DARRELL Clarke has played down the ‘crisis’ Barnsley were in a month ago but praised his players for staying focused and putting in some much-improved performances.
The Reds are fourth in the League One table with 25 points from 14 games, five points off the top two.
They won 2-0 at home to Rotherham United in a South Yorkshire derby on Friday, meaning they are unbeaten in four league games with three wins.
They now visit Cambridge United – who are third-bottom – tomorrow from 3pm looking for a sixth away win from eight in the league this season.
It has been a swift turnaround from a month ago when Clarke criticised his players after some poor form.
The head coach told the Chronicle: “There were a couple of home draws then a really disappointing performance at Huddersfield.
“But we got a point against Wycombe who are absolutely flying at the top of the league. Stockport scored an injury-time equaliser.
“But we didn’t perform to the right levels in those three games.
“It wasn’t a crisis, it was just a case of working in training to make sure we got better cohesion, attacking patterns and settled things down. You have to control emotions when you are at a club who thinks it should be higher than it is and things aren’t going well.
“The group did that well.”
Clarke says he ‘hates complacency’ but how does he avoid it?
“We have a way of working.
“Win, lose or draw I review it and keep working on the things we need to work on. You want players to gain confidence from performing well but you also don’t want complacency.
“That hasn’t been the case in the last four or five weeks and we need to keep that rhythm going.”
Barnsley have kept clean sheets in their last two league games, having only done so three times previously in 2024.
“Clean sheets win you football games.
“We’re always a team that can create chances. The stats will tell you that, through the course of the season in every game, probably bar the Huddersfield one where we were really poor, we’ve created good opportunities to score goals.
“We have to make sure we’re working hard as a team with our press and counter-press and our defensive shape in a low block to make sure we’re keeping clean sheets.”
Clarke is happy with the recent performances of his strikers.
Max Watters, Davis Keillor-Dunn and Stephen Humphrys each have three league goals this season. Sam Cosgrove is out injured while Fabio Jalo has been an unused substitute recently.
“If you have hopes to finish in top six like we have, you need four top six centre forwards. Max, DKD and Humphs are playing really well.”
After visiting Cambridge, Barnsley are due to play three home games in a week.
They host Wigan Athletic on Saturday, November 23 then Reading the following Tuesday before completing the month at home to Bristol Rovers in the FA Cup second round on November 30.
The first week in December will see them play two promotion-chasers as they visit Wrexham on a Tuesday night then host Birmingham City on Saturday, December 7.
The two Saturdays before Christmas see Barnsley visit Exeter City then host Leyton Orient.
