Barnsley v Birmingham City Match Thoughts

[animallittle3]

At half time I was thinking we can beat them as they are nothing special, and that was the case up until the hour mark.
But then what happened, they always looked more of a threat after that and how on earth did they miss those two chances, especially the one that bobbled off the post!.
We didn't test their keeper though and its always disappointing when that happens.
Im excited about the Benson & Palmer partnership in midfield but it only seems to last for about 55 minutes each game, and once again the long aimless balls towards Woodrow & Frieser just weren't working. We got ourselves into some very good attacking positions but every final ball was pathetic to be honest.
And when we had that free kick in a really dangerous position late on, we needed somebody like Mowatt to curl it in instead of Benson hitting their wall of defenders. Ohh and the resulting corner and a number of our other corners as well were absolutely awful, always trying to whip it in at the near post and failing to beat the first defender every single time.
And what about that double substitution ehh, Victor and the kid Moon coming on.. although I don't blame Marcus for that, what else can he do.

In my opinion we need three in before the window shuts next week and that doesn't include the two Belgium lads .

This is a club in to its third consecutive championship season with a play off place behind it last season and the general talk on this board is how we've progressed as a club from the Cryne days .

That bench as a championship club is a disgrace , George Miller , Victor and young Moon is way off championship pace at present although his time may come .

If people want to talk the ownership up on this board then fair do's , that's their opinion .

Personally at present it's as two bob as it ever was in my opinion .

The only difference is the ability of Conway to suck folk in with talk .

Talk that back in the day tarn folk didn't fall for .

I expect not to be the most popular poster this season because I feel in my bones things ain't right on Grove Street .

That was shyte today and I'm calling it .

[POGGYWELL]

It takes two teams to entertain and Birmingham certainly did that along with Brad Collins and what a turd of shot from Styles.
Two more signings and we will be fine in my opinion.
Let’s not underestimate Birmingham under Bowyer a top six placing could be on the cards.

[SBRed48]

I only watched the highlights on Quest but , apart from the good shot from Styles, it looked like we got a reyt arseoyling with Birmingham squandering five good chances and hitting the post.
Not impressed with the head butt by Kitching on the back of the Birmingham lads neck. No action taken by ref so FA may investigate.

[Young_Nudger]

It takes two teams to entertain and Birmingham certainly did that along with Brad Collins and what a turd of shot from Styles.
Two more signings and we will be fine in my opinion.
Let’s not underestimate Birmingham under Bowyer a top six placing could be on the cards.

It’s another slow start.
Which followed a slow start from last season.
But what can you expect when the continuity of the club is broken at the end of every season.
Last season it was the manager that wasn’t in place.
This season it’s the players - in particular one position - Target Striker.
Other than that - everything looks good on the field.

[animallittle3]

The reason Benson was so deep at times was at least in my opinion because he was pivotal when we played out from the back .

He looked to offer himself on the edge of our penalty area and has the confidence to play through the press .

Unfortunately once the press was overcome he pinged some forward long balls and more often than not we turned the ball over .

The whole idea of playing out from the back is to have the space once you've beaten the press and attack the opposition with relish .

Generally that's by running with the ball at opposition defences or the forwards making well timed runs and getting in behind opposition defences from good passing .

None of that happened because at present we haven't the personnel to do it .

Schopp can't send his side out to play direct either because once again we haven't the personnel up top to hold that ball up .

To cut a long story short it's fragmented .

It's actually far more fragmented than I thought but yesterday's display had me extremely concerned and why I believe we need at least three more in .

[animallittle3]

Maybe it's the 3-4-3 that's adding to the fragmentation .

As I said on a thread last week the 3-4-3 is Val's system to play Val football .

We don't play Val football anymore and I firmly believe that if Schopp is going to put his mark on this team he needs to change the formation which will suit his own philosophy .

[Acido]

Im surprised that there are some mutterings already of 'Schopp out', and hes only been at the club 10 minutes!!.
So does that mean if it continues to be frustrating (like yesterdays match) and if results don't improve in a month by the time of the next Intl break, will fans really be wanting him out ?.

He can't be expected to make an a-la carte 5 star menu, on simple Liddl's value range ingredients can he lol. And Im sensing already from him that hes annoyed at being forced to work with what hes got, which isn't good enough for where we would like to be.

[animallittle3]

Im surprised that there are some mutterings already of 'Schopp out', and hes only been at the club 10 minutes!!.
So does that mean if it continues to be frustrating (like yesterdays match) and if results don't improve in a month by the time of the next Intl break, will fans really be wanting him out ?.

He can't be expected to make an a-la carte 5 star menu, on simple Liddl's value range ingredients can he lol. And Im sensing already from him that hes annoyed at being forced to work with what hes got, which isn't good enough for where we would like to be.

There's none of this nonsense from me acido .

Schopp deserves the time and respect to put his stamp on the group .

However that doesn't mean we can't criticise in a constructive way if we see things that we feel shouldn't be happening .

My personal opinion is Schopp is probably struggling a little , he's trying to transition the team to play in a different way to last season , he's not helped by injuries and visa issues .

His safety net is to stick with the 3-4-3 which won so many games last season and something he feels at least offers some stability with the transition and the lack of depth currently within the group .

Personally I think it's a mistake and he needs five in the midfield rather than the four .

That said I'm pretty much convinced he won't be playing 3-4-3 for too much longer .

[Acido]

I think I was a bit harsh at first with my review of the match, but it was a case of 'calling it as I saw it' and theres nothing wrong with that of course.

A lot of faith is being put in these two Belgian club players and lets hope we have got a couple of good signings there. But theres still every chance of them being a Thiam rather than a Dike.. just for example.

I like to see a bit of experience in there at times and it annoys me that the owners cant see past their greedy idea, of all players must have a profitable sell on value etc.
Some fans are mentioning Matty James again and if we were to show any interest there, Id hope it would be on a permanent deal this time.

[animallittle3]

I think I was a bit harsh at first with my review of the match, but it was a case of 'calling it as I saw it' and theres nothing wrong with that of course.

A lot of faith is being put in these two Belgian club players and lets hope we have got a couple of good signings there. But theres still every chance of them being a Thiam rather than a Dike.. just for example.

I like to see a bit of experience in there at times and it annoys me that the owners cant see past their greedy idea, of all players must have a profitable sell on value etc.
Some fans are mentioning Matty James again and if we were to show any interest there, Id hope it would be on a permanent deal this time.

It's easy to be harsh I'm as guilty as anyone .

I wasn't totally convinced by Stendel in the first half of the league one promotion season , it was a struggle because I watched us in some awful games against AFC Wimbledon , Walsall , Plymouth , Southend and Bristol Rovers .

Eventually it clicked in the second half of that season .

We aren't aiming for that kind of season in the championship , we are aiming to get to 50 points asap and we go from there .

Stendel didn't have the same problems as Schopp , only injuries to Woodrow and later on Moore concerned him and we'd enough to get the job done within the squad.

The transition to playing out from the back and passing the ball would at least lend itself to an extra man in midfield in my opinion .

Of course the Belgium's have to produce but I feel personally midfield is why or why not they will or won't produce .

We'd nowt in that second half yesterday , zilch in fact .

Schopp has to change the system and as I say I think he will .