None. They all played well. Barnsley players who made mistakes yesterday: All of them, including the rightly praised Wiseman, Pedersen and O'Grady. Those three were fantastic, but when you're running your heart out for 90 minutes and using your head and feet to manoeuvre a bouncing, spherical object then mistakes happen. I don't think I've ever seen a player have a perfect game in all the years I've been watching football. Making mistakes and having a poor game are two entirely different things. There's quite a bit of criticism of a few players on here about their performances yesterday. I'm wondering if that's a fair and objective judgement of their performance or the preconceived opinion that they're not very good players coming to the surface. We bossed the game in the opening half and while we were under a lot of pressure in the second 45, our defence stood firm and we limited a good Huddersfield side to very few chances. Our keeper dominated his area well, but we put in such a good defensive performance that he barely had a shot to save. Considering how much criticism our defence has come in for lately, I reckon the fact that we were able to see out a victory when the opposition were continually coming at us is cause for a bit of a celebration. Huddersfield came here yesterday fully expecting to beat us. Their fans, to a man, thought they'd give us a good hammering. Pundits had the game down as an away victory. Even a good proportion of Barnsley fans couldn't see past a Huddersfield win. But we deservedly beat them by playing the more incisive attacking football and having a much stronger defensive unit. You don't do that against teams like Huddersfield if as many players had the poor games that I've read about on here. I'm not telling you what you should and shouldn't post. I'm not saying you shouldn't express your opinions. What I am saying is that you'll have a much better time as a Barnsley fan if you just enjoy days like yesterday and celebrate the good without feeling the need to criticise and find fault. There'll be plenty of time for that the next time we put in a bad performance. Incidentally, the only person not to make a mistake yesterday was our manager. I think a lot of us thought the team he picked lacked creativity and looked too defensive, but we didn't play that way at all, we took the game to the opposition and played our best football of the season so far. Flitcroft got his team selection and tactics spot on and made the right substitutions at the right time when a couple of our lads were tiring. Well done sir.
Personally I would have put cywka on instead of Mellis and looking back dagnall offered little when he came on. Maybe Scotland ( if dagnall was suppose to be striker) or Jennings (if dagnall was to pack midfield) and I would have also made a third sub to waste a little time near the end. I think flitcroft still has a lot to think about. The more attacking play came when Dawson was slightly in front of Perkins. I did not think we would win yesterday but was really pleased with the performance especially the defence after the last few games.
We weren't great offensively, but at half time JLWBL asked me what I expected in the second half. We both agreed that Huddersfield were going to come out all guns blazing and put us under an awful lot of pressure. That's pretty much what happened, but despite that pressure they created very little. I reckon that shows good defensive play on our part. We simply haven't got the players to take the game to the opposition for a full 90 minutes every week. Particularly when we're playing a good team like Huddersfield who have invested a hell of a lot more in their squad than we have. But I thought restricting a team to so few chances who were coming at us like a tank was as pleasing as the good attacking play we produced in the first half.
I didnt feel obrien had a particularly good game. Just my opinion and only based on what I saw. Wiseman was immense.
I'm really not trying to stop opinions mate. I'm not even trying to change them. You are very much entitled to yours, as is everyone. It's just this morning I read more threads criticising our players than I did praising them. I think that's a bit of a shame after such a good win. I think it's more fun being a football fan when you celebrate after a victory and save the criticism for the defeats. I'm as guilty as anyone of having a good moan when we've played poorly, but I do like to offer praise when we've played well. We're all different though and the above post is just my opinion which is just as flawed as all my others.
From the commentary it sounded as though M'Voto was having a stinker, but my brother who made it to the game said that Wiseman was good enough to play for both of them.
I think flitcroft picked a team yesterday full of battlers , as we needed a committed performance from every player
Very good pot my friend. It would appear that our defence and the team were good. Hope we push on and start winning
Agree entirely. When we play at that tempo, many teams won't be able to live with us. The problem we've got is that it's practically impossible to play like that for 90 minutes. My concern is when we need to keep the ball we need the like of Mellis on the pitch to add a bit more quality. For all our great work yesterday we only created two chances so we have to find the balance between graft & creativity in that midfield. Hopefully RNL can offer that bit more attacking threat down the left hand side too. Enjoyed it yesterday. More of the same, lads.
I agree with you Dyson. In addition I thought O'Brien and Perks were a little below par, but that is being nit picky. I also think we started the second half well in that we pressed very high up the pitch and stopping Udders playing out from the back as they did in the first half. this left them with the only option of hoof ball to Vaughan. Very good performance and for anyone who thinks any of our players aren't good enough just look at the change in Wiseman in the past twelve months. superb yesterday and man of the match !
