Barnsley v Fulham match thoughts

[animallittle3]

I appreciate the plaudits Poya has recieved in this thread. Yes, he's getting a response from the players which in itself is some feat considering how low our confidence has been. However, I would also suggest that it don't take a genius to see what was wrong on the playing side of things back in October/November.

Poya had to focus initially on not conceding as many goals which he has successfully done.

What I can't get my head round is that it took him 10 games to change what was clearly a wrong playing system with the 3 up front and being light in midfield.

Baffled me has that and it may come back to bite us in the final weeks of the season. In Poyas defence, perhaps he felt wi art the necessary quality within our ranks he possibly felt that we didn't have the right personnel to make the formation change until Bassi and Quina arrived- two players who can put a foot on the ball.

On the whole I felt we were worthy of that point today. It was an unexpected and welcome result against a side which on paper has superior quality to us. Fair play to our lads because the disappointment of the Stoke equaliser midweek must've been still raw in their minds.

OK our game plan nearly worked a treat today and credit to Poya for that. However, i felt that our head coach was poor tactically against both Derby and Stoke which I feel needs calling out.

It is what it is at the end of the day. We know who's responsible for this farce of a season.

Who is calling the shots though Pass .

I'm not defending Poya because clearly he's much to learn as any young HC would with the limitations you get on Grove Street to say the least .

What I'm saying personally is that Poya is on the learning journey just as much as his young squad are .

The model is ........

Well you know that as well as I do so surely that applies to the HC too .

I'm fecked if I'm seeing Poya thrown under a bus , that ain't right in my opinion .

Throwing the HC under the bus whilst Conway's administration of the club in the summer and the recruitment team behind him live to carry on regardless .

Not having that mate .

[Acido]

It adds even more importance on the remaining games now of course.
But more performances like we've seen recently and today especially, should keep getting us points. If only we could stop conceding so late on like we're doing in so many games.
Remember though before the Qpr win, I think we were all thinking about relegation in February. So the fact that we are now fighting for it and still trying to put the pressure on Reading, thats a positive for us.

[animallittle3]

I'm also looking at next season with my eyes wide open .

I give us a 40% chance of survival at best so I'm thinking that if Poya can get a tune out of adversity this season then in my opinion he's best placed to get a tune out of whatever the budget delivers to him next season a level lower .

Whether the experts at the club including Conway and the recruitment team see it that way is of course another matter .

[Acido]

Thats the frustrating thing for fans though Animal, having to see appalling owners like these make the choices they make.

Theres going to be players leaving in the summer obviously, and it remains to be seen who we will keep hold of and bring in as replacements.

Think of that phrase "well begun is half done!", and that was the case under Stendel when we started that Lg One season really well. Keeping Poya might be the key to start next season well, if we do get relegated.

[pass_and_move]

Who is calling the shots though Pass .

I'm not defending Poya because clearly he's much to learn as any young HC would with the limitations you get on Grove Street to say the least .

What I'm saying personally is that Poya is on the learning journey just as much as his young squad are .

The model is ........

Well you know that as well as I do so surely that applies to the HC too .

I'm fecked if I'm seeing Poya thrown under a bus , that ain't right in my opinion .

Throwing the HC under the bus whilst Conway's administration of the club in the summer and the recruitment team behind him live to carry on regardless .

Not having that mate .

Fair comment Animal and I agree that he shouldn't be chucked under a bus.

I admittedly and openly criticised Schopp as did you earlier in the season. I find my criticisms of Schopp regrettable in hindsight. I won't go down that route again I dare say. Not while PMG are in town.

In life not everything is as simple and straightforward as we think. Nor does everything always appear to be as it seems. The complexities are often overlooked. We're all guilty. It's how tha learns and becomes better for it that counts.

I reflect on last season. SB was reight when he said the fact that the team were doing well was making people on here overlook the owners. I was certainly guilty of that. A combination of personal frustration and Covid meant that the Reds doing well papered over the cracks and things got the better of me. This lead to a barage of disagreement on this message board with SB basically on his lonesome sticking rigidly to his beliefs and principles against most of us who got blinded by results and a freak season. He wo reight. He wo reight from bloody start and fair play to the blowk.

