Barnsley v West Brom Match Thoughts

[Acido]

Hey Animal, whats your feeling right now ?.
Im feeling surprisingly confident tonight. I think we ARE capable of staying up this season.
The Champship is not as hard as we think is it, and I must admit I keep making the mistake of over-rating it.
Theres 5 or 6 teams down there right now, who are all struggling at the moment. And hey we CAN finish ahead of them, if we really want to!.

[animallittle3]

Hey Animal, whats your feeling right now ?.
Im feeling surprisingly confident tonight. I think we ARE capable of staying up this season.
The Champship is not as hard as we think is it, and I must admit I keep making the mistake of over-rating it.
Theres 5 or 6 teams down there right now, who are all struggling at the moment. And hey we CAN finish ahead of them, if we really want to!.

We have a sniff and no more than that , the ownership have the capability to feck this up in January and I've very little faith in them .

The squad have done well of late but for me we still lack experience and the desired quality defensively .

It wouldn't take that much to get out of this , even some smart loans would be beneficial .

The ownership have so far proved to be unwilling to tweak the plan and if they don't I feel we will be relegated .

[Acido]

We have a sniff and no more than that , the ownership have the capability to feck this up in January and I've very little faith in them .
The squad have done well of late but for me we still lack experience and the desired quality defensively .
It wouldn't take that much to get out of this , even some smart loans would be beneficial .
The ownership have so far proved to be unwilling to tweak the plan and if they don't I feel we will be relegated .

Fair enough, and yes I have that fear as well.
We've got a cracking set of options up front right now, and it worries me if the owners will just sell them on in January yet again, as usual.
I always thought of and I always expected relegation for us, this season (even though we did of course beat Fulham on the opening day).
We MUST try to take advantage of the likes of Stoke, Wigan, & Luton etc.. 4th from bottom is possible for us this season.

[bankendbfc]

I didn't think we'd be in touch with 4th bottom 5 games back, that reading game was a feeling like back to square one, but these past few games we've been decent, and good value for our points haul. Cautious optimism I'd say, but as I've said too many times it's letting em in that's our problem, today's one, one them things but I think that was one of 2 on target for them, so I'm confident for Swansea game.

[pass_and_move]

Played really well today did the reds. You can see what a quality side West Brom are in terms of experience and shape, a deceptively clever football team. They will win the league.

However, today we matched them. The first half we were dominant. We were inventive, quick and slick. Jacob Brown is impressing me more everytime I see him. He's reveling in his new role. Our movement was top quality at times and we can count ourselves unfortunate not to be winning at half time.

Second half they nullified our options, squeezed the game and coped with us far better than they did in the first half. We stuck at it though and got our deserved equaliser. Great spirit by us, well impressed.

Bambo had a good game but he does scare me when he carries the ball forward Defensively though, he was tuned in today, anticipating West Broms offensive threat and getting in there first. More of the same please Bambo lad.

I'd have taken a point before kick off. Unfortunately other results went against us but that's not our concern. We concentrate on ourselves and get as many points from now till the end of the season as we can. If it's enough then great, problem is I think our poor start has left us just too much to do.

[CASPER-64-FRANK]

Excellent point today against top of the table WBA.
Swansea up next at home then mid January Huddersfield Town. Just keep in touch and see where it takes yer. Still all to play for and still plenty of points available.
Good Luck.

[SBRed48]

I think the bottom three at the moment, Luton, Barnsley and Wigan, will be the three who go darn.

[Jules88]

Rather than go out and buy/loan some experience, I’d prefer that we persevered with what we have got. Experienced players generally come with attitude, so we would have to be very careful who we select as our lExperienced. I’m sure we’ve all been in teams (Football, Darts Pool etc , when the local “star “ comes to play for you and it has upset a good bunch Players. Our work ethic is without doubt one of the best in this league, our experience is the poorest. I get that we could do with someone..... but it would have to be a good fit , not just ex prem star who hasn’t played regularly for his club for the last 3 years.

The “understanding ” we need in defence are starting to show. Some good covering/talking by Mads and bambo yesterday, and limited them in terms of shots, and shots on goal. Their keeper had a worldy, ours had nowt to do, and even managed to feck that up!
I can see Jacob Brown, not Woodrow leaving in the next week....... an offer of 3m will be enough.
Huddersfield Town Manager has stated that any incomings will be loans. Expect Cavare and or Macgeehan to go there.

