Barnsley v Boro
As the season stumbles to a close and all the Boro fans lose interest in another season spent in hope and ending in despair, we turn to another game on Saturday. This time we are up against the high-flying Tykes (Barnsley FC) who are fighting to gain a seat at the Premiership Banqueting Table.
It’s funny how times and circumstances have changed, when I and other Boro fans not so long ago, thought of Barnsley as just a small club in Yorkshire. We even poached their manager Viv Anderson, who joined the Boro as assistant to Bryan Robson during the start of our renaissance. I remember going to see Barnsley V Boro one very cold and wet April day during 1995, to see Viv Anderson play in a Boro shirt as a makeshift Centre Half and we ended up sharing the points with a one all draw.
One other memorable game I remember well, was going to Oakwell in 1993 to see hordes of press and top tier football scouts who had come to watch a young eighteen-year-old Alan Moore who was tipped as the next Ryan Giggs. The Irish winger didn’t disappoint and was in scintillating form in this game, with two goals and two assists for John Hendrie in a 4-1 Boro win. The second goal was probably the pick of the bunch, as Moore wormed his way past three opposing defenders before rifling it into the bottom corner. Moore would go on to play for both sides, spending a short loan spell with The Tykes in 1998.
Barnsley are one of the English Football clubs whose finances have been revised due to the investment of Capital by Overseas Investment. In 2017, a majority stake in the club was sold to a consortium involving Chien Lee of NewCity Capital, Grace Hung and Paul Conway of Pacific Media Group, Indian businessman Neerav Parekh and baseball player and executive Billy Beane. The club have spent more seasons in the second tier of English football than any other club in history and have produced some notable talents over the years who have gone on to be successful at other clubs. The current most notable example of this being John Stones, who came through the Barnsley youth academy to sign a professional contract in December 2011. On 9 August 2016, Manchester City completed the signing of Stones for £47.5 million on a six-year deal with a potential extra £2.5 million in add-ons, making him the world's second most expensive defender in history. It shows that a paltry offer of £10 million for our own Nathan Wood seems to be a tad undervalued, but if the price is right it can help to bolster the transfer coffers and springboarda promotion challenge.
Barnsley hired Valerien Ismael last year as the head coach, on the understanding that the tactics to be employed by his team was to play with a high press and to develop young players. His side have been one of the stories of the season, with the appointment of the French coach in October transforming the club.
In January 2021, the American owners Chien Lee and Paul Conway signed a loan deal with the MLS to get the 20-year-old American striker Daryl Dike from Orlando City, with an option to purchase of £17 million. His goalscoring talent of five goals in 12 Championship appearances have not gone unnoticed by the Premiership clubs and he is currently on the radar of Manchester United, Chelsea and Everton. Clubs have been given a ‘budget boost’ throughout the pandemic, with Financial Fair Play rules having been relaxed, subsequently allowing teams to spend more on player transfers. The Toffees are gearing up for another big summer spending spree in their bid for sustainable European football, and Dike at a value of £17 million is one name being linked with a move to Goodison Park.
As the current race gained momentum over the weekend, Barnsley collected a sixth straight away win, seeing off Luton 2-1 at Kenilworth Road, to remain in fifth place and two points ahead of Reading. Reading gave their play-off prospects an important boost as they defeated Derby County 3-1 at Madejski Stadium on Easter Monday afternoon. Goals from Michael Olise, George Puscas and Lucas Joao were enough to see off the Rams and ensured they retained their sixth-place spot in the Championship table. Seventh-placed AFC Bournemouth also won - beating Blackburn Rovers 2-0 at Ewood Park. Swansea however lost ground in their push for the top two as they were beaten 1-0 at home by Preston North End. As I currently write this, the once mighty Boro have dropped down to tenth, having beingovertaken by Millwall which surely condemns us to at least another season in the Championship who may be joined by our neighbours Sunderland.
Barnsley will prove to be a difficult game for Boro on Saturday and their coach whilst acknowledge the importance of continuity, also recognises that his high intensity approach is demanding. So, it’s about him finding the right balance to pick his team against Boro who will be without another long-term injury player in Sam Morsy. It will be interesting to see what team Middlesbrough put out on Saturday as although he has threatened to play “the kids” he has really never gone through with the plan to push youngsters onto what is still an important game even if its just for “bragging rights.” Warnock seemed very downbeat last Saturday and has resigned himself and his team to another hard gruelling season.
So come on you Diasborians, forget the golf, the rugby, walking the dogs, lets support the Boro for another game which could be “eyeballs in the sky.” ?????
OFB
OFB I attended both of those games and was it that long ago....
OFB - there was a Monsoon during the Barnsley game when injury-hit Boro played Viv Anderson, wasn't there?
oh yes I remember now ! It’s funny how you forget things. I always know I was freezing cold stood on that big open terrace on the side of a hill !
