From despair to where?

A number of words could be used to sum up Barnsley’s performances so far this season (many of them would not get past this website’s profanity checker) but inconsistency has been a massive problem. Admittedly, the poor and downright shocking performances have certainly outnumbered the good ones, but the players have shown on a few occasions that they have the ability to compete with the best teams in the Division. They just don’t do it often enough.

This trend was taken to new extremes against Mansfield, when the Reds followed an excellent first half performance with 45 minutes of sheer agony. Admittedly, the referee didn’t help matters with an appalling performance, but nothing can excuse the desperate display that the Reds put on after half-time, when bottom of the table Mansfield out thought, outfought and ultimately outplayed the home side.

Barnsley dominated the game in the first half, creating chance after chance but taking none of them. Pilkington in the Mansfield goal pulled off a couple of superb stops to deny Gorre but some of the finishing was abysmal: Betsy missed an open goal in the first few minutes, setting the trend for the rest of the opening period. Despite the frustration of failing to break down a Mansfield defence that has conceded 53 goals this season, it seemed implausible that the Reds would fail to win the game as we approached half-time. The fact that the visitors then missed a penalty (Christie blasted the ball against the bar after Morgan had been harshly adjudged to bring him down) only reinforced this view.

But then came that second half…45 minutes of football so bad that it’s hard to put it into words. Somehow we managed to make bottom of the table Mansfield Town look like Real Madrid. Right from the kick-off, they controlled the game in the way that the Reds had done in the first half. Unlike Barnsley, however, Mansfield made their possession count when, on fifty minutes, White ran through and calmly stroked the ball into the top corner of Andy Marriott’s goal.

For the remainder of the game, Barnsley never once looked like coming back. Mansfield could and should have added to their one goal, as the Reds were completely overrun by an opposition that, once again, seemed to want the three points more than they did. The whole team were so bad that its hard to pick out individual performances but Mulligan, Lumsdon, Sheron and Dyer were particularly poor.

If the club is to avoid relegation for a second consecutive season, we need a manager who can motivate the group of overpaid underachievers that make up the present squad. As such, I don’t think Hodges is the right man for the job. His record from his 11 games as caretaker boss is won 2, drawn 3 and lost 6. He is undoubtedly passionate about the club but he has made some dubious tactical decisions, notably when asking the incredibly slow Lee Crooks to mark the lightning-quick Rodney Jack at Crewe (outcome – Jack outpaces the Barnsley defence to score Crewe’s second, decisive goal).

Someone new to the club might be able to get some results from a squad of players that clearly lack the inclination or desire to give their all under the present coaching staff. Without such an appointment (after all, who would want the job?) I fear that Division 3 could be a distinct possibility. Mansfield proved again yesterday that the team regularly labelled ‘Battling Barnsley’ by lazy tabloid journalists are no longer worthy of that title.