Hello from Barnsley

[Phil2012]

Hi everyone, another Barnsley fan in peace.

I lived in Bristol for a while back in the 90's and so have had a passing interest in goings on at City, more so since LJ left us for you.  I'm not 1 of those who slagged LJ off for leaving. As I saw it, he was in League 1 and got the offer to go to a Championship club, with a bigger budget, bigger crowds and that he had a connection with, so it was good luck to the man.

I would say that opinion is still divided on LJ's time at Barnsley.  There is a minority (very vocal as you've seen on here!) who refuse to give him any credit and a majority who give him credit but believe he was lucky to get the Bristol City job. 

At Barnsley, there never seemed any middle ground with LJ.  We were either very good or very very bad. He spoke well in interviews, a likeable bloke, although when results weren't good, a lot of what he said seemed misguided.  He'd protect himself against bad results by talking about the 'project',  about needing 3 transfer windows, about players needing to grow and develop. During the runs of defeats, his thinking seem to get more muddled.  Players started being played out of position, we were constantly swapping formations and making 4 / 5 changes every game.  His substitutions became eccentric: instead of swapping like for like, he would make a substitution that led to 3 or 4 positional changes for other players. 

And the style of play became more conservative.  There were 2 home games in a row (Crewe and Shrewsbury) where the opposition keeper didn't make a save despite us having over 40 shots in those 2 games. Our play  was all in front of the opposition, sideways and backwards passing without anyone breaking beyond the ball. We played with width but only up to a certain part of the pitch. We rarely got genuine width in the final third which meant that we were comfortable to defend against.  Post-match after defeats, LJ would point to the how we dominated possession and how we were in control of the game but we lacked a threat. I always felt we were playing with the handbrake on.  Players opting to complete the safe sideways pass rather than being brave (even in our wins that would happen) 

It was never clear who was in charge of recruitment. LJ would often say he wasn't responsible yet later say he was. Things turned around once we recruited better in January and the major difference was Hammill. Before this, we were playing a very narrow 4-5-1. Hammill came in on trial on the boards recommendation and then later signed (with LJ's approval). That forced the change to 4-4-2, what the fans had been demanding for weeks and suddenly the results changed. The 6 wins in a row included 4 of the bottom 8 teams but the change was startling. Hammill had a point to prove and his directness seemed to inspire the other players to get the ball forward earlier.

Because of this, it is difficult to judge how much of the turnaround was down to LJ learning as a coach or if it was circumstances forcing his hand.  It didn't help LJ, that Heckingbottom took over, continued the momentum but by playing crowd-pleasing football (ie:  more expansive style, concentrating less on dominating possession and more on attacking with pace) .

I feel that LJ took a top 10 side to 24th with a run of defeats and then recovered to 13th with a run of wins. However, he definitely put foundations in place and so contributed greatly to the success we have had since.

At the same time, it was clear that LJ was still learning the ropes in games which you can tend to get away in League 1 but the Championship is a tougher place.

The fact that he has overseen 2 record runs of defeats at 2 successive clubs is strange. Whether he will come through this at City and emerge as a top class coach is anybody's guess.  For many Barnsley fans, we still don't know exactly how to judge his time with us and understand just how much credit he deserves for what has happened since. 

Hope you don't mind me invading your forum and chipping in with my thoughts on his time with us.

For what it's worth, I do hope you pull through, have a good season and finish 1 place behind us!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BobBobSuperBob]

1 hour ago, Phil2012 said:

Hi everyone, another Barnsley fan in peace.

I lived in Bristol for a while back in the 90's and so have had a passing interest in goings on at City, more so since LJ left us for you.  I'm not 1 of those who slagged LJ off for leaving. As I saw it, he was in League 1 and got the offer to go to a Championship club, with a bigger budget, bigger crowds and that he had a connection with, so it was good luck to the man.

I would say that opinion is still divided on LJ's time at Barnsley.  There is a minority (very vocal as you've seen on here!) who refuse to give him any credit and a majority who give him credit but believe he was lucky to get the Bristol City job. 

