Three strikers start....but there's no goals at Oakwell

A home game against Wycombe, the Division’s bottom club and a side yet to win on their travels this season. Barnsley manager Gudjon Thordason, criticised so often this season for being too negative, selects an attacking 3-4-3 formation. Surely the Oakwell faithful fans would be in for a treat?

Nope. Not even close.

The bold experiment just didn’t work: not only did Barnsley fail to score, but they also failed to create. Dean Gorre’s one-on-one with Wycombe keeper Frank Talia in the dying stages was Barnsley’s first, and only, clear cut chance. But Gorre had created it himself, having first beaten two defenders on his way into the penalty area. In light of the previous 80+ minutes, Talia’s comfortable save from Gorre’s weakly struck shot was inevitable.

So where did it all go wrong?

Defensively, Barnsley were sound. The back three of Handyside, Ireland and Monk were always comfortable, though Wycombe rarely threw men forward. Keeper Marlon Beresford could have nipped off to do a bit of grouting in the second half, and no one would have noticed.

The midfield was Barnsley’s biggest problem. In central midfield, Alex Neil & Craig Rocastle (making his home debut) did do some positive things: Neil broke up the sporadic Wycombe attacks while Rocastle demonstrate his Premiership potential with some superb 30, 40 & 50 yard passes to feet. Neither of them, however, were successful in carrying the ball forward to support the attack. This was also the problem for our wide men who, in this experimental formation, didn’t seem to know if they were full backs, wing backs or plain old fashioned wingers.

On the left side, Anthony Kay (no doubt on the verge of setting a Nationwide League record for playing in every position possible in one season) looked extremely uncomfortable, and turned in his worst performance in a long while. His counterpart, Kevin Betsy, suffered from the emphasis that the manager had obviously placed on defensive duties. Still, Betsy’s performance, poor though it was, did not justify the abuse he received from large section of the Barnsley crowd. These people clearly forget how many points Betsy’s goals and assists have won us this season.

And so to the strikers. I’m quoting from ‘80s songstress Tiffany here but “It could have been so beautiful, could’ve been so right”. Nardiello, the starlet from Old Trafford with quick feet and an eye for goal; Stallard, the big number 9 that the fans had been crying out for ever since Wimbledon stole Neil Shipperley from us; and, finally, Boulding, our recent capture from Grimsby, whose pace and clinical finishing had brought him a hatful of goals at the start of the season.

However, the simple fact is, if you don’t create chances, you won’t score goals. We didn’t, so we didn’t. With the lack of midfield support referred to above, our attacks fell into the following pattern: long ball from the back, one (or sometimes two) of our three strikers chase & tussle for the ball with one of the eight Wycombe defenders, the ball is cleared but, because Wycombe haven’t got anyone forward, it lands back at the feet of a Barnsley defender. So, we start again with another long ball from the back, etc, etc, repeat until half-time, then we do it all again in the second half.

We can’t use the wide players because Kay & Betsy are too busy concentrating on their defensive duties, which in practice involves marking no-one because Wycombe have come for a point. We can’t ask our central midfielders to carry the ball forward because Neil is too small and too slow and Rocastle, for all his impressive passing, is either incapable or unwilling to do it. Mind you, he could have been weighed down by his thick gloves which were seemingly so heavy that they stopped him from moving his arms when he ran.

All in all, our three strikers were left to feed off…well, nothing really. Only when Thordason brought Dean Gorre and the impressive debutant Aaron Davies into the action off the substitutes bench did Barnsley manage to step up a gear, but the afternoon ended without reward.

So where does this leave us? In the context of the last twelve months, and all of the shenanigans that have gone on behind the scenes at Oakwell, it would seem reasonable to dismiss the 2003-04 campaign as one of ‘consolidation’. After all, the club finally getting itself on a reasonable, and stable, financial footing will be a major achievement. But the fact is, we are in with a chance of promotion this season, and with the recent recruits to the squad there’s no reason why we can’t achieve this. Over to you, Gudjon: 14 games and 42 points to play for...