It Has Been A Great Year, I’m Well Happy - Notes for Barnsley Friday, 10th Mar 2017 11:00 by HarryFromBath HarryfromBath assesses the mood in the opposition camp ahead of Saturday’s game at Oakwell by delving into their forums. “The season is pretty much over and it has been a good one”, “It has been a fantastic season and it is a great achievement to be where we now are”, “It has been a great season. We have had a few great moments of happiness after years spent in oceans of pain and mediocrity. Let’s just celebrate that.” “This season has been many times better than I or anyone else expected, no relegation battle and attractive, mostly successful football with a few noses bloodied. I don’t think we could have asked for more”, “The end of season games will be anticlimactic but I would have taken that in August.” “We’re on the beach already.” Barnsley arrive into Saturday’s game with just one win in eight games since the end of January, away to Aston Villa. The team sit comfortably in mid-table but consecutive 2-1 losses at Derby on Saturday and QPR on Tuesday have left many Reds nervous about the run-in. “It’s going to be a tough summer”, “I must admit I am worried about next season. I fear we will be next year’s Rotherham without preparing correctly and without the right investment this summer”, “We need to be clever with how we see the season out and be fully ready from the off next year.” “I hope we don’t go into freefall in the last 10 games. We don’t want to take a negative culture into the summer as it’s hard to break”, “There is a chance that we won’t win another contest this season. We could lose seven or eight of these games and it all seems to point back to the January window.” The January Transfer Window“January was a disaster. While we will end the season in mid-table there will always be the question of ‘what if’ when we look back at this campaign”, “We stopped being in the play-off hunt since we dismantled our main attacking threat”, “What is done is done, we must learn from it and move on.” “An absolute shambles of a transfer window.” Barnsley went into their January deadline day match at home to Wolves seventh in the table and one point off the play-off places. They have slipped four places while the gap to sixth has stretched to 12 points in the eight games played since. “You cannot rebuild a team halfway through a season. The reality is that our play-off chances were sold along with Sam Winnall, Conor Hourihane and James Bree.” Many believe that the loss of three important players has unbalanced the team and led directly to the Tykes’ recent poor run of results. “I can accept selling players and sometimes it is inevitable, but not replacing them adequately is too short term”, “The summer should be interesting. Let’s hope Hecky and his team keep finding gems and turning them into what we have now, a very efficient capable team on a very limited budget.” Paul Heckingbottom (Hecky)“In Hecky’s own words, we are starting again”, “I really feel sorry for him and his staff”, “The support he got from the board was shameful in the January window. I can totally understand why he would be fed up”, “Fortunately for us all he has a bit more personal resolve and love for his club than that.”  The 39-year-old Barnsley-born head coach replaced Lee Johnson as a caretaker in February 2016. This was made permanent after he guided the team to promotion via the League One play-offs. Reds welcomed his straight-talking honesty along with his player recruitment and development record. “I am genuinely impressed by Hecky who seems to be the real deal.” Some believe he has struggled to get the balance right with his line-ups and substitutions since January. “He has made a succession of unexplainable changes lately. I don’t know what he is thinking”, “We are asking too much of him.” Formation“I really love watching us play the attacking 4-4-2 we have become accustomed to”, “We have built a team based on pace and hitting teams on the break”, “Some of our football has been a joy to watch especially on the counter-attack”, “It looks like counter-attacking may be the way to keep going.” “Watching Brighton play is like watching Barnsley but with better players”, “We play in exactly the same way. We press, we hold back the central midfield players and attack with pace down the sides. We drop our midfielders deeper when we score leaving no space between them and the back four.” DaviesYiadomMacDonaldRobertsElderScowenMowattJamesKentWatkinsArmstrong
