End of season review of playing staff

The club has already released a large number of players, players who had reached the end of their contract term and were not considered to be worth a new contract offer. The above list of names covers players who are still under contract to the club, players who played in the first team during 2019/20 season. In the column to the far right, I have described what my decision would be if I was in charge. Here is my reasoning.


Brad Collins

Collins season is dominated by a number of huge errors. These errors have coloured views about his ability. However, because our team was very young, they were all bound to make errors, and you have to get beyond that. It is more a comment on the ability of the judges, than it is on the ability of the player. The errors will disappear as the player ages and his concentration improves. What you need to look for is the talent beyond the error count. In my view, Collins has talent, and with good coaching, that talent can only improve.


Jack Walton


Walton is currently being hailed as a new superstar… after 9 games. He has been luckier than Collins, because he has made errors, but they have not led to goals. Sooner or later one of them will. That does not mean that I think that Walton is a poor goalkeeper. It means that, like Collins, he is young, and it is too early to tell who will make the better keeper.


Mads Andersen


Mads was a favourite of mine right from his first games. He is tall. He is quick. He wins to ball in the air. He makes lots of interceptions and blocks because he reads the game exceptionally well. I believe he is going to be a real star in the game. However, he is young, and particularly early season, he made lots of errors as he struggled to come to terms with the game in a new country and with new colleagues. As he gets older, his concentration and his decision-making will improve, what remains is real talent, and lots of it. I feel even more excited about Andersen than I was about Pinnock, and that is saying something.


Bambo Diaby


Diaby’s season has been dominated by the positive drug test, the exact nature of which is still being kept from us. His suspension has meant that we have not had the chance to see and test his improvement. In many ways, what I said about Andersen applies equally to Diaby. They were born just 10 days apart. If anything, Diaby is even quicker than Andersen. I hope that when we see Diaby again, he has benefited from the coaching he has received behind closed doors, he has reduced his error count, and he has matured into his skin.


Aapo Halme


Halme is 6 months younger than Andersen and Diaby. This season, he scored more goals than either, but equally, he is more of a problem. The coaches have not worked out what his best position is just yet. He has played centre back in a two, centre back in a three, defensive midfield and target man. He looks not quite good enough to hold down a place in the team in any of those positions, just yet. The best thing that the coaching team could do for Halme, is decide what his best position is, and play him there consistently. That will enable him to learn the game properly, because if he keeps being a Jack-of-all-Trades, he will be a master of none of them.


Kilian Ludewig


Ludewig is not our player, so it would be easy to just move on. The reason I cannot is that Ludewig has clearly enjoyed his time here, and because of that, he would probably jump at the chance to stay. I will review him as though that decision has been made. Only Callum Styles and Matty Wolfe are younger (all 20 years old), and yet Ludewig has been first choice at right wing back, almost from the moment he arrived in January. He has a good engine and he is a good reader. The rest of his game is not as developed, in my opinion. He will improve and he will become another huge talent. He would not have played as many games if I was his coach, but he suited Struber’s system, and Struber got the results when they mattered.


Clarke Oduor


As with all our players this season, we are judging kids in a man’s game. Oduor is another who has not worked out what his best position is just yet. If he is a wide midfield player, he does not get too many games in Struber’s system, because Struber does not use wide midfield players. His second problem this season is that Struber has used Ludewig as his wing back, and because of that, the other full back has filled in as a back three player, hence his use of a right sided full back on our left side. So Oduor has not fitted in to Struber’s master plan in either position, which is a shame. I like Oduor, and I believe he has talent. He is not quite as good defensively as a few other candidates for the left back position, but he is better going forward. If Ludewig does not return, then I think he will have earned his place in the team as our attacking left wing back, with Williams moving to the right side of our defence.


Toby Sibbick


Many on the BBS do not rate Sibbick. He was allowed to go out on loan, and many believe that this is justification of their position. And yet, Sibbick was my MotM for our Leeds home game, and I was convinced that he had talent, either in midfield, or at full back during his early games for us. It is fair to say that he lost form as the team struggled in those early season games, and letting him go out on loan was probably the best decision for all. However, he starts next season with a clean sheet, and I saw enough in those early games to believe he has plenty to offer. He is another who needs to decide what his best position is, and stick to it.


