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!!

 

Great report and agree with 100% of that


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