Minority Report v Queens Park Rangers

There will be injuries, suspensions and loss of form though. Players tire during games, fatigue sets in. You might make two changes in midfield during a game.

 

I think if you judge it now, we are suddenly overloaded with central midfielders. For some reason, we've often tended for gluttony of a certain position under this style of recruitment which hasn't helped gel a team, or create the right competition for squad places.

But at this moment, I think we have to look at January. I'd be very pleasantly surprised if James is still here. I suspect Mowatt will likely leave if we cant agree a contract in the coming weeks and if Styles develops and adds assists and goals to his game given the chance, it won't be long til admiring glances become actual bids.

if 2 of those 3 occur, we've already some players who can step in and provide some stability to a decent level of quality, rather than panic and have to sign a whole new midfield. Of course, if we keep all 3, that really blocks off a path for probably both palmer and kane to get regularly game time unless injuries strike.

 

I cannot deny any of that, but that is not how the club usually works. We usually buy after we have spent 6 months desperate for a player. In fact, we have spent 18 months desperate for the right forward, and have had to do without. Players are not in the shop window if they are not in the team.

 

That's the bit that hasn't always made sense under this recruitment process. That we've signed players not ideally suited to a system, or we've signed far too many for a certain position that has ended with us having to write off several of them and their subsequent cost (the vast amounts of number 10s under Heckingbottom probably the most obvious example).

 

I'm not sure they will be blocked off. Palmer will play more games this season than last, as will Styles and Kane. Having James and Mowatt in the squad with them for a time will only do them good.

I do think it's highly unlikely that James will extending his loan (unless he's played for Leicester this season, and can't play for a third club?), so a regular spot will open up. I also think Kane will provide an option off the bench for a while, when we need a plan B. Replacing a centre back and going 4-3-3, or a forward and going 5-3-2.

 

Considering one is in the last year of his contract and another is on a short term loan I think it’s quite shrewd to have strength in depth

 

The answer is...



...rotation, rotation rotation.

 

We started our season back in the Championship after relegation from the Premier League with Ward, Fjortoft, Liddell, Hristov and Hendrie as our striking options. On 5th December we started a game with Karl Rose and Deon sodding Burton up front. On 9th January it was Karl Rose and Don years past his sell by date Goodman, with Mike never been a professional footballer Turner replacing Rose at half time. Ward, Liddell and Fjortoft had been sold, Hristov was out injured for the season while Hendrie kept picking up niggling injuries and never really played again. Let's not worry about having 'too many' central midfielders, the opposite is far worse.

 

Does it have to be wasted? Surely buying players to suit a system means, to some extent they are interchangeable. With games coming thick and fast, we should be in a good place to rotate players to reduce risks of injury or burn out. It also motivates players to play their best to make the boss think whether to rotate or not. When you have a player that is stand out in comparison to the rest, then rotation may not be the way you want to go - unless to protect that player. It's a 'good' problem to have.

 

This Minority Report has gone really well. There have been lots of replies, and people have been really nice. I have said all that, because I am about to spoil it all. I am about to raise a subject that is a favourite of no-one. That subject is financial management. I know, yawn yawn.... did someone say something.

If anyone has got this far, I want to talk about pay budgets. At Barnsley, there is always only enough money to do what is absolutely essential. If you have too many players competing for one position, you are going to have too few players competing for another position. The budget has sufficient funds for x number of players. We currently have too many midfield players for the new system that we have just started using. The logic is that we do not have enough players for another position. That position is the central forward. In my piece on 3-4-3, I said that the position does not suit Cauley Woodrow. I saw nothing yesterday to convince me otherwise. And yet, Woodrow is the only player we have who can possibly play that position, even though he is not ideal for it. Have we truly gone through a transfer window and have been unable to find the right player for a price that we can afford, or is the price we can afford lower because our pay budget is being used up on a surplus of midfield players who will never get a game. It is a question that I must ask, because no-one else is prepared to, and difficult questions are my speciality.