Michael Sollbauer


Many on the BBS hail the acquisition of Sollbauer as the turning point of our season, and there is no doubt that it is a factor, along with the change of coach, the change of system and the integration of all the new players into their new environment. Because of his age, Sollbauer was offered only a 2½ year contract. He was brought in to solve a short term problem… too many young players in our defence. That formula changes as time ticks away. Sollbauer is more of a reader of situations than our other candidates for his position, and this season, that has been valuable. However, his skills will be rubbing off on others, and their reading of the game will improve. Already, Andersen has included the best of Sollbauer into his game. I think that he will stay next season, but I think he will be sold before the start of the season after.

 

Ben Williams


Williams does not quite have the pace for the Championship, and I think that lack of pace is behind some of his rasher challenges. In the new systems that have come into our game, full backs have become headers of the ball, and he is not really big enough to compete for the aerial stuff. He has a good left foot and reasonable endurance, but is that enough in the Championship. He is behind Jordan Williams and Clarke Oduor for a place at left back, and for me, that is an indication that it is time for him to move on.


Jordan Williams


If I was Coach, I would not be playing Jordan Williams at left back, but I would also be playing 3-5-2. Williams would be in both our teams, albeit in different positions, and for totally different reasons. I think that he is the best right back that we have at the club.


Mike Bahre


I have always thought that aside from his obvious shortfalls, Mike Bahre had something. Whether it was his unreliable short passing game, his predictable drop of the shoulder, his deception that often did not deceive. I always thought that there was something, if only we were patient. However, he has not improved, and his lack of strength, endurance and competitive edge has finally proved too much for me. He has been overtaken in the skills he does best by Callum Styles, and there is a great need to strengthen our team going forward, so unfortunately, Bahre has to be sacrificed. I have run out of patience.


Jordan Green


Green has never kicked on. He is a wide player who would struggle to adapt to a narrower role that Struber favours. He spent most of last season on loan to a lower level club, not because we thought it would help in his development, but because he was not good enough. His signing was a mistake, a mistake that is enhanced because the position he plays is no longer a part of our system. He should be moved on.


Cameron McGeehan


McGeehan is another who I felt was signed in error. Even in the lower league, he never quite fitted in next to Mowatt. I could go on at length about where his game needs to improve in order to play at Championship level, but what it amounts to is this. He is not good enough.


Alex Mowatt


If you judge Mowatt only on the basis of the goals he has scored, he has not had an outstanding season as compared to last season. However, he is now playing a different role, he is playing deeper and he is reading the game more. The fact is that Mowatt is pivotal to the way Struber has set his team up, and the way the he wants us to play the game. Everything goes through Mowatt. He sets the pace of the game, he sets the direction of play and he reads the intentions of the opposition when defending. He can only do that because he has a terrific engine that allows him to cover every blade of grass. However, he is in the final year of his contract, and if he decides not to renew, he has to be sold. That is the way that we work at Barnsley, and there is no alternative. He will be very hard to replace, and it is the biggest potential threat to our success next season.


Romal Palmer


Palmer has had a great start, but it is far too soon to start getting excited about him just yet.


Marcel Ritzmaier


Ritzmaier was apparently selected by Struber because he knew how Struber’s system worked. That might well be true, but does Ritzmaier have the quality to play in the Championship. Well I do not think that he does, and I would look to move him on.


Callum Styles


Styles has been a revelation since lockdown ended. Do not get me wrong. He still has a lot to learn. He still makes the wrong decision at times, and he still gets caught out of position at times too. He is still very young, and he is still learning. However, with the ball at his feet, he has got something that no other player in the team has got, and I think that he will be a fixture on Mowatt’s left next season.


