From a Newbie's Perspective

Hey Guys, I've greatly relied on this forum for the last couple of years as i'm away at Uni so can't attend matches as i used to. However, with it being easter i finally managed to watch the reds for the first time live this season. I was sitting in the Ponty end which was different, (i have always sat in the east stand) but i enjoyed the mostly positive atmosphere, even if it was at the expense of a better view of the game as a whole.

Bearing in mind this is the first time i've seen these boys for a full 90 minutes take my comments lightly, I do tend to make immediate judgements in regards to players.

Wildsmith- Decent and will do a job. Seems a bit tentative in regards to commanding his area, but grew into the first half. Distribution is for the most part excellent. Unfortunately I had a poor view for their second so not sure if he should have been claiming it or not.

Holgate- This lad is absolutely quality. After reading the comments about him on here I had high expectations and he more than met them. It's obvious he's out of position as he struggles for pace at times, (although he was completely isolated in the first half due to a poor system) and seems reluctant to drive down the line, but this asides he's fantastic. The composure and presence he has for such a young man really reminds me of John Stones, albeit he's not yet the footballer John was. We definitely need to hang onto the lad for as long as possible, our best defender for me.

Cranie/Nyatanga-Don't think much needs to be said, I already knew what to expect from these two. Underperformed today, didn't communicate and weak in the air. Should be doing better.

John- I really like this kid. He struggles to defend but in my opinion he doesn't need to. The sooner Johnson pushes him up to LW the better, he was by far our only threatening player out wide today and considering the wings are our weakest areas it makes sense to use him in front of Smith.

Pearson- Very impressive. One of those players that always seems to find space and is very calm on the ball. His only problem is his tendency to give away stupid fouls e.g. the first goal.

Hourihane- Some may disagree with this, but from what i've seen today Conor is our best player plain and simple. I personally have a thing for players like him, (I also liked Mellis make of that what you will) but the lad oozes quality. His passing is top notch as is his movement. And he's also very good defensively although the fact he doesn't charge around like Scowen or jump in like Pearson might make it less visible. Criminal when he was taken off, completely handed them the game as we lost all chance of holding onto the ball.

Scowen- Rounds off a very, very good midfield 3. In fact, I know we struggled today but I think that this is the best Barnsley midfield i've seen. Brilliant ballwinner with a great engine, does his job well. On the ball i'm not convinced however he has Conor and Ben to help him. Don't think he was MOTM, probably the worst of the 3 today for me and he certainly wouldn't work in a midfield pair, has to be 3.

Stewart- Don't want to seem too harsh, but the guy is a waste of a shirt. He brings nothing to the team, a passenger when we defend and lacks conviction when we attack. His one highlight was kicking the ball out of play and running after it. I understand our lack of ball retention didn't help as he couldn't really settle in the game but he showed absolutely nothing today.

Winnall- From what i saw today there is no debate in whether we accomodate Sam or Conor, the midfield 3 is our strongest asset and therefore we build the team to this strength. Sam puts in a lot of work and we never really had a grip of the game to get him properly involved, but in my opinion we move him out wide. His constant reliance on the ball in behind is too predictable and way too easy to negate. Utd weren't tested at all today apart from the first 10-15 mins of the second half when we switched to 4-5-1 and played to our strengths.

Jabo- Not much to be said, solid frontman who does a job, reliant on players around him for support.

My overall mood right now is positive, even if the above seems very critical. We have a strong squad which is only lacking in the wide positions and whilst Johnson tried to get around this today with the setup, i think that playing widemen, even bad ones, is essential in this league. Overloading the wings and whipping in crosses and set-pieces was how Utd won the game today, they are by no means a better team than us (although i was very impressed by their keeper and the big lad up top).

When we moved Sam out wide and switched to the 4-5-1 i actually thought we were going to win the game considering how brightly we started and how we finally decided to stop with the long ball and play it around a little. When we pass it about and actually use Conor and Ben we look like a properly good team, we just need to be more daring and trust them to retain the ball even when under pressure. The constant hoof in the hope it would get in behind their defence or up to an isolated Jabo is counter-productive and allowed them complete control, quite simply we looked like the away team. I think this game shows that we need to stick with a 4-5-1 (with Winnall wide right and John left). That in my opinion would be a very well balanced team and one which would prove difficult to break down. We could strangle teams to death by keeping all of the ball, although might struggle to score due to the weaknesses out wide.

I know this is quite a lot of text but with it being my first game and post, I thought it best to get all my views out in one go :wink:

Fair play to Utd, their tactics were spot on today and they deserved their win. They're not a team worthy of promotion though and we should have surpassed them next season if we can retain most of this squad.

In Johnson we trust, 9 from the next 3 please!!

 

Fair enough comments them pal. I'm not convinced with John, but I agree he needs to be used as a winger rather than FB.

 

Nice first post. Not quite sure how you could be impressed by their keeper though as he literally had nothing to do. They would have won today if he had sat on the track and watched the game with the ball boys.

