So there we have it. After 12 games (seven wins and five draws) we have found out that maybe Oakwell isn't quite the fortress we all started believing it was. It's quite sad really. It has been great to see the likes of Watford, Bristol City and Wolves come down to Oakwell and be beaten and then along come Norwich in the first home league game of 2008 to put us back in our place.
We shouldn't really be surprised that it was the Canaries who clipped us. They have a habit of kicking us in the teeth. Only last season after The Reds had gained fantastic back to back wins over Hull (3-0) and Stoke (1-0) to boost the relegation fight, Norwich came and claimed a 3-1 success. But probably the most famous or infamous defeat at Delia Smith's boys' hands came on the 13th April 2002 when a 2-0 defeat saw Barnsley relegated from this division.
It would be foolish though to suggest our troubles solely rest on yesterday's display.
Something has been wrong since that fine 1-0 victory over Wolves at the beginning of December. Even then the warning signs were evident. 20 attempts on goal, 12 on target but just one goal. If it wasn't for Heinz Muller's expertise from 12 yards we would have dropped two points.
Victories have eluded us since then, but moans about the referee (Bristol City and Stoke) and the departures of Anderson De Silva and Jon Macken have papered so very thinly over the cracks.
It came to a head yesterday afternoon. We are used to abject defeats on the road this term, but not at Oakwell, not on our home territory. Why Bobby Hassell was played at left back and Marciano Van Homoet at right back when both are more at home on the opposite flanks puzzles me greatly. But then again we shouldn't be too surprised by what Simon Davey says or does these days. He talked of yesterday about how we controlled the game except for a "crazy 5 minute spell in the second half"
Now my maths isn't great but on the Official Barnsley F.C website it states Norwich scored after 48, 68 and 75 minutes. Now if I'm not mistaken that's a gap of 27 minutes between the first and third goals. Id seriously have a word with your watch maker if I was you Simon.
We didn't control any part of the second half. Only wastefulness from Lee Croft and Dion Dublin stopped it turning into the biggest defeat seen at the Well since Chelsea put 6 past us in the Premier League!!!
Yes that second half really was that bad. Problem is it seems to only be second halfs that are hampering Barnsley If matches finished at half-time we would have 38 points, five points more than we have now and in the current league table would be a total good enough to see us in the top 10 and eyeing a late play-off push.
Assistant coach Ryan Kidd boasted at the start of the season that the players were fitter than they had ever been. Evidently not. We seemingly use all our energy in the first half and then forget to come back out after the break. Even the new stars are starting to fade. Whereas earlier on in the campaign nobody knew about players like Dennis Souza and therefore didn't know how to combat him, they now know anybody with a bit of pace will cause him serious problems. We have Fraizer Campbell to thank for highlighting that!
The midfield also looks incredibly light. The two wingers, Martin Devaney and Jamal Campbell-Ryce are either scintillating or anonymous. Neither are scintillating on the same day. Grant McCann, I thought destroyed the midfield yesterday. He's too slow to get from box to box. But when the only other option is Sam Togwell what choice do we have? The loss of form of captain Brian Howard is the most disturbing though. Earlier on this season he was attracting the attention of Everton, a side chasing a Champions League place! Tiverton wouldn't be interested on current form! It's been a long time since we saw him take a game by the scruff of the neck and dominate it. Now he seems to pick the wrong options and is constantly caught in possession. Without Anderson alongside him he doesn't seem to know his job.
And then there's upfront. Not since Michael Chopra have we had a striker capable of sticking the ball in the net on a regular basis. Istvan Ferenczi threatened to be that man when he arrived last January but he is even struggling to get in the side these days. Even so he's our top scoring striker.. With 5 goals. When Souza can get in our top six scorers list with two strikes it lays bare our lack of creativity and finishing. Miguel Mostto looks like a (only slightly) less expensive version of Georgi Hristov, Kayode Odejayi needs a dose of confidence pills just to get up in the morning, Ferenczi has lost the knack and Kim Christensen has fallen spectacularly out of favour (why when he has scored just as much as Odejayi and Mostto with less chances I don't know)
Football is a fickle game and I refuse to throw in the towel on a team that has given me such great joy in the first half of the season. With a couple of additions and the returns of Anderson, Macken and Nyatanga we could be quite a decent side.
Maybe what we really need to do is go back to basics. Lets be the underdogs again. We all say we hate it when the newspapers headline us "Battling Barnsley" but that is when we perform at our best. Just look at the facts:
When we won promotion to the Premier League in 1996-1997, we were favourites to actually be relegated that season.
When we won promotion back to the Championship in 2005-2006 we weren't even expected to make the top half.
Even this season. We had the longest odds to win promotion and were tipped to finish bottom by all the "experts" but we were 4th by October.
It is only since hope of winning turned to expectation that the results have taken a slump. Anybody remember the boos after we BEAT Blackpool 2-1 to leap to 4th in the table. How much would those "supporters" give for a 2-1 win now. I warned in my match report it was a bad idea to boo a win but it shows how our expectations have soared.
If we go back to believing we need to give 100% to compete with the opposition results may turn around.
That's my take on it anyway. It's either that or lobby FIFA to make football matches 45 minutes long instead of 90. Because as it stands 8 matches without a win is relegation form!