Cheer Up Kayode - From Barnsley Star

THE last time they gave a Barnsley striker some serious stick at Oakwell it was Michael Chopra. <div class="va-bodytext" id="va-bodytext">Sunderland paid &pound;5 million to play him in the Premier League this season.

So, cheer up Kayode Odejayi ...

That lad's emotions must have been all over the place on Saturday.

His finishing was.

He could have made three points more secure than Joey Barton.

And that's why a few Barnsley big gobs jumped on his case.

When you're 2-0 up and draw, nobody's left feeling that great.

Manager Simon Davey doesn't slag off anyone, except a ref or two. He felt, and felt big time, for the lad he picked to take over from three-goals-in-two-games Jon Macken, who went back to Derby just 48 hours earlier.

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&quot;I feel distraught for Kayode,&quot; he admitted. &quot;I thought the fans got on his back from minute one. I'm disappointed for him. It doesn't help him.&quot;

Fair point, except that in minute one most everyone at Barnsley was partying.

Nearly as rare as Davey having a pop at a player is a Sam Togwell goal and he'd just smacked in a screamer.

Kelvin Davis, Southampton's keeper. hadn't touched the ball. Neither had the 10 in front of him.

For 16 seconds 0-0 lasted.

A gale swirled around and mostly blew into the visitors' faces, rain lashed down. Real welcome-to-Barnsley weather.

And it got better for Davey's crew. Jamal Campbell-Ryce looped in a centre from the right, Brian Howard jumped up in the air but couldn't do anything much with it. Togwell could and did from 30 yards.

It was his second career goal for the club.

&quot;I was going to strike it with my left and I thought better of that and hit it anyway,&quot; he recalled. &quot;I think it fooled the keeper a little. I don't think he expected it coming.&quot;

Southampton manager George Burley was in shock too. &quot;It was an amazing start to the game, and I don't think I've seen a start like that before,&quot; he said.

&quot;Barnsley's player (Togwell) has half-hit it and it has gone into the top corner.&quot;

Burley's team came back with plenty of possession all through the first half and then in the second found a real edge when Burley changed the team.

But it was Barnsley who struck again.

Campbell-Ryce wanted a goal for Christmas, or New Year or even Easter or maybe his birthday.

His first for Barnsley was top-drawer. Istvan Ferenczi won it, spread it out to meet the winger's right-wing run and he whacked it one. Dominik Werling would have been proud.

Odejayi missed out in a one on one with the keeper before half-time and before his and Barnsley's afternoon headed down the pan.

Burley had three subs on by the hour mark and inside nine minutes of getting his tracksuit off Bradley Wright-Phillips had scored two.

Andrew Surman played him in for the first, Grzegorz Rasiak supplied the second, nodding down for the ex-Manchester City forward to swivel and rifle a low shot into the net from eight yards for his seventh goal of the season.

He and Southampton could have had more but for keeper Heinz Muller and a goalline header from Martin Daveney which kept out a Rasiak chance.

Odejayi never turned down his ever-impressive energy levels but one more fluffed half-chance proved his last of the afternoon.

On came Miguel Mostto, preferred to Michael Coulson, who made a rare matchday-squad appearance ahead of Kim Christensen.

Nothing changed in the game.

Right-back Bobby Hassell looked as good as he usually does as he squeezed his first appearance of an injury-plagued season into Barnsley's last game of 2007.

Davey has to decide between him and Steve Foster come tomorrow's game at Scnuthorpe.

Davey has to make up his mind where to go next with Odejayi, the striker with one goal from 14 starts.

&quot;He's a talent, he's raw and he's improving,&quot; Davey declared. &quot;But sometimes people (the fans) don't give you a chance.

&quot;In the grand scheme of things, the players have all come a long way in a short space of time. We're disappointed that we have given away a two-goal lead t <div id="ds-mpu"></div>oday.

&quot;The players will learn from that. They know what mistakes were made and we'll address them.&quot;</div>

 

"I thought the fans got on his back from minute one"

Load of B*ll*cks Simon.

