Darrell Clarke - 10 Match Review

Discussion in 'Bulletin Board' started by Marc, Oct 5, 2024.

  1. Marc

    Marc Administrator Staff Member Admin

    Joined:
    Aug 10, 2012
    Messages:
    27,921
    Likes Received:
    22,471
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Style:
    Barnsley (full width)
    I always think 10 league matches is a fair marker to make a first assessment of a new manager. So these are my thoughts.

    First question I always ask is ‘how much have we improved since the last manager’? In summary, I haven’t seen any material improvement.

    There's just no cohesion between these players, despite seemingly trying everything. There's a scattergun approach to changes and every game they look like they’ve never played before. We're already at the point where pre and post-match comments from DC and players, are meaningless. We're just not seeing any improvement week to week.

    Our defenders are routinely all over the place, and the midfield just disappears for huge portions of games. It seems pretty evident that the Hourihane move was purely a PR move to flog STs. That doesn't sit well with me at all.

    Our possession and quality on the ball is a huge problem for me. It’s every bit as bad as it ever was last season. Short balls, long balls, set pieces. Non-league standard. It really is awful - and I genuinely believe that’s as much on the players as DC. He’s not telling them to give the ball away every 10 seconds. In Sam Cosgrove, for me we have one of the worst strikers I’ve seen in nearly 40 years watching. That's not Clarke's fault either.

    It’s absolutely testament to how bad L1 is for me, that we’re still within touching distance of top 2. I guess ultimately that’s what the Board will be looking at, but the performances have been largely woeful and many will argue we've had a relatively comfortable fixture list so far.

    Do I think he should be sacked? No. That’s very obviously not going to fix things at this stage. But do I think after 10 games, we’re any better than we were under Neill Collins? Absolutely not. And that’s a big big worry for Clarke moving forward.

    After 10 games, I'm giving him 5/10, and that’s probably being generous. While sacking him now would be crazy IMO, if things don’t drastically improve, he’s going to be under pressure by Christmas.
     
    Last edited: Oct 5, 2024
  2. Farnham_Red

    Farnham_Red Administrator Staff Member Admin

    Joined:
    Jul 18, 2005
    Messages:
    34,217
    Likes Received:
    23,595
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Farnham
    Style:
    Barnsley
    Fair assessment except I think we are getting worse. We had a couple of good games at Crawley and home to Bristol Rovers but since then we have been really poor the players don’t seem to know what’s expected there is no team cohesion where a good team is better than the individual parts this one is worse.
    Manager doesn’t seem to know how to fix it either. Not calling for his sacking yet but if he is fired I. Won’t be complaining. I don’t think he has a grip on this job needs to find it soon or he will be gone
     
    Brush, Sithi in no.7 and OxRed like this.
  3. Bol

    BoltonMascot Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 1, 2017
    Messages:
    481
    Likes Received:
    763
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Gender:
    Male
    Style:
    Barnsley (full width)
    I would sack him. Today was a huge turning point for me, we are getting further away from even turning in a good performance, let alone a win with each passing week.

    At this point there’s glaringly obvious changes that he hasn’t made, in terms of players starting, players being benched, and systems that need to be ditched - if he can’t see some of those at this point then I’m sorry, things will not improve.

    For just one example, how must McCarthy feel that he can’t get in the squad over MDG. I hate making players whipping boys, and by no means am I saying McCarthy is great. But for the love of god MDG needs some time out of the team, and I’ve seen enough of McCarthy to know he has at least the ability to go through a whole game without making a mistake
     
    Jamo likes this.
  4. only1kp

    only1kp Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Aug 8, 2011
    Messages:
    3,611
    Likes Received:
    1,823
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Occupation:
    father of 3, best friends with jack daniels
    Location:
    dodworth
    Style:
    Barnsley (full width)
    For the 2nd season running we have been let down by poor recruitment with the head coach being top of that list
     
    Lone Striker, Jamo, redrum and 5 others like this.
  5. Bet

    Better_Red_Than_Dead Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Mar 19, 2021
    Messages:
    125
    Likes Received:
    257
    Trophy Points:
    63
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Barnsley
    Style:
    Barnsley (full width)
    Agree with all of that. Don’t think Clarke’s pulled up any trees but the recruitment has been woeful. Honestly can’t see any plan behind who we’ve signed and why. Even if there’s a really clear instruction from the board/owners to play a certain style, why have we only got one left sided full back/wing back at the club who the manager clearly doesn’t rate? And on the flip side we’ve got eleventy seven central midfielders for 2-3 positions.