Recent team selections including Tuesday’s starting XI (above) at Loftus Road have left Reds with more questions than answers. “We seem to be making a lot of changes of late. Alex Mowatt, Ryan Kent and Callum Elder back in. Tom Bradshaw, Gethin Jones and Adam Hammill all drop out.” “I’m not knocking Hecky for what he has done in his time here but you do have to question his team selections. Callum Elder, why? Is Ryan Kent better than Adam Hammill? Adam Armstrong before Tom Bradshaw? Shoehorning Alex Mowatt into central midfield? It looks like poor selection to me.” Keeper Adam Davies, centre-halves Marc Roberts and Angus MacDonald, full-back Andy Yiadom, central midfielder Matty James and winger Marley Watkins are viewed as solid Championship-level players. Fans have been baffled lately by some of the selecting and positioning of the remaining cast. Fans have commented in recent games about opponents targeting weaker players or areas, as QPR did at Loftus Road on Tuesday night. “I don’t see how Hecky cannot see the problem down the left flank. QPR’s goal was coming down that side with Kent’s attitude to defending and Elder struggling.” “Since January we have lacked an ability to hit teams on the break”, “With Hourihane gone we lack creativity in central midfield and miss his dead ball deliveries”, “We lack a natural finisher and we do not have a forward who can play as a lone striker, so playing two up front gives us more balance.” Some are urging patience. “Hecky can now experiment a bit and surely that’s preferable to trying ideas out at the start of a new campaign. He can now try players out in different positions in safety. He can try different formations to assess capabilities and to see what we will need this summer.” QPR 2 — 1 Barnsley“What a waste of a trip”, “We always lose to QPR so no surprise at the result”, “It’s now 67 years of hurt, nowt here since 1950 and so disappointing to sink to this second-half display as QPR were nowt special”, “I hope I am wrong but that had all the hallmarks of a ‘going through the motions’ display.” “Just a poor, poor performance.” Idrissa Sylla put the hosts ahead on seven minutes and Angus MacDonald turned the ball into his own net on 66 to double Rangers lead. Tom Bradshaw rounded the Hoops’ keeper 13 minutes later to pull back what would be a consolation goal for Barnsley. “That second QPR goal had been coming for some time and was no surprise to me”, “It was such an embarrassing goal to concede. Players are on the beach already and some look like they don’t care any more”, “We were woeful, defensively awful, second to loose balls and had no quality up front.” Derby 2 — 1 Barnsley“I think that result ends any lingering play-off hopes”, “We did OK today. Derby looked vulnerable in the first half but our keeper Adam Davies kept it respectable in the second half”, “A good first half for us but Derby came into it more after the break”, “We can’t defend at times, that’s why we lost.” Matty James connected with a Marc Roberts long throw to put the Reds in front on 52, but Derby hit back two minutes later when Tom Ince scored after Barnsley did not clear the ball. The winner came from David Nugent with his first goal for Derby from a deflected shot on 76 minutes. DaviesYiadomMacDonaldRobertsJonesWatkinsScowenJamesHammillBradshawArmstrong
Heckingbottom played what many believe to be his strongest midfield quartet when the teams were announced (above). The Tykes were unable to capitalise on a good first half display with striker Adam Armstrong guilty of spurning several good chances. “Damn it, lost 2-1 and we are now down to 11th.” Barnsley 1 — 1 Huddersfield“A great point”, “I honestly thought we got out of jail. We only matched them in the last 20 minutes when they ran out of energy”, “That was the best Huddersfield side I have ever seen by an absolute mile”, “You can see why Huddersfield are comfortably in the top six. They were very impressive.” “Some of our defending, blocking and goalkeeping was totally committed, awesome stuff.” Michael Hefele headed the Terriers in front from Aaron Mooy’s corner on 18 minutes but the hosts levelled when Marley Watkins volleyed home substitute Adam Hammill’s cross 15 minutes from the end. “Today was an eye-opener”, “Huddersfield were aggressively effective rather than pleasing on the eye and should have beaten us”, “A brilliant point against an excellent side”, “They shut us down and gave us no time on the ball. That made us look poor as we often ended up squandering possession.” DaviesYiadomMacDonaldRobertsJonesWatkinsScowenJamesKentMowattArmstrong
