Barnsley head coach Darrell Clarke says he can understand fans thinking his side sat back too much after taking the lead in their draw with Stockport County on Saturday but insists he will never think like that, and rued the sloppy passing of the majority of his side.
Adam Phillips scored an early penalty but Stockport were on top for long spells before eventually levelling in injury-time.
Clarke told the Chronicle: “The tactics weren’t to go 1-0 up then sit in. The tactic wasn’t to give the ball away so loosely in transition, and be so sloppy, that we couldn’t build attacks. I have never thought ‘we’re 1-0 up we need to be negative’. Not a chance.
“You have to look at the reasons for it. I don’t expect everyone to watch the game back, I expect people to go off what other people are saying in messages. But I’ve watched the game back a few times and we kept giving the ball away in the first two passes. It’s as simple as that.
“It’s not actually rocket science but everyone thinks we tried to hold onto a 1-0 win. We did in the last ten minutes because we had to because we couldn’t keep the ball for toffee. The performance wasn’t what we expected.”
He added: “The amount of times we gave cheap balls away made it look like we were sitting back. There were too many negative passes and thought processes. On the sideline, I was thinking eventually: ‘we keep giving the ball away here so we might as well try to see it through.’ We nearly did but conceded from the last ball into the box.”
Clarke said the majority of his starting 11 were loose with the ball. He added: “If it’s one player constantly giving the ball away, it’s quite easy - bring them off. But it was five or six of our players - normally our better players on the ball – who were giving it away very very cheaply. We didn’t get enough forward thinking play because of those loose early passes. Against Bristol Rovers, for the first 40 minutes we were a constant threat because we looked after the ball.”
After hosting Stockport, expected to compete for a second successive promotion, Barnsley now welcome in-form Wycombe on Tuesday before making the short trip to Huddersfield Town who are also one of the favourites for promotion despite poor recent form. The Reds are currently sixth with 14 points from eight games.
“Let’s take it game by game. We are where we stand today, let’s see how we do and where we go. It’s an interesting and very close league. I haven’t seen any promotion medals given out in September.”
Clarke admits he is still working out his Barnsley squad and who can help them compete for promotion.
“I am assessing if the players can be top half League One players or bottom half Championship players because realistically we are a million miles away form being top half Championship club. You learn a lot from players in competitive games. There is no pressure in training but we’re trying to build a plan which puts pressure on the players.
“We have a few players who have finished in the top six but a lot are having to prove they are those players. That’s my daily message to the players, to show me that. Some players need to do a lot more.
“It’s up to myself and the coaching staff to get the players better. I believe I max players’ potential. I am confident in how we work. But time will tell. I am not going to work it out in two months. But I understand that, at this club, we have to consistently win. I love that pressure.”
