Tweeted by Barnsleys own twitter account Valerien Ismael’s first 29 games at Barnsley - 55 points Valerien Ismael’s first 29 games at West Brom - 45 points Clearly he fits our setup much better than one with a big club mentality ( cf Nathan Jones Stoke / Luton) also Roy Hodgeson failed with a really big club but did well with smaller ones Its obvious he needs to come back here
His style suits a team trying to punch above their weight. We also spent three years developing a style / identity with the high press and recruited accordingly. Everything was setup to give him as good a chance as possible to succeed here. None of that was in place at West Brom, which is why he needed to raid our staff when he went.
Given that his style centres on effort and commitment I expect his success is largely dependent on how much the players buy into it. For young, hungry players at an unfashionable team who haven't really experienced success before I imagine it was easier to foster and build that togetherness and trenches spirit, especially when we started winning. I expect he got considerably less commitment and buy in from the old pros on fat contracts at West Brom. Players who have been around the block a few times and won't be ordered to run their ******** off by a bloke who had one good season at Barnsley
I think there are a number of factors. The 5 subs really suited his high energy style. Young kids playing behind closed doors that bought into his ethos 100% too. Big Val's stint at Barnsley was a bit special. Having watched the Reds for over 45 years it was certainly in the top 10 seasons & pushing the top 5 I'd say. I was a bit surprised him going to WBA. Would have more suited a Watford / Brentford type club IMO. Probably too many senior pros at West Brom that didn't totally buy into his style & fans that maybe wanted a prettier style of football.
Last season should be judged in context of there being no fans, 5 subs and championship clubs not investing in their squads as much as they have this. It was a false season and I for one am not surprised he hasn't been successful playing that style of football, which has a short shelf life and was already waning with us. He's also an abrasive character which won't go down as well with seasoned ex premiership players. Does anyone have the stats on our home results under him because from what I can remember they weren't that great
still better than this year under 2 coaches and I wouldn't consider val being in top 6 or 7 unsuccessful. Being bottom under a team deducted 21points is unsuccessful
Noone would deny that but there is no telling what we would have done with Ismael under the same conditions and with this squad of players. I've never known us have as much luck as we did last year......the wonder goal by DIke, the ghost penalty at Wycombe at a crucial stage, the 'foul' goal against Rotherham who should have won comfortably, playing Rotherham away when they hadn't played for weeks due to Covid, Mowatt's goal direct from a corner to name a few. This season has been the opposite but the main difference has been we have reverted to Plan A in terms of recruiting potential and we haven't had a Dike to win us games when weve played poorly. He's arguably had the best squad of players in the division and they are in danger of finishing outside the top 6.
these things are all part of football. Like the incident on Wednesday when our late "equaliser" which was perfectly onside cancelled out by the same referee who gave Swansea a perfectly offside goal in the play offs last season. I have no doubt whatsoever that if val came back tomorrow we would win more than half of our remaining games because he has passion and belief not like these 2 yes men we have had this season
Harsh. And wrong. Unless you are the ******* son of Markus Schopp, in which case you have my sympathy but I understand your plight. I hope you don't wear the same jogging bottoms. If you do you will never meet a woman, man or even a dog that will ever respect you.
Is problem at West Brom was no one to finish the chances, defensive wise one of the meanest in the Championship. Summat to be said for getting the ball up field early.
My arse is way too fat for jogging bottoms. I've written "Lonsdale" in felt tip pen on them just for comedy effect.
One of our greatest seasons ever, personally the best season in my time of watching the reds and some people seem to love to try and find the negatives from it. We should all be proud of what we achieved together. I only wish it could’ve lasted longer.
Spot on. Val gave us a fantastic season, but it was one-off and he got the lucky breaks. The match with the Dike wondergoal was as dull as dishwater & the opportunity to strike came after a challenge where we got the run of the ball. The strike was box-office brilliant, but the game as a whole was nowhere near as entertaining as Wednesday night and I much prefer sticking with Poya right now.
On the other hand some performances like Luton away and Bon-o-muff away were some of the best performances I have seen by us in the last decade or so