 

I've played as a keeper all my life so take an interest in them even when they don't seem too involved, such as body language, positioning and such. Whilst he didn't have too much to do, i was just impressed by the way he took a hit from Jabo early doors but then bounced back and literally claimed anything up to his penalty spot. Really good and positive goalkeeping, took all the pressure of his defence and killed our chances from set pieces.

 

Christ - i almost thought you said Wiseman then

Dont agree on Conor- hes well off the boil and needs to grow a pair.

 

I'd agree with a lot if that for a first post. Long one at that.

But I think you must have had something naughty for breakfast judging by a couple of your points.

Conor hourihane. I am a big fan of his when on form but he goes missing for large periods. But he did not ooze class today. I fear you may have watched him under the preconception of the opinion of many on here. Not his greatest day today. Weakest performance of the three compared to Pearson and scowen, though he will come good again. Winnall isn't fully fit yet in my opinion, those two link well in full flight.

And you were impressed with their keeper? What, his haircut? His ability to not fall asleep from boredom? We had, apparently, three shots in the match. Think I recall two, including Conor's free kick which didn't pass the wall. Not a single attempt on target, and at your end, second half, he had absolutist nothing to do other than one or two lollipop crosses to catch and lump a couple of backpasses upfield.

 

Sorry battery died and I couldn't edit above, absolutely nothing I meant up there of course.

And the incident you mention first half against Jabo? I was in the family area with our young un in the east upper, about adjacent to the incident. I was about the exact opposite of impressed. Jabo didn't barge him or rough him up particularly, he just wasnt brave enough to command and take the ball.

And we utilised this possible weakness by not getting Jabo or even winnall within ten yards of him for the rest of the match. Woeful.

I'm also not of the same opinion about the kid wildsmith in goal. Having seen the first goal on tv it looks no better than it did live. Dear me. Bet he used to win at musical statues as a kid. And just before that there was that nothing ball over the top that neither cranie or nyatanga dealt with, one little flick on and he was stood in no mans land, not attacking the ball or in any position to try and protect his goal. Got lucky with it scraping the bar. Not helped by his defenders for that but to me he's not ready. Distribution was poor too.

Your optimism for the future I can't disagree with. I think we'll do ok next season, not sure if we'll make the playoffs this season now - but I'm not so sure we ought to take this side up this year anyway, might be on to a hiding to nothing without another season together. Not that it's our team it's mostly other teams players! But I'm not sure I'd be optimistic if I'd only seen today's game. I didn't go to Crawley but for me it was the worst performance since MK Dons at home, five minutes of madness (and some class from Conor) saw us claw that back to 5-3 but MK were every bit five better than us that day.

If sheff Utd were any good they'd have beaten us by more today. We did absolutely nothing with the ball.

 

I agree with your comments in regards to Conor. As i said above, I do have a tendency to particularly build up/defend players such as him or Mellis, simply due to the fact that I value their skillset above that of a Scowen/Perkins type player (of course having one of these lads is crucial as well). Because of this, I did focus on the few good things Hourihane did Saturday such as his good link up play with Pearson for a 10-15 minute period and the couple of occasions where he shepherded their midfielders well without giving away stupid freekicks. Even though he was poor I still came away with the impression that he and Pearson are the best footballers in the team. Just as you could tell that even during a bad performance, Jacob Mellis was technically a level above everyone else on the pitch.

As far as the two keepers are concerned we'll have to agree to disagree. I wasn't commending Howard for his actions during the challenge with Jabo, which were of course poor and tentative, but rather for the way he put it behind him. I was right behind the two crosses he dealt with in the second half and they were definitely not balls you'd expect the keeper to go and claim, one of them being on the penalty spot.

And for Wildsmith, after watching replays I still don't think he could have stopped either goal. The header was sublime and there's no way he could have got to it. I'd say he didn't dive because sometimes when the ball is going directly over your head in such a steep manner your brain simply cannot track its trajectory and so the message to the legs to move never comes. I agree he was indecisive for their first corner and at times for the ball over the top, but after watching Luke Steele i've become more tolerant of that.

 

The best Barnsley midfield you've seen? When did you start watching us mate? Thanks for the post by the way, enjoyed reading it and would encourage you to post more.

 

Started very young, think my first season would have been Kevin Miller's last as i remember disliking him and Chris Morgan after some crazy own goal and then idolising Andy Marriot thereafter. The first squad of players I can truly remember would be the promotion squad with Colgan probably. Whilst we've obviously had better individuals over the years such as Howard, Colace and Drinkwater to name a few, I just really liked the blend and how all 3 of the lads seem to complement each other. To be honest 1st game excitement probably lead to hyperbole as these boys aren't even playing in the championship unlike past combinations, although that said, bearing in mind their ages i think they definitely have the potential to outdo anything i've seen before. Not going to happen though as Pearson isn't ours to keep.