“Our left side was poor with Jones and Kent.” Barnsley fans questioned playing two inexperienced men on the same flank and also starting Mowatt out wide when the line-up (above) was confirmed. “Mowatt and Scowen should not play together against bigger physical teams like Huddersfield.” “Huddersfield outplayed us in the first half. To be only one goal behind at the break was a testimony to the lads hanging in there”, “Our midfield was 20 yards further forward late on and pressurised the man in possession better although it allowed the Terriers space to exploit in front of our back four.” Goalkeepers and Defenders“Adam Davies was beyond words against Huddersfield.” The 24-year-old one-time Everton youth player “has developed into a right good goalie, I’m so pleased for him”, “He was easily our stand-out player against the Terriers. I would have been 6-1 to them without the string of saves he pulled off.”  Adam Davies“My concern with Davies used to be his staying on the line but this season he has added coming for the ball to his game and has been a revelation”, “He has kept us in so many games with a string of superb saves. He has had an absolutely great season”, “I do think we have got the right man in goal.” “Is Gethin Jones actually a right-back? He has been bloody awful in every game I have seen him play there. He looks OK at left-back but at right-back forget it.” The 21-year-old is on a season-long loan from Everton. “He looks more solid on the left as wingers cutting in are shown on to his right foot.” “Jones was off the pace and needed to both move the ball quicker and stop backing off attackers in last month’s defeat to Brighton”, “He looks solid from a distance but watched closely he’s actually weak defensively. He’s slow to turn which allows players to go past him, especially on the right side.” “Callum Elder is a woeful full-back.” The 22-year-old arrived on loan in January from Leicester until the end of the season. “He’s an awful player with a touch like an elephant”, “He looks like a player afraid of injury. Perhaps being kicked in the air early on in the QPR game on Tuesday affected him.” “QPR’s player overran the ball with Elder at least a yard ahead of him and he beat Elder to the ball and crossed it for their goal. It was really poor”, “He gets worse”, “The guy is slow to react, scared of making a tackle and does not jump for aerial challenges. Basically, he’s got nothing going for him.” “Andy Yiadom does not mind which flank he plays on.” The 25-year-old former Barnet full-back “is getting better the more he plays. He looks a good all-round athletic footballer”, “He has had a great season. He rarely has a bad game, we missed him when he played for Ghana in the African Cup of Nations.”  Conor Hourihane (c) celebrates with Andy Yiadom (l) and Ryan Kent“Yiadom’s style of defending makes me nervous as he stands off his man a little too much but he does an excellent job”, “Absolute quality this lad, very athletic, cool under pressure and always ties to play football but be sensible with it”, “He gets stuck in and doesn’t back out of strong challenges.” “Angus MacDonald is a good defender and he is a good replacement for Alfie Mawson [who joined Swansea last August].” The 24-year-old summer addition from Torquay “is good but nowhere near Mawson’s level. He doesn’t get his goals and gets bullied too often which can drop us in the mire”. “MacDonald is similar to Roberts which means we lack a central defender who can pass from the back”, “He has taken to the Championship like a duck to water and looks like he has been here for ages”, “Even Huddersfield fans on the way out of the ground singled him out for a good display.” Marc Roberts“Roberts is class and I would love him to stay and become a Barnsley legend.” The 26-year-old ex-Halifax Town centre-half “is a quality defender. He wins headers, gets stuck in and takes a good long throw-in but is lost with the ball at his feet”, “He’s doing well after a big step-up from non-league.”  