Luke Thomas


Thomas was bought to play on the left side of midfield, but that position no longer exists in Struber’s system, so he has had to look elsewhere for a place in the team. For the final 2 games of the season, he had a starting place at the attacking tip of the diamond, in the hole behind the front two. He does not quite have the endurance for the job, and although he carries the ball well enough, he does not quite have the quality of final pass to put the front two away. I have suggested we retain him, but to be honest, his career at Barnsley is at a crossroads. He is yet another who is seeking his best role in Struber’s system, having been brought to the club to play in a completely different system.


Jacob Brown

Jacob Brown is yet another enigma. His work rate and the number of assists that he contributes make him an automatic choice for our first team, but his best position (right side midfield) no longer exists in Struber’s system. Currently, Struber accommodates him in the team by playing him as a pressing forward, but frankly, he does not take enough of his chances and he does not possess the cool head for the job. Brown tends to be the one to move positions when we need a goal, and he is often to be found at right wing back late in games, because he still has something positive to give to the team late in games. That might well be his best position in Struber’s team structure, but it is a shame that so many players do not fit into Struber,s system, because it means that either their games have to change, or the club has to go through the difficult and risky process of moving them on, and finding replacements.


Matty Wolfe


Wolfe has had a very impressive debut, but 20 minutes in a side that had become disorganised in its search for a late equaliser (at Leeds), is not long enough to make any sort of judgement about his future.

 

Connor Chaplin


Once again, we have to talk about Struber’s System. He likes to play a press. In order to do that, his front two players have to be very fit and have extraordinary endurance. It is as though the press (defence) has a higher priority than scoring goals. Of course, we would love to have players who can do both, but those players tend to be well beyond our price range. So we have to accept players who can do one thing or the other. The use of small players in our front two, condemns us to advance up the field using the short passing route, because short players will not win long balls hit forward from back to front in the air. It is the compromise in the pressing system. It is the reason that we often lose out against big sides like Stoke. Chaplin does score goals, but he has scored far fewer under our current system. He would benefit in that regard from playing next to a big man (see above). Connor Chaplin is an automatic pick when fit, but he would score more goals in a different system.


Patrick Schmidt


Schmidt is a goal scorer, but often commits nothing else to the team. For that reason, he tends to be used late in games when we need a goal, but not until we reach that stage. He is an enigma, but this time, an enigma not of Struber’s making. If he wants more game time, he must develop other aspects to his game. He must become a more well-rounded player. Is he willing to do this, or indeed, capable of doing it? Who knows, but he deserves more time.


Cauley Woodrow


This will be controversial. Since Struber arrived, he has played Woodrow at the attacking tip of the midfield diamond. It is because Woodrow cannot work hard enough to be part of a successful press. Woodrow’s goals have dried up, as a result. Not only that, there are other candidates for that role at the attacking tip of the midfield diamond who are far better candidates than a non-scoring version of Woodrow. Woodrow needs to be next to a target man in a 4-4-2 system, but neither the coach, nor the owners want to play that way. That means that Woodrow has to go in order to make way for a front player better suited to the Struber system.


Elliot Simoes


In my opinion, Simoes is now ahead of Woodrow and Schmidt for a place in the front two. I have not seen enough of him to say more, and he is still very young and has much to learn.



We all have a lot to learn about the game as played the Struber way, but it is clear from my assessment of the individual players, that many are not a good fit, and will struggle to ever fit. In that case, what do the owners do? Well they definitely keep their basic plan, because it is that plan that allows the club to stay solvent, but the recruitment team need to change their focus to begin looking for players who fit the Struber strategy better. Players will have to leave, and many of those players will be fan favourites. But if the club is to fully get behind the Struber style of play, it must bring in new players who better suit his system and strategy.


There are going to be BBS tears and tantrums around the corner.

 

A well written piece ruined by a condensing sentence at the end

 

The other alternative is that Struber leaves and we go back to 4-4-2 with Browny and Thomas on the wings, Styles and Mowatt in the middle and Woodrow back up front in a 2 with this big lad from Livingston.

 

I apreciate your assessment, but what happens when Struber leaves? Do we put all our eggs in his basket in the interim?

