fanbase at games and I know a few former bosses who wouldn’t have walked around around London Road applauding the fans after a 5-0 home defeat, but spite is still present on social media and director Iain Crawford snapped after he received some personal abuse on X on Saturday night. Crawford is a Posh fan with good intentions. He was thrust into the media limelight after Savage was appointed, a tricky gig to be very fair, but he didn’t duck anything or dive into the waffle loved by politicians with plenty to hide. He misspoke once which he took on board, but last night he left social media after reaching his breaking point. His shares are up for sale now as will the chairman’s be in February if Posh don’t suddenly combine the flair of Real Madrid with the defensive solidity of Arsenal. Believe me Crawford, who has done fine work with Posh Women, is not high on any blame list.

5) I did take a recent vow of positivity so here goes and Robbie Savage can take personal comfort from how good his son Charlie was last night. That of course is scant consolation for him, and no consolation at all for the rest of us who are left with the fact that no points were at stake, that next week’s game with another top side Oxford United has been postponed and by the time Posh return to League One action they will have forgotten how bad they were last night. Posh shouldn’t give on Hughes either. He got another 60 minutes into his underworked body.

6) Few will expect Posh to get anything from their next outing at Plymouth Argyle, but a failure to beat neighbours Cambridge United at home the following week would bring new levels of toxicity.