David McGoldrick takes on Marc Roberts“When the ball is played back to Roberts it is usually followed by the long ball out. I’m a big fan of his and am not complaining, mind”, “That was some throw to set up our goal at Derby”, “He got stick for over-playing when in possession early on in the season. He’s a no-nonsense defender in my book. Central Midfielders“George Moncur’s play is tidy but he lacks the confidence to take the ball on and beat players.” The 23-year-old former Colchester man “was one of our best players in the win at Villa”, “He can cut open defences unlike Scowen, but he doesn’t show enough commitment in the tackle at times.” “Moncur has bags of talent. He has a great touch and his Colchester statistics show he clearly has an eye for goal. He’s too good a player to be out of the team but I’m not sure what role to play him in”, “It will take him time to get used to our tempo if he is genuinely committed to changing his game.” “Alex Mowatt was miles off the pace at QPR. I didn’t notice him at all in the first half.” The 22-year-old January arrival from Leeds “is a good player I am happy we signed. At the same time a lot of hard work is needed on his condition in the coming summer as he looks way off the pace at the moment.”  Alex Mowatt playing for former club Leeds against Reading's Paul McShane“Mowatt had a truly awful game against Huddersfield stuck on the right wing. He was uncomfortable and didn’t understand the system or the role he was being asked to play”, “He looks talented on the ball but, mark my words, he needs to get up to speed”, “He tried but did not get in the QPR game.” “Josh Scowen worked his backside off as usual against Huddersfield but was poor on the ball.” The 23-year-old ex-Wycombe man “is great on the ball but his passing is awful”, “He is our workhorse in the engine room and will inevitably run himself into the ground even if he is having an off-day.” “I support Scowen for his work-rate but he doesn’t offer the passing range or vision of Mowatt”, “He plays short passes but if our midfield is sitting deep a longer pass is needed to alter the focus of our attacking”, “He competes physically but his passing lets him down. He can be useless on the ball.” Matty James“James’s passing and positional play are exceptional. We have a real find here and I hope he stays fit for the rest of the season.” The 25-year-old arrived on loan in January from Leicester until the end of the season. “He has quality but clearly lacks match fitness and needs a creative player beside him.”  Matty James playing for former club Leicester against Paul Taylor“James is a wonderful player. I urge you to watch him when we don’t have the ball as he reads the game so well and covers for others. So much of his work goes unnoticed simply because it is work done off the ball”, “His height and defensive ability is important when our team is without the ball.” “James has come in to replace Hourihane but is much happier playing in the defensive midfield role and has fitted this easily”, “Our most consistent player and never gives the ball away”, “He does little wrong but we need a Hourihane beside him otherwise we have a midfield that creates nothing.” Wide Midfielders“Ryan Williams looks a technically skilful player.” The 23-year-old ex-Fulham man has been a bench option in recent games. “He has been excellent taking the ball forward and holding it until he has support”, “Now that we are neither going up nor down it makes sense to give him more game time.”  Ryan Williams“What about giving Ryan Hedges a chance?” The 21-year-old January arrival from Swansea made an appearance from the bench at Loftus Road. “He tried hard with some good and bad touches. It is hard to make a judgement on him so far, but as our player I would give him time over Ryan Kent.” “Ryan Kent puts a lot of effort in but bottles it. He has chances to go past players but dares not in case they tackle him. You can be sure he won’t challenge for 50/50 balls.” The 20-year-old season-long loan signing from Liverpool “is a speed merchant with little else to offer”, “A waste of a shirt.” “We have seen some classy bits from Kent but it is a failed experiment. The lad is used to playing in less physical youth teams but is too frail to make a top footballer. Maybe he will develop guile and speed to compensate but now he’s not good enough”, “His defensive tracking back is non-existent.” “It’s simple, stick with Adam Hammill from the start and send Ryan Kent back.” The 29-year-old ex-Terrier “did more in five minutes than Kent did in 70 at QPR”, “The one wideman we have who actually chases people down”, “He causes problems, pulling defenders out of position and creating space.”  