 

Whilst I enjoy reading your stuff, I can't help but wonder how - if so many players don't fit the system - we've been in playoff pushing form post-lockdown and comfy mid-table since Struber arrived. You refer to Chaplin scoring fewer goals in this system, yet it's under Struber where he came alive and scored most of his goals. Also, whilst Woodrow's goals did dry up during the final nine matches, he scored plenty before that, in this system. He'd got five in six prior to COVID.

Jordan Williams has not been playing left-back either. He's been the left-sided defender of a back three, with Styles at left wing-back. But we've covered all this system and shape stuff before and none of us could firmly agree on anything. That's because under Gerhard it's meant to be fluid. They shift systems multiple times during games, in and out of possession they shift too. A player can be a defender in essence, but is allowed to go and work elsewhere with another player filling in. It's the fluidity and ability to change our shape so quickly that caught Leeds, Forest and Brentford so well. It's what Bielsa was saying after the game, as was Frank on Wednesday. They believe it's extraordinary, and I agree. We went from one way of playing at the start of the season, no deviation in tactic whatsoever, to this. The gaffer is next level.

But these are good young footballers, all still developing to different degrees and whilst yes, Thomas is a winger in terms of his short career to date, that doesn't mean we have to think about moving him on because we don't play with wingers. He's been a real threat in the last three games in that new position, in my opinion. His decisions let him down a fair bit, but he can clearly perform in that role. Just as Styles can play down the left even though we think he's probably better centrally. They're not 28-year-olds being asked to change position after 250 games in one spot.

All that said, I don't find myself disagreeing with much of your thoughts in this thread.

I love reading well-structured arguments, opinions. And that's all they are. Opinions. Mine included.

My favourite opinion is that 20-year-old Jordan Williams is the most underrated player in the squad.

 

I must agree that Jordan Williams knows how to break out of the opponents press (if they have one) by having the nouse speed and control to drive forward.

Perhaps Red Rain feels more comfortable with player assessments these days. Given that he hasn't yet responded (and apparently won't) to the tank recently parked on his accountants lawn.

 

I have to agree with Whitey RE Jordan Williams. I really like him and he's just got better and better. Maybe the reason people think he's been playing left back is because he has pretty much slotted in seamlessly as a CB. Yet he still marauds forward and creates.

Also, re Struber's tactics, if Chris Wilder played our system he'd get a knighthood and sky sports would never stop banging on about it.

Struber's system is like big mac sauce. I dont have a clue what it is, but I like it and want it on my burger.

 

If he gets us promoted next season I'm sure sky sports will be all over it as the blunts come crashing back down to the championship!

 

Sollbauer is often quite wide on the right, but nobody calls him a right back.

When Pinnock hand-balled it the other night, Brown, Chaplin and Ludewig were all on the right wing, and Thomas up front. At that brief moment of the game. Because that's where the ball was. We just swarm around the ball. It's crackers to watch at times, especially when the opponents break the press and get out and you've Benrahma bearing down on goal.

 

Basically:
Yer right - most things go through Mowatt - but a large percentage of his passes go astray - he often commits too early in the tackle (hence Brentford goal) - he has a good engine that will run all match but has no speed.
Yes he is the only player who is capable of filling that central role at the club - and this is a principle reason why we struggled this season.
It’s essential that we get replacements for this position.
Styles may grow into that position.

Brown is a conundrum.
He is lighting quick and can tackle - but he dosen’t have the natural ability to read potential goal opportunities - and a high percentage of strikes misses the target - so why is this player played as a forward?
He just isn’t a forward.

Ritzmeier and Bähre are not good enough at this level - as they don’t pose a threat to the oppositions goal.
Other than that we have a shed load of exciting young players which some (probably not all) will blossom into quality players.
Exciting times ahead - especially if the next transfer window is successful.

 

Were in trouble next season if either Williams are starting 11 that's for sure. I agree Jordan Williams did get better as the season progressed but not championship standard as yet.

