No one should even attempt to defend that performance.

It was an absolute shambles. The players should be ashamed of themselves. It was so bad it got funny at one point.

To see how easily exploitable we were and how naive we were was just infathomable.

I won't point the finger at anyone, as collectively it was just a disaster of a performance.

 

Styles was OK, as was the keeper.

The rest were, to a man, awful. Some were worse than awful. Some displayed such a lack of ability that it's hard to see them ever being up to playing in the Championship.

If it was all just down to carelessness, then Stendel needs to ask himself why. And kick a few butts.

I hope it was just bad attitudes.

 

Cameron McGeehan had another mare. 2 bad passes that lead directly to goals tonight for the opposition!

 

He tops the assists table. Sadly (again) it's for the opposition.

 

I’m hoping we were just getting rid of all the stuff that could go wrong now to get it out of the way for the season.

 

Yeah, there's a period of time called 'preseason' for that.

 

That game shud av ended up 7 4 to them which is alarming at both ends.

 

That would have been a spit roast.

 

I stayed off here deliberately as I was that wound up & knew I’d end up ranting.

I’ve slept on it & I still think that’s the single worst performance I can remember from a Barnsley side.

There’s been a fair bit of competition, the hammering at Huddersfield with Brek Shea & Frimpong comes close but at least that was against a decent side who were quite clinical.

The only player who comes out with any credit is the keeper for his shot stopping & maybe Jordan Williams who was average at best. The rest were appalling.

You can make excuses for not been in tune with new team mates & not showing for one-two’s or covering for each other through misunderstandings but some of the simple passes that went astray were embarrassing & the way they cut through us was equally as embarrassing. It reminded me of Lee Johnson’s Barnsley side at its worse, when every time the opposition counter attacked us it seemed to lead to a goal.

I’ve praised the keeper for his shot stopping but even he’s got to engage his brain a bit, when we’ve just been under pressure & our centre backs have given the ball away hold on to it a few seconds, waste a bit of time & calm his team mates down don’t throw it straight back to Halme who’s just made a couple of mistakes & doesn’t have much space.

Williams, ok. Not much to say really, I can’t remember much positive but at the same time he’s probably the only one who didn’t do much wrong either.

Halme was for me our best player for the first 20 minutes, made 2 really good tackles & played an excellent ball through to Wilks but then it all went wrong. Completely messed up for the first goal & after that his confidence was shot to pieces, really struggled to pass the ball to a red shirt.

You could say Anderson looked poor because Halme was poor but I don’t think that’s true as Anderson was making mistakes early on & giving the ball away before Halme started making mistakes. Looked a shadow of the player we saw against Fulham.

Pinillos looked awful, way off the pace, another one who couldn’t keep the ball. One particularly embarrassing moment for him before the first Carlisle goal where he completely switched off allowing the Carlisle player a one on one which luckily Collins saved. His crossing was dreadful, did one beat the first man?

Wilks, Thiam & Thomas, no end product at all. Wilks impressed me a handful of times when I saw him last season but in 3 games now I can’t remember a single quality cross or pass that’s created anything for us. He just seems to shoot every time he gets the ball whether he’s marked or not, just keeps blasting shots straight at defenders legs, it makes no sense, if the shots not on keep the ball moving. It’s like watching a greedy 10 year old. Thiam played but didn’t do a lot, hard to believe he had 90 minutes on the pitch from how little I remember of him. Thomas awful. Even coming on with fresh legs against tired legs I can’t remember him beating a man.

McGeehan simply can’t pass to a Reds shirt at the minute. He’s not good enough to play these Hollywood balls over the full back to our left winger but he keeps trying every game & giving away possession.

Styles looks nowhere near ready for championship football, looks as lightweight as Stevie Malian did but with not as much ability. The attempt before the first Carlisle goal in our own area to lob a Carlisle player & run round him instead of hoofing it clear was one of the daftest things I can remember seeing a Barnsley player do. Big part of the shambles that was the 3rd Carlisle goal.

Chaplin, a left footed Chris Dagnall on last nights showing. Runs about a lot but doesn’t do a lot. If he isn’t confident enough with his right foot from that angle & needs to try & cut back on to his left foot then he shouldn’t be a professional footballer. I don’t really know what position he played. Was he a no. 10? A second striker? He was there but I couldn’t tell you what he was doing.