    No width or pace throughout the team either, which I could cope with if we were compact and solid, but we’ve been absolutely dire defensively for well over a season and it doesn’t look like there’s been any attempt to address it, either through recruitment, systems, coaching etc. And we’ve brought a keeper in on loan who looks like a decent shot stopper but who doesn’t command his area or come for crosses. Dunno how many clean sheets we’ve kept in all comps over the last 50 games but would be amazed if it’s in double figures.

    Would love to be a fly on the wall during recruitment discussions and I’m sure there’s some method to the madness but from the outside it just looks like they’re drawing names out of a hat.

    Maybe it’s reflective of where our budget sits in today’s football pyramid, and we end up with bang average players cos we can only afford bang average players, but we should still be able to say ‘right, THIS is how we’re going to play’ and then actually try and do that.
     
    Geddiswasguud and Old Gimmer like this.
  6. Marc

    Marc Administrator Staff Member Admin

    Joined:
    Aug 10, 2012
    Messages:
    27,921
    Likes Received:
    22,471
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Style:
    Barnsley (full width)
    I agree. I meant to add that we look to be getting worse if anything, and I can only see that gap to top 2 getting bigger as it stands. Football's mad, and we've seen bigger turnarounds than this. It's interesting though, I remember DC saying in one of his early interviews that he loves the pressure of being a manager and having challenges to overcome. I wonder if he still thinks that right now?
     
  7. Bre

    BreweryStander Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Nov 3, 2011
    Messages:
    2,153
    Likes Received:
    1,717
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Style:
    Barnsley (full width)
    Fortunately for DC you've highlighted the main issue we have as a Club - recruitment. It's the same recruitment team bringing in players and Head Coaches. Replace Clarke and there's no guarantee the new Head Coach will get a tune out of this squad. I'm not sold on the appointment of Mladen as Director of Football. His CV screams analyst and yet he has a remit to set a template for how the first team will play.
     
    dodgey defence and Old Gimmer like this.
  8. Sla

    Slawit red Active Member

    Joined:
    Aug 9, 2005
    Messages:
    827
    Likes Received:
    170
    Trophy Points:
    43
    Does Clarke have a game plan. Since he's taken over have we dictated a game? Clueless
     
    NathanBFC94 and J... like this.
  9. WG Red

    WG Red Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Mar 24, 2021
    Messages:
    1,835
    Likes Received:
    2,641
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Ward Green
    Style:
    Barnsley (full width)
    I thought keeper did ok today and did well puching away crosses tbh
     
  10. man

    mansfield_red Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Aug 18, 2011
    Messages:
    10,274
    Likes Received:
    16,947
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Style:
    Barnsley (full width)
    "Telling it like it is" is increasingly starting to look like throwing the players under the bus.
     
    ScubaTyke, Old Gimmer, Jamo and 2 others like this.
  11. red

    redrum Banned Idiot

    Joined:
    Jan 17, 2013
    Messages:
    24,170
    Likes Received:
    17,649
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Style:
    Barnsley (full width)

    He's been doing that for a while nothing worse to see.
     
  12. Tyk

    Tyketical Masterstroke Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Aug 9, 2011
    Messages:
    9,395
    Likes Received:
    12,510
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Occupation:
    Dry buumer
    Style:
    Barnsley (full width)
    Everyone knows a div at work with loads of big talk that can't do their own job.
     
    ronnieGlavinsB@stardSon and J... like this.
  13. J...

