Before I get into fine details, an omission; I didn't go to the game, in fact, I've only been to one away game all season (Preston). I know, I'm not a proper fan, but I've found out that the older you get, the more other things get in the way. At present, that's saving for our first house. This time next year I'll probably have some other excuse, but I digress. Therefore I'm not going to analyse the game itself too much, as I'd be relying solely on the opinions of the lads on Barnsley player, and the opinions of those on the BBS. I have done my homework a little though, trawling through the pages and pages of pre, during and post match threads on VillaTalk. As such my post is going to focus more on the differences between the two teams, and why the term 'Teams like Barnsley' is misplaced in this particular instance. I've actually been to Villa Park. About 10 or so years ago now, me and a few other lads went to a game, and after turning off the motorway, I was tasked with directing us to the football stadium. Naturally I instructed my mate to follow the signs for 'Football Stadium', and there it appeared, Villa Park. Sadly we were looking for the Hawthorns. Not only did we manage to make kick-off (just), we also witnessed West Brom dismantle us 7-0. A deserted Villa Park didn't seem like a bad alternative afterwards. As soon as the fixture list was released, my brother rather thoughtfully informed his girlfriend that he wouldn't be able to make any valentine's day plans. Incredibly they're still together, and he was at the game (although he is missing the home game with Brighton). Villa away doesn't appear to come around very often, it's almost 20 years since the last one, which obviously occurred in the Premier League, so it's only natural to get a little excited for this fixture. They're a massive club; as a frequent listener of 'Football Heaven', I was quite amused by a text from a Villa fan to the show a few weeks ago, who described Villa in comparison to the Sheffield two as 'Truly Massive'. But they are! highlighted by their 7 First division titles, as many FA Cup triumphs, European cup, and the prestigious honour of being the 1890 English Baseball Champions. Whilst they haven't won a major trophy (aside from a couple of League Cups) in the last 35 years, their financial clout and the fact that only Everton have played more top flight games, reaffirms their stature. So how the hell did last night happen? It has been largely communicated that Villa have spent more this season than Barnsley has in its 130 year history. That isn't much of a surprise. Money in football is daft. Villa have put together a collective of top Championship players, who would all walk into any team in this division. A Greatest Hits if you will. Players like Hourihane, Landsbury, Kodjia, Hogan, Chester and Adomah, have been brought in this season to be combined with the likes of Grealish, Jedinak, Micah Richards and Hutton, to make on paper, a premier league quality team playing in the Championship. Sadly for them, the only game won on paper is noughts and crosses. Or more fittingly, crosses and noughts for Villa. One thing I picked up on pretty quickly when reading Villa Talk last night was the number of chances they create without scoring. For their multitude of quality attacking options, Villa have scored 21 goals fewer than Barnsley this season. We all know how influential Hourihane was here, over the course of 3 seasons, he had a hand in upwards of 60 (that's an educated guess) Barnsley goals. But it hasn't clicked just yet for him at Villa. Why? Lee Johnson was a big advocate of not playing Hourihane in a midfield two, despite the fact that shoehorning him into the central midfield carnage created by 'all action' midfielders Ben Pearson and Josh Scowen, saw us go on our worst losing streak for over 60 years. As soon as we stopped playing a formation with more than 3 digits, Conor looked more comfortable again and we began our incredible ascent back up the football pyramid. Conor worked best for us when partnered with one combative midfield player to do the spade work, allowing him the freedom to run at defenders; this in turn allowed Winnall, Watkins and previously, Ashley Fletcher to get in behind the back 4. I think when fit, Hourihane could form a good partnership with Mile Jedinak in the middle of the park. But then you have Lansbury and Bjarnason to accomodate, who despite the wage packet they'll be picking up, wont have come to sit on the bench. Villa fans believe the problem is Steve Bruce; it could be a typical case of 'a vocal minority', but sacking him seems to be the solution. Considering the amount he's had to spend in the recent transfer window, I think it would be madness to sack him now. They have a thread on Villa Talk called 'Relegation 16/17 Thread'. This seems a little bit overkill to me, but what struck me more is that, on a cold Tuesday night, at about 9pm, on valentine's day, they slipped back to a 2 goal deficit at home to 'a team (exactly) like Barnsley', and they thought they'd hit rock bottom. 16TH IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP AND 7 POINTS ABOVE THE RELEGATION ZONE IS FAR FROM ROCK BOTTOM. We know, we've been lower, and still didn't reach the very bottom, there's a lot more horse muck, soiled nappies, empty baked bean cans and used condoms to wade through before you get to the bottom. Ask Portsmouth, Doncaster, Grimsby, Stockport, Wimbledon, Chester etc etc etc.... While Villa were getting spanked week in week out in the Premier League last season, just 10 miles up the road, a young lad from Shrewsbury was banging them in for Walsall. Step forward Tom Bradshaw. A proven goalscorer (albeit in league 1) with both age and ability on his side. 