OFB
OFB - there was a Monsoon during the Barnsley game when injury-hit Boro played Viv Anderson, wasn't there?
Was that the match when a crowd of lads in the Boro end stripped off their tops and did a bare chested conga?
I watched that from the seats where the sensible folk were watching on in great amusement.
Thanks for a great opener, OFB.
I’ve been to Barnsley 3 times. Lost them all. The most infamous was our 3-2 defeat in 2013, Mogga’s last game in charge. Barnsley were in the bottom 3 as I recall, but were very quickly 3-0 up. I remember Paddy McCourt slaloming his way past 5 leaden-footed Boro defenders (yes, five!) to score the first. Poor Mogga - and his team - got frightful stick at half-time from the Boro faithful, made worse of course because they had to pass very close to our fans to reach the changies. I can’t remember any other Boro crowd ever berating the team so vehemently and so viciously. Albert pulled 2 goals back late on second half, but it was too little, too late. And too late for Mogga. The crowd had turned, Boro were deep in relegation trouble and Gibson pulled the plug.
As for this Saturday, am I bothered? Not a lot. On several successive occasions recently I have persuaded myself not to part with £10 to watch the away match stream, only to give in at the last minute and watch the game anyway. Millwall should have been the last straw for me. Bournemouth definitely was. And then came Watford. Having equalised, Boro just couldn’t be bothered to rouse themselves to go for an unlikely win. So that’s it. The season will fizzle out with a whimper, like a half-inflated balloon rapidly deflating, and with the same noise of raspberries blown at the fans. I shall watch the 3 remaining home games - out of habit and loyalty, and because I’ve paid for them via my season card. But I shall watch the away games unfold via Twitter or some such - they’ll probably be more entertaining that way.
As for this Barnsley game, I expect us to lose. They’ll turn up, because they always do and need the points. We probably won’t.
Sorry to inject such a cheery tone into the debate. Keep smiling one and all, and stay safe.
I was hoping to see Boro fighting during these last two matches (and Millwall) and next at Barnsley. To try to get in there, play-offs.
But seeing a tired Jonny Howson, I cannot think it is just lack of trying. We might not have the ability, but we could lack something else, too.
First, I think a Warnock team needs home supporters. He is good at getting the crowd behind his team. He and his team need the noise and support. More than many other teams.
Secondly, I think we should have rotated the players more. This season was the worst ever for having two matches in eight days. And constantly so because of COVID-19. Perhaps we do not have a squad big enough but we can see Howson getting tired as well as more injuries (Tav, Fry).
It it naive to say that the players were not interested. Professional footballers are very competitive. There must be a few other reasons for our decline after Chrismas.
One is that the team is not talented enough and we couldn't use the tho main strikers in Assombalonga and Fletcher together or separately. These two players can play and score but we did not play to their strenghts (hoofing the ball up to them is not the key).
I will still watch all the remaining matches, though. I am a Boro fan. Do you think some spectators are allowed in for the last matches of the season? So something to look forward to.
Up the Boro!
A good preview Bob with plenty of detail, but a few things stand out for me about the Tykes all related to their promotion to the Premier League in 1997. It was the same year that Boro were relegated, so the two clubs have never met in the top tier of English football as Boro were promoted back to the Premier League the following year, whilst the Tykes were relegated in their one and only season in the top tier despite their fans commenting that “watching Barnsley play was like watching Brazil”.
Another point was the continual reference to the fact that as a Second Division club they won the FA Cup in the year that the Titanic sank, beating West Brom after a replay and had already made history by being finalists two years previously losing to Newcastle also after a replay, and being the only second tier club to have appeared in two FA Cup Finals in close proximity to each other.
Of course I once mentioned the match that you’ll never find in the record books. I can’t remember the year, but it was on the Michael Parkinson show when he interviewed Paul Daniels, and which was Paul’s wont he performed a couple of card tricks which the audience were privy too behind Parky’s back and after each trick Paul wet his thumb and wiped it on his collar and stated Boro 1 Barnsley 0, then Boro 2 Barnsley 0. Parky, not renowned for his sense of humour, wasn’t amused, but the audience lapped it up. Maybe Paul went too far by fooling Parky twice, but Paul always loved to be the centre of attention. I recall him once asking a girl in the office what she would do if he placed two hot pennies in her hand, and she replied drop ‘em. And Paul replied “What, for tuppence?”The girl was so embarrassed.
I was at Barnsley in the marvellous Bruce Rioch days. A win for Boro 3-0.
