Duff on injuries, transfers and looking ahead to Oxford United

Michael Duff appeared before the local journalists this morning, to discuss Oxford United, transfers, the Exeter postponement and injuries. Jack Hall details what the reds manager discussed.

Subject of injuries

There was an uproar on social media, due to the club's decision to host an ‘inhouse friendly’, for the fans who travelled to Exeter. Duff confirmed that the friendly was going to happen anyway, and it was very normal. Duff said that they were still waiting for the scans, but they ‘think’ Matty Wolfe will be out for the remainder of the season.

Duff announced that Aiden Marsh ‘felt his hamstring’ during the game, and he elaborated further into the conference, commenting that it “didn’t look good”. Scares to Devante Cole and Mads Andersen were shirked off, with Duff confirming that “Mads’ was just precautionary” and Cole is expected to be fine, and play the game on Wednesday evening.

Duff confirmed that Luke Thomas has now returned to full contact training, and will be involved with the U21’s fixture on Tuesday.

Slobodan Tedic returned to Oakwell this week, following his rehab at parent club Manchester City.

Transfers in and out

Jack Walton departed the Reds on Monday, with Luton shot stopper Harry Isted coming the other way (albeit on loan). Duff wouldn’t comment on the Walton / Isted transfer, though the deal was done just hours later.

Duff said that the Tykes were looking at adding a midfielder, given the long-term injuries to Matty Wolfe and Josh Benson.

“We’re looking at doing something, but whether we do or not, it’s late in the window so you never know.”

Duff confirmed that bids were put in for players, and they are interested in ‘lots of players’, but refused to comment on individual names. Oli Shaw is understood by the Barnsley chronicle to be a ‘done deal’, but once again Duff was evasive in his response.

“I’ll be honest, if we sit and talk about names and rumours, I’ll be sat here until the window shuts. So, there’s been bids put in for players, we’re interested in lots of players, there’s a lot of nonsense out there. Until anyone signs on the dotted line, it’s not something I'm prepared to get involved in. There’s 36 hours to go of the window, there's a lot of things going on. We are trying to do a couple of things. We'll find out in the next 36 hours if they get done or not.”

Youngsters Charlie Wellens and Eduino Vaz were up at Oakwell to take part in the in-house friendly, so they could “take a look” at both. Duff confirmed that both would be for the development squad, and wouldn’t come into the first team setup straight away.

Duff confirmed that there were no bids for first team players, aside from Walton.

“I’ve said all along, I don’t expect to lose anyone in this window, and I'm pretty calm on that. If it happens you get on with it. If it happens, it’s something the club thinks is worth doing, but where we are at, at the minute, I don’t see anybody leaving.”

Exeter postponement

Many unlucky Reds travelled to Devon last Tuesday, only for the match to be called off just two hours and 45 minutes before kick-off. Duffy was very sympathetic when asked in regards to the fans.

“It’s different for the players, me and the staff. We get paid to go down there. All of our food is paid for by the club, and it doesn’t cost us anything in expenses. I don’t know whether they can do some sort of ruling that the decision needs to be made before the opposition away fans official travel leaves or something like that. I don’t know, it's not ideal, it’s frustrating for us, but it’s a part of our job. It’s going to cost 100 quid at least I’d imagine in petrol, there and back, a day off work, your food and then it might even be the morning after because you’ll get back at 3-4 in the morning. We understand the frustration of the supporters.”

Duff stressed that this unfortunate situation was to no fault of our hosts, and he was quoted in saying that “Exeter did everything they could” to make sure the game would be played. “It’s not like we had a downpour, it’s not like they had six inches of rain an hour before the game, or a foot of snow dropping a couple of hours before the game. It’s been pretty cold for a couple of weeks.” “There was quite a long strip, about 10 yards in from the touchline. You could hear it, as soon as the referee runs on it, you can hear it. It sounds like (he was) running on a road. And then the 18 yard box, which is a pretty important part of the pitch, was rock hard. We don’t want that, you don’t want it to be a goalkeeper slipping because he can’t get any purchase on a dive, to cost someone the game.”

Looking ahead to Oxford

Duff looked ahead to Barnsley’s next match, a tough trip to the Kassam stadium to take on Oxford United.

“They’ve got good players, I think they’ve been in the play-offs for the last three years. Got a really well built team, a good manager who has a lot of games compared to his age. Their last home game they beat Ipswich, because they’ve got good players. They gave Arsenal a good run for their money in the FA Cup.”

Duff is always complimentary of the opposition, but it seems Oxford is a challenge he will not be taking lightly.