And given the alternatives it is likely that we would have lost our last 6 games. As it is we are not exactly feeling a new manager bump with 5 points from Jose’s first 6 games. In any other year averaging less than a point a game would see us firmly rooted in the bottom three What have we seen so far from our Head Coach? Despite a change in formation more of the same. A team incapable of playing 2 good halves of football. A team with little or no creativity. A team who cannot score more than once or defend a meagre lead. A team who aren’t good enough. It’s not the management of the team or the formation chosen or the way they are motivated. It’s a basic lack of quality throughout (McBurnie and Yiadom being the exceptions) and poor recruitment in the vital area of central midfield. If we manage to stay up which still seems very doubtful without radical surgery we will have more misery having lost McBurnie and Yiadom. As a fan hoping to be vaguely entertained occasionally it’s a depressing season and a depressing road ahead. I see little development from the ‘punts’ that we signed. All are at an upper L1 level but a world away from Championship level other than the centre halves. Time to buy a cat so I can kick it. Bah humbuggery.
Depressing but I can't disagree. Without our two Swansea players, I can see this lot struggling to retain L1 status next season.
If we had signed a championship goalkeeper in the summer who didn't cost us at least 2 points on a regular basis and signed mcburnie 1st time round we wouldnt be in the position we are.
Players are simply not good enough for this level at the minute. Only ones that are are Yiadom, McBurnie & maybe Gardner. Rest, as I & many others said at the start of the season are two young & inexperienced. If we would have had McBurnie at start of season we may have had enough points to be clear, but I'm fairly sure Swansea would have recalled him & maybe sold him on for money to a bigger club. I'm not writing off the whole squad. The CB's are getting to Championship level. A few others are good squad players. If we go down & keep most (obviously Yiadom & McBurnie excluded) we'll come back up next season, with a couple of additions. Players hopefully will be improving & learning with the right coaching. Will take a bit of investment in some quality if we stay up though not to be in a relegation dogfight next season & we'll be back hoping there are 3 worse teams. I've thankfully got a day off today & gonna go for a nice dog walk with a cavapoo I borrow once a week & I'm gonna forget all about it for a day at least!
But looking at the league table we are surrounded by teams with players who aren' good enough. We went 14 games with 1 win and 9 games without scoring from open play and only dropped into the bottom 3 last month. Regardless of the league we are in next season I think ditch both keepers and start again because I wouldn't like to go back through and work out how many points mostly Davies but Townsend aswell have cost us.
Based on what the league table doesn't lie we have beaten Sunderland twice scoring 4 conceding 0 and they looked the worst team I've seen at oakwell this season. Also Birmingham need a special mention for been terrible failing to score against us in 180 minutes of football and conceding 4
McBurnie & Moore should give us enough to stay up. We managed to stay out of the bottom 3 with a down to the bare bones squad & no capable strikers so now we’ve added depth & 2 strikers, one who can put himself about & hold the ball up & one who can find the net then we should be ok
Just individual players, Sunderland & Birmingham have better players than ourselves, Burton & Bolton but we’ve been able to do better as a team
Both Sunderland and Birmingham have better players than us though the table shows they have performed worse as a team. They have massive off the field issues that have crippled them and have been both poorly managed and suffered from ridiculous decisions at board level. This is pretty much the same Birmingham team that Rowett had competing for the play offs. In terms of individuals Birmingham sign our best central defender one who would improve our team dramatically and waste him destroying his confidence to the level where he is a pale shadow of himself. He hasn’t lost ability overnight he has been poorly managed. Sunderland have Jack Rodwell kicking his heels and collecting his 70 grand a week. He still has more ability than say Brad Potts but is wasting it for whatever reason. Individuals don’t make a team but a team without any level of quality cannot hide that however hard they work as a team. I don’t doubt our commitment or work ethic but in terms of quality we have less than the vast majority of the rest.
Over the years I have watched Barnsley from being a lad. You go with that forlorn thought every game where you hope this is where we turn it round. Then you leave after the match, depressed. Barnsley are not good for your health This last couple of years has seen poor management creating a good team at last then losing it through inability to see a plan through with foresight. We now have new owners, who could be in it for investment into this country, via Barnsley FC as a thin veil, or genuinely are into creating a good team So, we are where we are. Our new management team with vast experience have took over a stable full of cart horses You cannot make racehorses out of cart horses. So apart from the psychological exercises all they can do is keep changing team round to find who has potential and who has not. They cannot change what they have got so have to juggle it around. At the end of the day these players futures at present is not in the Championship. At the end of the year we will see if the new owners are serious and if so there will be a big clear out. The new coaches will get their own players in and I think a lot will be from abroad. If the latter we as Barnsley fans may loose our identity as good at developing local youth and we may loose our community club By comparison , Coleman has made no headway at Sunderland, Clough has the same problem. So as to the third club in the mix who knows but it is the players in the end. I have seen all this at Barnsley for years and nothing really alters. We will see if we can just pull it off but not looking good with thes players McBurnie and Yiadom are the exceptions . That is football, and the fans are the last part of any decisions so chill out lads and lasses and just take it as it comes this next few weeks
Jesus jack Rodwell I forgot he was still playing your right a good player a few years ago and if he could be arsed still now bit like saying Keith treacy or lita were our best players in league one bags of potential vastly experenced. Lita had scored at top level sadly not always the case.... as for Marc Roberts had a poor season like you say but was good last season. Still not sure what difference he could have made especially last night when your keeper is letting routine saves past him at his near post.