 

It's a little perplexing to see you state that the central forward position doesn't suit Cauley Woodrow. It seemed to me that he adopted good positions and arguably turned the match by getting in behind the QPR defence before being pulled down. While not lightening quick, he is nimble and has good ball control. I expect his strike rate to improve if he is played like this consistently. It's easy to be too wedded to the idea of an old-fashioned big centre forward, to whom balls can be punted up all day long. By the time the big man has held the ball up and waited for his teammates to get in position the defence are behind the ball and momentum can be lost. It seems to me that in the Championship, the quick nimble sort is just as well-suited. If the aerial ball is won by the defender, that defender can expect to be quickly challenged by smaller, nippier sorts played as part of the high pressing system. Our being quicker to the semi-loose ball caused QPR problems for the rest of the game after we overcame that first fifteen minutes.

I was both delighted and pleasantly surprised that we managed to retain Woodrow and Mowatt during the break. I'd be even more pleased if we could agree new terms with Mowatt. But as I see it, it's no bad thing to have several options in midfield that we can be developing just in case Mowatt doesn't extend (And let's face it, that moment could come in January.) Moreover, the energetic style seemingly preferred by Valerien Ismael may well involve some burnout of the midfielders especially, so that provides another good reason for having plenty of options in that position. Equally, I see no reason why the other strikers we have can not be coached and developed to adopt the central role should Woodrow suffer injury. I don't know what Woodrow and Mowatt's retention says about our player budgets, but the way they have been managed this close season appears to have resulted in a squad that ought not to struggle to remain in the Championship this season. That would rate a good achievement in my book, especially if the entertainment level can be kept up in the meantime. I'm happy for us to be adopting the style we are, even if we are found out occasionally by one or two of the better teams. I don't currently see a Leeds in this division though.

On the wider question of budgets and how we can be competitive in the Championship, I'd still be interested to see your response to Sheriff's post at #156 from the thread in July:

http://barnsleyfc.org.uk/threads/being-competitive-in-the-championship.293175/page-8

 

Maybe, just maybe this is the first piece of forward planning, or a deal fell over after Herbie Kane was signed.

If the club stick to the strategy of buy cheap, develop and move on players in their final year of contract will be sold or resigned. Kane looks like a direct replacement for Mowatt but with Alex still on the books looks like great forward planning for his replacement in January.

Giving the board the benefit of the doubt the position could well be that Alex’s value in January will more than offset having Herbie’s wages to pay for the 3 months. Or being a cynic a deal for Alex to move on earlier in the month fell over. I don’t know the answer to either but the cost of having Kane may well be covered by the earlier sale of Alex with a replacement already in the squad learning the style the manager wishes to adopt.

Who knows, but I’m quite happy for once we have a bit of quality, all we need now is that 30 goal a season centre forward.....

 

We've only played one game under the new manager, at home, against the standard of team that we have to try to beat if we want to survive. No disrespect to QPR with that comment, but they're below us in the league because right now they're not one of the better sides. Let's see if we only play 2 central midfield players every week before we decide that we have too many. I understand the point you're making and I've thought it myself, but it really is too early to judge.

 

Take your point, but still not sure I agree. We do need to get rid of two or three players, but it wouldn't be the likes of Kane or Palmer, you do want players who are good enough for this level to be on your subs bench. You could argue against the logic of signing Christie-Davies as well, but suspect he will have more of a role next season. It's players like Bahre and Victor that we need to move on, but it's easier said than done in the current climate.

I think Woodrow is doing well. He won and scored the penalty the other night, as well as being involved in Chaplin's goal, plus he has an assist against Stoke. His name should be inked into the starting 11 at the moment. Am not sure we do need a new striker, our problem at the start of the season was a combination of Struber, lack of creativity and lack of settled forward line. People talk about needing a 'plan B'', but we're not going to attract anybody that's any good, just to be a plan B. If we are to bring another forward in, there would need to be some serious thought on whether we should be keeping hold of all three of Thomas, Schmidt and Simoes, rather than the backup midfielders.

 

Let's just suspend this discussion until there is more evidence. We were very poor for the first 15 minutes, and much better from 27 minutes onwards, for obvious reasons. We have another game in 2 days, and things will become much clearer after Saturday. Watford will also be a much sterner test than QPR. I am looking forward to it with renewed enthusiasm.

 

Aye. Watford will definitely be a tougher test than QPR, hopefully we can put in a good performance, hopefully with the team that started the second half against QPR as the starting 11.