If we are getting experience, experience under 30 is what we need. Our tempo is intense....Grandad in midfield or defence isn’t going to keep up with how we play. One thing about Bambo, Mads, and J Williams is that they recover back Sharp.

[pass_and_move]

Rather than go out and buy/loan some experience, I’d prefer that we persevered with what we have got. Experienced players generally come with attitude, so we would have to be very careful who we select as our lExperienced. I’m sure we’ve all been in teams (Football, Darts Pool etc , when the local “star “ comes to play for you and it has upset a good bunch Players. Our work ethic is without doubt one of the best in this league, our experience is the poorest. I get that we could do with someone..... but it would have to be a good fit , not just ex prem star who hasn’t played regularly for his club for the last 3 years.

The “understanding ” we need in defence are starting to show. Some good covering/talking by Mads and bambo yesterday, and limited them in terms of shots, and shots on goal. Their keeper had a worldy, ours had nowt to do, and even managed to feck that up!
I can see Jacob Brown, not Woodrow leaving in the next week....... an offer of 3m will be enough.
Huddersfield Town Manager has stated that any incomings will be loans. Expect Cavare and or Macgeehan to go there.

If we are getting experience, experience under 30 is what we need. Our tempo is intense....Grandad in midfield or defence isn’t going to keep up with how we play. One thing about Bambo, Mads, and J Williams is that they recover back Sharp.

It's the tempo that worries me Jules. Can we keep that kind of energy and intensity up all season? I'd suggest not, we'll tire towards the end and dip.

The thing with experienced players is they know when to expel that energy and when not to. West Brom are a classic example of this. I know a few have criticized them from their performance yesterday but their shape and style is spot on. I've watched them a few times this season and they're a classy outfit. They will be champions in my opinion.

Signing experienced players isn't always a risk. There's some lazy barstewards out there who want to run darn their career granted but there's also some that are still professional and hard working. It's trusting what you see and the vibe you get when you interview them.

When you think back we've had some excellent experienced players over the years, Neil Thompson, Hendry, Wilko, Macken, Moore, Van der Laan, Kozluk, Harewood, Scotland, Shackell, O'Grady to name a few. All have helped the club along the way and made a good contribution. It's the Mido's, Lita's types tha needs to avoid, they're a liability.

[animallittle3]

It's the tempo that worries me Jules. Can we keep that kind of energy and intensity up all season? I'd suggest not, we'll tire towards the end and dip.

The thing with experienced players is they know when to expel that energy and when not to. West Brom are a classic example of this. I know a few have criticized them from their performance yesterday but their shape and style is spot on. I've watched them a few times this season and they're a classy outfit. They will be champions in my opinion.

Signing experienced players isn't always a risk. There's some lazy barstewards out there who want to run darn their career granted but there's also some that are still professional and hard working. It's trusting what you see and the vibe you get when you interview them.

When you think back we've had some excellent experienced players over the years, Neil Thompson, Hendry, Wilko, Macken, Moore, Van der Laan, Kozluk, Harewood, Scotland, Shackell, O'Grady to name a few. All have helped the club along the way and made a good contribution. It's the Mido's, Lita's types tha needs to avoid, they're a liability.

There are young players too who don't have the right attitude and we've seen those at Oakwell too , Dale Jennings , Dante Cole and Malik Wilks appears to have something of an attitude too .

If the recruitment team are so good then surely it's not beyond them to be able to find the know how and experience above the 24 years threshold .

Billy Beane himself should know this more than anyone as he recruited many so called over the hill and under valued players for the Oakland A's .

Is the recruitment policy a one trick pony at Oakwell ? .

It's only a one trick pony because of the financial motives behind it and not because it can't be extended beyond said over 24 years of age threshold , Beane's philosophy is the evidence .

If we cast the net in to the European market which would appear to be our current stand then the possibilities are even more accommodating .

It's all about the MOTIVES isn't it , championship status v profit related .

Absolutely no way will I be convinced that the analytic approach can only be used under the age of 24 .

There are experienced players plying their trade in European leagues who could be recruited here within budget and keep us up , all day long .