Marks out of 10 for the season so far?

A third of the season has gone.
During the drive home yesterday I was thinking about some things I've enjoyed and some I haven't and overall how good the season has been so far - on and off the pitch.

Good:

• Last season the teams confidence, belief and fight gradually evaporated and under Asbaghi seemed to disappear altogether. There's a long way to go but there's no doubt in my mind that it's already much better than it was.
• Michael Duff seems assured and completely in control. Very different from Mr Asbaghi who appeared completely out of his depth. A good appointment in my opinion. I also think he's much more likely (than another continental appointment) to be here for 2/3 years and I think we're desperate for some continuity so that's a positive for me.
• I also like Duff's interviews. In my opinion he's honest, balanced and insightful.
• With the Martin's - Patterson and Devaney it seems to me that the coaching team is strong.
• The recovery / return to the team and to form of Luke Thomas, Josh Benson and Herbie Kane. Having said that Benson's form has dipped and he's pretty much gone missing over the last few games. Marginally better yesterday but needs to reset and apply himself again. I may be in a minority but for me Kane is key to us being more creative as he sees passes and through balls others don't. Yes, some of the passes are misplaced but I'm happy to accept that if it means we're more threatening going forward.
• Mads Andersen is developing as captain and leader.
• I see some signs of us being more professional with off the field activities.
• The ownership group have input money and reduced the Lee / Conway shareholding.
• My view is that the new ownership group are listening, are trying to improve things and rebuild trust (albeit there's a long way to go!)
• I like that Nicky Eaden and Nick Colgan have returned to the club in coaching roles.
• I had no idea how competitive we'd be this season but I feared we could be fighting to avoid relegation again. I don't think that's going to be the case and 8th place and 3 points off the playoffs probably represents better than expected. But see not so good......

Not so good:

• The gap in quality between Championship and L1 is considerable. Some of the teams we've played have been really poor.
• The quality of refereeing is at times similarly poor. The directive to allow more physicality in challenges and stop constant diving doesn't seem to have filtered down to L1.
  
• Accepting that turning around the entire club around is going to take some time, it's worried me at times just how little quality we've shown in some games.
• Whilst I understand sales were necessary, we've lost most of our quality players. If our strategy is still based on selling and reinvesting then beyond Andersen and Collins I struggle to see others who will command a substantial fee, for some time at least. Jalo might if he continues to get game time and progresses.
• The squad overall remains weak so the ability to change games through substitutions is limited.
• Early days still but as yet I think the jury is out on all of our summer signings.
• The summer transfer window left us seriously short of forwards. The "we tried but couldn't get one completed" doesn't excuse the failure.
• Too much geometric football i.e. playing in triangles between the defence and midfield and too many missed opportunities to turn and drive forward. For me we too often take the easy option of playing the way we're facing, allowing the opposition to get bodies behind the ball. Although I accept that Luke Thomas being injured doesn't help.
• Linked to the previous point, for me we need to shift the balance a little from the less risky option and be more ambitious.
• The Hex sponsorship deal. Having said that, the subsequent arrangement is positive.
• I'm slightly concerned about what I perceive to be an unwillingness at Board level to accept responsibility when something hasn't gone well or mistakes have been made. The 'spin' is reduced but it's still sometimes there.
• Despite the new ownership listening, there is still much to be done.

For me it's a 6 or 7 out of 10 at present. I'm going to be generous and go with 7 primarily because my expectations were so low. A decent start but still lots of work to do and improvements to be made.

 

Micheal Duff says in the Yorkshire Post that it will take time to get things right. Also saying managers at some of the best Premier teams took a long time to get it right. And look at the money they have.

 

A think your spot on in every point there tbf mate

 

Generous 6 for me factoring in the Wednesday and Charlton games, but otherwise it's a poor league and we've been generally not as good as I'd expect us to be.

 

I think 5 is reasonable. My expectations were low and we have just about hit them. Without changes off the pitch little will change on it.

 

From where we were at the end of last season, on & off the pitch, I feel it’s a 7 out of 10

 

I think 5 or 6 is about right, after the absolute disaster of last season it was always going to take time to rebuild.

I think Duff is on the right track and we will get there, probably next season though.

 

Any season when you win at swillsborough will get my 9 out of ten every time COYR

 

8/10 so far. It's been quite warm, but a bit too much rain this last couple of weeks.
10/10 for the summer.
Roll on springtime, hate the dark months of late autumn and winter.

 

7 for me, not sure what people were expecting on the back of 2 terrible managers and a selling anyone we can get any money for then replcing them with freebies. I thought we would be bottom half this season so punching above my expectations in a transition period.

 

If your expectations were low 3 points off the top 6 is probably exceeding them i would have thought.

 

6/10

It seems a bit harsh going as low as we are exactly where I thought and hoped we’d be, or thereabouts.

But there have been games where I felt even with the squad deficiencies, lack of pace and so on, where we could have done a little more by trying something different. The shape change on Saturday came at least a game and a half too late.

But we are in the top eight, three points from the playoffs. Not disastrous.

You know something, I might upgrade it to 7. There’s a different atmosphere generally about the place, though it nearly felt like last season on Tuesday V Lincoln.

 

6/10
Lots of work to be done , not sure some of these players are good enough for this league but I expect Duff will weed them out and hopefully replace with others with more potential .
I don’t expect big things this season tbh but some of the displays by individuals is a big concern imo .
Some of the younger ones could be excused but to forget everything they’ve ever learned at times is inexcusable imo
I don’t mind losing if we putting shifts in and the opposition are playing better on the day but most times we’ve been beaten this season seemed more like a surrender, even some of the draws and wins have been unconvincing .
We have seen games where the potential and quality seems to be there but unfortunately it’s been rare occasions for some reason .
I get that we’ll be inconsistent with such a young squad but not putting 100% in games (and I also get that won’t happen 100% of the time ) is unforgivable imo especially in some of the longer serving players .
If the Barnsley fans see total commitment to the cause from the players they’ll get behind them whether having a bad game/ spell or not .

 

My expectations pre season were top 6. After the fire sale with no replacements of sufficient quality brought in i expected somewhere between 6 and 16th unless we underperformed. So I’d say low expectations met gets me to 5.

 

6 to 16th narrows it down abit.

 

7/10 I’d say, largely on the back of winning at the sty. Doing better than I expected but struggling for goals as I feared with the lack of attacking recruitment in the summer window.

 

I've gone for 6 but I know that mark will improve.

 

6/10 for me, too tired now to write any explanation

 

Close to my 1st to 24th guess.

 

is that mid table?