At Barnsley, there never seemed any middle ground with LJ.  We were either very good or very very bad. He spoke well in interviews, a likeable bloke, although when results weren't good, a lot of what he said seemed misguided.  He'd protect himself against bad results by talking about the 'project',  about needing 3 transfer windows, about players needing to grow and develop. During the runs of defeats, his thinking seem to get more muddled.  Players started being played out of position, we were constantly swapping formations and making 4 / 5 changes every game.  His substitutions became eccentric: instead of swapping like for like, he would make a substitution that led to 3 or 4 positional changes for other players. 

And the style of play became more conservative.  There were 2 home games in a row (Crewe and Shrewsbury) where the opposition keeper didn't make a save despite us having over 40 shots in those 2 games.

Our play  was all in front of the opposition, sideways and backwards passing without anyone breaking beyond the ball. We played with width but only up to a certain part of the pitch. We rarely got genuine width in the final third which meant that we were comfortable to defend against. 

Post-match after defeats, LJ would point to the how we dominated possession and how we were in control of the game but we lacked a threat.

I always felt we were playing with the handbrake on. 

Players opting to complete the safe sideways pass rather than being brave (even in our wins that would happen) 

It was never clear who was in charge of recruitment. LJ would often say he wasn't responsible yet later say he was.

Things turned around once we recruited better in January and the major difference was Hammill. Before this, we were playing a very narrow 4-5-1. Hammill came in on trial on the boards recommendation and then later signed (with LJ's approval). That forced the change to 4-4-2, what the fans had been demanding for weeks and suddenly the results changed. The 6 wins in a row included 4 of the bottom 8 teams but the change was startling. Hammill had a point to prove and his directness seemed to inspire the other players to get the ball forward earlier.

Because of this, it is difficult to judge how much of the turnaround was down to LJ learning as a coach or if it was circumstances forcing his hand.  It didn't help LJ, that Heckingbottom took over, continued the momentum but by playing crowd-pleasing football (ie:  more expansive style, concentrating less on dominating possession and more on attacking with pace) .

I feel that LJ took a top 10 side to 24th with a run of defeats and then recovered to 13th with a run of wins. However, he definitely put foundations in place and so contributed greatly to the success we have had since.

At the same time, it was clear that LJ was still learning the ropes in games which you can tend to get away in League 1 but the Championship is a tougher place.

The fact that he has overseen 2 record runs of defeats at 2 successive clubs is strange. Whether he will come through this at City and emerge as a top class coach is anybody's guess.  For many Barnsley fans, we still don't know exactly how to judge his time with us and understand just how much credit he deserves for what has happened since. 

Hope you don't mind me invading your forum and chipping in with my thoughts on his time with us.

For what it's worth, I do hope you pull through, have a good season and finish 1 place behind us!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome Phil

Well that's one good thing at least (highlighted paras) - at least he has changed  

 

Our run is down to bad luck , refereeing decisions and individual mistakes 

 

ps - Alex Mowatt - V good signing 

[Super]

Nothing against Barnsley fans on here but where were they at the start of the season when we were doing well?

[CotswoldRed]

1 hour ago, Phil2012 said:

Hi everyone, another Barnsley fan in peace.

I lived in Bristol for a while back in the 90's and so have had a passing interest in goings on at City, more so since LJ left us for you.  I'm not 1 of those who slagged LJ off for leaving. As I saw it, he was in League 1 and got the offer to go to a Championship club, with a bigger budget, bigger crowds and that he had a connection with, so it was good luck to the man.

I would say that opinion is still divided on LJ's time at Barnsley.  There is a minority (very vocal as you've seen on here!) who refuse to give him any credit and a majority who give him credit but believe he was lucky to get the Bristol City job. 

At Barnsley, there never seemed any middle ground with LJ.  We were either very good or very very bad. He spoke well in interviews, a likeable bloke, although when results weren't good, a lot of what he said seemed misguided.  He'd protect himself against bad results by talking about the 'project',  about needing 3 transfer windows, about players needing to grow and develop. During the runs of defeats, his thinking seem to get more muddled.  Players started being played out of position, we were constantly swapping formations and making 4 / 5 changes every game.  His substitutions became eccentric: instead of swapping like for like, he would make a substitution that led to 3 or 4 positional changes for other players. 