Ahead of the Barnsley game when we will be playing another very successful team, I've been wondering exactly what is the 'house style' for Boro under NW. He seems to be at his best when he is engineering a specific plan to beat a strong opposition and less comfortable when we are playing weaker teams and have to impose 'our game' on them. The latter may be due to the fact that we don't have the players necessary to dominate a game which really comes down to creative midfield, penetrative wingers and a strong, impactful target man. We have bits of these requirements but not enough.
Looking at things this way, makes it easier to understand why we were so good at containing clubs like Norwich, Swansea and Watford who had been beating other teams so easily. NW out-thought them and produced relative tactical masterclasses. The downside is that the games were pretty scrappy.
Anyway, thinking along these lines, it made me wonder what plan he might come up with to take on Barnsley. Barnsley are a high-pressing team who run forever and counter-attack very well. They always have a lower share of possession than their opposition with even their home share of possession only reaching 48%. Thus, I wonder if NW will try to confuse them by giving them the ball and letting them come at us. This would not be their natural style and might throw them off their game.
I also wonder if he will be true to his word by giving a game to some of the fringe players. My guess is that he will use the Barnsley game as a serious test of his current best team and then look to experiment a bit in the other five games.
UTB
For my pennies’ worth, I think it’s gone wrong in the second half of the season as Warnock has tried to make us more of a goal threat overall.
I think at the start of the season we knew we were short of quality in the squad and therefore knew who we were - a team that went out to spoil games and limit chances. And we we were quite good at it.
However, Warnock knows what it takes in this division and that you can’t go up being a one-dimensional team so a number of attacking players were brought in in January.
I think that was the right thing to do and don’t have a problem with the players he brought in but it does appear to have confused the situation for this season.
It might be a case of too many new faces at once, it might be the balance of the team and we just haven’t adjusted, it might be that we still haven’t got anyone in central midfield who is good on the ball to feed those attacking players in the right way.
Its made for a disappointing end to the season but I think the thinking is right and perhaps we have to take it on the chin this year in order to go forward next year.
Getting new recruits in early will help.
Or Warnock has ordered to hoof the ball over the midfield.
When NW joined Boro, my son said that he won't watch many Boro games as NW plays long(ish) ball. He remembered a Finnish midfielder complaining this a few years back when playing for NW. The player was not getting the ball in midfield as no risks were taken.
I think my son might be right about hoofing the ball. Up the Boro!
Or Warnock has ordered to hoof the ball over the midfield.
I think, sadly, that's exactly it. It's a plan much like rugby union; kick the ball into the final third then press. Sometimes you'll be able to keep possession with an accurate hoof that's won in the air and laid off but mostly you don't. Instead you aim to turn it around and catch your opponent out of position. It is a form of safety first play rather than trying to play through the pitch and risk losing the ball while you are out of position. You can also try and draw some fouls or press well enough to win a corner or throw-in and hope to have a good dead ball threat.
I don't think there's any secret to this. If you have fast, direct wingers it can be quite positive because you hoof the ball over the top and they run onto it so it forces the other side to sit quite deep to counter that.
The throw-ins are also from rugby union. Throw it 10-20 metres down the pitch and try to force the other side to head it out. Do this 2 or 3 times until you get into the final third then try and attack.
The thing is, the way we execute this is just so depressing to watch. It's not quite as bad as Pulis style austerity football but it's hardly feel good stuff.
@deleriad. Absolutely spot on. Whilst I want us to win and ideally gain promotion I also want to see some good positive football played where we move the ball quickly, with precision and outplay the opposition rather than hope that they make a mistake.
I still hark back to the days of when we won promotion under Jack, it was a joy and revelation to watch they way we dismantled teams at times by playing as a team, winning the ball and breaking at pace. The long ball was still used, as it had its place and purpose but not just hoof ball as as been seen in recent seasons. 😎
@deleriad Thanks, you said it as I was thinking. Your eye for football is better than mine and your English more so.
Up the Boro!
Now when the season has petered out for Boro, I will go for a typical result. Barnsley 1 Boro 3. McNair, Kebano and Bola scoring. We could play like Spain with a false nr. 9 who wouldn't dare to shoot all afternoon. Up the Boro!
A lot of football is losing its way. Take Boro as an example. In the 1960s Boro averaged 70 goals a season, in the 1970s and 80s that had dropped to 52 goals a season, and in the last 3 seasons it has dropped to 50.5 goals a season all in the Championship, that’s a paltry 1.2 Boro goals per match. Even in the Premier League only 1,044 goals were scored in 380 matches last season (2.75 goals per match). In the first season after the war 1,513 goals were scored in the old First Division in 418 matches (3.62 goals per match). Yes defences have become stronger, or is it a case of attacks becoming weaker? The average fan likes to see goals, whereas the average Rugby League fan likes to see tries, and I realise it’s early days yet but so far this season in Super League 80 tries have been scored in 12 matches (6.67 tries per match). Too many football matches have become must-not-lose matches, a surprise really considering the fact that it’s now 3 points for a win instead of 2. Maybe draws shouldn’t be awarded any points, or wins should be awarded even more points, or bonus points be awarded for extra goals scored. Draws are rare in Rugby League and teams rarely settle for a draw. Football has become too negative for many clubs, whereas Rugby League is positive so becoming a better game to watch in my opinion.