 

Methinks Simon could do with some media type advice

for a start "some of the fans" would have been better and morte accurate rather than tarring everyone with the same brush and I did'nt think even the boo boys were active from the start and if they were it was only a very small minority

 

Do we have to score 3 times to win games?

or 4 in the case of Stoke? the retards in the Ponty only look for easy targets and they dont come any easier than a Odejayi. He's jumped from League 2 to the Championship ffs.

Nytanga swings from awesome to abject, he's certainly learning but its his 'rawness' thats cost us dearly in the last 2 months and as much as I dont want to single out one player, I'll be glad when he's returned to Derby. we've conceded 8 goals in the last 3 games, thats not good enough if we want to stay top half.

 

Lets see how many we conceed in the next 3 games after tomorrows game and i guess that might give us a measure how much we miss him, Souza is a liability at times too.

On the Odejayi situation how about we give him 2 or 3 games then pass a judgement, seems 14 wasnt enough already like!

 

RE: Do we have to score 3 times to win games?

Why does everybody blame the 'retards' in the Ponty we were up there on Saturday as usual and there was no booing at all near us (apart from one guy who is never happy with anybody) but you could hear the boos ringing out loud and clear from big parts of the east stand

 

It will be an interesting comparison as you say. Last season we averaged more than 2 goals per game against, with Nyatanga in the side. In the games that he didn't play, we averaged less than 1.8 goals per game against. I suspect both might be a little higher this season.

 

Onabudgie was a supposed "Raw Talent" - look where he got us

if he is not ready then he should not be starting games! Simple as that!!!!

Instead he prefers to leave an international warming the bench. Feckin rubbish whichever way you look at it!

 

Agree with your assessment of Nyatanga S.M

Last season l thought he was awesome and wondered why Derby in the same division at the time had loaned him out, but after this season l understand why. Shocking defending for the Saints first and l generally think this season he has been no better than the defenders we have got. Dont think he will be missed. The player is only young though so thats to be taken into account. I have thought that the pairing of him and Souza looks shocking sometimes, why does Souza continue to let the ball bounce in dangerous areas when he could clear it on the volley then watch it go over his head because of his bad judgement leaving the attacker who's more wise to the bounce than him have a run on goal? when will he learn? Souza is another who can be outstanding yet make the crusial mistake that often leads to a goal.

 

souza

deserts his position far too often - sometimes he thinks he is laiking midfield im sure.

 

RE: souza

Cant kick the ball very far either or he slices it, watch the next game when he's clearing it. Maybe its because he's Brazilian and they only do 40 yard passes at most, growing up in mud huts playing with balls the size of golf balls may have had something to do with it. Muller would put his kicking to shame!

 

That's why he fits in at Oakwell nt

 

RE: souza

I think his biggest problem is the way he grabs the opposing players all the time how he doesnt get done for more pens is probably more good luck than good management.Personally I would give Foster a good ron in the middle of the back 4

 

Raw talent.

He's 26 in two months. If we were talking about a 19 year old or such I'd agree with every word.

How long does a talent remain 'raw' before it's acknowledged as 'unfulfilled' or 'not good enough'?

 

RE: Raw talent.

You negative fecker. Get off his back. etc etc.

Quite Right.

 

i'm also sick of being branded a retard for sitting in the ponty. i know why not let KO play the full 90 mins every game, give him a rousing cheer every time he misses a sitter, or just stands around looking like he can't be arsed. he's sh@t and you know he is.

 

Michael Chopra

The Chopra situation was entirely different. He was keeping Nardiello out of the team (for seemingly no good reason) and a large section of the fans didn't like it. He was also used as a scapegoat in order to get at an unpopular manager (Paul Hart). As such, the crowd were pretty much on his back b4 he even kicked a ball - obviously his form suffered as a result.

I think the fans were initially behind Odejayi, but he simply hasn't delivered. I don't agree with the booing (and I don't agree with a lot of the criticism of certain players on this board), but that's the way it is. The manager keeps giving him a chance in the team, so he's got the opportunity to prove people wrong.