Barnsley - The verdict.

Haven't left the ground feeling so uplifted in a long time. Barnsley were quite dire but we were equally dominant and didn't give them a sniff. It was also reassuring seeing the options we had on the bench today. Roll on Tuesday, hopefully more of a test but we shouldn't be fearing anyone in this league if we play as we did today.
 
Parker Man is on a Roll - 6 unbeaten...looks like he could nail this job down for a good few seasons....can't see any reason for any doubters to be negative about the appointment now !
 
Cahill spent the entire game marshalling the defence and keeping people on their toes.

Concentration was much better as a result. He could be our most important signing of the year

I was thinking the same. Kept talking to travers and telling defenders where to pass to. About three times made telling stretch interceptions.

For some reasons, he seems to blow out his cheeks when making long passes!

People criticising Barnsley but I think credit to afcb for bulldozing them out the game. A worse team would have lost 7 or 8 I think. I think first half Barnsley played intelligently between the lines in midfield until we ground them down.
 
Tidy performance and great to see our youngsters playing a starring role..ref was useless but we overcame Barnsley’s dark arts made me laugh their player pretending to do his boots up in front of a free kick to us…Cahill must be thinking how easy defending is in this league…Smith and Brooks linked up well and so did Zemura and Anthony.. Lerma bossed the midfield…only slight worry was Solanke who should have nailed an easy hatrick…JZ saved his bacon I reckon with two classy goals..easy game after we took the lead with our first attack…Barnsley looked poor and rudderless at times…
 
Could and maybe should have been more.
Not that it matters, we got 3 points.
Keep the flow going, QPR will be tougher I expect.
Barnsley weren't great to be honest, one of the poorer teams we'll see. Might be good playing them quite early on.
Barnsley had only lost once before today. For once, just once, it could have been that we were actually just very good. Not to do with them.
 
My thoughts:
-That was pretty much as dominant display as you could expect to see at this level. The way we functioned as a team both with and without the ball was a joy to watch. The moment we surrendered possession we pressed aggressively and in packs, everybody seems to be buying into the project and it’s very pleasing to see. We moved the ball around incredibly crisply and carved out a number of opportunities, it could quite easily have been at least double three. Everybody played well but some honourable mentions:
-Gary Cahill: absolutely oozed class. Read the game so well and was constantly barking orders at his team mates and helping them through the game. A clear upgrade on Cook.
-Zemura: best attacking full back performance since Franno in 14/15. It was ridiculous just how good he was today. He has it all for a modern day full back. NEEDS a new contract now. So silky on the ball, he is also pretty good defensively.
-Lerma: that is the Jeff I wanted to see last season. I was very critical of his performances last year but today he was immense, box to box it was like having a number six and s number eight in one, literally played 2 roles. The amount of times he won the ball back today was very impressive.
-Pearson- very very classy. Offered a superb shield to the back four, some of his passing was also very impressive.
 
We were good, can’t take that away, but they were awful.
But we’re they awful because we simply didn’t let them play? We pressed as a unit and gave them no route through. I watched them at QPR this season, they were immense in the first half and taught QPR a lesson. Today was just about how good we were.
 
-Pearson- very very classy. Offered a superb shield to the back four, some of his passing was also very impressive.

didn't think Pearson was very effective today, especially in the first half
lost many of those 50/50 battles where he's normally dominant and spent a lot of time chasing back towards our goal
improved second half but by then barnsley had pretty much given up
 
Enjoyable game. Could have been more than 3. We have pace and energy in abundance. Cahill looked solid with a good experienced football brain. Smithy and Zemura gave real pace out wide. Lerma and Pearson controlled the middle and Billing gave some real bursts of energy. Anthony linked up well with Zemura and Brooks looked happier having Smithy back. Thought Christie looked good and Rogers caused some problems with his pace. By that stage Barnsley looked totally shagged. I know Dom scored a tap in but missed a good chance in the first half that would have killed the game off earlier. Thought he looked off it today. Lowe got involved from the off. All in all though a good day at the office and a great boost for Tuesday.
Oh, and that lad Zemura is pretty damned special !

So happy to criticise Dom, who again worked his socks off, got his goal, the one in the first half looked like a good save from the keeper and the one in the second half was drilled between his feet as he came in but no mention of the similar difficult chance that Lowe could reach? Neither of them were easy.
 
So happy to criticise Dom, who again worked his socks off, got his goal, the one in the first half looked like a good save from the keeper and the one in the second half was drilled between his feet as he came in but no mention of the similar difficult chance that Lowe could reach? Neither of them were easy.

It was obvious, from the crowd, when subbed that Dom had a great game. Absolutely worked his socks off.
 

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