Tom Bradshaw will not be starting on Tuesday. As much as we like a trier, we’ve been playing with 10 men for months. Good Morning all.
It's a dilemma, isn't it? Barnsley fans love a grafter, and Tom is that par excellence. But 8 goals in 31 appearances (or 2,144 minutes, equalling a goal every 268 minutes played) isn't a high enough strike rate to get us out of our present predicament. McBurnie surely has to be the first pick, whether in a '1' or a '2' up front? He promises to improve us on the evidence so far. After that, if we go with two it's presumably between Tom, Thiam or Moore. But the wider issue is supply to the strikers. Oli McBurnie had to create his own goal against Wednesday. Fryers, Yiadom and Moncur have provided 6 assists (2 each) while Isgrove, Hammill, Potts and Hedges have mustered only 3 between them. Without digging deeper, that looks like a woeful rate of supply for the strikers to feed on - whoever we field up front. Hopefully our 'Special One' can use his experience to unlock some creativity from within the side. I suspect Burton will take some breaking down on Tuesday - notwithstanding the result at their ground.
I believe that would be the right thing to do which would change how we play and take the shackles off the rest of the team. I would also change Gardner for mallan and use knarsmullner or moncur in place of Bradshaw with the option of Moore if we are not winning coming to the end. Don't be surprised though if it's the wingers in our team the drop out with moncur mallan and knarsmullner replacing isgrove hammiĺl and Bradshaw. Also the team he starts with tomorrow will be nothing like the team that he will see as his strongest team in a month's time, it would be brave to make dramatic changes for his game after only a few days of working with the team but I would welcome it if he did.
Stats Eh! Don't 'assists' stats only count as such if a goal results from a through ball, pass or pinpoint cross? Whilst I have only been able to make one match (Reading) I am sure Hammill did at least two of the latter on that day alone and we had no-one, it seemed, capable of being in the right place at the right time or even in the box. Winnall seemed to be able to get himself into the right position to benefit from those type of crosses and if he was still there I am sure Hammill, , in fairness only based on what I saw that day, at least, would have a better assist rate than he does this season. Mc Burnie may well have more nous and drive than the likes of Bradshaw or Thiam when it comes to getting in the right place at the right time.
Exactly how I see it, Ors'. That's why I feel Bradshaw is more likely to start than not. As well as Oli making his own goal, he was great with the flick-ons but they weren't anticipated. If Tom gets onto those & gets decent service in general , he'll bag a few. It will be interesting to see if Malian gets a start too, as we missed his set piece capabilities last match (Hammill put in a couple of great crosses including one from a fluffed corner but not in Stevie's league when it's a dead ball). Similarly, I find Williams more creative than Gardner so wondering whether he finds a place for both, or favours 'player of the month'. So back to the OP, it's thought provoking but reckon the starting line-up is hard to predict as Jose will take his view based on how the lads get on in training with his preferred formation. Exciting football is on the menu, so I think the likes of Hammill , Mcburnie and Isgrove fit the bill and some clinical finishing from Bradshaw could be the cherry on top.
The chances are that we will play 4231 so I'd be very surprised and dissapointed if Jose thought that Bradshaw could play as the '1'. He just does not have the attributes to play that role. I'd imagine a similar back 6 to Wednesday, with Isgrove, Hammill, Mallan as the 3 and McBurnie as the 1.
Bradshaw could probably do with a few weeks coming off the bench. He’s ran himself into the ground this season due to the state of Thiam & Ugbo & the McBurnie dead not getting done in August.
Our line up on Tuesday will very much depend on what Jose and Dimas saw at the Pirelli Stadium yesterday. They both attended the Burton versus Forest game and no doubt came away with a very good idea of what they perceived to be the Brewers strengths and weaknesses. The emphasis going forward, is in getting the goals to win games and so whoever they pick up front, will depend on what they've seen in their first few days in training. One things for certain, with Darren Bent in their line up, Burton carry a goal threat of their own and it will be interesting to see how our new coaches deal with that.
Can't wait for him to 4-4-2 with pearson and and mccarthy converted to holding midfielders. Thiam and Moncur on the wings. And Bradshaw up front with Adam Davies. A move inspired by his all-time favourite manager Stuart Pearce.
Having seen a number of Mourinho teams down the years I don't anticipate 'exciting' football hoping that Morais will not simply be a Mourinho Mark 2. That said, having worked so closely with Mourinho I would be surprised if some of the traits in Mourinho's teams didn't surface at Oakwell under Morais. I do hope for effective football however, making better use of the resources we have than Hecky was able to do. I've thought for most of the season our problems have stemmed from midfield either not providing quality for the guys up front or sufficiently protecting the back 4 (5 if we include the keeper). As a former defensive midfielder our JM might have some solutions to our midfield dilemma.
Don’t underestimate Tom’s part in Oli’s goal, watch the goal again and see how his run drew 2 defenders away from Oli creating the space for him to exploit and score
Watch out for Victor A to be given a chance. We need a pacey, direct forward who can find the net. McB with Victor would be formidable.
If we stay up, I'm hoping this'll be his last season with us. Decent league one player, but for this league, not quick or strong enough.
Given our run of form and the need for success on Tuesday I would hope that we see changes. Our problems have been getting goals so, apart from whether Cavare has a fresh start, the back five I would expect no big change. If he is to go 4-2-3-1 then this may look very similar to our set up previously as it allows the defensive pairing of Williams and Gardner. Hopefully the three can accommodate Hammill, Isgrove and one from Bradshaw, Mallan or Moncur with McBurnie up top. I really hope players like Thiam, Knasmullner and Moore can step in and make a difference possibly from the bench but we'll have to wait and see. Part of me hopes the team line up is nothing like any of us are predicting and he comes at this from a totally different angle, 6:45 on Tuesday will see a lot of Twitter refreshing to see the first line up. The pressure on the manager and the team to perform is already building, hopefully a win on Tuesday and Jose will be off to a flier!
I expect McBurnie to be leading the line on tuesday & rightly so , however , I do not understand the stick Bradshaw takes on here , we are in trouble as it is but without his goals we would have been cut adrift , its as if people think our lack of goals is all his fault , other forwards are allowed to contribute as well , how many goals as Thiam got ? , how many did Ugbo get ? The lad always puts a shift in, works his nuts off & is our leading scorer & its not his fault that his colleagues have not given him more support to relieve the pressure on him , he needs people to get off his case & get behind the lad
It's his all round play which is the reason i personally think Bradshaw should be dropped. Scored a few goals at the beginning of the season and works hard but think he's the reason why many of our attacks break down. Ball just bounces off him and he's also too slow to run in behind. I'll get behind him if he does start, but give me moore or mcburnie anyday.
One thing that can be guaranteed is that Burton will park the bus and we'll be playing against a 10 man defence. How we get behind their defenders is going to be the problem. Glad I don't have to pick the team.