'Bradders' has had a good breakthrough season at Oakwell thus far, but has been limited slightly by the exploits of others. Tom has bided his time, outstayed Winnall and overtaken Watkins in the pecking order to finally rekindle some of the form he showed with the Saddlers. Tom certainly picked his night to have his most notable reds display to date. But I think it's our recriutment strategy as a whole that must be applauded. Villa have gone out and spent millions on players in a bid to re-attain their Premier League status at the very earliest opportunity, whilst we've been layering; Picking up a group of 5 or so good young players from below each transfer window, bedding them in, giving them their chance when the previous set move on, then selling them on and bringing someone else through. Upon relegation back to the Championship, Chris O'Grady was our star man, and understandably after scoring 16 Championship goals in a relegated side, moved on. His replacement was Sam Winnall, who had just fired S****horpe to promotion from league two, netting in excess of 20 times in the process. His replacement was brought in at the start of his final year in Tom Bradshaw, who has seemlessly transitioned into the squad. The same could be said of Hourihane; Scowen has picked up the mantle, and Mowatt and/or Moncur is in place in the event that Scowen moves on in the summer. We're replacing and strengthening at least a window in advance, rather than gambling with our future in return for the slim promise of a return to the Premier League. We're playing the long game, but with the advantage of never having to 'bed' players in. They're seemingly ready to go at the end of every window, because they've been around for a few months prior. That was our 8th away win of the season. 8th!!! We have the 2nd best away record in the division behind Newcastle. Considering our away form and the form that Villa currently find themselves in, is it really any wonder why we won last night. Dare I say that we have the better team? Surely not? Villa certainly have the bigger stadium, bigger fan base, healther budget, better players, more history. But the league table doesn't lie, for all of their stature, they're currently 13 points worse off than us in the CURRENT league table. We are where we are on merit, hard work, and just being a very well run little football club. On the face of it, we SHOULD be beating teams like Villa. Sorry.
That's a brilliant post Archey and one that mirrors my views exactly. I've said elsewhere that no one has any reason to criticise anything BFC-related at the moment because the club is slowly but surely picking its way through the trials and tribulations associated with having a relatively low budget and having players that want to move on. There's nothing new in that so why people complain just beats me. We may not have everything right but I won't presume to tell professionals in an area that I have never worked how to do their jobs. Just let them get on with it is the best course of action and trust the management chain from boardroom to the most junior coach to do their jobs to the best of their ability and for the good of Barnsley Football Club and its loyal supporters. PS I don't go to many away games either. We lose when I go so best to stay away
As one of the aforementioned lads on Barnsley Player, I've got to say that is perfectly put and a great summary of who we are and where we are. Great stuff.
Your piece is very well written with some quotable sections. However, I disagree strongly with part of your logic in the reprinted paragraph below. "Lee Johnson was a big advocate of not playing Hourihane in a midfield two, despite the fact that shoehorning him into the central midfield carnage created by 'all action' midfielders Ben Pearson and Josh Scowen, saw us go on our worst losing streak for over 60 years. As soon as we stopped playing a formation with more than 3 digits, Conor looked more comfortable again and we began our incredible ascent back up the football pyramid. Conor worked best for us when partnered with one combative midfield player to do the spade work, allowing him the freedom to run at defenders; this in turn allowed Winnall, Watkins and previously, Ashley Fletcher to get in behind the back 4. I think when fit, Hourihane could form a good partnership with Mile Jedinak in the middle of the park. But then you have Lansbury and Bjarnason to accomodate, who despite the wage packet they'll be picking up, wont have come to sit on the bench." Now I only attend home games, but I cannot believe the system is different away. The point about Hecky's team is that all individual ego is parkedin favour of the team ethic. What that means is, if you do not work hard and stay in position as dictated by the system, well, you just do not play. In Hourihane's case, he came to us as an attacking midfield player who was unwilling to adopt the positions demanded by the team ethic. This is not appreciated as fully as it should be because of the blind hate that many fans have towards Lee Johnson, and all he stands for. Because of that, he can never get the credit he deserves for turning the team around from an 8 game losing run to a 6 game winning run at the point he departed. Nevertheless, it is so. Hourihane could not play in a two when he arrived, not because Johnson wanted to play a central three, but because Hourihane did not have the discipline to work within the system, particularly its defensive organisation. Hourihane deserves great credit, because he took on the lessons, and he became a far better player as a result of his flexibility. He became a player who was basically a defensive midfield player with good vision and a pass to match, but who advanced forward only as he was required for set pieces, when alternative