‘BARNSLEY HAVEN’T HAD THE START THEY WANTED, BUT IT WILL BE A TOUGH MATCH’
NO rest for the wicked as Stoke City dust themselves down to take on Barnsley in the Championship, looking for their first home league win of the season to complement a fine away record.
Michael O’neill spoke to the media ahead of tonight’s clash.
HOW HAS EVERYBODY COME THROUGH FROM THE WEEKEND?
We’ve a couple of little knocks that we’ve had to nurse. We have a late check on Nick Powell and Tyrese Campbell but we’re optimistic that both will be ok.
HOW PLEASING WAS IT TO PERFORM LIKE THAT AFTER AN INTERNATIONAL BREAK?
It’s very encouraging. We were able to give players a bit of recovery time, which is necessary after a short pre-season coming off the back of a season into the other. There’s little opportunity to do that in this schedule - and particularly the schedule we face for the next few weeks.
But we got a good week’s work - a full training week leading into the Luton game - which we won’t get again until the next international break... and then again until January.
That time is extremely valuable and I think that was reflected in the performance.
WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM BARNSLEY? MANAGERLESS BUT, AS SEEN AGAINST BRISTOL CITY, NO SHORTAGE OF FIGHT
They certainly don’t lack that. You have to admire how they stayed up last season with big results in the last few games. That shows the character they have.
We signed Jacob Brown from there, so he’s given us little bits of information about what type of group it is. They are a very hard working team with young players who are very keen to impress. We expect a very difficult game. I don’t think anyone gets an easy game against Barnsley. While they haven’t had the start they would want, they have always
been in games and we have to make sure we’re at our best to try to take three points.
HOW KEY IS IT TO GET THAT FIRST HOME WIN?
Well, yes. You want to win at home. We’ve only had two games. One performance - or one half - we were disappointing I felt against Bristol City. Otherwise we’ve been reasonably happy.
I’m not sure how relative home form is in the current climate. We’ve picked up seven points away from home.
But we want to make sure we win our home games. It was a big part of us pulling away from the situation we found the club in when we came. This gives us the opportunity to get that first home win and build on it.
A VERY HECTIC PERIOD - HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO UTILISE SQUAD?
It’s probably not a game when you have to consider freshness and fatigue as a factor because we’ve come off the back of the international break.
That will be more of a factor in the games following this when we have to play again on Saturday and again on Tuesday... For this minute in time, I don’t think fatigue is a factor.
We had one or two little knocks that hopefully players will recover from and you want to get consistency in your team and
consistency in your season.
To do that you have to be consistent with your team selection. We won’t make changes for the sake of it.
PARTNERSHIPS ARE DEVELOPING, INCLUDING NATHAN COLLINS AND HARRY SOUTTAR IN DEFENCE?
I think the two young lads have done well since they’ve come in. They played initially in the cup games with Bruno (Martins Indi) and played on Saturday with Danny Batth. They’ve played with James Chester.
They’ve always had an experienced head in that back three, which has helped them. The most important thing for a young player when he comes into the team is that he’s not overawed, that he feels he’s more than capable of firstly, playing at this level and secondly, holding down a position at this level and holding a place in the team. We’ve been delighted with the impact of Nathan and Harry and obviously Tyrese (Campbell), who had the impact last season, and Josh Tymon has had this season. Tashan (Oakley-boothe) comes into that equation too. They’ve certainly brought a freshness to the team.
VERSATILITY OF A BACK THREE AND BACK FOUR WHEN REQUIRED?
Yes. I think last season, too often
we maybe had to play people slightly out of position with square pegs in round holes and the team didn’t necessarily function as well as we would have liked.
This season, I think we do have the right personnel to play in either system, whether that’s it’s a three or four at the back. That’s a nice option to have.
But we want to get continuity into our form and into our team. Our focus is on ourselves and if we feel it’s the right thing to change tactics we will do so but we want players to find form and establish themselves in the team as a priority.
STEVEN FLETCHER UP AND RUNNING - BUT HE BRINGS MORE TO THE TEAM THAN GOALS?
We knew what we were getting in Fletch. You’re getting a player who has a bit of everything really. His link-up play is excellent, he’s a physical presence, he’s battle-hardened from playing in the Championship and Premier League against defenders. He can deal with physical contact.
And he has an eye for a goal. He knows himself he should have scored against Preston, he hit the bar against Birmingham. I think in every game he’s threatened to score so it’s good for him to get off the mark and he’ll be keen to add to that tomorrow night.
BACK-TO-BACK HOME GAMES AN OPPORTUNITY TO STAMP YOUR MARK ON LEAGUE?
The key in the Championship is to get as many points on the board as early as you can.
When you do come into a little dip of form or you lose a game or two, that you don’t allow that to fester, you’re not on a losing streak that lasts too long.
We’ve only lost one game this season. We want to maintain that type of form.
Two home games give us a chance to put points on the board.
MIGHT A BIGGER SQUAD THAN YOU’D HAVE LIKED ACTUALLY BE A BONUS?
It may well turn out to be the case but a larger squad is ultimately more difficult to work with. With a larger squad you’ve invariably got more disappointing players who aren’t in the team.
I’m not sure.
With the Covid situation and should a player have a positive test, for example, he probably automatically misses at least three games.
And because we’re going into a period when we have three games in such a short period of time we probably will need the bodies. Equally, it’s a balancing act. We would have liked one or two more players to leave the club. I think that would have been in everyone’s interests but ultimately that hasn’t been the case.
We just focus on what lies ahead. The schedule is heavy and if we have to utilise every member of the squad we’ll do so - and obviously the window will open again quite soon in January.
FANS’ EXPECTATIONS GROWING - HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO GET THAT FIRST HOME WIN?
We’re relatively pleased with how we started. You’re always looking for strong performances in every game. It’s difficult in this league to get that. There’s a lot of inconsistency in the nature of the game and the schedule adds to that.
Our home form from November last year was very good and we want to make sure we replicate that this season.
We’re pleased with how we’ve been away and tomorrow night and the two games this week give us a chance to put points on the board. We obviously want back to back wins but that won’t be straight forward.
We play a very committed Barnsley team followed by a Brentford team that has been re-shaped a little bit with some of the players that have left but had a good season last year. None of the games are easy. We have to try to maintain our consistency and look to improve our performance level all the time.
HOW ARE JAMES CHESTER AND MORGAN FOX?
James has trained today, Morgan’s still a little bit away from it and we probably won’t be in a position to risk him tomorrow night.
The others, Tyrese and Nick Powell came off with bumps and Steven Fletcher had soreness in his foot but hopefully all three will be fine for tomorrow night.