Strongest pointers about the current team: 1. We look solid at the back - I thought Kay did well in central defence on Tuesday, showing good pace on a number of occasions and getting in crucial blocks when needed. Carbon seems likely to win most in the air and will give even the really big guys (Iwelumo, Goater etc) a pretty good physical contest. Reads the game well. Hassell performed as the 'best of northern fullbacks' on Tuesday. Combative in the tackle and good when looking to move forwards. I think Heckinbottom is an excellent signing, who just looks short of match-fitness. It showed with some lack of pace and sharpness on Tuesday. I don't think we'll get taken apart by many teams with Colgan looking confident in goal 2. Wide players - I thought Shuker played as if he'd just remembered he'd left the taps running at home. Maybe he wasn't 100% fit, but he was provided quite often with quality ball on Tuesday and did not make the best of it. Always thought his strength was his pace over ten yards, but that was what was missing on Tuesday. If he was carrying an injury, that would explain it. Moving him to the left wing did not help. Devaney can use his right foot, as well as his left, but Shuker didn't seem to know his left foot existed at all. Devaney is classy and we looked dangerous more than once when he had the ball. Good that he can play equally effectively down right and left. Just one issue - he needs to watch the 'I'm Christiano Ronaldo' shuffle. There were times on Tuesday when his shuffling and showboating actually allowed a second defender to drop back and keep him wide. He should be more direct - less of the frills - and I think he has the ability to carve up a lot of defences. I presume he was injured on Tuesday, because the obvious ploy was to take off Shuker, move Devaney to the right and bring Howard on the left. Things to sort out: 1. Central midfield - we don't seem to play through the centre midfield much. I can understand that we want to use the quality down the flanks, which is a strength of the team, but, when the wide players are being closed down, this should make space down the middle. Biggest plus here on Tuesday was Howard, whose chip against the bar deserved to win any game, let alone this one, for which I thought 2-1 would have been fair. We need more flair like that and goals from midfield will probably be crucial against teams coming to defend for a point at fortress Oakwell! Otherwise Burns was a bit below par. McPhail passed well at times, but we didn't boss the centre and that was our undoing in the end. 2 Goals up front - Hayes so deserved his goal on Tuesday. Time and again for me he showed the skills which will unpick a good few defences in the run-in. I'm not sure how many he will score, but he should get a good number of goals/assists in the final fourteen on that showing. The move leading to his goal was a good class above this league and promises well for the future as the team matures. Richards - I would have replaced earlier with either Wright, or Nardiello. When Vale upped their game (and give them credit for shifting the balance of the game in the last quarter) we really could have done with two/three pacy forwards to hit them on the break. Hayes is quite quick. Shuker usually has the potential to be electric, but misfired on Tuesday. Devaney has fair pace. Has the McParland lad got the missing ingredient? I hope so. All said, I can't see us getting turned over by many teams (if any) between now and the end of the season, but I am a bit concerned as to whether the goals will flow. We are a bit predictable at times and so can be closed down by an average team which knows our style. The extra ingredient needed will be goals from midfield and extra pace from somewhere. If we can find those two ingredient, we're up. If not, expect a few too many draws and the play-offs.
Fair points... but I guess that Fortune-West must be mega hard cos Carbon could not cope with him at all...ff
Agree with most of that I think the manager now has options in all areas, with only perhaps an injury to Burns being critical, cos I dont think McPhail and Howard could play together. The telling factor will be whether he can get the right players on the pitch for the right games. For example, playing Kay in midfield was a mistake. Not sure why he took Hayes off for Nardiello on Tuesday. Sticking with Shuker for the full 90 was a bad move. If he can keep a settled back 4 but rotate in areas that need freshening up, and keep the players hungry, then I think we'll have enough to stay top 6. If he makes many more bad decisions, inconsistency could cost us dear. I want to see a positive reaction from the players on Saturday, a performance more akin to that at Forest. Motivated and hungry.
If you look around the league table you can't really see anyone else sneaking in to the top six ahead of us can you? It would be good if we could force ourselves into the top two but that will probably need some major dropping of points by the teams around us. You can't really see the Reds going on a 10 match winning run can you, to storm the top two. Then again, who knows? It would be an absolute travesty though if we were to be overtaken by the likes of Chesterfield or Oldham or.....God almighty, Doncaster!! But then the fun starts. Do we roll over Brentford away like we did to Birmingham then go for the lottery of a final against, say, Huddersfield of Swansea? Be interesting to see the 30,000 "genuine Barnsley fans" come out of the woodwork again won't it? Nice easy drive down the M5/M4 for me - looking forward to that (or automatic promotion, obviously).
i fancy us to get the play off spot. maybe 5th or 6th. which is a shame as you play the second leg away from those 2 postions
We could win the league We are eight points behind Southend with a game in hand and they have still got to come to Oakwell. There is no team in this division better than us, and if we hit some form there is no reason why we can't finish top or at least second. Come on you Reds!!!
RE: We could win the league Why do you think it's a bonus because most of the top teams have still to play at Oakwell?
