Talking Tactics – A Case for the Defence

It is fair to say that Barnsley’s defence has been truly atrocious this season. Only two clean sheets, second most goals conceded, individual errors galore, the list could go on.

Despite the title, I am not sticking up for the defence as such as we can all agree that as a unit and, in most cases, individually, they are just not good enough. I will however add some mitigation to why they have been so poor as the blame doesn’t lie solely with the back four and goalkeeper.

A lot of the problems we have conceding goals is down to the way we are set up to play. I admire Hourihane’s’ attacking philosophy, it has been a pleasure to watch in a number of games but it comes at a cost, and that cost is conceding goals and dropping points. I do think that some small tweaks and we could find the balance of entertaining football and being more solid at the same time.

I will refer back to Peterborough game with some examples as it was the most recent, but it could almost refer to any game this season.

In almost every back four selected Hourihane likes to have one full back pushing on or tucking in to midfield, essentially leaving a back three when we are in possession. The problem lies when we lose possession.

There were several occasions when O’Keeffe was forward on Tuesday and we succumbed to the counterattack. O’Connell often found himself having to come across to right back, often leaving just Shepherd and Gent to cover in the middle as Peterborough had men over. On other occasions Connell was also back covering alongside Shepherd at centre back with the rest of the midfield and O’Keeffe nowhere to be seen.

In short, this tactic always leaves us vulnerable to the counterattack, and I am not blaming O’Keeffe as this is an instruction from his manager who likes to play hybrid formations like the modern Premier League manager.

I am all for fullbacks bombing forward but for me it has to be when the opportunity is there to do so. I do think that if the back four played as a traditional back four then we would be far less exposed.

The protection from the midfield is also a problem. The five players selected across the midfield were the five I would select every week but there needs to be a better structure.

Connell was the only one truly shielding the defence and he too gets forward at times, leaving little protection if we do turn the ball over. Ahead of him it was like an attacking four behind a lone striker, which is brilliant in many ways but there also needs to be a bit more structure of knowing how many men to throw forward and when to get back into position.

It is reminiscent of the Stendel days when we used to throw everyone forward but back then we had the likes of Pinnock and Lindsey at the back who were good enough to cope with the inevitable onslaught when we lost possession.

I am not criticising the current full backs and midfield for these issues as it is the way the manager wants us to play. I am also not for a single second suggesting Hourihane needs sacking for this tactic. I think/hope he could be the man to take us forward. I love that he wants a team that attacks and entertains but I believe he can still have that with a few tactical tweaks to make the team more solid and give more protection to a set of defenders severely lacking in confidence.

COYR