Mladen in the YP.

Earl, Pines and De Gevigney might compliment each other, but do they complement each other?

 

The data must be telling Mladen something my eyes aren't.

We've plenty quantity wise, but in terms of quality, only Earl is ready to play 40 games in a side capable of winning promotion from League One.

Plus we're desperately in need of pace, particularly now Williams has gone. A back three containing De Gevigney and Lopata just isn't possible unless you sit on top of your keeper, over 35s football style.

 

Earl looked cool and classy initially, but he went on to make a lot of mistakes. He tended to dwell on the ball too long. I have the impression that he thinks he is a better player than he actually is.

 

Personally, I don’t mind our defenders. Yes, we could have better. Will we get better? Probably not.

MDG seemed to play better on the front foot. As I think all of our defenders did. It was when we sat back that it capitulated.

Set pieces were diabolical. Hopefully they get rid of the zonal marking and go man to man.

We did have an extremely high line that cost us goals at times because of the somewhat lack of pace but the best way to counteract lack of pace is to position well. John terry for example, never the quickest but one of the most intelligent defenders in regards to positioning.

None of the defenders are the finished article but neither was Liam kitching and he brought in just under 5m (albeit a stupid payment structure the club agreed to).

With a few tweaks, maybe a lot more defensive work and teaching some dark arts of the game then I think most of our defenders currently will turn out to be more than ok, whether that’s with us or a different team.

 

We're assuming Pines is going to be great, too early to tell, but if he turns out to be poor then we really are in trouble, thought we'd be looking to bring in a decent CB and try and offload a couple

 

Personally I think our defenders at times were left hung out to dry by the midfield and made them look worse than what they were.
Yes the tactics, and basics mistakes didn’t help and it’s doubtful they will develop into top players but with the right coaching & tactics can go a long way towards rectifying that.

 

Hopefully they do to keep morale up! I would like to blame autocorrect but I think it’s on me this one.

 

Yeah him sorry

 

Who was the yes man they were hoping to appoint?
Do you mean people like Val or maybe Duff or even Collins.
In all my time watching Barnsley I can't recall anybody remotely you could class as a "yes man".
For what its worth I don't think Clarke will be either.

 

Agree on MDG.. looks decent with the ball at his feet.. his stats must make him look good at the tippy-tappy stuff and must have been why we picked him up. But what he's lacking in, pace and general awareness in his defending, set plays and such out weights what he brings. At the end of the day, a defender must be able firstly to defend..

Agree on the zonal marking 5'hite.. what a waste of time

 

Lopata looks the part, he's just not been very good or ain't been up to press.

 

I for one would admire his honesty.. And also add that our recruitment as been shocking..

 

Pines & Earl will be the best Centre Back partnership in League One next year.

 

Agree with the first bit.. kinda. Yes I don't think any of our midfielders were great defenders. And didn't always help out. One or two with knowledge of the dark arts needed to stop opponents playing... But yet again we're back to recruitment. Signing too many similar type tippy-tappys.. You see the stats don't show how much fight there is in the dog.. Where as an old fashioned scout would have seen it.

 

That's the worry, we've an analyst in a position where we needed a footballing person. His stats might tell us that MDG has a successful pass rate of 70%, he's won 80% of headers and 60% of tackles but not that he was caught out positionally for 15 goals last season.

 

Stats would include exactly that as well

 

Judging by his assessment, it's excel sheet must have returned #N/A

 

Maybe Clarke has assured him he can coach him to be in better positions therefore improve?

 

Do you think he can make him run faster?