Interview: Peterborough fan Jarred is expecting a high-scoring game when Sunderland come to town

Following our shock 3-1 victory at Turf Moor against Burnley in the Carabao Cup, Sunderland return to domestic business where they will face promotion rivals Peterborough at the London Road stadium on Saturday.

The lads have won five games on the bounce, however Posh will be no easy picking having drawn twice against ourselves last season. Peterborough have endured a slow start to the season losing their first two games, but the goal scoring form of duo Mo Eisa and Ivan Toney has seen Darren Ferguson’s side win their last two and is sure to propel them upwards on the League One table.

Ahead of the match, I spoke to Jarred Farmer of the The Yellow Block Podcast to discuss how his club have faired with their summer business and what we can expect to face during the game.

Photo by Ian Horrocks/Sunderland AFC via Getty Images

MC: We cannot start without discussing Marcus Maddison - he is the player many Sunderland fans wanted to see at the Stadium of Light this season. Are you surprised he is still a Peterborough player?

JF: Very surprised, in my opinion he’s the best player in this league, alongside Aiden McGeady. His reported “attitude” seems to be the reason many clubs haven’t taken a punt on him yet.

MC: After losing your opening two games of the season against Fleetwood and Oxford, Posh are now unbeaten in 3 games. Do you feel the team are starting to gel and that a playoff push should be the club’s goal for the season?

JF: The play offs are the aim for sure. The owners are probably targeting the top two with promotion being the end goal. I feel the play offs are within reach - the squad has started to gel and I fully expect us to go on a run now.

MC: Peterborough were in the League One promotion places in November last season under Steve Evans; what changed, and what derailed your season so badly?

JF: It’s a tough one. There were rumoured break downs of relationships between players and the management team as well as the owners and manager to boot. The home form was a huge issue also.

Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images

MC: New signing Mo Eisa and ex-Newcastle forward Ivan Toney have both scored four goals each already this campaign - do you think yourselves could face what Sunderland did with Josh Maja last season when a bigger club comes knocking?

JF: We are used to that, its always the case with Posh and our strikers. We’ve got a very good record with our forwards. I expect both to be in demand come January, however it’s a terrible month to sell and I expect us to hold onto both.

MC: Peterborough are well known for their transfer policy of buying from the lower leagues and selling to larger clubs for profit - Dwight Gayle, Craig Mackail-Smith and Lee Tomlin are brilliant examples. Do you believe this is integral to the club’s financial sustainability?

JF: Massively. Given the crowds we get, it’s vital to our financial sustainability. Saying that we’ve managed to keep our star players recently in a bid to get out of this league.

MC: Speaking of transfers, Matt Godden scored 18 goals for yourselves last season - do you feel is was a mistake allowing him join playoff rivals Coventry?

JF: Possibly, however he wanted first team football and that didn’t look likely this season, we need to get a few off the books given our hefty spending this summer.

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MC: Peterborough boss Darren Ferguson is enjoying his third spell at the club - what does he do so effectively that has prompted the club to reemploy him on two occasions?

JF: He works in line with how Darragh, Jason and Randy like to recruit and play football; he’s a big believer in bringing through youth, finding non-league gems and playing attacking football.

MC: There is an ongoing debate as to whether Sunderland chairman Stewart Donald should be active on Twitter. Do you feel that Posh chairman Darragh MacAnthony is effective or problematic on social media?

JF: I like that he’s on Twitter - we as fans are kept in the loop. Obviously sometimes he can ‘bite’ which is expected with some of the nonsense thrown at him on there, although he’s publicly slated players on twitter before, which I don’t think is wise.

MC: Posh scored in the 91^st minute to draw against Sunderland at the London Road stadium last season - what do you think the score will be this time around?

JF: I’ve said on our Podcast 3-2 Posh so I’ll have to stick with it! It’ll be a very tough game for us so I’d take a point. One thing I will say is there’ll be plenty of goals!