Could making him captain possibly make him a better player Thought he was outstanding today was all over the pitch. Strange decision to sub him would have been Phillips for me thought he was quiet
He was certainly seeing more of the ball in the final third now he seems to have moved into Kane’s position. I’ll have to watch it back but his goal seemed quite fortunate but then he was unlucky with some other attempts. The one that hit the side netting nearly had me off my seat with the view from the West Stand.
It will come . He was mightily close on two or three occasions . Oh and he scored he was absolutely outstanding tonight, back to his best.
Don't know about Luca but Cosgrove and Watters can't shoot either, infact Watters looked reluctant to shoot at all. Poor finishing was our downfall tonight, hope a couple of forwards are signed asap.
When ball was pulled back to Phillips in first half and he dummied it instead of bursting net I wanted to smash the TV .
Most shots will be off target from long range. Same with Phillips, Gerrard or Ronaldo. They were all decent efforts at least not just blazed over like Russell's. I'm sure he will improve mate
It worries me that the manager/coach didn't see the problems in the first 25 minutes and had to be told by Roberts (I actually saw the conversation, I was sat just to the right of the dugout) and to be fair DC took the advice, prior to that DC just kept scratching his head and looking at his watch. It's early on and the pre season optimism has gone, but, the window is still open and with the addition of 2 strikers the optimism may return, I personally think it'll be loan players unfortunately.
Connell was signed from Celtic after a spell at Queens Park, where he'd been given licence to pick up the ball on the edge of his own penalty area, and carry it the length of the field. For pretty much the entirety of his Barnsley career so far, he's been deployed more as a holding midfield player. In his first season for us, that was fine, he broke up play well. Last season, for whatever reason (fitness or otherwise) he didn't look as effective in that role. I think it's clear, he's not a natural DM, and he's often talked about how he's more of a box to box player, and wants to score goals. We've now signed Matty Craig, who can fill that DM role, and seems to compliment Luca perfectly, giving him that licence to get forward again. I think last night was just a glimpse of what Connell can do as a ball carrying centre midfielder. I do think he could have played Cosgrove through a couple of times where he opted to shoot, but I think he had more shots last night that he did in the entirety of last season. With practice, they'll ripple the net. It was the main encouraging sign I took from last night.
