To be honest mate you've made yourself look like a bit of an idiot because we weren't defensive at all until the first red card. We absolutely battered them and should have been 3-0 up after half an hour. Slightly mistimed header from Frieser, Mads header from a corner that hit Helik's foot, Thomas had a great run into the box but just couldn't get the final ball off.
The lineup was defensive in as much as it had no end product in it, that's what I was getting at more. I also think that sitting back and trying to defend when you go a goal down is the worst thing you can do but I know Struber isn't the only one to fall into that trap.
But the system was not defensive. There was end product, but for individual mistakes. Mistakes that any player could make. Not sure that anyone on the bench would have done any better.
Woodrow is our best player. A clinical number 9. Scored goals for fun over the last 2 seasons. But for some reason he's not only not allowed in the opposition penalty area, he's now seemingly not allowed on the pitch. I don't understand why. Even Adam Murray played him up front when we drew 2-2 away with West Brom during his caretaker reign. He should be the first name on the team sheet. We should be tailoring our system to suit him. Not shoe horning limited footballers into the current preferred system. I honestly don't get it.
Woodrow has been our best forward for two seasons ( and the first he didnt play a full season) . Strubers doing fine as manager but if Woodrow leaves or spends more time on the bench than on the pitch we'll suffer for it imo. What's the saying form is temporary, class is permanent?
No. He's our best goalscorer. Answer me this - who's the top Barnsley goalscorer over the last 2 seasons?
We were by far the best of the two sides up to sending off. Reading were falling down lie flies even before Helik was dismissed. I did question though why Chaplin was leading the line whilst Woodrow and Schmidt were on the bench plus why Williams was playing on the left side of midfield. Ref was conned for first sending off and then it was an uphill battle.
Was really impressed with us first half today. Movement was excellent & repeatedly got into great positions behind their full backs. Just one of them days with the final ball not coming off & the questionable sendings off. I’m certainly a lot more positive about today’s performance than the Luton one where I felt we were second best for the majority of the game.
I’d disagree on him been our best player. He’s been nowhere near as good as Mowatt has been over the same time period in my opinion. Struber’s played him up front lots of times & he’s not performed there for him, all of his best performances for Struber have come in the number 10 role. I’d like to see us find a spot for Woodrow in the team but we can’t pretend he’s not had lots of opportunities under Struber.
He hasn't played him up front. He's played him behind Chaplin and Brown. There's been games where he hasn't touched the ball in the opposition box. I know this for a fact because the game was that ***** I counted (Brum at home for what it's worth. And Luton away). I like Mowatt btw.- he's our next best. But Woodrow scored 15 goals for us last season from midfield. I just wish we played to his strengths.
He has had opportunities there. He played him there a few times when he first took over before he started playing Brown & Chaplin together. He played him up top a few times post lockdown alongside Brown & then he started him there at the start of this season. He’s just looked far better for Struber as a no. 10. Even when he was getting the goals for us early last season about half seemed to be shots from distance rather than typical strikers goals. The other big problem is him & Chaplin look completely unsuited to playing upfront together but Chaplin fits the pressing style better. I don’t know how we play to Woodrow’s strengths to be honest. All his best performances in my opinion came playing alongside Kieffer Moore in a team that dominated possession in league one. We aren’t good enough to dominate possession at this level & I don’t think he suits Struber’s pressing style as a centre forward. If he’s going to play under Struber it’s probably going to be as a number 10 unless he completely changes his style of play which I can’t see as he’s bought extra centre backs & the squad doesn’t really have wingers in order for us to play 3-4-1-2.
In a similar vein to Woodrow, SuperTyke is one of the best posters on the board, but he's bang out of form today.
What people forget when talking about being set up too defensively is that football teams are in constant transition. The worse the team the quicker the transition. We were letting goals in for fun, and no matter what, and no matter how, that had simply got to be addressed. Now I feel the defence is pretty much sorted and we’re in a slower stage of transition, tinkering around the edges to fine tune. Personally, I don’t think we’re too defensive but some do and I’m fine with that. We’re in transition, some will view it one way, some the other, but there’s no doubt that we’ve emerged from the schoolboy defending phase and are moving forward.
Sorry mate, I fell asleep! I guess that my point is that we shouldn't be building a system around Ritzmaier, Williams, Frieser and Chaplin. Our style of play should be tailored to suit our best two players - Woodrow and Mowatt. You say all of Woodrow's best performances come along side a big man? You are of course correct. So here's a novel idea, put a big man next to him.
This discussion is really a question of player focus versus system focus. If you are player focused, then the solution is always based upon finding the player that will solve a problem. It might be that we are not scoring from the chances we create (striker), not creating enough chances (creative midfield player) or conceding too many goals (defender). It is all very neatly compartmentalised, and the solution is always player based. I tend to focus on systems. I do not invent systems, but I try to do a layman's analysis on how they are supposed to work. Struber's system does not compartmentalise. It is one system for the whole of the team. The team defends from front to back, and it attacks from front to back as well. If the system is to work well, it needs players who suit the system, rather than players being pushed into positions that do not exactly suit that player's individual strengths and weaknesses. That is what happened last season. I was constantly complaining about players who were playing in areas that were outside their comfort zones, because they were players bought to play the Stendel system, with wingers. In many cases, their skill-sets were a mismatch for the requirements of any position in the Struber system. Yet, Struber performed a miracle. The team survived. However, it was still obvious that the players who do not have the right skill-set to fit his system, would have to leave in order to make way for players who do. It was obvious that if Struber was going to get the team playing better within his system, some players who we fans had an attachment to would be moved on in order for him to bring in players more suited to the Struber System. If Struber had not performed his miracle last season, it would have been an impossible sell. But he did perform that miracle, and I believe that success should give him the credibility among we fans to do what he believes is essential, and that we should be prepared to go along with him as he changes the team to bring in players who are a better fit in his system.
