Why Barnsley`s season is stalling

After the inept performances away at Bolton Wanderers and bottom of the table Morecambe on Saturday, alarm bells have begun to ring amongst the Barnsley faithful as the reds start to stutter in League One.

No league goals scored in the last 3 matches and performances that have fallen off a cliff against Exeter, Bolton and Morecambe have fans rightly worried. Let’s look at the key issues identified by fans since the 1-0 loss to the Shrimps.

No replacement for Luke Thomas

The moment Luke Thomas suffered his injury in training ruling him out for 4 months Barnsley’s form has dropped right off.

Michael Duff has failed to find the ideal replacement for Thomas in either Jack Aitchison or Josh Martin with both players struggling to match Thomas’s energy and creativity.

In fact since Thomas suffered his injury it’s fair to say the whole squad have lost their vigour from the start of the season. There is no creativity coming from midfield, no link up play from midfield to the forwards who have been starved of any kind of service certainly in the last 2 games. This area needs sorting sooner rather than later as the reds haven’t scored in the league since Thomas’s injury.

Lack of a quality striker coming back to bite the reds

Many supporters believe the poor results and performances are as a result of the board not signing a quality striker in the summer transfer window.

Whilst this is true as the likes of Cole, Aitchison and Norwood have hardly been prolific chipping in with the odd goals here and there you could argue that better strikers would struggle to score in this Barnsley side given the lack of chances created for them by the rest of the side.

This area is concerning. A lack of creativity from a midfield that has been given a great lot of credit so far by fans and journalists needs action. Some point to poor showings from Herbie Kane and whilst there is a truth in that, you cannot pin it all on Kane. Larkeche looks a bag of tricks but has failed to deliver recently and Josh Benson whilst putting in a shift has created little and his shooting has gone right off.

Whilst a striker is key for the reds nothing is likely to happen until January maybe even the summer. Tedic hasn’t shown enough promise yet so some blame must go to the current strikers at the club apart from 16 year old Jalo who clearly has a bright future ahead of him. Yet we cannot pin our hopes on a 16 year old alone.

Time to change the formation?

Barnsley started the season with a 3-4-1-2 or 3-5-2 system with Thomas behind the strikers and it seemed to work. Recently the reds have changed to a 3-4-3 which has meant we have a lack of width and become easy to defend against. Morecambe denied our midfield the space and used the width to great effect which wasn’t difficult to do.

Even though Benson and Connell worked hard against Bolton I felt they needed an extra man with them to improve the forward threat once they got over the halfway line. Too often the pair were physical and energetic but lacked the ability to put a quality ball through to the strikers. Maybe now is the time to drop a forward for an extra midfielder who can provide some passes to open up defences.

Wingbacks lacking attacking intent

Many supporters have highlighted the loss of Jordan Williams to injury the reason for a lack of attacking intent. Whilst he does offer plenty going forward he is injury prone and the defensive side of his game needs improvement.

Tom Edwards came in against Bolton and had a very good game defensively stopping the Whites attacks down their left hand side. Personally, I feel he offers better protection defensively than Williams. The problem being we have not seen enough of him in an attacking sense and the same can be said of Nicky Cadden down the left hand side.

Cadden came with a reputation for assists and a great left footed cross. Sadly this hasn’t been seen enough yet in a red shirt. Whether this is due to tactics, formation or a stuttering start through injury we don’t know. What we do know is Barnsley have become too narrow in midfield and predictable to play against. Derek Adams’s Morecambe sussed the reds out, playing down the flanks and contesting midfield to great effect.

Reds not up for the battle?

Michael Duff promised “sweat on the shirt” when he arrived at Oakwell and we did get that for a number of games. The press returned and every player seemed to buy into it. Sadly over the last few games the reds haven’t seemed capable of rolling their sleeves up when sides have made the game a scrap.

Exeter City out thought and out fought the reds at Oakwell. Whilst Barnsley enjoyed the simmering tension at Bolton when it threatened to boil over that aggression and effort wasn’t on show at Morecambe when a side bottom of the table were up for it.

Duff has to find a solution and quickly

Whilst I believe Michael Duff was the best summer transfer the reds made and trust him to get a tune out of the squad this represents his first true test of his tenure at Oakwell.

He needs to get the players up for a game of football like he did pre Exeter. Those squad players like Larkeche, Martin and Phillips need to show their form in the Papa Johns trophy where it matters, in league games.

Duff needs to look at the formation and how to solve the number 10 role without Thomas. We are ineffective playing 3 up top.

Whilst defensively Barnsley are stronger, yes there are times like at Morecambe when the defence switch off, Duff needs to get the attacking players buzzing and creating chances again.

In truth, the reds haven’t played well since September. The 3-1 home win over Charlton showed good game management. There were times when Charlton over ran the reds but we manage those spells and ran out winners by creating chances and scoring them. The Fleetwood victory papered over the cracks of a poor performance where the opposition dragged Barnsley into a scrap which prevented us playing our normal game.

There’s much to ponder for Michael Duff and Lincoln will provide another tough test for the reds. In recent games the Imps have tightened up playing a 5 at the back. With the reds struggling to score, it could be a long night at Oakwell on Tuesday for fans.

Hopefully this is just a slight blip in what has been a steady season for the reds. The league is very congested and victories over Lincoln and Forest Green would catapult the reds back into the play off places.