Thoughts on last night

Parked at the harvester pub next to ground


Quickest ever get away from the ground , got back in Barnsley in for 23:10.

First half , other than Woodrow goal pretty dreadful.

Second half thought we improved massively and started to pass it around much better .

Think we can all agree though Collins saved us last night . But we battled and deserved a point on battling alone.

Thought our fans were fantastic throughout and gave the team so much support all game .

I’ve gave Woodrow some stick recently but thought he was excellent last night

Really enjoyed the night/game

3 points satuday and things will look so much better

 

I thought defensively we were shocking all night. It was so easy to get in behind us down the sides on both flanks but more so our left. And when sibbick had gone off, what were we doing on the right side? Their player was stood on he touchline with no Barnsley player within 20 yards of him!

Second half we were much better going forward. Frieser annoyed me all game. Got in behind them on more than one occasion but every time looked like he was running in wellies full of tadpoles!! So slow! I'm not a big fan of Victor but he did well when he came on. Thought he was unlucky with his "chance" that came at an awkward height. He looks a much better player when he actually runs at the opposition.

Overall it's a point more than I was expecting thanks to Collins. If we can play like the first half at QPR and second half last night, we will be OK but only if we also sort out the defending as we can't keep relying on the keeper to pull of 6 worldies per game!

 

Wouldn't agree with you that the the first half was pretty dreadful. For the first 15 minutes or so we were the better side and Stoke scored against the run of play.

After their goal we did lose our way, until Woodrow scored, which gave us some impetus.

 

We need to keep possession better. I counted in the first 5 mins we lost the ball far too easily and put ourself under pressure.

Palmer, Frieser and latterly Gomez were the stand out one's but others equally guilty. We seemed at some points that we wanted to make life hard for ourselves.

A good overall point and a decent display against a team that could have gone top.

Don't get me started about the ball in behind our wing backs or I'll cry !!!

 

Defensively we were always going to be iffy - Halme, Helik and Moon is pretty much a new trio together. Nothing wrong with that, and it is enforced too, but the cohesion will always be lacking at first.

Put Anderson, Helik and Sibbick/Kitching together, and it’s a different story.

Great to see Hondermarck - never thought he’d feature much at first, but he looks some player tbf. A bit ‘under the radar’ too.

Probably need another 5-6 games to gel fully, and then I think we’ll start to see us push on a bit more. Mid-table finish is what I expect and that will be a good season.

 

agree with most of that. You lucked out with the traffic mind - horrendous journey from Leeds, parked in industrial estate about 19:30, didn't get out car park until 22:30 and then 3 night-time motorway roadworks on way back. Not back until 00:50. Grrr.

Enjoyed it though. Took kids 13 and 16 who absolutely loved it, feel like one of those games which cements their passion for the reds. Particularly the scrap Gomes looked the part once he found his feet. Think we will be fine this season.

 

I was impressed with Iseka in the first half. I thought a lot of what he tried didn't come off because other players weren't on his wavelength. I think there's a player there. I can't wait to see the midfield with Benson and Gomes in the middle. I was impressed with Halme all game. Looking back a good point. I think everuone could pick an 11 and it would be slightly different from Schopp's though.

I hope he has an idea of his best team going forward to Saturday.

 

Thought the atmosphere was excellent in our end and it felt like the players were really up for the battle on the pitch. To me it felt much more like last season again. You're absolutely right - no one understood the shape when Hondermarck came on for Sibbick and it took ages to sort it out, we played more than five minutes without a right back.

We parked at the Powerleague which was a relatively decent getaway. Especially after a Stoke fan nudged his front bumper into the traffic guy to remind him to let our line into the traffic merge...

 

For such a makeshift team to come away from Stoke with a point is nothing short of amazing, but if play like that regularly we’ll be on the end of a fair few hidings.

We can’t rely on Collins to make a string of wonder saves every week, and if we don’t create/score more chances from open play, then “Barnsley nil” will become a common phrase on a Saturday afternoon.

 

Relegation fodder. Could have been a thumping but for the excellent Brad Collins.

 

absolutely no way this team will be anywhere near relegation

 

I too thought Iseka had promise but ultimately was subbed because it wasn’t working.
Palmer, an off game.
Gomes, great after his first 10 minutes where let’s face it, he had a nightmare.
Big Vic was unlucky. Another day and a luckier striker, that would have gone in.

Freiser ran his socks off and had one chance of note that I can remember but was out-muscled, which is why I think Vic looked better when he came on in that role.

Collins will not get that lucky ever again. Let’s face it, we could have shipped 6.
But oh, that defence and the space on the wings.
I can’t make up my mind what we were supposed to be playing, but I don’t know whether Hondermarck and Vita will see us go 4 at the back, or 5.
for a team with at least 4 centre backs in it, we were outjumped at both ends for corners and set pieces


is there space for Benson, Palmer and Gomes in the same midfield.
where do you put Styles and Brittain?

Enjoyed it though
Onwards and upwards….

btw, how many yellows are various players on now. Must be nearing some suspensions.

 

Saw Woodrow get 3 free kicks given last neet must be a personal record for him in a Barnsley shirt. Cracking goal at a time when heads looked down.

 

Exactly. Moon was playing on the left of a three, and there's definitely three players (Kitching, Andersen, J Williams) and possibly another two (Vita, B Williams) that would play that position ahead of him, if available / not already playing another position.

Playing the right of the three probably isn't Halme's most comfortable position either, particularly given he's spend more time in midfield since he joined, but would be better for a run of games.

 

I agree that the defence looks shaky.

The channels are an obvious route of attack for teams with our wing backs often so advanced, but perhaps the thing that has stood out most for me in a couple of games is how shaky Helik looks when he's not just heading the ball back at opponents. He's pretty slow really and thought he had a very shaky game. Hopefully when Mads is back, that adds a bit more stability to the back three and helps Helik out more.

 

Can't wait to see Mads standing 10 yards from our goalie waiting to receive the ball, then the look of sheer terror on his face when he does !
He will be the weak link to start with, no game time and not up to speed. Don't panic Mr Anderson !!

 

He'll be fine.

 

Thought Woodrow was good after the goal but up to it he was getting knocked off ball far too easy again .

 

Despite Collins keeping us in the game there were other positives to take from it. Gomes grew into the second half and looked like he could be a good addition for us. I think that's the first time I've seen Moon start a league game and he looked very steady. Comfortable playing the ball out on either foot. Decent performance from Halme as well.

On the other side of the coin, that miss from Victor was shocking, and Frieser is massively frustrating to watch. My main concern watching us is how little we look like threatening the opposition goal. We play some nice stuff into the final third, then it always seems to be a rushed or aimless pass that breaks it all down. It's still early days though, I suppose. We're going through a big change in our style of play and having these constant injury/visa/covid problems can't be helpful for Schopp.

 

I stopped reading when you said Collins was ‘lucky’. Sorry.