DON’T DISMISS HUNGRY TYKES
THIS time last week no-one would have predicted Barnsley would have a prayer of reaching the play-offs, but fortunes can change quickly in football.
With the Tykes on a run of three defeats in five and without a league win in 2021, some had claimed Valerien Ismael’s side ought to look over their shoulders.
However, for those who have kept a close eye on Barnsley since Ismael’s appointment in October, there was no rush to press the panic button – and the past week’s return to form came as little surprise.
A resolute and clinical performance at Brentford last weekend ended the Bees’ 21game unbeaten run before a 2-1 home victory against Blackburn on Wednesday was followed by a 1-0 success at managerless Bristol City yesterday.
Foundations
Since arriving in South Yorkshire, Ismael has carefully laid the foundations for a slow and steady rise up the table, accumulating an impressive win ratio of over 50 per cent. The Tykes now lie tenth, four points behind sixth-placed Bournemouth with a game in hand.
The decision to bring the former Bayern Munich and Crystal Palace defender to Oakwell, following Gerhard Struber’s departure to the bright lights of New York, saw the Barnsley hierarchy continue with their strategy of hiring coaches from outside the EFL bubble - possibly inspired by minority shareholder Billy Bean, architect of the infamous Moneyball strategy.
However, rewind back to October and Barnsley found themselves in trouble.
Three points from their opening six games left the Tykes stranded in 21st position. Ismael’s initial task was therefore straightforward: Championship survival. Indeed, despite Barnsley’s simmering play-off surge, their manager is still adopting the mantra of safety first.
“I can’t get carried away, the primary aim is to stay in the league,” the 45-year-old told The FLP. However, when pushed a little further, he couldn’t help but let out a wry smile…
“We want to get to that magical 50 points as quickly as possible because then we can reassess where we are going and look higher up,” explained Valerien, who was born in France and now has German citizenship.
“These have been the best few weeks since I arrived here. I think running Chelsea so close in the FA Cup last week did us a lot of good because it gave us confidence that we can give anyone a game.
Confidence
“Our league form had dipped a bit but that’s because we were playing teams at the top and we almost got breakthroughs against them.
“We were so happy to get the win against Brentford because we’d previously done well against Norwich, Watford and Swansea but couldn’t quite get the result.”
Ismael inherited a tenacious squad from Struber, which had the philosophy of youth at its core.
On Wednesday, captain Alex Mowett and top-scorer Cauley Woodrow were the Tykes’ oldest starters at just 26, with the eleven having an average age of only 23.
This has helped Ismael quickly implement a strategy of high-pressing, energetic football, reminiscent of the tactics that won him praise in his former job at Austrian top tier side LASK.
The character and conviction of Barnsley’s team of budding prospects quickly comes across.
“Sometimes you have to be patient and wait for your chance to pounce,” added the Barnsley boss. “There is often a tiredness to the opposition at the end because you can see the pace and high intensity that we play with. At the moment we keep moving up the table and it is a great feeling!”