Colchester's view on us

Colchester United Vs Barnsley
Saturday 18th August, Layer Road (K.O. 3pm), Coca Cola Championship

Colchester United get the opportunity to record the first home win of the season as they entertain Barnsley at Layer Road on Saturday afternoon (ko 3pm). The Tykes will be looking to build on Tuesday night's 2-1 over Darlington in the Carling Cup at Oakwell to record their first Championship win of the campaign.

Simon Davey has been the manager of the Tykes since November following the departure of Andy Ritchie for a perceived lack of ambition from the club's board. However, the new man doesn't have a great record having lost seventeen of the 32 games he has been in charge for - winning just twelve.

Davey has now had chance to mould his own squad with plenty of player movement both in and out of Oakwell. Perhaps most significant was the arrival of Kayode Odejayi for £200,000 from Cheltenham. The tall target man was suggested by many U's fans as the ideal replacement for Charlton bound Chris Iwelumo during the close season before Davey got his man. Experienced midfield Andy Johnson arrived from Leicester while Rob Kozluk left Sheffield United in July to join the Barnsley side permanently.

Davey has also increased his air-miles with the signing of four overseas players. After signing the Hungarian Istvan Ferenczi in January there have been trips to Rotterdam to sign defender Marciano Bruma from Sparta, Peruvian International Miguel Angel Mostto Fernandez-Prada (thankfully he wants to be known as Miguel Mostto) from crack Peru outfit Cienciano and German defender Dominik Werling signed after a spell in Turkish football with Sakaryaspor. More recently, Barnsley have just received international clearance on their latest signings, goalkeeper Heinz Muller and striker Kim Christiensen who will make his debut at Layer Road following his move from OB Odense.

Of course, that means there have been quite a few departures as well. Paul Hayes returned to Scnuthorpe after a couple of seasons with Barnsley without ever reaching the same heights as he did at Glanford Park. Daniel Nardiello went to QPR, while Antony Kay - a player who seemed to have good goal scoring record against the U's - is now plying his trade at Tranmere Rovers.

With so many new players entering a new season it was perhaps not surprising that it has taken them time to gel and get used to English conditions. At least, that will be what Simon Davey will be saying after they were thumped 4-1 by Coventry City at Oakwell on the opening day of the season. Leon McKenzie headed the Sky Blues in to the lead after 6 minutes before The Tykes were gifted an equaliser from the penalty spot after a handball in the area. I'm sure that Dean Gerken is fully aware that Brian Howard chipped the ball in to the goal rather than try to hammer it past the keeper. No further goals followed in the first but just five minutes after the restart Kyle restored City's lead thanks to some generous defender. Julian Gray added a third after more good work from former Brentford man Jay Tabb before substitute Michael Mifsud, Coventry's Maltese International, applied the coup de grace in the third minute of injury time.

Things did improve in midweek as Barnsley became one of the few Championship clubs to survive the First Round of the Carling Cup thanks to a 2-1 victory over Darlington at Oakwell. Simon Davey switched formation to three at back - Souza, Reid and Lewis Nyantanga who's on loan from Derby County - and these seemed to offer them a more solid base to work from though there was still a lot of long, direct football according to my sources in the North. The Tykes took the lead via Istvan Ferenczi's first touch after coming on as a substitute for Mostto. Darlo got back in to the game thanks to former Barnsley old boy Tommy Wright before the home side wrapped up the win via Paul Reid.

On the encounters between the two sides last season, the away side came out on top. Barnsley hit the U's during that early season six match period when we failed to win a game - and which ultimately cost the U's a play-off place. It was the game that saw Graham Poll return to domestic refereeing following his massive error in the World Cup which saw Croatia's Josep Simic shown three yellow cards. The U's took a half time lead thanks to Greg Halford's first goal of the season but Richards headed McIndoe's cross past Davison just before the hour mark before Howards' long range strike took the points back to Yorkshire. The U's had their revenge though as they won the return fixture 3-0!

Having conceded five goals in two games, the Barnsley defence looks to be having problems which the U's will be hoping to exploit. A lack of pace does worry me, but with Yeates and McLeod getting in to good positions down the wings, there should be a decent supply of ball across the box for the U's front men and midfield to attack. Though the U's won't hit top form, they'll do enough to record a comfortable 2-0 win over the Tykes.



U's to win 2-0 thanks to Teddy and Yeates.

 

Fairly balanced article really

though i doubt it will be 2-0 now