[animallittle3]

Fair comment Animal and I agree that he shouldn't be chucked under a bus.

I admittedly and openly criticised Schopp as did you earlier in the season. I find my criticisms of Schopp regrettable in hindsight. I won't go down that route again I dare say. Not while PMG are in town.

In life not everything is as simple and straightforward as we think. Nor does everything always appear to be as it seems. The complexities are often overlooked. We're all guilty. It's how tha learns and becomes better for it that counts.

I reflect on last season. SB was reight when he said the fact that the team were doing well was making people on here overlook the owners. I was certainly guilty of that. A combination of personal frustration and Covid meant that the Reds doing well papered over the cracks and things got the better of me. This lead to a barage of disagreement on this message board with SB basically on his lonesome sticking rigidly to his beliefs and principles against most of us who got blinded by results and a freak season. He wo reight. He wo reight from bloody start and fair play to the blowk.

Kind of agree but kind of don't .

Val knew what they could do and knew full well what they couldn't .

Yep it was a freak season but it was a freak season for everyone else too .

Fifth place and 78 championship points can't be just brushed away , it was phenomenal no matter how you look at it .


The tragedy is that it was never built on Pass because the so called experts at this club decided differently .

At what point do you realise what you have and build on it ?


Me neither .

Nobody expected a repeat but nobody expected the season we've had either .

Schopp whilst I regret some savage comments during his tenure didn't help himself either .

Poya is somebody I can buy in to whilst learning on the job so to speak .

Truth is , it's a low bar from last season .

They didn't all leave this club for nowt in the summer .

If we were going places they'd have stayed .

Including Val and Mowatt in my opinion .

Some major investment from the ownership and Dike signs too .

We go again this season on the back of it .

Instead .........??

We get Devante Cole .

[Jules88]

Our own subs have changed the results for the last two games. No coincidence. If we can see that Benson and Palmer are inadequate, why can’t Poya? Todays changes did t need making. Bassi looked fed up at being subbed, not happy to get the rest.

[animallittle3]

Our own subs have changed the results for the last two games. No coincidence. If we can see that Benson and Palmer are inadequate, why can’t Poya? Todays changes did t need making. Bassi looked fed up at being subbed, not happy to get the rest.

A free kick with some quality may have helped him stay on the field Jules .

Not his day today .

Thought he was awful but that's just my opinion .

[Acido]

Im not quite sure thats the case Pass. I think he/SB also continually knocked the team and the coach especially, despite us winning matches and moving up the table like we did.
Sometimes the football wasn't great to look at, but Val gave us a memorable season and he and the team deserved credit for that. I think thats what wound a lot of fans up.
Its behind us all now though thankfully. 😊

[Young_Nudger]

This thing about substitutions.
The players are NOT being substituted because they are playing badly.
They are clearly being brought off because of EXHAUSTION.
And it’s very very easy to spot who will be subbed.
Bassi ran his blood to water.
Wolfe started to slow a little bit.

The only player today that I thought should have been subbed but wasn’t - was Morris.
In the last 15 minutes he was dead on his feet.

The problem there - and the reason I would guess he wasn’t subbed - is because we have no one in the squad to replace him.

Again the responsibility of inadequate cover for every positions within the squad - lies solely at the door of the boardroom.

I’ve said this a zillion times this season - we only have one target striker in the squad (Morris) that is strong enough to hold the ball up and bring others into play.
The absence of target strikers (say another 2) in the squad is one of the major reason why we have struggled this season.

I know it’s a patch up and mend option - and playing a player totally out of their natural position should be seen as cheap and shoddy in the Championship - but when Morris runs out of steam like that I’d throw Halme up front in an effort to cause problems with his height.

Just one point about Helik.
I don’t know if others noticed this.
Fulham centre forward muscled him out of the way in the game at Fulham and scored a header.
Today - that same centre forward was going way back into his own half to pick the ball up because Helik was dominating him.
Helik was following him up the field - and often having to run back when Fulham broke in other areas.
As much as this centre forward is raved about he got nothing today against Helik.