And the style of play became more conservative.  There were 2 home games in a row (Crewe and Shrewsbury) where the opposition keeper didn't make a save despite us having over 40 shots in those 2 games. Our play  was all in front of the opposition, sideways and backwards passing without anyone breaking beyond the ball. We played with width but only up to a certain part of the pitch. We rarely got genuine width in the final third which meant that we were comfortable to defend against.  Post-match after defeats, LJ would point to the how we dominated possession and how we were in control of the game but we lacked a threat. I always felt we were playing with the handbrake on.  Players opting to complete the safe sideways pass rather than being brave (even in our wins that would happen) 

It was never clear who was in charge of recruitment. LJ would often say he wasn't responsible yet later say he was. Things turned around once we recruited better in January and the major difference was Hammill. Before this, we were playing a very narrow 4-5-1. Hammill came in on trial on the boards recommendation and then later signed (with LJ's approval). That forced the change to 4-4-2, what the fans had been demanding for weeks and suddenly the results changed. The 6 wins in a row included 4 of the bottom 8 teams but the change was startling. Hammill had a point to prove and his directness seemed to inspire the other players to get the ball forward earlier.

Because of this, it is difficult to judge how much of the turnaround was down to LJ learning as a coach or if it was circumstances forcing his hand.  It didn't help LJ, that Heckingbottom took over, continued the momentum but by playing crowd-pleasing football (ie:  more expansive style, concentrating less on dominating possession and more on attacking with pace) .

I feel that LJ took a top 10 side to 24th with a run of defeats and then recovered to 13th with a run of wins. However, he definitely put foundations in place and so contributed greatly to the success we have had since.

At the same time, it was clear that LJ was still learning the ropes in games which you can tend to get away in League 1 but the Championship is a tougher place.

The fact that he has overseen 2 record runs of defeats at 2 successive clubs is strange. Whether he will come through this at City and emerge as a top class coach is anybody's guess.  For many Barnsley fans, we still don't know exactly how to judge his time with us and understand just how much credit he deserves for what has happened since. 

Hope you don't mind me invading your forum and chipping in with my thoughts on his time with us.

For what it's worth, I do hope you pull through, have a good season and finish 1 place behind us!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Couldn't be a more familiar story. 

[Olé]

2 hours ago, Phil2012 said:

There were 2 home games in a row (Crewe and Shrewsbury) where the opposition keeper didn't make a save despite us having over 40 shots in those 2 games. Our play was all in front of the opposition

Wow. Thank god I'm not going mad. I've been saying for weeks that the stat line about our number of shots (3rd highest in the division) is ridiculous because I'm not seeing it and for me we're not creating much that is clear cut, most of it is speculative low probability stuff from outside the box. Amazing that you've actually had a prior experience of that stat and the opposition keeper's work not tallying. Can't remember when an opposition keeper was last MOTM either.

Pretty much everything else you posted sounds almost identical to how I see it for us too. Scarily so in places - half think you're a City fan on a wide up. Your conclusion suggests the signing of a direct player will drive the team forward and out of their tactical funk. LJ is certainly adopting a 'keep signing players until it works' approach, so hopefully we find the one that helps the team win consistently again, before we've had to actually buy every single player in Europe. 

[Phil2012]

2 hours ago, Olé said:

Wow. Thank god I'm not going mad. I've been saying for weeks that the stat line about our number of shots (3rd highest in the division) is ridiculous because I'm not seeing it and for me we're not creating much that is clear cut, most of it is speculative low probability stuff from outside the box. Amazing that you've actually had a prior experience of that stat and the opposition keeper's work not tallying. Can't remember when an opposition keeper was last MOTM either.

Pretty much everything else you posted sounds almost identical to how I see it for us too. Scarily so in places - half think you're a City fan on a wide up. Your conclusion suggests the signing of a direct player will drive the team forward and out of their tactical funk. LJ is certainly adopting a 'keep signing players until it works' approach, so hopefully we find the one that helps the team win consistently again, before we've had to actually buy every single player in Europe. 

I think that is where a lot of the frustration came from at Barnsley. We would all see the game and then get stats thrown at us post-match that suggested we had seen a very different game. That's fine while winning I guess.

