This is what happens ladies and gents...

agreed Marlon

we have so far had a very good season, and if our overall form prevails we will finish in a top ten slot. That will be fantastic, given our resources

 

Hecky and his staff are doing a fantastic job, and it's great to see players putting in 110% week in week out.
Since we were last in this league things have improved greatly in all areas of the club, however there are to be improvements made if we want to reach the next level, and that starts with the board. They have got one or two things wrong lately, and it's important we look to improve as soon as possible. Things are going well on the field no question, but it could be even better if we improved in one or two areas off the field.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Played more games than he missed seeing as Aidy White spends more time in the Aiden White Physiotherapy Centre so it was Bree at right back and Yiadom on the left.

 

As above I don't mind us selling players it will always happen but if we fail to replace them adequately then of course we will struggle to get over it. Luckily we have a great manager and fantastic team spirit which is carrying us through.

 

You're right. Superb team sprit, determination and moments of quality when up against it

 

Always an excuse for not winning and it's a small time mentality. It's either league position or form or wages or transfer fees. End of the day we are in the same league as all these teams we play on merit and so it's our right to be dissapointed when we play poorly with only our second goal in five games and wins drying up since Leeds.

 

So moaning about something that's done and now in the past instead of supporting the existing team is the way forward.?
Club have said they are looking at contracts in the future ,
The recruitment has been exceptional lately so we trust that will continue . Meanwhile we support the lads currently wearing the shirts and new heroes will come forward imo as long as we support the team.

 

the only small mentallity is you

wake up and smell the coffee FFS... we have no where near the resources of most teams in this division, so to be where we are is awesome. I would wager that there are a good many who would trade places right now. Many quite big names too .

 

Marched them up to (nearly) the top of the hill........... and then they marched them down again

 

We've played seven games since Leeds, won two, drawn three, lost two. Wouldn't say they'd 'dried up'.

Three of those fixtures were against teams in the top four at the time. We lost one of them - to the side sitting top. And they are an excellent side. We weren't poor that day, didn't do much but they didn't let us. Fair enough.

We also lost a home game to wolves after abysmally defending set pieces and going down to ten men. Very poor to be fair. So we've been beaten having played poorly once since leeds. Even then we had chances.

We then had a quiet game home to Preston, didn't pull many trees up. We've gone from there to a run of four games against three of the top four and the other away to the side with the second biggest budget in the league. Five points, only one defeat.

Going back to a point even before the Leeds game, we've lost three in ten. Right relegation form that. The third defeat not mentioned yet was at Fulham, where a side still containing bree and Hourihane were outclassed. Excellent in both games Fulham I thought, consistent against us - but not many others apparently. I'd wager Sam winnall would have made the square root of **** all difference had he still been in the side that day too.

Everyone can complain about whatever they like. Selling, not buying. Whatever. But the run of fixtures we've had were tough whether we kept them all or not. The next four have three very nasty looking away games too, derby, qpr who aren't great but we tend to get a roasting there, and norwich. In between those big mick at home. Wouldn't be surprised if we won a couple of those away games the form we've had away.

The players were sold. Others were brought in. We didn't get a striker. Disappointing? Yeah probably. Would there be much point bringing in a striker who wasn't good enough just for the sake of it, as anyone else was unavailable or we couldn't afford? Not really.

January happened. Some predicted we'd struggle to get two points in February with the run of fixtures and the transfer dealings. We got 6 and only lost once.

Complain about things when they happen, but it's now nearly march. Get behind Hecky and whoever pulls the shirt on. They might not always be good enough to win but I've not seen a Barnsley side put in more effort, be more tactically organised or look more of a team than these.

We were outplayed a lot today by the most in-form side of the league. And still didn't lose.

Would it kill to highlight that and praise the team rather than whinge about what can't be changed?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

We didn't replace the players who left in anyway other than James replacing Morsy ( with perhaps a superior playerand Bree ( with a very inferior player) We bought no central midfield player to replace Conor with Mowatt being a number 10. . We bought no ball playing centre half to replace Mawson. Other than Hedges we didn't look to invest in the future.

