Thoughts on yesterdays game and stuff

McPhail pretty much ran the show for Cardiff. I never rated the bloke when he played for us as if you denied him space and harried him he was pretty much ineffective. The majority of opposition managers knew this, employed such tactics, and took him out of the game. The odd game in which he was given time and space he looked a world beater. Unfortunately for us, he was given the freedom of Oakwell yesterday and was allowed to shine. I’d have put Togwell on his toes and nullified Cardiff’s major creative threat.

Luckily for us Fowler isn’t nearly as sharp as he used to be. He fluffed two very good chances.

Campbell-Ryce is fun to watch but I wish he’d try a few less tricks and just get the ball over.

Apparently, at Southampton, McCann had a stormer. I said I’d believe it when I see it as I’ve yet to see him have a good game for us. Yesterday was no exception. He constantly wondered infield from his left sided position. Consequently we offered no attacking threat up the left what-so-ever.

Our strikers have scored only 2 goals from our 8 league games thus far and they didn’t look like adding to that yesterday. Odejayi is fast and strong but he has some ball controlling issues, while Mostto just has issues. They both worked hard like, but we’re looking a bit toothless up front at the minute.

It was really good to see that the lads’ heads didn’t go down after Cardiff scored and their endeavour was rewarded with a quality header from Howard. Entertaining game overall and a decent point against a good Cardiff side.

 

I'd have

Werling or Devaney down the left on Tuesday night . With any luck , that'd give us more options going forward and , hopefully , create openings for the front two .

 

I am worried that our attack looks powder puff.</p>

Bigs lads doing a lot of &quot;huffing n puffing&quot; but not looking like they are gonna score. They need to get in the box and we need to start putting qulaity balls into them. </p>

Hopefully Howard can keep scoring whilst we get the frontmen sorted.</p>

 

I think Devaney deserves a couple of starts.
I'm not a big fan of McCann as a wide man. And since Howard and De Silva have the central midfield berths sewn up at the moment, McCann has to be a sub for me at this moment.

The forward line is a worry. Ferenczi has form and fitness issues, Odejayi is adapting to a higher standard of opposition and Mostto and Christensen don't really look to have what we need right now either.

If we could drop on an old workhorse like when we signed Hendrie, there'd be nothing for us to fear in this league I reckon. It's the first time in years I've come out of Oakwell genuinely looking forward to the next game. Tentative signs of good things to come but to get points on the board we need the ball in the net. I suspect Ferenczi won't start Tuesday and no other permutation of the strikers we have exactly fills me with glee.

 

To be fair to Christensen though hes not had a start yet.

 

its already been said on here that the quality of the balls through to the front two leaves something to be desired and maybe thats a confidence thing. Now that the players are working out that they can compete favourably with the so-called bigger clubs, the improvement will continue and the emphasis will be on winning rather than not losing.

Having a toothless strikeforce is a worry though and I agree that neither Kayo or Mostto look like making things happen yet. I was impressed with Mostto's work rate in the second half and feel that he could be a goal machine in the making - but then I used to rate Sheron.

On Tuesday I would like to start with the same front two but with Devaney and JCR getting the ball in from the sides - and if that doesnt work, see where Shez is now

 

To be honest we havent created much from passing down the middle nor from cross from the wingers! (It was a fullback who crossed for Brian Howard)

So i dont think it matters too much who we put up front we would struggle to score

 

I've said it before what about Werling in McCanns spot. He could get up and down with freedom of not having to get back as quickly. Plus the man can cross a ball and shoot.

 

Strikers rely on good service

and to date they have had none, so it is difficult to judge them. Last year Stan scored 6 in 6 and then Davey changed to a must not lose strategy and Stan's effectiveness was nullified. This year I believe that Davey started with a must not lose strategy in order to get some points on the board and again Stans effectiveness is nullified.
The current squad of midfielders is not strong enough and lacks real pace to provide a threat in this league. Only when we improve in this area, IMHO, will we be able to really judge the quality of the strikers and also our defence. The best of our midfielders are going to have to play their very best every game to look at least average for this league.

 

RE: I'd have

I'd agree with that --- JCR and Dev should be good.