Obviously, I haven't seen any City games for myself, but having seen a lot of questions about his time at Barnsley, I thought it might be worthwhile to put my view across on how it was for us. There is no golden promise that it will turn around like it did for us cos we can't say for certain who and what was responsible for our transformation. In truth, it was probably a number of factors, of which LJ was one. 

It's just my opinion, I certainly haven't come on here to gloat at your current situation as I really hope you turn it around. And I hope I haven't 'upset' anyone by coming on your forum.

I can promise you I'm not a secret City fan on a wind up. I've followed Barnsley for 35 years and although tempted astray a couple of times, you can't really change your team can you!

[AppyDAZE]

4 hours ago, Super said:

Nothing against Barnsley fans on here but where were they at the start of the season when we were doing well?

Weird innit? I certainly could not be arsed to write up something that long for another football club, ex manager or no ex manager.

[Im_over_ere]

6 hours ago, Phil2012 said:

Hi everyone, another Barnsley fan in peace.

I lived in Bristol for a while back in the 90's and so have had a passing interest in goings on at City, more so since LJ left us for you.  I'm not 1 of those who slagged LJ off for leaving. As I saw it, he was in League 1 and got the offer to go to a Championship club, with a bigger budget, bigger crowds and that he had a connection with, so it was good luck to the man.

I would say that opinion is still divided on LJ's time at Barnsley.  There is a minority (very vocal as you've seen on here!) who refuse to give him any credit and a majority who give him credit but believe he was lucky to get the Bristol City job. 

At Barnsley, there never seemed any middle ground with LJ.  We were either very good or very very bad. He spoke well in interviews, a likeable bloke, although when results weren't good, a lot of what he said seemed misguided.  He'd protect himself against bad results by talking about the 'project',  about needing 3 transfer windows, about players needing to grow and develop. During the runs of defeats, his thinking seem to get more muddled.  Players started being played out of position, we were constantly swapping formations and making 4 / 5 changes every game.  His substitutions became eccentric: instead of swapping like for like, he would make a substitution that led to 3 or 4 positional changes for other players. 

And the style of play became more conservative.  There were 2 home games in a row (Crewe and Shrewsbury) where the opposition keeper didn't make a save despite us having over 40 shots in those 2 games. Our play  was all in front of the opposition, sideways and backwards passing without anyone breaking beyond the ball. We played with width but only up to a certain part of the pitch. We rarely got genuine width in the final third which meant that we were comfortable to defend against.  Post-match after defeats, LJ would point to the how we dominated possession and how we were in control of the game but we lacked a threat. I always felt we were playing with the handbrake on.  Players opting to complete the safe sideways pass rather than being brave (even in our wins that would happen) 

It was never clear who was in charge of recruitment. LJ would often say he wasn't responsible yet later say he was. Things turned around once we recruited better in January and the major difference was Hammill. Before this, we were playing a very narrow 4-5-1. Hammill came in on trial on the boards recommendation and then later signed (with LJ's approval). That forced the change to 4-4-2, what the fans had been demanding for weeks and suddenly the results changed. The 6 wins in a row included 4 of the bottom 8 teams but the change was startling. Hammill had a point to prove and his directness seemed to inspire the other players to get the ball forward earlier.

 

Well for me, this entire article could have been written by a City fan. Isn't this exactly the same pattern as we are seeing now?

[Old Goat]

Flipping heck, if I'd known this thread was going to run to two pages I might have checked in again a bit sooner. As it is, I think most of the follow-up questions have been sorted by other Tykes posting above. But a few things to come back on:

@finbarr_in_z   apologies over the B word. Clearly it's a touchy subject.  Although I have to say that to an outsider, this OTIB thing looks like the younger of a pair of identical twins insisting he's an only child. 1883 and 1897... not much in it really, is there?  OK I'm just kidding - we've never had any same town rivalry to deal with, so I can't pretend to understand it.  At least you seem like a well adjusted bunch, unlike that Sheffield mob.

@JonDolman  Lloyd Isgrove was great for us when we had him on loan last season. Terrific attitude, fast and tricky. Possibly a bit lightweight, but made up for it by being tenacious. That was L1 mind. Not sure about the Championship.

