[BFC SITE] "There's no better time to turn it around than in a derby game" | Darrell Clarke...

Head Coach Darrell Clarke spoke to the media on Thursday to preview Saturday's Sky Bet League One clash against Huddersfield Town at Oakwell.

Response following defeat at Stockport County

It's been about galvanising the place again, to be honest with you. The mood is never good in the camp when we're not performing to the levels that we should be. But we try and keep the place positive. The boys feel that, so it's up to myself and my staff—it's our responsibility to pick the place up. The only real way you pick it up is by winning your next game. So that's the bit of focus. The boys have been training well, training hard in a tough week, but hopefully we can get that performance right.

You need your players to perform. Like I said, we worked on a new shape, and it didn't work for 45 minutes, despite witnessing a really good week of working on the new shape. But then it wasn't replicated on the pitch. It has to come down to myself. I expected more from the players to be able to adapt. I'm not going to lie to you, because I like to be an adaptable head coach. And you know, that's still moving forward—that can still be looked at as well—because I don't want us to be predictable. We need to be able to have Plan A, Plan B. And what I have found a lot of times this season is that some of the players have struggled with that adaptability. So then I have to question myself—whether, you know, whether, whether I've got that right for that particular game. And I didn't get it right first half, but the second half was a lot better.

It doesn't make me fearful to do something different and look at things, that's for sure. But, you know, I've got enough games under my belt as a manager that I have no problem playing different shapes, different formations. And at times, sometimes it's the players that have to change, learn, and find different ways, because modern-day football has to be adaptable. You know, every player has strengths and weaknesses in certain positions and in what they bring. But also, you get so much data, so much information on teams, and teams get so much information on us, that adaptability can be the key, at times, to turning negative results into positive results. It didn't, didn't work on Saturday, but that doesn't put me off for the future.

On Recent Form

I don't think we can kid ourselves or paper over the fact that winning four games over the Christmas period and then not winning the last five—it's certainly been a frustrating period for myself and everybody. Certainly for the supporters as well, which I get. I get that frustration. We came here, and I said all along in the summer that the aim was to try and get into that top six in a very competitive league this season, with a lot of financial clout, and we're falling short as things stand. With a third of the season to go, big derby game coming up on Saturday—let's be positive. There's no better time to turn it around than in a derby game.

On Potential Additions to the Squad

Hopefully, positive news at the back end of this week. There's a certain process we're going through—what we need to do when making a new signing—so fingers crossed we can get it over the line by the end of the week.

It’s one specific player that we're trying to get over the line. A lot of work going on in the background. Like I said, hopefully positive news by the end of this week, but I'm happy to update after the game on Saturday.

Fixtures

• Barnsley Vs. Huddersfield Town - Sat, Feb 15 2025, 15:00

Doubts ahead of the Terriers

He [Stephen Humphrys] had a bad illness. Lost a lot of weight, but he's back in full training this week, so that's a positive. Neil [Farrugia] now as well—he's got some more minutes under his belt, he's in full fitness as well, so that's another positive for us.

Fabio's [Jalo] going to be out until the end of March. Max [Watters] is doing light work on the grass, so I imagine Max will be another couple of weeks.

On Clément Rodrigues following his Reds debut

He's training hard. It's difficult for a lad that comes over from France, can't speak English, and is trying to fit in, so it's going to take a little bit of time to adjust. But he's training well. He's got Mael [de Gevigney] and Neil [Farrugia], who can speak fluent French, which helps. My French is rubbish. I wish I'd done better at school in that, so, you know, he's just working hard at the training ground.

We've got to kickstart, and there's no better way to do that than in a derby game against a team that's obviously expected to be right up there, with a manager who obviously knows this club very well. So we're looking forward to it. I'm sure the fans will get behind the players—give the fans the opportunity to see a good performance on Saturday, and with it being a derby game, we're looking forward to that. Time to turn our fortunes around.

On Approach Going Forward

We want to put in a good performance, but we want to win the game. First and foremost, the game is about winning. Always has been. We're on a bit of a run at the minute where we're not at the levels of performance, and certainly nowhere near the results. So the only way you can put that right is on Saturday afternoon. So we'll be focused on that. The preparation has been good, and we're looking forward to it.

It's my job to make sure—listen, I believe, in my opinion, that players do have a ceiling. I really do. And it's my job to make sure that my, our players, reach that ceiling. And we've come off it. I think we can give anybody more than a good game, but we've come off it. There have been different reasons why we've dipped off. You always want to be in a situation where you've got your best players. I think we have a few players that are more than capable of playing top six at this level. Then we've got a few players that need to get to those levels very quickly. We keep working away and keep trying to improve the players. As I said, with a third of the season to go, we'll see how that goes.

Continue reading...

 

So this freebie he spoke to on Teams last week might happen before we next play....

 

Is he talking about form or his bottom?

 

Word salad for Clarke.

 

We go again.....

 

WELCOME BACK TO OAKWELL CLINT MARCELLE

Clarke talks nonsense he must be high fiving his missus every week a pay slip lands in his bank.

Quicker we get rid of this Poundland manager the back room staff and some of the chimps running the club the better.

Paul Warne or evatt are streets ahead of Clarke and sat on the dole

 

His assessment of the new French striker doesn't fill me with confidence. You would think he would come out and say some positive words about him. That he's looking good/sharp and looks like he can really make a difference to a end of season push. Fact that hes training well and its hard to move countries and adjust just doesn't breed confidence to me. Hopefully I'm wrong.

 

Jurys definetly still out on his managerial ability but I do think he interviews well accepts blame whilst also trying to explain things as much as he can and probably should.

 

Still hear him knocking the players publicly so goodness knows what he is saying to them in the dressing room.

 

He might aswell have said the French lad isn’t good enough from reading that.

So it makes perfectly good sense to sign another Foreign striker who isn’t yet going to have acclimatised at this level, yet we don’t have time for that….

Make it make sense BFC.

 

Here's hoping that Humphrys losing a bit of weight might mean he can last a full 90 minutes without blowing out of his arse. He could lose a kilo from his neck alone.

 

Neither of them are on the dole.

 

Well said Darrell, I can't face the udders fans at work if we lose! Hope Duff has gone for the Derby stance he had at Swansea!