We were awful on Saturday. It felt like it was as bad a performance as I've ever seen. There probably have been worse performances that I've seen, but it didn't feel like it at the final whistle. Other than Killip, whose contribution has been analysed to death, the two worst players for me were Humphrys and Nwakali. Nobody played well (other than possibly Pines (and Watters and Cotter when they came on)) but the rest made dozens of errors, played really badly, but still actually tried. They were crap, but they tried. Humphrys and Nwakali gave up. And that's not acceptable. So when they were both dropped for today, I thought, that's bang on Clarke, well done. Craig pretty much acted his way out of ever playing for us again with the way he performed after being subbed, so he was another that had to go. Compare and contrast how Craig reacted to being subbed with McCarthy, who was equally pissed off. McCarthy's body language showed exactly what he felt, but he kept a lid on it because he's a professional. The other big decision is do you keep Killip in the team? I don't know the right answer to that. Slonina has been vilified on here. If he was brought back into the team and he made a mistake Clarke would have been put over hot coals. I've never seen Smith play, so I can't advocate his inclusion. Clarke went with Killip, it's a tough, ballsy decision, I'll give him credit for that. Upshot of all that is the team selected was pretty much what I was hoping to see. Phillips and Connell back, McCarthy given another chance, Humphrys and Nwakali told that they can't expect to be selected if they don't give everything they've got. And first half I thought we played well and were desperately unlucky not to be at least level. This was Watters first start after a lengthy lay-off due to injury. Connell was back after illness. I don't have a second of doubt that Clarke asked if the pair of them felt they could give him 60 minutes. Both of them said 'yes' and they bloody well did. I thought they both played great and gave everything in that 60 minutes leaving nothing left. And on 60 minutes the board came up and they both knew they were going off. It was pre-planned. Meanwhile, Nwakali and Humphrys were told, reight, you've got half an hour, show me what you've got and why you should be starting the next game. And they did. But so did Connell and Watters in the first 60 minutes, and Phillips scored and assisted, so Clarke has got a headache coming. And DKD wasn't subbed because he wasn't knackered. And yes, he doesn't get involved in games as much as we'd like, but he always looks capable of getting a goal. That was his 6th in 18. That's bloody good. I thought we were great today. I thought Clarke did a fantastic job of managing his squad. And the players responded. A brilliant, brilliant away day. If only I hadn't read this bloody forum.
Well, clearly Clarke disagreed with you about Nwakali against Orient otherwise he wouldn't have dropped him. I'm 100% behind Clarke in that decision. And imho, Pines was better than most against Orient, probably all other starters, and brilliant today.
Nwakali is different class' i love watching him' cool head' never wastes a pass' proper rolls royce of a player and the clubs next big moneyspinner..
Not sure thats true about Clarke not picking him to start because he has done it before when Nwakali was clearly MOM in the previous match.
If he was clearly motm against Orient, what is your interpretation of why Clarke didn't start him today? Do you think Clarke is deliberately trying to lose? To what end? Also, if he was clearly motm against Orient, ask your fellow BBSers what they think. Here's a start on that: https://barnsleyfc.org.uk/threads/bbs-player-of-the-season-orient-express.334525/ Nwakali played great when he came on today. But he didn't against Orient and that's why he was dropped.
I never said that he was clearly MOM v Orient, I said he was my man of the match. If memory serves me well and you read the Orient MOM thread in full I think you will find a number of others who also thought the same about Nwakali.
I think the difference is we as fans tend to judge players on each performance. If they’ve played badly, drop em. If their replacement impresses, he should start the next game. It’s simplistic and seemingly sensible, but doesn’t take into consideration the next opponents personnel and tactics, or the players fitness levels, niggles etc.
Yes you did. Otherwise I wouldn't have responded the way I did. I have no problem at all with you expressing the opinion that he was your man of the match against Orient. If you had done, I wouldn't have commented. However, I fully accept that between thought, expression and interpretation there is a Grand Canyon size gulf. If you were saying to me that it was simply a case that Nwakali was, in your opinion, the motm against Orient then I have nothing else to say. My opinion does not eclipse yours. If I'm arguing against your opinion then I'm talking nonsense. Apologies if that's all you were putting forward.
With Nwakali it’s clear to me that the manager doesn’t trust him against better opposition yet when it comes to his work off the ball. He didn’t start against Birmingham, Bolton & Wrexham yet he’s started him against inferior opposition. It’s also contributed to this idea amongst many of the fans that he should be the first name on the team sheet. Most of our players would look a lot better if they play the majority of their football against bottom half sides.
Ironically, the Fotmob app had him as our highest rated player against Orient (not sure how that's worked out, just found it interesting)
I guess it's whether we would prefer the world to be run by AI or people. I'd vote for people, every time.
Can't disagree with that but imagine there must be a level of objectivity with fotmob, pass accuracy, tackles, shots etc Edit, just checked and apparently it's based on over 300 stats from Opta, make of that what you will
Alternatively picked a crap side and only when he brought the better players on did the game change. Of course there is truth in that just a there is truth in the OP post. Not everything is black nd white it’s usually shades of grey. Killip chucking a routine shot in didn’t help.
A keeper is second priority after a striker in January for me. Poor keeping has cost us big style this season.
Yes absolutely. I’d say equally important. Send Gaga back. Sell Killip if possible and bring in a genuine first choice keeper. wonder if Liam Roberts is happy taking the cash at Millwall and not playing worth considering if we can get pre injury Roberts back and he wants to play.
I'd actually keep Gaga if it meant just loaning another relatively inexperienced keeper. The only reason I'd send him back if we were able to loan in a more experienced one with plenty of games under his belt this league or higher. Don't think there's any keepers out there who hasn't already been taken on loan who are young and good enough. I actually rate Gaga though so I'm apparently in a minority, it's a shame he had a couple of big errors early on because it's really tarred him so far and people only mention the **** ups, not times where he's saved us. In saying that, we cannot afford any more mistakes at all at this point imo. So as I said previously, if we can arrange a loan for an experienced lad inbetween the sticks I'd be all for sending Gaga back and brining the new guy in