@Red Right Hand  Hourihane a cracking player and you're right, Villa have got him for peanuts. Interesting thing about Hourihane...  When he first came to us he was an out and out attacking midfielder. Great going forward, but rubbish if we were defending. Couldn't tackle to save his life, and bordering on being lazy when he didn't have the ball. Johnson insisted on converting him into a more defensive-minded midfielder - something at the time that I hated. Time and again I'd be screaming at Hourihane to get forward, to no avail. It all came together for him eventually, and in a piece in the local rag at the start of this season Hourihane actually credited LJ with his development, saying that LJ had even gone so far as to play alongside him in pre-season friendlies to give him some real-time on-pitch mentoring. LJ has many critics round these parts, but he's not the anti-Christ.  

@AppyDAZE  Must be cathartic, I guess.  Most of us at Oakwell are still too stunned to understand what the heck happened last season - half of it was a nightmare, the other half was fantasy football on steroids.  Maybe a long essay on somebody else's patch is the only way to make it feel real.

That's all folks - apologies if I've missed anyone.  Hope you give the Owls a battering tomorrow.

Goat

 

[finbarr_in_z]

1 hour ago, Old Goat said:

 

@finbarr_in_z   apologies over the B word. Clearly it's a touchy subject.  Although I have to say that to an outsider, this OTIB thing looks like the younger of a pair of identical twins insisting he's an only child. 1883 and 1897... not much in it really, is there?  OK I'm just kidding - we've never had any same town rivalry to deal with, so I can't pretend to understand it.  At least you seem like a well adjusted bunch, unlike that Sheffield mob.

 

 

Ah but they also have the "Sheffield" club so they got in first.

Any club referred to in Bristol as "Bristol" has funny shaped balls. But, yes, as an outsider you'd never know that.

[screech]

11 hours ago, Phil2012 said:

Hi everyone, another Barnsley fan in peace.

I lived in Bristol for a while back in the 90's and so have had a passing interest in goings on at City, more so since LJ left us for you.  I'm not 1 of those who slagged LJ off for leaving. As I saw it, he was in League 1 and got the offer to go to a Championship club, with a bigger budget, bigger crowds and that he had a connection with, so it was good luck to the man.

I would say that opinion is still divided on LJ's time at Barnsley.  There is a minority (very vocal as you've seen on here!) who refuse to give him any credit and a majority who give him credit but believe he was lucky to get the Bristol City job. 

At Barnsley, there never seemed any middle ground with LJ.  We were either very good or very very bad. He spoke well in interviews, a likeable bloke, although when results weren't good, a lot of what he said seemed misguided.  He'd protect himself against bad results by talking about the 'project',  about needing 3 transfer windows, about players needing to grow and develop. During the runs of defeats, his thinking seem to get more muddled.  Players started being played out of position, we were constantly swapping formations and making 4 / 5 changes every game.  His substitutions became eccentric: instead of swapping like for like, he would make a substitution that led to 3 or 4 positional changes for other players. 

And the style of play became more conservative.  There were 2 home games in a row (Crewe and Shrewsbury) where the opposition keeper didn't make a save despite us having over 40 shots in those 2 games. Our play  was all in front of the opposition, sideways and backwards passing without anyone breaking beyond the ball. We played with width but only up to a certain part of the pitch. We rarely got genuine width in the final third which meant that we were comfortable to defend against.  Post-match after defeats, LJ would point to the how we dominated possession and how we were in control of the game but we lacked a threat. I always felt we were playing with the handbrake on.  Players opting to complete the safe sideways pass rather than being brave (even in our wins that would happen) 

It was never clear who was in charge of recruitment. LJ would often say he wasn't responsible yet later say he was. Things turned around once we recruited better in January and the major difference was Hammill. Before this, we were playing a very narrow 4-5-1. Hammill came in on trial on the boards recommendation and then later signed (with LJ's approval). That forced the change to 4-4-2, what the fans had been demanding for weeks and suddenly the results changed. The 6 wins in a row included 4 of the bottom 8 teams but the change was startling. Hammill had a point to prove and his directness seemed to inspire the other players to get the ball forward earlier.

