Honest opinion

Probably financial with the odd exceptional season when we put together a really good side.

 

We seem to have got ourselves a much more hard-headed, alpha-male manager than many of the past ones. He obviously wants the team to play this way and it is bearing fruit in terms of results. I have got to say that, when Ismael was at Palace as a player, several teams were playing this way, including Wimbledon, Palace themselves at times, Watford and so on. It's a moot point as to whether we want a manager for whom the technical beauty of the game comes first (like Struber), or the results take priority over the quality of the football. If it's results which matter more than anything else, Ismael is doing it right. There is a gulf in the quality of some of our individual players and the teams in the top ten, but I am guessing that VI will want to improve that over time. The forceful style as manager reminds me of Alex Ferguson, so who's to say he might not be able to build an empire at Oakwell, like Graham Taylor did at Watford, or Bassett and Kinnear at Wimbledon. It may help VI's style that there are no fans in the stadium at the moment, but i actually think that return of fans would help the players to win games like Saturday's.

I, for one, would settle for results this season and next, rather than the annual scrap against relegation. If we manage to develop the squad, a more consistent style of quality football should follow.

 

I concur with those who talk negatively about this style of football.

We've certainly gotten more points than most of us expected after a poor start, but my god, the football is absolutely awful to watch.

I've no issue with playing it long and mixing play up during a game. But constantly just hoofing it forward to nobody in particular or with an intent to exploit a weakness in the opponents game is just grim.

In the games i've seen, the majority of the game has been hoof and this just isn't a way we've ever played, it's never seen the Barnsley DNA.

At this moment, I truly hope it's just a short term tactic to get us safe and then have more time to develop. But Ismael did say from the outset his style was vertical football. We just didn't realise vertical = hoof.

 

Our style of football only seems an issue when we lose. Let’s not forget that Big Val has broken club records playing this way.

I’ve always associated BFC with passing football, and that is my preferred style all day long - if Man City are on sky, I’ll always make an effort to watch, it’s educational, Val probably agrees.

At this moment in time id say BFCs remit is to establish ourselves as a regular championship club by winning as many games as possible.

 

Yep, if Mick McCarthy had come in and played this style with these results, we'd be saying how great he is.

 

I wouldn't ;-)

 

I actually prefer this football to what we have been playing in recent years , getting the ball up the pitch quickly brings more pace & energy to our game & we never stop going , hence the late goals we have scored this season , the object of the game is to score more than the opposition & if a long ball from the goalkeeper or a defender lands in the opponents box & someone bangs it in , it counts the same as a Man city 20 pass move does, I know which we all prefer to watch, but at the end of the day it is about scoring more goals than our opponents & we are better at it under Val than we have been under some of our previous managers , not so long ago under Danny Wilson a manager renowned for good football , I used to sit with my head in my hands half the time , bored rigid , so Vals style sits o.k with me .

 

If you added a target man to make the ball stick (better technically than we have at present) to play with Cauley, and someone with the control and ability of, say, Adam Hammill then I don`t think we would be worrying about Vertical Football.
Not talking about an Ashley Ward or Trevor Aylott but someone akin to Andy Rammell or Big Stan.
I think it`s a matter of the quality and control of those receiving the long balls than the style of play.