 Where to Exploit and How to Avoid Being Exploited - BarnsleyWritten by TomTheWriter on Thursday, 4th Aug 2016 21:32 Ipswich begin their season at home to newly-promoted Barnsley, with the Blues looking to build on their promising end to last season, picking up victories against MK Dons and Derby. PreviewFinishing seventh in the league last season left some fans feeling slightly disappointed having just missed out on the play-offs, some fans accepting a seventh-place finish and others perched on the fence. Barnsley come into this game of the back of a convincing 3-0 play-off final victory at Wembley over Millwall. Both teams go into this game looking for a positive start to the season, with the managers expecting big things from this upcoming season.
Dangerous ThreatAdam Hammill Twenty-eight-year old Adam Hammill shone in the play off semi-final against Walsall, and also the final against Millwall, with a splendid goal driving them towards the Championship. Picked up on a free in November, Hammill went on to score nine goals and gain eight assists for the Tykes last season, with four of those goals coming in the league. He started off the season at Championship side Huddersfield, but failed to make an impact on their first team and was released a month into the season. Barnsley snapped him up, and he has helped them rise up the table and into the championship ever since. Tom Bradshaw Summer signing Tom Bradshaw has all the credentials of a classy Championship striker. With age on his side at only 24, the Welsh international knows where the back of the net is. Brought in from Walsall for a measly £600,000 Bradshaw will have cemented his spot as the number one striker at Barnsley alongside Sam Winnall. He notched 20 goals for Walsall last year, guiding them towards the play-off semi-finals, where as previously noted they were demolished by a strong Barnsley side 6-1 on aggregate. But Paul Heckingbottom must have seen enough of him to bring him to Oakwell. The only issue for Barnsley though is that he is currently nursing a calf injury that he suffered at the end of May, so whether or not he will be back in time is to be discovered Saturday morning
Weakest LinkRight-Back By weakest link I don’t mean the worst player on the pitch, what I’m looking at is the Barnsley player(s) who may struggle against us. Looking for the weakest link, I have found that Barnsley’s two available right-backs do not look like Championship quality right-backs. I may be wrong, but from what I’ve researched, they don’t look as good as the other players in the team. Eighteen-year old James Bree looks like their starting full-back. He played 24 games for the Tykes last season, but didn’t really ‘steal the show’ that often. Back up right-back Andy Yiadom, has just been signed from League Two Barnet, so the step up to Championship football might be too much for him. The sale of George Williams to MK Dons weakened the right-back spot, as he would have probably been the starting full-back this weekend. The best way of exploiting this position is to put someone who isn’t afraid to run at Bree or Yiadom, someone who can attack them with speed, because aged only 18, his Championship experience isn’t quite there yet. For me, I would play new signing Grant Ward at left midfield to go at James Bree. Ward has pace, agility and loves the ball at his feet. Let him run at Bree and hopefully we can make inroads from there.
Predicted Formation – BarnsleyI can see Barnsley going with a standard 4-4-2, but with the two widemen pushed up slightly beyond the two central midfielders. The main dangers for this side will be Adam Hammill going up against either Luke Chambers or Jonas Knudsen, about whom I still feel hesitant, watching not knowing how they are going to play, and I think we might struggle up against him on Saturday. That is how I think we will be exploited, but with the right cover from our two centre-backs, we should hopefully be able to mark him out of the game.
TownsendBreeMawsonNyatangaWhiteHourihaneScowenHammillWatkinsWinnallBradshaw Substitutes: Davies Yiadom Roberts Moncur Williams Kent Lee
Predicted Formation - IpswichFor the Blues I have predicted that we will still be playing our usual 4-4-2 formation. I can see Mick McCarthy giving Adam Webster a start at right centre-back alongside Tommy Smith, who I feel is slightly more composed than Christophe Berra. In the middle I’ve gone with Cole Skuse and Kevin Bru. Seeing them up against the likes of Josh Scowen, Conor Hourihane or George Moncur will be interesting. I’ve got Teddy Bishop starting on the right of midfield because I feel that Conor Grant probably wont start the game, but I can see him coming on around the 55-60-minute mark for Bishop. Our main exploiter (hopefully) in the game is Grant Ward up against either James Bree or Andy Yiadom. Up top I’ve gone with Daryl Murphy and Freddie Sears, who I think could cause trouble against their two centre-backs, and showing them on the first day how tough the Championship will be.
BialkowskiChambersWebsterSmithKnudsenBishopBruSkuseWardSearsMurphy Substitutes: Gerken Dibgy Berra Dozzell Grant McGoldrick Pitman
Overall SummaryThis should be a decent match with both sides cancelling each other out for the majority of the game. I think the introduction of Grant, David McGoldrick and Brett Pitman might help us out near the end of the game. Strong marking on Hammill is the key for this game, and getting the ball to Ward early on is vital as well if we want to terrorise their full-backs. COYB Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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