Because of this, it is difficult to judge how much of the turnaround was down to LJ learning as a coach or if it was circumstances forcing his hand.  It didn't help LJ, that Heckingbottom took over, continued the momentum but by playing crowd-pleasing football (ie:  more expansive style, concentrating less on dominating possession and more on attacking with pace) .

I feel that LJ took a top 10 side to 24th with a run of defeats and then recovered to 13th with a run of wins. However, he definitely put foundations in place and so contributed greatly to the success we have had since.

At the same time, it was clear that LJ was still learning the ropes in games which you can tend to get away in League 1 but the Championship is a tougher place.

The fact that he has overseen 2 record runs of defeats at 2 successive clubs is strange. Whether he will come through this at City and emerge as a top class coach is anybody's guess.  For many Barnsley fans, we still don't know exactly how to judge his time with us and understand just how much credit he deserves for what has happened since. 

Hope you don't mind me invading your forum and chipping in with my thoughts on his time with us.

For what it's worth, I do hope you pull through, have a good season and finish 1 place behind us!

Holy shit, it's coming true here too.

[BobBobSuperBob]

7 minutes ago, screech said:

Holy shit, it's come true here too.

corrected that for you Screech 

[pillred]

7 hours ago, Phil2012 said:

I think that is where a lot of the frustration came from at Barnsley. We would all see the game and then get stats thrown at us post-match that suggested we had seen a very different game. That's fine while winning I guess.

Obviously, I haven't seen any City games for myself, but having seen a lot of questions about his time at Barnsley, I thought it might be worthwhile to put my view across on how it was for us. There is no golden promise that it will turn around like it did for us cos we can't say for certain who and what was responsible for our transformation. In truth, it was probably a number of factors, of which LJ was one. 

It's just my opinion, I certainly haven't come on here to gloat at your current situation as I really hope you turn it around. And I hope I haven't 'upset' anyone by coming on your forum.

I can promise you I'm not a secret City fan on a wind up. I've followed Barnsley for 35 years and although tempted astray a couple of times, you can't really change your team can you!

unfortunately not!

[RedRock]

'.. more expansive style, concentrating less on dominating possession and more attacking with pace'....

 

Oh, how I wish. So, so badly. 

 

If if there is a God please either introduce this concept to LJ or get rid. Don't care either way now.

[Mr Popodopolous]

On 1/29/2017 at 09:01, ChippenhamRed said:

Are you suggesting we shouldn't have signed anyone in the summer? Nonsense. That went really well in 2015 didn't it. The squad needed enhancing.

The promotion team didn't have Tomlin, Abraham or Magnusson for starters. But the majority of that team are still here and some of them - perhaps most notably Freeman - haven't made the step up as we might have expected.

Man for man this squad of players is superior to the one that got promoted. Johnson's failing is that he hasn't got the best from them.

We actually weakened the squad in Summer 2015, we were several players light of what we needed- weakened it both relatively and absolutely. Applied both to some who moved on, some who were not replaced properly and some who were not built on. We only properly rectified some of the errors of 2015 last January transfer window.

The thing is though, so many players in and out can only have a bad effect on cohesion- something not a problem for Barnsley.  E.g. We keep Ayling and don't bother with Ekstrand. Don't bother with Engvall, don't bother with Paterson, don't drop O'Donnell after a dodgy period- the churn is just ludicrous frankly- we almost signed too many players and that has given the manager too many options and had too bad an effect. Again selling Cunningham, not retaining Tavernier means less churn, more stability and a better chance of  building decently IMO. Didn't replace Wade Elliott properly either that summer, only now really arguably.

[A Horse With No Name]

9 hours ago, Im_over_ere said:

Well for me, this entire article could have been written by a City fan. Isn't this exactly the same pattern as we are seeing now?

Which is exactly why SL is waiting and waiting to pull the trigger.

[Son of Fred]

17 hours ago, Phil2012 said:

Hi everyone, another Barnsley fan in peace.

