The rest of the season - My thoughts

PLEASE NOTE THAT WHAT FOLLOWS IS MY OPINION AND IS POSTED IN ORDER TO STIMULATE DEBATE. NONE OF IT PURPORTS TO BE FACT.

In my opinion, the best players for each position based upon the home games that I have seen this season are as follows:

GK – Adam Davies
RB – Andy Yiadom (Dmitri Cavare)
LB – Andy Yiadom
CBR – Adam Jackson
CBL – Ethan Pinnock
RM – Lloyd Isgrove
CM – Joe Williams
CM – Gary Gardner
LM – Harvey Barnes
ST – Tom Bradshaw
ST – Oliver McBurnie


That would be the team that I would start regularly except

Jackson is injured
Pinnock is injured
Isgrove is fragile
Barnes has returned to his parent club
McBurnie has not played regularly and could easily be injured as a result

If that was not enough

Davies has lost form

The system that we are using in preference to any other is 4-4-2 with the two central midfield players sitting in front of the back two. That system relies heavily on the two wide players for its effectiveness in attack, and unfortunately, without Harvey Barnes, our wide players are just not effective enough. The team that regularly turns out for us each week is far from our best eleven, but even then, it would lack quality in certain areas as compared to the other teams in our division. We do not have a striker who will score regularly. In spite of his excellent goal on Saturday, McBurnie does not look like a regular scorer to me, and Tom Bradshaw looks, and has looked since we acquired him, like a third tier player. Many are saying that Sheffield Wednesday were poor, but we struggled aerially to defend set pieces and could easily have lost that game to the two Wallace shots that fizzed inches wide in the second half. In terms of individual quality, I thought that they were ahead of us and in Wallace and Palmer, I thought they had the two best individuals on show.

Our new manager will have to take the wreckage of our season and build something more effective, and quickly. There is a danger when you are a fan to think that the only issue you need to fix is lack of goals. Consequently, many forget that it is equally as important to keep clean sheets. In fact, because it is easier to fix a leaky defence, that is where most new coaches begin. Many talk about Hecky now his back is turned like he was a negative coach, but he did what most coaches would do in his position. You need quality to fix a lack of goals, and quality is hard to come by and expensive. In spite of what many fans will tell you, it is not just about throwing numbers forward because space is more important than numbers. Also, the speed that some of our opponents break would cut us to ribbons if we threw too many forward. Nevertheless, something will have to be done because we just do not have the quality on our flanks to make the current system work.

In spite of the fact that I have listed my team in the 4-4-2 formation, we are going to have to change, and the obvious first system to consider would be 4-5-1. I think that McBurnie has all the qualities required of a lone forward other than perhaps fitness, and that would allow us to play a number 10 (Mallen, Moncur or Knasmullner) closer to our lone striker. The problem is that I do not think that is radical enough, because we are still too reliant on our wide players in a 4-5-1 system, and the team does not seem to have enough goals in it. But radical solutions take time to bed in, time to iron out the wrinkles. It is indeed a conundrum. How to fix a team with problems from back to front. It is tempting to go for 3 at the back, releasing the two full backs as the wide players in midfield and retaining both Gardner and Williams centrally. That would allow us to retain 2 forwards whilst picking Isgrove narrower for his pace and one other attacking midfield player (Mallen, Moncur or Knasmullner) also narrower. For away games you might use 3 in midfield and just 1 forward. Of course, we are weaker at full back in that system, and there is danger in that, and of course the team is unused to the system (3-4-2-1) and there is even greater danger in that, but clearly the time has come when we need to take risks, otherwise we will go down meekly. Suffice to say, I am pleased that I do not have to find a solution.

 

How can you say, for an absolute FACT that Davies has lost form???!!!

Just joking, of course. Great, well reasoned post as always.
Agree with your centre half pairing, but have confidence in Lindsay and Mills.
In simple terms, we just need to start scoring goals.

 

3-4-3-1 certainly is a radical solution, not sure the Football League would let us play with 12 players though? Unless your planning on playing without a keeper?

