Darrell Clarke was furious with Barnsley’s first half performance in a 1-0 home loss to Wigan.
In very wet weather, the Latics scored just before the end of an otherwise very dull first half then, despite improving slightly after the break, the Reds could not level.
Head coach Clarke said: “I don’t want to be too critical because we’ve been on a good run but I won’t accept performances like the first half.
“It was really really poor. I wasn’t happy with the press, ball retention, build-up play. We are disappointed because we have done a lot of work on making sure all those bits are right. We gave up too much territory and too much ball, we were very sloppy and, if you drop off intensity levels required to win a game, you come up short. Anybody can beat anybody in this league and we were off it.”
Clarke would not blame the conditions, saying: “No excuses. No reason not to run hard enough first half or not compete for second balls. We had a lot of technical players on the pitch didn’t show the other side and kept giving the ball away.”
Barnsley passed out from the back in the first half, with little success. Clarke told the Chronicle: “We didn’t execute the gameplan. We were very sloppy and then gave it away when we won it back as well. The first half was very ragged with and without the ball.
“I backed the players to play like that. You have to look after the ball better and get territory different ways. In the second half we brought bigger players on and played longer balls. But we have to be good at the other part of the game as well.”
Barnsley came closest to a goal midway through the second half when they had two shots blocked on the line in a scramble.
Clarke said: “I don’t know how we haven’t scored. It would have changed the game but Wigan defended well. There were a lot of players going down injured and it was a stop-start game, which is their right as the away game. It’s frustrating for us. We just couldn’t find the equaliser and if it comes we might go on and win it. It wasn’t to be.”
Clarke made a quadruple change after 56 minutes. He said: “In the second half, I didn’t think we were building to score so we changed it and starting putting the ball in their box.
“I was tempted to change at half-time but we didn’t start much better.
"I will change things if I think things aren’t working. Let’s put physicality on the pitch, put them under a different sort of pressure. It worked in a way but I still expect more.”
The result ended their five-game unbeaten run and was their first league defeat at Oakwell in six since the opening day. Clarke said: “We have done well for six games but we have to be consistent. You can’t switch off and we were a mile off in the first half. It was a poor goal. We got beaten too easily wide then it’s a free header. It was their only shot on target.
“I will cut them a little bit of slack because our other recent performances have been good but we need to keep driving forward
“It’s how we react Tuesday, we have to perform a lot better. It will be a similar game, Reading are a possession-based side who can hurt you if we are as loose as today. We will rectify that and make sure game-plan a lot better executed.”
