Barnsley (1) 2 v Middlesborough (1) 2 Team 1. Danny Free (Yr2) 2. Liam Reffin (Yr1) 3. Ben ? (?) 4. Martin Grundy (Yr2) 5. Sean Reid (?) 6. Danny Fearnehough (Yr1) 7. Alistair Taylor (Yr1) 8. Tyrone Crapper (Yr1) 9. Jack Watts (Yr2) Y(persistent fouling) (74) 10. Jamil Adam (Yr2) 11. Reuben Noble-Lazarus (U16) Subs 14. Steve Bennett (Yr1) for Adam (52) 12. Jack Briscoe (Yr1) for Watts (77) 15. ? (?) for RNL (88) Barnsley started the game in a 4:1:4:1 formation with Jack Watts up front on his own and Danny Fearnehough filling the space in front of our back four. Barnsley fielded a young left back, who I have not seen before and there were 2 more lads who were new to me on the bench. Reffin, who in previous appearances had played left back was asked to play right back. Adam began the game as the furthest forward of the midfield five, which left RNL having to occupy a position wide on the left for which he is ill equiped. Although Middlesborough have struggled this season they had scored five in their last two games and are pulling away from the bottom of the league. They started 4:4:2. Although Middlesborough had most of the early play, Adam had gone close with a volley from 30 yards on 6 minutes after Watts had won his header to set up the chance. However, it was Middlesborough who went ahead after 13 minutes. The Reds young left back was tempted forward trying to win the ball near the half-way line. The Middlesborough winger ran on into the space with the ball at his feet and picked out the Boro' #10 with his low cross to the edge of the box. The Boro' #10 scored with a side footer placed low to Free's left. Barnsley reacted to the goal by switching Taylor and RNL which I initially thought was to give the left back more cover. However, the switching continued until Adam, Watts, Taylor and RNL had all played in each others starting positions and by the end of the half and the formation better resembled 4:3:3. The young reds equalised on 43 minutes, and if the young left back could be critisised for the Boro' goal, he played a big part in the equaliser. He was pressing in the Boro half and won the ball back 40 yards from goal. Adam was freed and ran through on his own to beat an advancing Boro' keeper easily. Adam was substituted on 52 minutes. Just 1 minute later, Borough took a corner on their left. The ball was crossed low to the edge of the Barnsley box from where an unmarked Boro' #10 hit a first time shot with his left foot high into the top right corner of the Barnsley net. Would Adam have been marking him - who knows? Ten minutes later, the Boro #12 was through on Free but failed to hit the target from 12 yards. Just 3 minutes later, he was left regretting his miss even more as the reds equalised for the second time. RNL, who had been very quiet picked the ball up 35 yards from goal and weaved his way past half the Boro' team. He reached the bye-line near the 6 yard box and crossed low and hard to the near post where Fearnehough was arriving at pace to accept the invitation to score from 6 yards. Watts, who had battled the Boro' defense on his own for most of the game had begun to lose his patience and as a result was booked on 74 minutes for persistent foul play. He was substituted 3 minutes later and left the field to a round of applause from a decent crowd who appreciated his efforts. The game was now very open and could have gone either way. In the very last minute the boro' #12, who had earlier brought a good save out of Free with a shot from the edge of the box, centred from the left. The cross found the Boro' #14 alone, just 6 yards from goal. With meticulous precision he headed wide of Free's right post and the ref immediately blew his whistle for time. MotM The game was much enjoyed by all, though there was frustration the Reds played most of the game with just 1 forward. Many would nominate Watts for his efforts in this lone role. Adam took his goal well and used the space he found in his position behind the front man well at times, hitting some very good passes down the channels. RNL was largely invisible and did not appear to be working very hard, though a late substitution with cramp said otherwise. Nevertheless, he has the skill and control that none of the others have and he showed both for the second equaliser. However, my MotM would be Alistair Taylor. I have in the past been critical of the lad who made an appearance for the reserves at 15 and of whom I expected much. But in previous games he has shown petulance and a lack of pace and a poor final pass giving me reason to doubt that early optimism. However, although his final pass was again poor today, he stuck to his job and finally dominated his marker. I hope that he can gain confidence from today and go on to improve.
See they are getting them ready for the first team with the formation,lets try toget a draw and maybe we can snatch a lucky win.good tactics when playing at home
I used to love the 5:3:2 system that got us promoted to the Premier league. It suited the players that we had at the time and was good against 4:4:2, the system used by most other teams in the second tier at the time. However, the Premier League showed up deficiencies in the system and we were forced to move on. Now, deficiencies are again showing up in 4:4:2 because 4:5:1 has been shown to have advantages over 4:4:2. Ferguson is quite happy using 4:5:1 when need arises and for Rafa Benitez and Jose Mourinho it is the prefered system, except that they call it 4:3:3 which is the system that 4:5:1 becomes when your team is attacking. The first time I saw 4:3:3 I hated it with a passion but I now see that it can be a winning system. Surely the top sides cannot all be wrong.
