Analysing the weekend defeat at Reading, he admits:
"There's no doubt that it wasn't about football ability; they have got all that in abundance.
"But we were missing the main ingredient - which is a drive and determination to succeed.
"You have got to match that - Manchester United and Arsenal show it week in, week out.
"Teams raise their game against us but we have been found wanting in three away games.
"We have got the ability but we didn't match the desire and the commitment, and, if you don't have that in football, you don't go very far.
"They trained well all week and knew what type of game it was going to be but fair play to Reading - they did their job right and exactly the way we said they would do it.
"We never had the character to match it and it is a major worry for us; it is not something you can put into players.
"You have to try and instil your beliefs and I always think that desire and commitment should be the easy part of football.
"Technique and all that has to be learnt and worked hard at to get but you have got to have that drive when you are not playing well or whatever to make sure that your opponents don't play well.
"You have got to earn anything you get in football, and that means that if you are maybe not passing the ball well you make up for it in other ways - and that was the the thing we were found wanting on."
The defeat means three on the trot in away games and Peter adds:
"You have to have desire, drive, and determination when you are not playing well because teams are not going to allow you to play - and we have been found wanting in the last three away games.
"It is not something we have been able to answer and it is something we are going to look closely at.
"It is going to be a hard six games left in the season and if we don't add what we need to it is going to be very long period."