    J... Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Aug 5, 2008
    Messages:
    1,041
    Likes Received:
    1,632
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Style:
    Barnsley (full width)
    What was the plan today? Couldn’t even work out if we were playing for a draw! We are painful to watch and have no clear style of play. Just hate watching us at the moment.
     
    upthecolliers and Slawit red like this.
  14. ubi

    ubique_tyke Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Aug 26, 2011
    Messages:
    4,014
    Likes Received:
    3,711
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Barnsley
    Style:
    Barnsley (full width)
    All started in the boardroom, how many more seasons do we have to give these jokers??

    Clarke might not be good enough, no idea, but the tools he has at his disposal are absolutely not fit for the job. That is on those above him.

    No improvement from last season but who would realistically expect that when the calibre of player is alot less.
     
  15. Sla

    Slawit red Active Member

    Joined:
    Aug 9, 2005
    Messages:
    827
    Likes Received:
    170
    Trophy Points:
    43
    Exactly. There is no plan. The worst I've seen for years
     
    J... likes this.
  16. North Yorks Red

    North Yorks Red Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 12, 2005
    Messages:
    16,086
    Likes Received:
    13,765
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Harrogate
    Style:
    Barnsley (full width)
    I honestly thought I had got too old to let football get to me much, but Hells Teeth!
    Somebody seems to be doing their collective best to ruin the club I love, and with each ensuing inept performance it grates even more, each time I think we have set a new low the bar is lowered!
    From the top, recruitment has been woeful regarding getting a balanced side together!
    Manager wise I am really beginning to despair because this many games in we don't have an identity or style of play that we are aiming towards. We shouldn't be looking to get shut yet, but the tactics, bloody hell!.
    When defending corners we don't even leave a man on the edge of our box , let alone the half way line, we don't attack with any real intent until we go behind and then we do look a bit better.
    Up front he insists on playing Cosgrove despite evidence to the contrary that he will ever be a footballer and leaving Jalo who looks lively on the bench, and we hardly muster a worthwhile effort on target let alone apply consistent pressure!
    The influence from the midfield is negligible ( although to be fair they are often trying to get on the end of a wild hopeful punt forwards) but Benson still can't get a start and Hourihane isn't even on the bench.
    To compound it all the defence play like a bunch of strangers, consistently leaving multiple players unmarked.
    These are really , really depressing times to be a Barnsley fan!
     
  17. ubi

    ubique_tyke Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Aug 26, 2011
    Messages:
    4,014
    Likes Received:
    3,711
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Barnsley
    Style:
    Barnsley (full width)
    Bizarre tactic that, can't understand it at all
     
    J... and North Yorks Red like this.
  18. Gegenpresser

    Gegenpresser Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 2, 2015
    Messages:
    4,323
    Likes Received:
    4,980
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Mancave
    Style:
    Barnsley Dark
    According to the voting posters on here – and I agree with them – Baz has been by far our best player this season.

    Last season he was not far off being the comedy turn.

    Now that might tell you that Baz has suddenly become a vastly different footballer.

    Or it might tell you that practically everyone else is performing below par.

    Probably due to playing in either a badly managed or poorly balanced team. Or both.

    My own view is that the squad is so odd and inadequate in its composition that any coach would struggle with regard to what they could do.

    But many of our players are consistently performing way below their own average. And there has to be a reason for this.

    Baz has improved however. A bit.
     
  19. upt

    upthecolliers Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    May 11, 2015
    Messages:
    2,513
    Likes Received:
    2,908
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Barnsley
    Style:
    Barnsley (full width)
    I blame the recruitment at the start of the season everyone knew strikers were what we required at least 3.
    We started with 3 poor 3rd division strikers I doubt very much they could get into a 4th division side and it will be a miracle if they score 10 goals between them.
     
  20. upt

    upthecolliers Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    May 11, 2015
    Messages:
    2,513
    Likes Received:
    2,908
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Barnsley
    Style:
    Barnsley (full width)
    I felt the same as you J... 1st away game of the season today and the last.
     

Share This Page