Always liked the 4-3-3 Mourinho played at Chelsea (think they still play it now actually.) A good target man to hold the ball up, pacey wingers supporting the striker getting balls in to the middle and 3 CM's winning the ball back to play the balls through. Good formation to use when away from home, basically same as 4-5-1 aslong as the wingers get back and help out! Floods the midfield area better in my opinion.
The thing is, the system you describe requires Bogdanovich to be left out. When I suggested as much after the victory over QPR and before the visit to Cardiff I was ridiculed for wanting to change a winning team. Much of the critisism of Davey's so called lack of tactical nous stems from the last poor result and not from pre-match thought about what is possible when comparing the stregths and weaknesses of the opposition. The ire generated against Davey after Tuesday and again today comes not so much from Barnsley's results, but from panic caused by the results of the teams arround us. I regret that the quality of the debate on here is not higher sometimes. I'm going to get slated for that one.
we are desperate for a qualitey taget man.both mifsud and boogey would perform better up top with a target man.any guesses what davey will do tuesday with team
But hasn't Davey been playing that formation for the last 2 games againt QPR and Cardiff? Colace, Anderson and Andranik in the middle, fair enough Colace has been sitting infront of the back 4 but it's still like a 3 min midfield. Bogdanovic has been playing wide right, with Hammill wide left and Mifsud up top on his own. Mifsud came here so he doesn't have to play wide right so Davey's been keeping him up top. for Tuesday with Leon being back fit i think he'll play a 3 man midfield of Colace, JCR and Leon. Bogddanovic and Hammill out wide with Mifsud up top. ....................Muller Hassell...Moore...Souza...Kozluk .....................Colace ..................Leon....JCR Bogdanovic........................Hammill ......................Mifsud Thats the team i see Davey playing, we may well get cut to pieces in the middle with the leightweight Diego, but with Andranik and Anderson out, does he really have any choice? Lets not forget that Foster will be a big blow for the 2 games vs Birmingham and Blackpool too.
that midfeild looks very light wieght . id play van homit <if fit> at right back move hassel into midfield ,leon on bench. but wouldnt be suprised if davey plays macken up top with mifsud
We do not know for definate yet just who will be available. However, I will assume that Anderson is not back, just as you have done. My problem with Bogdanovic playing wide left is that he offers very little in the midfield part of that role. He does not protect the full back adequately and his fitness is not yet good enough to get "up and down". OK, he has scored twice and we could miss that, but he is not ideal in a 4:5:1 / 4:3:3 when you need quick players to support the lone forward. I would have Mifsud up front with Hamill and JCR supporting from midfield. I think that the 3 defensive midfield players that we normally play (Anderson, Andranik and Colace) is a mistake. Colace passes sideways, Andranik and Anderson pass simply. We have no-one to deliver the sort of accurate ball forward that the system needs in order that the forward has the time to control the pass and bring supporting players into the game. Anderson will be missed because he also brings height into both goal areas for corners and free kicks. Colace reads the game well and breaks up play. I do not see what Andranik brings to the side that the other 2 do not already have. If Anderson is not available, I would replace him with Hassell and I would also bring in Leon, if he is fit. If not, then it would have to be Devaney or Butterfield. I think this area of the field will be very busy on Tuesday. The defense virtually picks itself given that I have moved Hassell into midfield i.e Muller, Van Homoet, Kozluk, Moore, Souza. This team works provided we do not concede the first goal. If we do, then I suspect that we would have to revert to 4:4:2 to get back into the game. For this reason Macken, Bogdanovic and Rigters would all be on the bench. I would not pick the same team or system for the following game.
what about 4.4.2 ? hassel and collace centre mids, hamill and jcr on wings .with that formation id be tempted to go with macken and mifsud. when macken scores he usually get goals in batches.
If you think that your midfield 4 (2 centre midfielders and 2 wingers) can cope with their midfield 4 (or perhaps 5) then there is nothing whatsoever wrong with 4:4:2. I think that Birmingham will probably play 5 in midfield. What is more, they are currently in the top 3 in the league, so even if they play 4, they will be a strong 4. I know those advocating 4:4:2 will point to the fact that with 2 up front rather than one, there is more chance of scoring a goal, but you can't score a goal if you do not have the ball, and if we do not win the mid-field battle, we simply will not have much of the ball. From the evidence of recent home games, if we lose the battle for supremacy in the middle of the park, Muller simply wellies the ball long, where if we play Mifsud and Bogdanovic, we have no-one to win the ball, so it becomes a scrap for the second ball by opposing midfields. Admittedly, Macken wins more of the Muller punts, but not in my opinion sufficient to make a difference.
Please note that although the academy has 8 matches remaining to complete their program this season, only 2 of these matches are at home. These are Bolton (March 28) and Liverpool (May 2). Therefore it will be 3 weeks to my next report and there will be no reports at all in April. Before then, it will be known which players of the second years are being retained and I will of course give my comments when this information is made public.
Jamil Adam already has a contract. Only 5 more lads reach the end of their scholarship this year. I would retain one other but I will keep that name to myself as I do not think it fair on the other lads at this stage.
