First half we saw very attractive football going forward - resulting in Sunday League level attempts at goal from especially Bahre and Mowatt. From those moments on you could see the mindset of the players changing - confidence seeping away. We ain’t going to score no matter what. To the extent by the second half players such as Woodrow had lost most of their confidence - hence his easy chance miss towards the end of the game. I have seen us beaten by better teams in the past - but I can’t remember a situation where we are beating ourselves because of the mindset of our own players. Struber has some serious psychological problems to sort out here.
Woodrow has air kicked a few chances this season. He isn’t as brilliant as some like to believe. He’s just the best we’ve got. And he’d be a lot better with a big lad alongside him doing the donkey work. Wigan have got one who’d do that job quite well. Woodrow would certainly be better up front rather than in midfield playing behind Chaplin and Brown. But he’d need a partner too. The team does undermine itself I agree, but it does it by being as defensively inept as I’ve ever seen any side be. Jordan Williams should have twatted that corner out for a throw or up to half way easily. Diaby could have had a swing at it too. Neither do anything. Dougall (less to blame but still) might have anticipated them missing it, given they’re so consistently ****, and been prepared to react better and do more than it bounce right off him. He didn’t. Dougall needs a run of games to get up to speed and he’ll be our best defensive midfield option, but he won’t get it. Halme will be brought back in despite the other two centre backs who will play behind him being nowhere near good enough. Jordan Williams had his best game for us last night I thought. He got forward ok, passing was improved, didn’t give it away much. His crossing wasn’t the best, but he looked alright in possession. Defensively he’s an absolute liability though. Which is an issue when your centre halves are crap too.
The weird agenda against our best player continues. Not sure what you hate about Mowatt so much, I can only assume it’s that he was at Leeds. One weak shot by him has no relevance to Woodrow, Brown, Chaplin & Bahre repeatedly been wasteful in the final third last night.
Nowt to do with Leeds. Bahre and Mowatt obviously possess some skill. Which becomes irrelevant when they have the heart the size of a pea. Weak.
That makes even less sense. Mowatt goes into tackles all the time. You’ve got a bizarre agenda against the lad
Too many tame shots is the issue here (putting the defensive frailties aside for once). Bahre is a regular culprit. Mowatt not so much. I dont think Bahre is ruthless enough, he just seems too nice to have a killer instinct, and that's a problem when you're shooting at goal. You need to be viscous, but clinical. Sometimes you have to welly it. Bahre seems to want to place it too often and generally it's straight at the keeper.
That’s basically what I’m saying. One particular ‘shot’ from Bahre, just a few yards from goal, was more like a back pass to the goalkeeper. Mowatt also had a few shots in the first half which resembled weak lobs into the middle. The negative impact on the other players was noticeably as a result. They need to either man up or start playing in the U23. There seems to be no understanding amongst certain players that weak efforts like these undermines the confidence of the other players in the team.
Woodrow had probably his worst game in a Barnsley shirt IMO, doubtful that it had owt to do with Mowatt or Bahre
We played some nice stuff first half in places. Last 30 mins was pretty insipid. On a plus point we only conceded one. I can't really see much point making wholesale changes with the players, but we need to use the subs better. Surely Thomas should have featured for 30 mins in the second half to give us more width. I'd have put him on for Brown myself.