@original-fat-bob. Those were the days!
Watched the "Finding Jack Charlton" documentary last week and what a great tribute to the man but sad and emotional to see how his last few years ended, as sadly happens to so many of us oldies these days. 😎
Catching up on things on Diasboro as I have had to take on work that I ordinarily wouldn't have countenanced but bills and depleting savings (due to Covid just about killing the business with zero support from Rishi Sunak) meant that needs must hence my absence on here of late
I think tomorrow is a free hit. I'd hate Swansea and Bournemouth to go up and the same for Reading (it would only reward their overspending and getting away with it Villa style). I don't mind Brentford or Barnsley so assuming that Norwich and Watford take the auto spots my Play Final preference would be between those two. If we lose tomorrow it helps to cement Barnsley's hopes whilst a win means little to us other than pride.
The way the second half of our season just spluttered and petered out is a cause for serious concern. We seemed to get worse when Warnock got his additions in January but it does follow a previous trend with Boro Managers with both Mogga and Pulis having barren spells. My suspicion is that morale below the surface isn't the smiles and japes that have been perpetuated from Rockliffe.
From being very positive and supportive with the NW appointment and his subsequent rescue act and a decent start to this season I am now a little sceptical about how new players haven't improved things despite being on paper at least "better" players. There have been too many games were we didn't turn up or just hoofed the ball to nowhere with little attempt tom try and prise teams open. Several disappointing performances from the Keeper normally would have resulted in him being dropped but perhaps the fact that Archer's history is less than comfortable at this level questions what on earth is going on.
For all the good that NW initially achieved in 2020 the lack of fight, spirit, belief and desire along with the football has been a very difficult watch in 2021. I am pretty certain that had fans been in the ground there would have been some raucous booing and acerbic comments launched towards certain players and the dug out. For what is left of this season I would use it very wisely indeed if I was NW.
A poor summer recruitment by bringing in more players that don't suit whatever system he wants to employ along with players who look either very tired or just simply fed up means he won't last until Autumn if the fans are back in the Riverside.
OFB,
Thank you for the intro leader, comprehensive and interesting. I don't see this as an 'eyes in the sky' with Flap and Fumble in our goal and Barnsley able to score just like last week a draw would be a triumph. Otherwise Boro lose.
Mr Warnock's quotes in the Northern Echo today were quite perturbing with him saying that some players are not putting the effort in to playing or training, I paraphrase there, and separating those who will be leaving at the end of their contracts from that statement. In normal work you'd be found out and fired for breach of contract, but not in football it seems.
I sincerely hope he gives those youngsters on the fringes a proper try and not in the last ten minutes when we are chasing the game. Boro's season seems to be over but lack of effort is inexcusable, that becomes a habit. Does the club receive prize money for where they finish, tenth being better than eleventh and thus more funds?
Stay safe everyone,
John
Belated thanks to OFB for an interesting and informative intro on a match which has little going for it as far as we are concerned other than perhaps Yorkshire pride, albeit that won't mean much to most if not all of the players.
I can't see anything other than a home win given that NW seems to have given up already as do most of the team.
I like the idea, already expressed, of leaving the loanees out of the team for the rest of the season and playing those who will be here next season, together with some of the youngsters to see how they cope at this level. 😎
Also very last minuteand belated thanks to OFB for posting the opener for today's fixture.
So much depends on who NW will name in the starting eleven. If he does leave out those who he already knows will not be around for the next campaign, but instead opts to go with a line up featuring several youngsters we could end up giving Barnsley a fright. If he sticks with the big money wasters, then we will likely be on the receiving end of a humbling defeat.
So, young and fresh and eager to impress team Boro to win 2-1... Tired old disinterested Boro to capitulate 5-0.
Foam keeps me hoping....
Today's starting XI:
Akpom in for the injured Morsy & Britt on the bench; no specialist defenders!
Good blog, but I must point out that your analysis is the perfect discription of football that is awful to watch and is our chosen method. We never pass the ball into space, always to feet, so we are playing stand about football, and are getting what we deserve, and that would be, nothing! I note that Barnsley are reported to be playing strictly High pressing, attacking football, as a command from on high. I therefore think that they will give our stand about players a good thrashing, which might be a signal that we have no idea whatsoever how to run a football club. Which is what we have been watching for some time now. On the subject of the Young player who is drawing bids of serious money, why do our Young players draw offers of a few million quid? Is it because we is stupid and an easy mark? Just asking?