It is what it is and it's been a great season. You can't help thinking of what might have been. Also in terms of crowd development given we have what amounts to meaningless games it's difficult to see that any floating voters will be enticed unless we do excellent offers like yesterday. Again feels like a lost opportunity to build our crowds.

It's football these days. Clubs buy players they can't afford with money they haven't got to chase success. We can't and luckily won't do this. Now wrong with a whinge or tw about it occasionally.

 

As a Huddersfield friend said to me, you played better than us at the John Smith's and deserved to win not lose, but whilst we've improved you've gone backwards.

 

He based that on seeing us twice presumably?

When they are on a better run of form than anyone else, they then play well against us and restrict us massively, so we don't play that well - we've obviously gone backwards.

Must be true because a Huddersfield fan said so.

Or maybe he's bitter at not having won for the first time in yonks, aren't we the first team to take a point off them for seven or eight games? The first team might not look as strong on paper, but did winnall score every week? Did bree resemble Cafu? Were there not games where even Conor was relatively anonymous? (Thinking Fulham twice, there'll be more). The team on paper in august didn't look championship level strong. It was. How's about we give the coaching staff credit for it and let them have chance to do it again?

And to the post above...

Haven't replaced Conor because mowatt is a number 10? Here we go. So is moncur. He was the first replacement. Only Conor didn't initially leave. So we've no replacement but two number 10's. a number now being a position apparently. As bad as the number 8 in egg chasing.

Yet both have been playing in central midfield. Funny that. When Conor first came he was too forward biased, scored a lot yes but we kept getting beat as he went missing defensively. He was coached into being a much better footballer overall by being effective everywhere.

Difference with these two is that they're working harder, taking on the coaching, and we aren't getting beat most weeks. It took a year or so, and the captains armband, for the message to get to Hourihane. He was a brilliant player statistically all along - goals, assists. Lovely. But you had to carry him, couldn't play in a two.

He coached on and became arguably as good as anything in this division. Well done to him and the coaches. Brilliant.

Do moncur and mowatt not have the ability as a raw ingredient to do the same? Unfortunately we aren't in the market for fully developed replacements. I think mowatt was an excellent buy.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Mowatt played behind the front man against Wolves and started on the wing yesterday before moving behind the striker. To think either Mowatt or Moncur are central midfield players is a fundamental misreading of the game. Just ask anyone round the club. Mowatt was presumably bought to replace Moncur given his patchy form.

Hourihane had pkayed for years as a central midfield player and got in his divisional team playing that role the season before we signed him. He was clearly the most talented player we had signed in years from the moment he started playing for us. Of course some people were slow to spot this and we did improve him greatly due to coaching and his own determination but it's comparing apples to fruitcake.

We didn't even bother getting unfinished products that's the point and we will go into the summer needing to get 12-15 players in. That's very difficult given our limited budget even giving our quality scouting and Hecky's abilities. Of the players we signed this season few have been successful. It doesn't meN they won't be in future but of the permanents you can only see McDonald and Bradshaw as successes.

If Mowatt can get anywhere near the fitness of the rest of the team he will be an excellent signing as he has lots of natural ability but lots of work needed on his fitness.

 

It is what it is, and I feel like this is old ground that we've been over too many times and should put it to bed.

All I can say is I agree that we've lost some of our players and that's going to have an impact, but on the other hand were not losing many games because of it.

We had a spell earlier in the season when we lost quite a few and we had a pretty full squad.

We've also gone all season without really having a settled front two.

I think the main thing we're lacking is a striker that really scares the opposition.

Sent from my SM-G850F using Tapatalk

 

I think you forgot Yids.

You make a few good points overall but I tend to agree with most of what [MENTION=7397]troff[/MENTION] has said.

Good debate though.

 

We sold players who did not want to play for us

 

No, I'd say to conclude that they can't be is. But hey ho, we can all differ.

Maybe pass on your concerns to Hecky, who played moncur in central midfield at villa and last week home to Brighton. In fact given he misreads he game so fundamentally perhaps we should bring someone on to manage the club who knows more about the game.

Shame, I was happy with Hecky but there you go.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

We scored 3 against Villa and have won 2 since Leeds. Last 8 games, 5 have been against top 10 teams. 3 of those are in the top 6.

 

Yiadom in for Bree is a bonus!!