Dear jim o'brien

THat what i tyohught too.

At the end of the Day he had a great game yesterday and has had several great games playing fro us.

 

You cant find it and none of us except tyrone remember it at all....

 

convenient isnt it

think it was setup by either mad mark or ryhil tyke

 

What was the poll question?

 

something like is Jim O'brien rubbish

 

I thought he had a great game. He's one of a number of our established players who are probably playing better now than at any time in their Barnsley careers. A big praise for this to the lads in question (Steele, Foster, Hassell, Gray, O'Brien, Butterfield), manager and his coaching staff.

 

I remember it well because I also said that O'Brien was a great player. For some reason he was made a scapegoat under MR where the slightest mistake was highlighted and the anti-JOB brigade were straight on his case. He got dog's abuse from the crowd every single time a cross went astray unlike other wingers such as Hammill and Devaney who also sent in the odd sh*te cross. He wasn't perfect but you could see he'd got the class and and personally I thought he played just as well last season but maybe ws never 100% match fit. MR didn't give him the regular games that he's got under Hill so he's obviously improved his match fitness but as Tyrone says - he always was a good player, hence his selection for the Scottish PFA team prior to coming to Oakwell.

 

That doesn't answer my question

If O'Brien was this superb player last season, like you are saying he was, then why did he find himself warming the bench more often than not?

I remember the poll you are referring to, but it didn't ask whether or not O'Brien played well last season like you are claiming. It asked people if they thought he was ****. I, like many on this baord, don't think he played particularly well last season, but that doesn't necessarily make him a **** player. And he's starting to prove that this season.

 

Re: That doesn't answer my question

Clearly it does answer your question.

Because of the sale of Hammill the manager decided that we would play a different formation

 

Last season he was poor. That's why he got abuse and that's why he got dropped. He was slow, idle, couldn't cross and regularly his control and dribbling failed him miserably. Now I'd watched him play for Motherwell and was impressed with him and was very happy when we signed him, but in the first season he was nothing like the player he was in Scotland. This season is a different story, he is playing really well and looks a completely different player to last season.

 

I remember the poll, but how does that prove your point?

 

I converse with Jim often on twitter. We have a running joke about The Real Jimbo showing up this season. He has admitted to me and his thousands of followers that last season he wasnt the real deal. He is a really likeable lad - online at least - and he puts it down to beardpower. But we all know its sheer hard graft and a determination to prove himself at this level. And that hard work is paying off.
So Tyrone, you are wrong. Because he HIMSELF admits he was poor last year.

 

I sort of agree Tyrone

He always looked a decent player, however his end product was shocking. Last season he was making the same runs as he has this and rarely got given the ball as he has this year. His first touch is exceptional, nothing new there, he was the same last season.

I must say though, his crossing has improved no end, and he also looks more likely to score this year too, getting in better positions. However I feel the service to O'Brien has improved drastically, especially with Drinkwater in midfield, last year he was getting in similar positions outwide and then was frustrated when the ball never came to him.

He's always had the potential, even if his application has let him down a few times.

I'd agree he's vastly improved from last season, maybe not through all his own doing, however I agree wityh you in the sense that he was nerver a bad player to start with.

 

Last season on the whole O`Brien Gray and Butterfield were players whom you could rely on to pass and move with a lot of other static players in the side this didn`t work and a lot of what they did made them look poor and they all suffered on here with the abuse (by some of those that were complaining of the abuse of Hill by the way). This season when pass and move is a requirement of all players the 3 mentioned are happy in the system whilst other such as Foster and Doyle are not quite with the play it out from the back style yet.

While Keith Hill and the coaches will have improved players games slightly in the 3 month or so they have been here, this is being used on here as a way to do a U-turn on all the slagging off they have given certain players.

 

funny that. Because it is not what he said in his Yorkshire sport interview towards the end of 2010

 

So although you have it from the lad himself, you still say everyone else is wrong?
Crazy!

 

i am not having any of the

firstly he said it a press interview

Secondly I think he is a very good player for us, others clearly dont

 

hmmmmmmm, imo jim o'brien did the same thing last season but things didnt go for him early on season. we all know when this happens some of the people in the stands want to have ago. when that happened is confidence went down so on and so on.