plans had been made for his defensive responsibilities. I am not writing these words as a reaction to your comments, I am writing them because I have commented many times previously about how unwilling our central midfielders have been to close with our front two, and how we use our wide player to do that job. The method reduces the risk of being caught out of position in the centre on the counter attack. I have also mused recently on whether Hourihane can be successful in a different system, where his responsibilities are different, and perhaps play less to his strengths. Do Villa really know what they paid all that money for? Given the resuly last night, it seems not. James, on the other hand, is a died in the wool defensive midfield player, who can read the opposition's intentions before they themselves know them. Potentially, Scowen, Mowatt and Moncur can all play beside him, provided they can adapt to the requirements that the system imposes on them, but Matty James is bound to be the first name on the team sheet when fit, either in a 3 or a 2 in central midfield. To summarise, the team has dispensed with the tenet that possession is everything. To Hecky and Johnson to a lesser extent, the system is everything, even if the system means that we have less of the ball. Our best chance of scoring is when the opposition commits its players too far forward in support of an attack, giving us the room to use the space that they have vacated on the break. Because this is particularly prevalent away from home, where opposition teams come under more pressure from home fans to attack, this is where we are having most success. In fairness to Hecky, with the money we are spending on transfers and wages, this must be the current limit to our ambitions. Being a home only fan though, I cannot say that I particularly enjoy our style, or the way that I have to watch the opposition playing with the ball for the majority of games, but I do acknowledge that it is the way to success on a budget. Keep up the style, I like it very much, but be careful with the substance.
Goodness me that is a long OP (opening post), and Ive only managed to read about a third of it so far! Seriously though, thats a great read and credit to anybody who makes the time and effort to post such things about our Tyketastic team
That is a great post Archey. You're basically saying Villa have rushed to cobble together a top notch squad this last window to make themselves better able to compete in this division, but came up against us, a low budget, but well prepared squad. When you view it from your perspective, it wasn't such a shock result, but a well earned one based on months of good preparation.
I'm not. The title for my post was in reference to Tom Bradshaw. I live in Leeds. Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk
In honesty, I was never a big critic of Lee Johnson's; what I always felt was overlooked during his tenure was the fact that we went on our best run of form in about 60 years also whilst under his stewardship (well most of it at least as he left before the run ended). I often find when I'm writing something that I don't often know how to get my point across, and that was the one paragraph which at the time of writing it, I struggled with. I never felt the football under Lee Johnson was particularly bad, and I do to a certain extend agree with your comments about Hourihane. To a certain extent we were similar to how Villa are now; controlling large parts of games, failing to convert chances and then forgetting the basics defensively. It was the play-off final 2nd leg when I first noticed that he had vastly improved on his defensive game, that night for me was his best performance in a Barnsley shirt. Maybe the point is that Lee Johnson was a fan of 1 up front. He said it himself that northerners were obsessed with formations with 2 strikers in. I agree with your sentiments regarding the gap between the front 2 and the midfield. As much is still often true now under Hecky. Often has been the case this season we've cried out for an outlet in between, largely in the final half hour, and in particular when Armstrong and Bradshaw are the front 2. Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk
Thanks for the reply. As I alluded to, I feel that the system is now the most important thing. Not the players and definitely not ball retention. That is OK, just so long as you are happy where you are and do not want to push things to the next level, because you can only go so far by relying totally upon the system. At some point, you need better players capable of unlocking defences at home. At that point you run into budgetary restrictions. I wish that we could get a few more fans into Oakwell, as I think that is what prevents an increase in the payroll budget. In the meantime, our current position is way beyond my expectations for the season, and I feel that it is mostly down to the system... and Hecky. Inevitably, Hecky is going to receive offers and just like the players, there is ultimately nothing that a small club with a limited budget can do to retain the best. So enjoy the moment and hope that the good times last as long as possible.
top top post that - deserves an article on a mainstream website if you ask me! What i woudl add to this is i believe the club shoudl be setting up the contracts better with options of another 1 or 2 years ontop of the existing contract to cover our asses if/when they come through. As it stands by the time the player they replace moves on they are already approaching the last stages of their contracts and we are then in a position of too fast a turnover. If we add the options of extra years - when they are not in the limelight and coming to better terms - it will make us a lot stronger.
