4 weeks ago did any expect us to be in this position?

Played 6, lost 4, drew 2. Conceded 17, scored 5 (including cup (over 90 mins)).

Selling first team regulars to lower league clubs.

Signing 41 year old 'keepers on loan.

2 red cards.

Fans going nuts.

People questioning the manager.


I didn't.

 

When Craine and Nyatanga got injuries I expected a real struggle as all the preparation went out the window ...

I didn't however expect the tonkings we're getting or the lack of tempo through the team.

 

What worries me the most is that it looks like our key players are very injury prone so we just can't rely on getting a season of football out of them.

 

I was told the other day that this is our worst 'opening' six game start to a season ever.
He loves making memories.

 

Fairly sure we've lost the first six games before - definitely in the league at least - although we might not have shipped as many goals doing it.

 

Absolutely.

It was always going to go tits up. Expectations were built massively in pre-season and it was always going to be difficult to meet 'em.

 

when Nyatanga got a slight knock or strain in pre season don't think anybody expected him to be missing til mid september. must be like carry on doctor in the medical room.

 

Easy to say that though Dyson. None of imagined we would start as poorly as this. Many of us HOPED for better but I don't think I really had any expectations beyond that we would show similarly to last season post Xmas. I've yet to see this except for against Charlton, whoch was negated by a negative tactical decision. Which I did not expect.

 

I had a feeling throughout it would go tits up. However, it's only 5 games, he's still young and inexperienced so mistakes are to be expected.

Still no doubt in my mind we'll be fine but it was never going to be the mid table security many folk thought.

 

I think we are only one result away from where - without the hype - we could realitically have expected to be. Apart from the Charlton game, which we really should have won comfortably, any other points gained would have been in hope rather than expectation. Having said that, what I saw on Tuesday sickened me and unless the players pull their finger out and play like they want to win then they'll be only one outcome at the end of the season - relegation.

 

Problem is, we have half a dozen tricky fixtures coming up, so if we don't get a win on Saturday it could be some time away. Flicker could then be feeling a lot of pressure from both the terraces and the boardroom.

What's letting the team down so far are injuries to key players (Crainie, Perkins and Etuhu), good players underperforming (Steele and Mellis), average players not playing to the level that they finished last season (Dawson, Golbourne and Dagnell), picking players out of position (O'Brien and Mellis), odd tactical changes (subbing Mellis rather than Dawson against Charlton) and picking players who are just not good enough (O'Brien and Kennedy). The latter three are clearly down to the manager and you can also put some of the blame for the underperforming players down to the management/coaching too.

So in all he's got some work to do to turn things round. The easy first step is to drop the poor and underperforming players and play a formation that plays to the team's strengths instead of asking them to do things they cannot do.

 

I would have taken 4 points from the opening 4 League games and wouldn't mind being knocked out by a potential top 10 prem side.

A few seconds away from a point at Blackpool and avoiding 10 minutes of madness v Charlton we would have been there.

The 2 red cards could easily both have been yellows which would have reduced our goal difference and potentially an additional point at the least.

10 games in will give us a better picture of where we are. 4 games in and we haven't had our strongest 11 out yet. Well, we have hardly had 11 out on the field for a good chunk of those games either.

A win v Hudds and I will guarantee there'll be play off talk on these boards, not from me I may add!

UTR.

 

I've got to say, I genuinely thought we'd have a poor start. I went to a few pre-season games and thought we played some nice stuff, and we certainly looked like a stronger team than last year. In typical Barnsley fashion, I could feel expectation rising and it made me think we'd start badly and really test how united we are. We picked up a lot of points at the business end of the season last year - typically the time of year when results are unpredictable due to the pressure on the top teams to not mess it up. They're desperate to not lose, and often didn't come looking for a win. Whereas at the start of a season everyone goes for the win.

Over the summer, Flicker said in one of his interviews how excited he was about the unity and good feeling around the town, stadium etc. He also said it'd be bloody typical if we lost our first 4 games and the fans resolve would be really tested. I couldn't help but feel the same, and unfortunately our 'unity' has been exposed as a very fragile equilibrium between happiness and despair.

I'm not massively worried yet, we're haemorraging goals and missing chances - but we're not totally cut off at the bottom of the league. I've seen enough improvement in our weak areas (from last season) to believe that we'll pick up our fair share of points. Once we've got that win under our belts we'll all feel a lot better and I could see us building on it, just like last season.

 

No, but I don't think 'this position' is as catastrophic as is being made out. Win a couple of games on the bounce and we'll no longer be in this position, we'll be in mid-table with more points on the board than games played. I don't think you can really tell what position you are in until a couple of months of the season have passed at least. Four league games is far too early to judge.

I thought the way we approached the game on Tuesday night was *****. Flat back 5, contain the opposition rather than attempt to attack them. That's not how I want to see us play and if we continue with those tactics I think we will be in trouble. But I don't expect us to and I still believe the players and the manager have what it takes to move us up the table, despite the rant I posted on Tuesday night.

 

Me neither

I expected at least comfortable mid-table, 5+ points.

 

We aren't missing many chancxes as we aren't creating many...No shots on goal at Blackpool which keeps getting lauded as a good performance on here.

 

I'm never optimistic at the start..a lifetime of disappointment knocked it out of me years ago,
but neither did I expect,after the achievements of last season, the 'Fans going nuts...People questioning the manager.' so early in the campaign

 

Didn't Simon lose the first six?

 

We have lost the first six before - in the late 80's. Think it may have been under clarke - managed to stay up