Woodrow, he’ll be as ineffective as Bradshaw was as the main striker at this level. There’s been a myth spread on here that he’s somehow a better player than Moore & that we’re better off with Woodrow as the lone striker. We aren’t. He doesn’t have the all round quality to be effective at championship level as a lone striker. The only things he’s better than Moore at are first time finishing & sprinting. Everything else Moore’s superior at. There’s a lot of pressure on Schmidt to give us something.

I will add that I’m not saying these players are bad signings or that they’ll be as bad as they were last night for the season, I’ve no doubt most of these young players will come good eventually whether that’s with us or someone else. Our scouting’s generally pretty good it just often takes a while for them to settle in & it’s even tougher for us as we bring in a load at once rather introducing 3 or 4 each season which would be the ideal scenario.

This season will be a struggle. It really resembles the last championship season in my opinion in particular the lack of options up front & a new defence. I don’t suddenly think Stendel’s become a bad manager overnight just like I didn’t think Heckingbottom did. I think it’s a tough job for anyone & like last time the bookies have us as a favourite for the drop & they’re looking at it objectively & not through Barnsley tinted glasses like a lot of us do.

21st is a good outcome this season & then hopefully push on next season with a team that’s gelled & had a season together.

The next month is going to be a really struggle especially if Mowatt’s out for a few weeks as the only players in the squad who can keep a ball are him & Dougall who’s also injured. Styles & McGeehan as a midfield 2 in the championship is a big worry to me.

Jon Parkin’s lad had the right idea, spent most of the game asleep on his dads lap.

 

Cant remember a single quality ball from wilks? V fulham he put one on a plate for bahre just before half time that my grandma could have scored.

Didnt go last night but must have been bad to say it was the worst you have seen a barnsley side play. When I've witnessed performances like altrincham in the f.a cup, Chester and Middlesbrough in the f.a cup and huddersfield and leeds at home under Wilson those games really were mind numbing.

The window was described as the best in our history right now that statement is looking very debatable and cant see stendel sticking round to have his reputation tarnished. We have sold our 2 key centre backs from last season and our top scorer brought in a unproven kid from Austria a defender who was back up at leeds and 2 ther foreign center backs, haven't recruited a center midfielder now mowatt is our we look well short.

 

I can’t remember that through ball against Fulham. If he did I’m wrong but still doesn’t excuse just how bad he was last night.

I didn’t go to Altrincham but honestly it was worse than the rest. It was like they’d never played together, or even trained together.

I’m the same as you I think he’ll go if he gets the chance.

Don’t think it can ever be described as a good window with such a big turnover of players. All the top managers say it should be a handful of players at the most but obviously tougher for clubs like ours

 

Worst performance I've seen since Altrincham away in cup. I honestly thought only Collins came out of it with any credit, not a single outfield player earned a shirt for Saturday by their efforts.

 

No I don't think it can be described as a good window either to top it all off at the end of the window we lose our top scorer who still had 2 years on his deal to wigan of all clubs and for 3million then replace him with a young 21 year old from Austria.

Big performance needed saturday if not I think this season could start going south fast. The lack of goals is worrying. A few Thicke fans on social media questioning stendel last night.

 

Pinnillos was our best player

 

I thought he was the only player, other than the goalkeeper, who emerged with any credit.

 

At least he was getting the crosses in though he did look a bit rusty.

 

hang on. Did not the first result from McGeehan passing back and the receiving (Barnsley) player deliberately let the ball go through his legs and it went straight to the opposition? 2nd pass for 3rd goal did put the receiving player under a bit of pressure but it was a miscontrol that allowed the opponent to go through on goal. Admittedly McGeehan had a lacklustre (to put it mildly) game but he was not directly responsible IMO for either goal.

 

I've just seen the goals for the first time - absolutely unforgivable. First one Halme let's it go between his legs, although it's not a great pass from McGeehan. The second one is just pathetic defending. The third is plain and simple pissing around on the edge of our own box for no discernible reason. We do that in league games and we'll get battered every week.

 

First goal is always crucial in these games. When Carlisle were gifted the early goal, they could sit back with 9 men behind the ball and hit us on the counter attack. They did this very well, helped by Barnsley's defending which was appalling at times, as they repeatedly gave the ball away in dangerous areas.

Going forward we were equally poor. How Chaplin failed to put that chance away was incredible. Woodrow offered very little and Thiam and Wilks never got in the game, always taking the easy option rather than threaten the full back. Overall a shocking display.

 

Lacklustre is certainly putting it mildly, how hes become first choice in the centre of midfield in a championship team is baffling. And how were now facing a midfield paring of him and styles 2 weeks into the season is an absolute joke tbh! Best transfer window wev ever seen apparently, maybe for the bank balance yeah.