 

Immediately I saw the original post I looked for the assessments of Woodrow, Mowatt and Brown. As I expected, all three of these assessments make some mention of moving those players on. The point is presumably to justify the approach of the Board both towards the last season, and no doubt the coming one unless they slightly modify their strategy. The approach they adopted last Summer came very close to costing us our Championship place, and still may do if the unthinkable happens and Wigan win their appeal.

The credible alternative to the 'austerity' policy the Board have adopted up to now was outlined in the excellent post by Sheriff of 18 July. That is a post which the OP here has repeatedly refused to address, instead putting up a 'straw man' argument that the alternative strategy must involve spending tens of millions of pounds and bankrupting the club. That is not so, as Sheriff demonstrated.

As for the player assessments, the OP seems to have some sort of a downer on Cauley Woodrow. In my opinion it is plain for all to see that he is a very talented footballer, and in line with Whitey's remarks about the fluidity of Gerhard Struber's system, I would trust Gerhard to get the best out of Cauley should they both stay at the club. But already we hear rumours about Woodrow leaving. That would be a shame in my view, but in itself it is not the problem. The problem is securing an equally talented ready-to-go replacement prior to the season commencing. That did not happen in the case of Davies, Lindsay and Pinnock. Whether those players have thrived since they left is not particularly relevant in my view. The statement from the club implies 'learning from mistakes'. Let's hope so, but it's 'Spectemur Agendo' time again.

 

I'm also of the opinion that Jordan Williams is going to be one to watch in the future. I never really understood some of the criticism he got.

As for Styles - his performance against Brentford was absolutely on another level. What really impressed me was the amount of tracking back he did, and setting things going from deep. Aged 20. It was a criticism often levelled at Hourihane that he didn't do enough of this type of dirty work when he first signed for us. In reality he didn't really add this side of things to his game until he was around 24. To see Styles playing with such maturity already was fantastic. Long term, the team needs to be built around him. If he can add regular goals to his game, I can see him being a regular in the Premier League in two or three years.

 

When GG was with us, he said that the owners wanted to play the press. Hence the last 3 managers were chosen because they believed in the press. Struber's version of the press is different from Stendel's version, but nevertheless, it is the press. I think 4-4-2 is more enjoyable to watch, but I have had to accept that an owner gets to call the shots. The owner gets to say what happens, and the fans merely get to comment on it. We do not get to change the basic principles, we only get to say whether those basic principles can be made to work better through minor adjustment.

 

Is there a reason why you have factored in the system for the out pitch players but not the Goalkeepers?
I ask because you say their mistakes are down to age yet they are of similar age to others and if you take Collins as an example he came with an excellent reputation as a Goalkeeper after a season with Burton (albeit in L1).
I can’t help wonder if Collins like others was affected by the system, in that by being put under much more pressure due to performance issues by others etc, whereas has Walton benefited from those improved performances of the defence?

 

I have to say that I have wrestled with that very question over the period since lock down ended. I did not like Stuber's system, and I was reluctant to accept that it was our best way forward. However, the evidence was there in our final few games. He has turned the team around and the system functioned superbly well, even though many of the players were bought for a previous coach who wanted to play a different way. The system is not as efficient as it could be, because some of the players do not suit the system. If you were an owner, and assuming Struber is staying, would you say that you were hedging your bets (with the effect that that would have on the prospect of Struber staying and the effect that that would have on our performances next season), or would you say you were going to support him, and support his ideas. That is the question that they must answer, and I have assumed what that answer will be.

 

I do not disagree with the thoughts in your first 3 paragraphs, but I have to describe a system so that readers can understand the points that I am making. I am still learning the subtleties of the Struber system myself, and I am grateful to you, because at times during the season, you have helped me in that process. What my piece does as its first basic assumption is assume that Struber is here to stay, and so is his system. I would prefer to watch us play a different way, if I am totally honest, but I have accepted the inevitable, and I have moved on, to ask different questions. The question that I am asking now is how can Struber's results be improved assuming the system is fixed, and that is the basis for my review.

You are right that my views about players are my opinions, but I hope they are the starting point for an interesting discussion

 

"Long term" are the problem words here unless the owners' strategy changes.