Assessing where Michael Duff`s Barnsley are right now

With less than a week to go until the start of the League One season we assess where Michael Duff`s Barnsley side are in readiness for the opening fixture away to Plymouth Argyle. Whilst the rebuild under Duff is far from complete now the final pre-season game has been completed it allows us to look at how the reds have developed through the summer and where the gaps are within the squad.

Duff has been the clubs best signing

It goes without saying that the best signing of the summer was in fact Michael Duff himself. A straight talking man who understands the board's model of recruiting younger players to develop them and sell on for bigger fees but also is keen to recruit some older heads to help his young side.

In a recent interview on BBC Sheffield, Duff was clear in that he will look to the likes of James Norwood to police the dressing room and help the likes of Aiden Marsh as Norwood has “been there, done it and bought the tshirt”.

Duff comes across very well and has impressed Reds fans with his ideas and models to help the squad perform. He is keen not to come out with big bold statements talking up promotion or how many points the reds will get this season, more like it being a work in motion and everyone will assess where Barnsley are after ten games into the season.

Duff is also keen to stop Barnsley being a yo-yo club and cement the reds in the Championship over the next few years. Hopefully we can look forward to having a settled manager in place to help build that stability.

The manager firstly wanted his squad to be “fit, strong and organised” during preseason. Then with the right signings and time give the players the freedom to express themselves. One thing during preseason is the reds look fitter and harder to beat. Clean sheets against Crewe and Nottingham Forest and only conceding one goal to Sheffield United show proof that the reds will be tough to break down next season.

Loans incoming?

Defensively the reds are looking more solid and the likes of Luca Connell and Josh Benson have had decent preseasons. The worry is that the reds lack some flair and creativity in midfield and thin on strikers who can guarantee the club plenty of goals. At this time in the season nobody expected Barnsley to have completed all their transfer business and be ready to start the league on Saturday, no club in the division can say that either.

Duff has alluded to the possibility of utilising the loan market even though the club are not keen in developing other clubs players and it was interesting when the manager said that most clubs are probably 2 to 3 players short going into the start of the season. This is due to bigger clubs reluctance to release players for loan just yet but are likely to nearer the end of the transfer window. Despite the clubs reluctance to use the loan market, they may have to bring in a couple of loanees should they not get enough permanent deals over the line by the end of the transfer window.

There is still the uncertainty over the futures of Michal Helik and Callum Styles and the reds need to bolster the forward line with at least one if not two quality strikers, the manager and the board know this. However, the green shoots of recovery are evident and the players appear to be buying into the manager's ideas.

Fans can do their bit

We the supporters can do our bit and not have any knee jerk reactions if the reds lose their opening game at Plymouth. Like the manager says, we need to review where the squad is at after a good ten games and this may well be a season where the new players bed in and a top half table finish is achieved before the reds are ready to go on a promotion charge the following season.