 

An interesting post, RR and one that I would struggle to disagree with. Interesting that you do not appear to have Keiffer Moore in your thoughts. Perhaps like Mick McCarthy you are not convinced he is aaChampionship player either? I wonder whether he and McBurnie together might be more radical. I concede though that that does not solve the midfield/supply problem and may leave us with weaknesses elsewhere (as well as a couple of knackered six foot+ strikers on 70 minutes!).

 

I knew that there was a fault in my logic somewhere. Well Spotted!

 

3-5-2 / 5-3-2 is our best formation. It’s such a shame the players picked to play in it at Aston villa made such a balls up of it. A change in manager and 10 days to practice might see a return who knows

I doubt it however and can see us playing 4-4-2 as often as we dare, we had no strikers prior to January to effectivally play 2 up top now we do

 

Moore looks OK to me, but I am not sure he can be a regular goal scorer. He seems to be what we used to call a Target Man. Someone to play long balls up to to get us playing higher up the pitch quickly. It depends on how you see McBurnie I guess, and I have not sorted that out in my own mind yet. On Saturday, I was just about to say that he was not involved enough, when he dropped deep to link play, picked up the return ball and ran 30 yards to score a fine goal. Well at least it was a fine goal from a Barnsley supporter's standpoint. If it had been scored against us, I would have questioned the defending and particularly the tackling of the 3 stationery defenders he ran by. My problem is that I saw a lack of quality and pace throughout our team, and I have very little idea how that can be fixed. I am suggesting something radical without having the slightest idea if it could work, mainly because Mahoney was such a disappointment. If he cannot provide us with quality down the sides, and his performance did not suggest that he could, then we are looking at radical change.

 

With tbe players we have I’d be playing 3-5-2 every week.

 

As another poster has said, It is a great shame we had to abandon it at half time at Villa. It does seem to make better use of our resources.

 

Each game is different snd we've gotta employ our strengths on their weaknesses and defend their strengths.

Burton have recently been playing with certain players out of position and that's where we can hurt them. For instance, they've been playing a right footed left back and also a attacker at right back.

 

5-2-1-2 with attacking wing backs, not set in stone, little tweaks here and there, but something like, we definitely need creativity just behind the strikers that’s for sure.

 

I was only thinking where's RR take on all this when up you pop ...A well reasoned post might i add young man

 

Must be just me that sees 352 as a negative way forward for us.
The two wide men by necessity need to be fullbacks and because we are "up against it" or on the backfoot in too many games I think we would almost invariably end up effectively with a back 5. Would much rather us try make 442 work for us especially as we need to be positive.

 

Quite.

 

Don't care what formstion we play. But if we go down with a whimper like last time I'll be most peeed off!

 

Defence is OK, the problem is the dirth of chances created, either from midfield or by the strikers. It has to be 4-4-2 with Williams or Gardner holding alongside the creative player (moncur for me).

 

Actually I read it right to left and it made perfect sense

 

Ye so glad you do not have to find a solution, you sound like a D.I.Y manager the game is not played on paper you sound like someone who has never been at the sharp end

 

I’m not convinced, Trin. We’ve given away some absolutely horrendous goals over the past 12 months or so. I can think of at least 10 points dropped this season as a direct result of woeful defending.

 

Why do you believe McBurnie will not score regularly?

I thought his performance on Saturday was excellent. Won everything in the air, great control, could beat a man, finished superbly for his goal, committed, excellent work rate... the only thing that prevented a 10/10 performance was the fact that he tired in the second half, but I think his match fitness will come in the next few weeks.

It's way too early for such a comparison, but I haven't seen a complete performance like that from a forward since we had Shipperley or Ward were here.

McBurnie may not prove to be as prolific as Winnall, but who is? No other forward in my lifetime of watching Barnsley. If he can score at a similar rate as Aylott or Geddis or Wilkinson or Ward or Shipperley and provide the same amount of assists as those players then I think we will score enough goals to escape this mess.

Maybe he won't, maybe Saturday was a one off and he is incapable of reproducing that form, but his performance at the weekend gave me hope we have a real good un.