Adam Hammill“Hammill struggled against Brighton last month. He was at fault for their second goal and lost the ball on pretty much every occasion”, “I’m not sure if Hammill’s lack of pace can be disguised on the wing but his end product outstrips always Kent’s”, “You cannot deny his passion for the club.” Marley Watkins“As much as I like Marley, he will never hit 20 goals in a season.” The 26-year-old one-time Bath City and Inverness Caledonian Thistle man “might want to play as a striker but his best position is wide on the right”, “An underrated player for me. He’s big, strong, fast and he scored a fair few goals.”  Marley Watkins could be a Town target in the summer“I used to think of Watkins as a poor forward who didn’t score. I was wrong, now I see him as being vital to the team’s style, He runs his blood to water for the Reds”, “He considers himself a striker”, “He usually plays on the wing and has been very consistent all season, a real problem for defences.” Strikers“Tom Bradshaw is the only decent goalscorer at the club at the moment.” The 24-year-old summer signing from Walsall “made a difference coming on against Huddersfield. He tore Villa apart and despite getting nothing against Brighton he has been playing better than Armstrong and Watkins.” “I would always start Bradshaw. He doesn’t get enough credit for the work he puts in”, “At least he knows where the opposition goal is”, “He is playing regularly and the only player who looks likely to score”, “Ball retention and short passing are good and his confidence is improving with every game.” Adam Armstrong“I have no idea why we keep starting Armstrong. Well, I do. We have nobody else.” The 20-year-old is on a season-long loan from Newcastle. “He is woeful and his work-rate is on a par with Emmanuel Frimpong”, “A great player but bone idle”, “I have worked more walking all the way to the ground.”  “Armstrong flatters to deceive. He looks like he might do something but never does”, “A total waste of a shirt. I have heard it said we don’t play to his strengths but his finishing is poor and he does no graft at all”, “He is the laziest player in the squad by a long way”, “He doesn’t work hard enough.” “Armstrong is a small, quick man and playing him as a lone striker can only work if our midfield can control the ball for a large percentage of the time”, “He has no chance of winning the type of ball we sometimes hit up to him”, “He hasn’t been playing well enough to warrant a start against Ipswich.” Tykes’ Views on ITFC and the Game“We reached the magic 50 points so it’s time for attempting 0-0 draws and not getting beat”, “I’m looking forward to the match”, “Big Mick might do a job on us but we'll see”, “A win against Ipswich is what we need because when Barnsley win some posters vanish, until the next defeat of course.” With just over half of Tykes predicting a home win and most by a narrow margin, home fans are approaching the match with cautious optimism. They have had very little specifically to say about the game but several of them quickly saw the irony in the Canaries’ sarcastic derby tribute to us. “Norwich held a minute’s applause for Ipswich Town's 15 years in the Championship. By all accounts even the Ipswich fans and some of the coaching staff joined in not knowing what it was for. Quite funny”, “Yeah, and in between those 15 years Norwich spent time in League One.” An Absolute Gent“Big Mick and Hecky, they're two of our own”, “He really is a brilliant bloke”, “A legend”, “A great player”, “One of a kind.” There was an outpouring of genuine affection for Mick from Reds who watched his moving tribute (below) at the funeral of Barnsley club legend Norman Rimmington. “What an impressive bloke Mick is. I can remember watching him play when I first started watching the Reds. He was only a young man really but had the big beard on and was a fearsome sight to us young ‘uns. I can still picture him warming up pre-match by heading the ball powerfully.” “I remember being young and me and my mate stalking a much younger Mick as he walked round town with his girlfriend. After about an hour he walked up to us and said ‘look lads time for you to sod off but come up to the ground and ask for me and I will get you some tickets’. He did and [gave us] autographs and freebies. A gent then and now.” “I saw him play his first game which makes me feel ancient. He’s someone we can be proud of and who respects the town. He moved on eventually but has always been one of ours and will be. He will get a warm welcome from me”, “An absolute gent and he should get a good reception on Saturday.” WebsitesThe busiest Barnsley message board is the friendly The Barnsley FC BBS Fans Forum while additional discussion can be found at Tykes Mad.
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