"We have a lot of wide players at the club"

etc etc Jacob Mellis

Still planning on wasting him then, Dave?

 

He is sounding more and more clueless all the time.

 

Just remind me where Mellis played after we reverted to a 4-4-2 at the back end of last season? Out wide? I cannot recall any such criticism then.

 

The last thing the Barnsley defence needs at the moment is Jacob Mellis in centre midfield. When the team does not have the ball, he simply stands around watching as play goes on about him. I think that he can play in the centre provided he is playing at the head of a five man midfield similar to the Butterfield role, but do you really want to sacrifice a striker in order to accommodate Mellis in his best position. Personally, I do not think that he is worth it.

 

Was that the back end of the season where we stopped winning...

 

I think that's a bit critical of Flicker. Jennings is clearly no stranger to a pie, but I reckon the rest of our players are quite slim.

 

6 Goals 11 Assists last season. We could stick with Perkins and Fox who's trips into the opponents box you can count on one hand.

 

Which of the midfielders currently playing do you suggest based on past performances will score or create goals? Can we really afford to start games with only 3 players who can score or create goals? Do you think that will result in us avoiding relegation?

 

Against teams like Doncaster Rovers and Sheffield Wednesday it should have been a 3 4 1 2 formation not with wingbacks just out and out attacking wingers, attack attack attack, we would have had far too much for them but he bottled it.

 

Sos and tom sarnie.....Lovely

 

This obsession with thinking a player can't play unless he runs around like a daft wazzock for 90 minutes completely puzzles me. Some midfielders fulfil the function of defensive midfielders primary duties to assist the defence. Hod carriers in Cantona's phrase. In most midfields this constitutes 1 player. Other midfielders are primarily attacking players expected to help out defensively when needed. If our defensive midfielders aren't good enough to only play one of them surely the fault lies with them.

 

To be fair though Redstar how many of those came from playing in the middle of a midfield 4? Don't get me wrong I would play him in the middle but I'd have to sacrifice Pedersen to do so

 

I think virtually all of them were when he played centrally.

 

Bang on that. However, I don't think that's the case. I think we've got a couple that are good enough. We're playing two at the moment because Flicker is being ultra cautious. We were leaking goals at an alarming rate and he wanted to stop it. To be fair to him he has. The test of Flicker's mettle will be whether he's now prepared to play a more attacking central midfield player. The defence looks far more solid than it did earlier in the season, M'Voto is now up to speed and is forming a good partnership with Cranie, the foundations of a solid unit are there, we just need a bit more creativity in the centre of the park. It's a big decision for him, we might start conceding loads of goals again or we might start scoring more and turn all these draws in to victories. Who dares wins.

 

In a 4 man midfield?

 

Depends if we class Dagnall as a striker...

 

I'd say you're right there it's a big decision to make and I hope he makes it soon. Though we seem to me to have been playing at least two defensive midfielders for the majority of the season 3 in the odd games that Kelvin, Dawson and Perkins played together.

 

Correct with the stand by and watch. He never puts a foot out to even trip them up. I agree totally with playing a Butterfield type role

 

The trap that most posters who support the idea of Mellis in a central midfield of two have fallen into is to believe the only choice is between Mellis and Fox. Personally, I think that we already had midfielders that offer as much as Fox in that defensive role that Flicker has gone for in order to bolster a defense that has so far conceded goals for fun. The rate of conceding has reduced, so the strategy has worked. The next challenge for Flicker is to gradually reduce the emphasis on not conceding in order to balance the team between attack and defense. I have been very critical of the way that we have played, particularly in the last few games, but if we had taken just half our chances we would have beaten Doncaster easily. One thing I can guarantee though, if you play Mellis in a centre midfield of two, the goals against column will begin to suffer again.

I actually think that midfield is the weakest aspect of our team. I do not particularly rate any of them, including Paddy who seems to spend most of the game in splendid isolation from the rest of the team. Where is the pace, where is the passing and movement, why are they so far distant from the forwards and why can't they dominate possession. However, unlike other posters, I do not blame the manager for this situation. I blame the small budget that he, or any new manager for that matter, will have to work with. I also blame the fact that players do not want to join the club because they know that it means joining a club that is struggling, and has struggled for years.

I think that if Flicker, or any new manager that might replace him avoids relegation this season, it will be a miracle of the same scale as last season. As I see it the bottom three will come from Sheffield Wednesday, Doncaster Rovers, Yeovil and Barnsley.

 

On the button there JC.