I lived in Bristol for a while back in the 90's and so have had a passing interest in goings on at City, more so since LJ left us for you.  I'm not 1 of those who slagged LJ off for leaving. As I saw it, he was in League 1 and got the offer to go to a Championship club, with a bigger budget, bigger crowds and that he had a connection with, so it was good luck to the man.

I would say that opinion is still divided on LJ's time at Barnsley.  There is a minority (very vocal as you've seen on here!) who refuse to give him any credit and a majority who give him credit but believe he was lucky to get the Bristol City job. 

At Barnsley, there never seemed any middle ground with LJ.  We were either very good or very very bad. He spoke well in interviews, a likeable bloke, although when results weren't good, a lot of what he said seemed misguided.  He'd protect himself against bad results by talking about the 'project',  about needing 3 transfer windows, about players needing to grow and develop. During the runs of defeats, his thinking seem to get more muddled.  Players started being played out of position, we were constantly swapping formations and making 4 / 5 changes every game.  His substitutions became eccentric: instead of swapping like for like, he would make a substitution that led to 3 or 4 positional changes for other players. 

And the style of play became more conservative.  There were 2 home games in a row (Crewe and Shrewsbury) where the opposition keeper didn't make a save despite us having over 40 shots in those 2 games. Our play  was all in front of the opposition, sideways and backwards passing without anyone breaking beyond the ball. We played with width but only up to a certain part of the pitch. We rarely got genuine width in the final third which meant that we were comfortable to defend against.  Post-match after defeats, LJ would point to the how we dominated possession and how we were in control of the game but we lacked a threat. I always felt we were playing with the handbrake on.  Players opting to complete the safe sideways pass rather than being brave (even in our wins that would happen) 

It was never clear who was in charge of recruitment. LJ would often say he wasn't responsible yet later say he was. Things turned around once we recruited better in January and the major difference was Hammill. Before this, we were playing a very narrow 4-5-1. Hammill came in on trial on the boards recommendation and then later signed (with LJ's approval). That forced the change to 4-4-2, what the fans had been demanding for weeks and suddenly the results changed. The 6 wins in a row included 4 of the bottom 8 teams but the change was startling. Hammill had a point to prove and his directness seemed to inspire the other players to get the ball forward earlier.

Because of this, it is difficult to judge how much of the turnaround was down to LJ learning as a coach or if it was circumstances forcing his hand.  It didn't help LJ, that Heckingbottom took over, continued the momentum but by playing crowd-pleasing football (ie:  more expansive style, concentrating less on dominating possession and more on attacking with pace) .

I feel that LJ took a top 10 side to 24th with a run of defeats and then recovered to 13th with a run of wins. However, he definitely put foundations in place and so contributed greatly to the success we have had since.

At the same time, it was clear that LJ was still learning the ropes in games which you can tend to get away in League 1 but the Championship is a tougher place.

The fact that he has overseen 2 record runs of defeats at 2 successive clubs is strange. Whether he will come through this at City and emerge as a top class coach is anybody's guess.  For many Barnsley fans, we still don't know exactly how to judge his time with us and understand just how much credit he deserves for what has happened since. 

Hope you don't mind me invading your forum and chipping in with my thoughts on his time with us.

For what it's worth, I do hope you pull through, have a good season and finish 1 place behind us!

 

Great post,and welcome..

What you describe is a carbon copy of what is happening here with LJ and his team..mostly facts already known to me but worrying none the less to hear from a 'sensible' Tyke!....as you say,what you can get away with in League 1 as measured against the Championship are poles apart which is the sentient point,and most concerning-pulling tactics and substitutions from a hat when things are going wrong won't wash in this league,and I fear unless Lee will "see the light",decide on his best side/and allow these players to settle into a style of play(which would be a novelty)that we will be doomed.

Am hoping for two quality additions today to assist in pulling us from the abyss,but they will i fear just add to the confusion of the match day & training ground by giving Lee yet more options open to confuse us all!!....

 

 

[mattjtsmith]

9 hours ago, screech said:

Holy shit, it's coming true here too.

As long as it turns around and we finish 6th then win the playoffs....All is okay 

[Phil2012]

7 hours ago, mattjtsmith said:

As long as it turns around and we finish 6th then win the playoffs....All is okay 

Fingers crossed for that then. As long as we finish 5th