Analysis of Barnsley's 2-2 home draw with Wycombe Wanderers in which they fell behind twice in the second half but levelled through substitute Stephen Humphrys then Marc Roberts in the 89th minute.
REDS CONTINUE TO PERFORM LIKE MID-TABLE LEAGUE ONE CLUB
THE LAST time Barnsley faced Wycombe, and gained a 4-2 win in Buckinghamshire in March, they were one of the form teams in League One and becoming strong favourites for the second automatic promotion spot last season.
But, starting with a last-gasp leveller for Bolton and a 5-1 home thrashing by Lincoln in the following week, the Reds then fell apart and, although they just scraped into the play-offs, their 25 points from their last 21 League One games across seven months is lower mid-table form.
Their ten points from their last 11 league games at Oakwell, including only one win, is bottom of the league stuff.
We must remember that the season is only nine games old and Barnsley are seventh, having lost just once in the league since the opening day while much-fancied sides such as Bolton, Huddersfield and Rotherham are below them. For this game, Wycombe were one of the form teams in the division, and the Reds were missing top-scorer Adam Phillips.
But performances have been frustratingly inconsistent for so long now that the ultimate fear is that, in their third season at this level, the Reds are descending into an average League One club. They have been bouncing between the second and third tiers for decades but there is danger of the yo-yo getting stuck at the lower level.
Despite still having a few players who have proved previously they are among the best in the division at this level, many others of that standard have left and some of their replacements are yet to prove themselves.
The official attendance on Tuesday was 9,857. That is partly because Wycombe only brought 163 but there also seemed to be larger than usual gaps in the home stands.
It was the lowest crowd for a league game at Oakwell since late 2022 when the Reds were still despondent as a club following a record-breakingly bad relegation.
Since then, they built up a better following with regular wins – including nine at home in a row at one point under Michael Duff – but Oakwell now often seems to be a flat, exasperated place which is understandable given the form this year.
Duff, who the Reds will face in Huddersfield in a crucial Yorkshire derby on Saturday, still had many proven Championship-standard players in his squad and found a consistent team, system and style which worked. But his successors Neill Collins and now Clarke have struggled to do the same, with the current head coach admitting he is ‘searching for answers’ and that he expected more from his squad so far this season.
They now visit Huddersfield and in-form Blackpool in their next two league games, completing the first quarter of the season.
CHARACTER TO COME BACK BUT NOT CONVINCING OVERALL
The first half of this game was an awful spectacle and the second half much more dramatic but, in both, the Reds were not at all convincing.
Barnsley certainly deserve credit for reacting positively to falling behind twice and finding their first equalisers of the league season quickly – but the way they seemed to lack control and any clear plan for the most part at both 0-0 and 1-1 was extremely worrying.
This game followed a similar pattern to Saturday’s draw with Stockport as Barnsley played well for five minutes then faded very badly, with an inability to keep hold of the ball a major issue.
Clarke said his side ‘sapped all the energy out of the crowd’ by playing too slowly, and singled out his goalkeeper Gaga Slonina for taking too long on the ball, something that seemed to frustrate the supporters as well as his wayward long kicks. But Slonina was not at fault for either goal, with many of those in front of him also deserving of criticism.
The first half, especially the half an hour before the break, was extremely scrappy and boring, with aimless long passes and set pieces that lacked quality. Wycombe’s early goal in the second half and Clarke’s substitutions seemed to wake the hosts up for a while but there was then another flat spell before the Reds again had to come from behind late on.
Wycombe played a midfield three, including former Barnsley promotion hero Josh Scowen, and – while never in total control – they certainly stopped the Reds getting any kind of rhythm or being able to dictate the tempo of the game by keeping the ball.
THREE SYSTEMS WITH DIFFERING RESULTS
Barnsley changed formation to 4-4-2 for this game.
They fielded a back four of four natural centre-backs, who were all well over six foot, although Josh Earl may argue he was playing left-back where he has spent much of his career.
In front of them were two generally defensive-minded midfielders in Luca Connell and Matty Craig then, on the wings, two right-backs in Barry Cotter and Kyran Lotfthouse, with the latter playing on the left wing on his first league start at Oakwell. The idea was to be on the front foot and have a solid base for the pacy wingers to attack from and provide service to front two Sam Cosgrove and Keillor-Dunn. After the first five minutes, that never happened and, despite increasing the height of the team by bringing in Donovan Pines, Cosgrove and Lofthouse, they barely threatened from set pieces until the very end.
They changed, after going behind the first time, to a 3-4-1-2 with teenage forward Fabio Jalo at left wing-back but regularly tucking inside then, after making it 1-1, appeared to use a 4-5-1 which stymied the momentum they had built up.
There was no consistency or fluency to the Reds with the constant chopping and changing of personnel and systems. Clarke needs to, very soon, settle on a line-up and formation for the majority of games.
SUBS MAKE AN IMPACT
Stephen Humphrys and Jalo came on after 55 minutes and almost immediately combined for the first equaliser. They added a verve, impetus and positivity that had been lacking for almost all the previous performance, as they put the Wycombe defence under pressure and ran at them.
Humphrys got his second goal for the club, despite starting only once, and once he is fully match-fit he may well be a regular starter as he is the only striker so far who has netted more than once in the league and looked a consistent threat.
Jalo, having come back from a shoulder problem, is surely pushing for a first ever EFL start.
But those two, having got the Reds back in the game, were then marginalised as wing-backs in Clarke’s final formation instead of being allowed to cause more chaos up front.
Another substitute who made an impact was Josh Benson who – of all people – won a towering header in the box for the second equaliser and generally impressed. If Barnsley return to a 3-5-2 in Huddersfield, to match Duff’s usual formation, and Phillips is still injured, then Benson could be in line for just his fourth league start in two years.
Clarke, who was criticised for his changes on Saturday, deserves credit for the substitutions he made this time.
ROBERTS COMPLETES GOOD WEEK WITH LEVELLER
If there was a ‘player of the week’ award for Barnsley this week it would have to go to Marc Roberts.
After an indifferent start to his second spell at Oakwell, the 34-year-old centre-back has kept his side in both games during spells of pressure with frequent clearances and blocks.
He then popped up to make it 2-2 in midweek, his first goal at Oakwell since January 2017 when he netted a consolation against Wolves in a 3-1 loss. He sometimes looks vulnerable on the ball but he has never been a footballing ‘Rolls Royce’ centre-back in the mould of his fellow former Penistone Grammar School pupil John Stones. He is starting to provide the character, backbone and experience he was brought in for.
Josh Earl was reasonably solid next to him, although he may be disappointed with the opener,
while both Mael de Gevigney and Barry Cotter could have done better for each of the away goals. Cotter standing next to the net during the scramble for the second Wycombe goal instead of moving onto the line like many defenders instinctively would, and where he would probably have stopped the eventual scoring shot, was particularly galling.
Connell, although he and Craig were outnumbered at times in midfield, was involved in both of Barnsley’s goals and hit the post with a fine long-range effort, while providing six ‘key passes’ which led to an attack.
Starting strikers, Cosgrove – who netted a freak late winner in this fixture last year and then scored in Wycombe – and Keillor-Dunn, were extremely quiet after the first few minutes.
