Wan of his only regrets
VICTOR WANYAMA would love to go back to Tottenham, just to bid a personal farewell to the supporters.
The 29-year-old
Kenya star (below) endured a torrid time trying to establish himself in the Spurs midfield under Mauricio Pochettino and then Jose Mourinho.
Now he is enjoying life with CF Montreal in Major League Soccer, under the management of Thierry Henry.
Wanyama said: “If there is any regret it was the way I left Tottenham without a chance to play in front of the fans to bow out properly.
“I thought the arrival of Mourinho would have helped me get back into the team after not playing much in Mauricio’s final year.
“But from a few training sessions and his level of engagement with me, I knew I wasn’t one that Mourinho wanted to see.”
Wanyama had suffered a long-term knee injury which perhaps made his own departure inevitable as things started to go so wrong for Pochettino.
Wanyama said: “He’ll always be one of the top managers in the world, but results weren’t good and he tried all he could.
“After the Champions League Final defeat we were fatigued mentally and emotionally and just didn’t find the grounds to go again, which was a shame.”
Wanyama followed Pochettino out of the door, swapping north London for north America in March 2020.
He added: “I am enjoying it all again here, and MLS has everything – physicality, flair – it’s not a soft league.”
VALERIEN ISMAEL described a third successive Barnsley victory as a step nearer safety after Carlton Morris’s winner.
While the Tykes fans are understandably starting to look towards the play-off zone following a five-match unbeaten run in the league, the manager is keeping his feet firmly on the ground.
“We are now five points off reaching the line of 50 points and that remains our first target,” Ismael said.
“I do not want to dream of anything more at this stage. I don’t look beyond the next game and that is a very tough one against Stoke City.
“Today we kept to our game plan and the goal came. We knew we were playing a team short on confidence and that they would try to regain some with long balls forward.
“The players dealt with that really well. The team spirit in the dressing room is excellent and hopefully we can continue to move forward.”
Sub Morris (above) tapped home his third goal in as many games after an Alex Mowatt corner had led to a desperate goalmouth scramble.
The 67th-minute strike was no more than Barnsley deserved after creating all the chances in a one-sided affair, with City having just one shot on target.
It made painful watching for assistant head coach Paul Simpson who said: “Barnsley were physically and mentally tougher. While our players worked hard, there was too little quality for us to create openings.”
BRISTOL CITY: Bentley 6; Mariappa 5, Kalas 6, Moore 5; Hunt 5, Vyner 5 (Paterson 69, 5); Lansbury 5 (Bakinson 57, 5), Sessegnon 5 (Nagy 75, 5); Semenyo 5 (Wells 69, 5), Diedhiou 5, Palmer 5.
Unused subs: O’leary, Pearson, Bell, Towler, Massengo.
BARNSLEY: Collins 7; Sollbauer 7 (Sibbick 75, 6), Helik 8, Andersen 7; Brittain 7, Palmer 7, Mowatt 8, Styles 7 (Williams 57, 6); Chaplin 7 (Morris 57, 6), Dike 7 (Frieser 82, 6), Woodrow 6 (Adeboyejo 57, 6).
Unused subs: Walton, Kane, Odour, Halme.
MAN OF THE MATCH: Alex Mowatt. The Barnsley captain impressed in a dominant midfield.
REFEREE: James Linington 8.
DARREN FERGUSON was pleased to see the goals continuing to flow as Peterborough climbed into the top two with victory over AFC Wimbledon.
Sammie Szmodics’ (below) double and a comical late Jonson Clarke-harris clincher earned Posh all three points against the Dons, who slipped back into the League One drop zone.
Ferguson said:
“It’s the second successive game in which we have won 3-0 in the second half and it’s great to see us scoring goals, as goal difference could turn out to be important.”
Mark Robinson suffered a losing start to his permanent reign as AFC Wimbledon boss.
He said: “I’ve asked the players to reflect on those opening minutes of the second half and come up with answers. Then we can work on solutions.”