Agree with that, I thought Gardner looked at his best when Williams was suspended I think Mallan played and not sure if Moncour had a game with him. The two of them together just clogs up the midfield in my opinion and we just look too slow in possession. 2 or 3 passes too many to get forward.
Great run and cross by Potts, unlucky it didn't end up in the net. Who else have we got that can do these forward runs like Potts does?
Potts has created far more than Hammill has done all season. He's prone to wasting some opportunities, but he offers a real threat going forwards. I think his decision making will get better over time & he will be a sought after player in another 12 months.
The thread title is probably one of the weirdest I’ve ever read on here. Why would ‘armchair critics’ slate Potts? In general it’s people who do go to the games that have slated Potts as he hasn’t played well for most of the season. How’s anyone sat in their armchair going to know if he’s played well or not when we’re barely ever on Sky? The armchair critics who criticise players & don’t go to the games tend to go for the strikers (not scoring enough) or defenders (conceding too many), midfielders rarely get a mention
This. If you go to the games and have seen Potts you aren’t allowed to say he’s played poorly though. It’s not allowed. I’m glad he’s playing ok at the moment, but in the games I d seen him in throughout the rest of the season he’s looked like he lacks both ability and a footballing brain. He always tried and ran all day - if he is improving and has ‘coached on’, good. Doesn’t mean he wasn’t awful a lot of the time before.
I thought the same. The usual ones having a go at Potts are the ones coming back from games after we’ve lost. Odd comment. It could potentially be aimed at someone specifically who doesn’t attend though but slates Potts. In which case it would make more sense.
I like Brad Potts,I was glad when we bought him,still glad now. I think he will be a top player for the team over the next couple of years.
Ive noticed highlights from his days with the orange lashers, and he was always heavily involved in their goals, either with assists or actually scoring them himself. If only we could have more of that link up play he used to have there, but I reckon its in there somewhere and we'll just have to accept that it wont just happen with us overnight.
I think potts didnt actually know where to play under hecky .. hecky for some reason opted to play him right midfield or as a winger .. that is very very strange when a winger has to beat a man and have some technical flair. Potts has energy and power but trickery and wing play he just does not. Jose realises potts strengths, powerful, loads of energy, late runs into the box and has him as part of a 3 man midfield he also is a massive physical presence so can break up attacks, i think thats the reason hes looking a better player hes playing in his natural position. Fair play to jose for getting confidence into these lads but actually playing players in their correct position helps massively.
Most of the time Hecky played him in the middle in a 3 man midfield with Williams behind him & either Moncur or on occasion McGeehan he simply didn’t perform. I’ve been to every home game this season & only once against Sunderland have I come away thinking Potts impressed. He only played on the wing a few times & I’d imagine that was more down to Isgrove & Hedges’ injuries than Hecky thinking Potts was better out wide
He needs to play to his strengths, technically he’s limited, he’ll never be able to pick out quality passes or score wonder goals but he should bully opposition players & use his pace & power as he’s bigger & stronger than 99% of players he’ll come up against. Should model his game on someone like Sissoko at Spurs. Let’s not rewrite history though, he’s played most of the season centrally with a sitting midfielder behind him & a 3rd midfielder alongside him & he’s had license to attack & he simply didn’t perform & it was often the basics that let him down like his first touch or him getting the weight of a pass wrong. Just because he’s had a couple of good games recently doesn’t mean he was playing well August - February, he’s probably just improving with more championship experience & a couple of better players been brought in around him.
When Potts plays we win !!!!!! think he brings something different to the side looks like a rest out the team has done him some good he has a big part to play in these last ten games, IMO Jose needs to play Potts Williams mallan/moncur as our best midfield not seen enough of knasmuller yet even tho he looked good the other night against Cardiff
He's started 25 league games. Only Williams, Lindsay and Davies have started more. Of those 25 games, we've failed to win 18 of them. Not that I think he's any more to blame than the other 10 players in the starting line-up for failing to win so many of the games he's started, but this idea that he's a lucky talisman is nonsense. He's been picked more than most of the others so he's happened to be in the starting 11 when we've won the 7 games we've managed this season. So has Joe Williams. I don't think Hecky helped Potts' reputation by sticking him out on the wing so often where he really struggled, but I've seen him look poor in central midfield too. He's not alone in that, we have a poor midfield. It was a lovely little cross for McBurnie's header the other week though. Enjoyed watching that, it was a great goal.
PH hung him out to dry far too often on the wing when he clearly isn’t a natural wide midfielder. I forget the game but earlier on this season at Oakwell he (and we) had an excellent first half playing centrally in a 4-5-1/4-3-3 before PH switched to 4-4-2 at HT, moved Potts out wide and he actually ended up getting cheered off for all the wrong reasons. His languid style makes him an easy target for those who don’t know their a**e from their elbow. What I do find amusing though is that some of those on here who are or were very much anti-Potts whilst hiding behind a moniker aren’t quite as vocal on Twitter or Facebook when their name is next to each comment. Possibly some contributors are spoiling for a debate or confrontation on here as opposed to sharing genuine views.
Potts' debut was without doubt the laziest and most inffectual debut I have seen by a Barnsley player, and it outraged me. And i even include that player we had in loan from.Derby who had the monk on... was it Deon Burton? The level of disinterest was shocking for a debut and I ve seen very littlle to shift my opinion on that...... slow, laboured, ineffective. There were a couple of games he did ok but nothing special. But then came the Burton game and he definitely made a difference. I haven' been to a game since so can't comment, but if he is going to help us turn it around I'll be delighted, and I'll congratulate him.
Hecky dint do him any favours putting him straight into team after being at the club abart 2 days, the gift he was given he didn`t take and looked totally unfit for the first month, yet Hecky persisted with him when he clearly wasn`t at the races. He has improved slowly in my opinion but to be fair he couldn`t have got much worse. Tends to float in and out of games. Just hope the lad improves for this season and we see more from him next like quite a few of them.
Potts is actually quicker than people give him credit for. Looks to run a bit flat footed but he's no slouch.