FA Cup Barnsley at home Monday 12th Jan at 745 pm

[Buzzo]

The comms were sooo desperate for an upset. I don’t mind McCoist but he and Fletcher just couldn’t stop going on about Barnsley all night.

They were decent, and we weren’t great but it was never really in doubt.

[SB]

Thats because Frimpong sometimes goes on the outside, so defenders can predict the cut in every time

Yeah everyone who plays against us knows Mo & Gakpo cut inside every time & it’s easy to defend against. Frimpong keeps defenders guessing.

[SB]

The comms were sooo desperate for an upset. I don’t mind McCoist but he and Fletcher just couldn’t stop going on about Barnsley all night.

They were decent, and we weren’t great but it was never really in doubt.

Commentators dream of commentating on a David & Goliath Cup upset.

[Scratch]

They do, and McCoist got the hump when Lescott and Macca both disagreed with his penalty assessment. From that point on he was completely Team Barnsley.

[SB]

They do, and McCoist got the hump when Lescott and Macca both disagreed with his penalty assessment. From that point on he was completely Team Barnsley.

I must admit at 1st glance I thought it was a spot kick too but after seeing it a few times you can see Dom gets his toe to the ball first.

[Exiled_red]

We went strong with the team yesterday and got the result we needed eventually. So perhaps I shouldn't complain but I thought going so strong was an odd decision in terms of the squad and the rest of the season. Of the probably 13 regular outfield starters available 12 of them played some part in the game (Kerkez was the only one who didn't get minutes), along with Chiesa, Rio and Nyoni who are fringe players two of whom got starts and Nyoni got minutes from the bench. Given how small our squad is I would have thought we would have wanted to get minutes into the legs of Endo and Ramsay and more than 2 mins for Nyoni, because it feels inevitable that we are going to get more injuries and probably need to play them at some point. We shifted Szoboszlai to RB when we had a RB in Ramsay on the bench. I get that Slot didn't want a repeat of last year and results have been difficult to come by this season but it feels like there is still a lack of trust with some players and we are going to try and get through the rest of the season with probably 14 regular outfield players plus Chiesa, Rio and Nyoni getting 2 mins here or 10mins there. I worry that in having so few players that we will get injuries from over playing players and we are probably only a couple of injuries away from having real problems.

[Buzzo]

Yeah, it wasn’t really a performance to silence any doubts.

Conceding made the second half harder, and we did on the end blow them away but we looked wide open at times. What is hard to understand is how we can go from this controlling, dominant performance (at least at times) v Arsenal to this open erratic one v Barnsley.

Absolutely agree on squad depth his lack of trust on squad players has been an issue since he came in and I agree we run the risk of playing a few of the squad into the ground.

[SB]

We went strong with the team yesterday and got the result we needed eventually. So perhaps I shouldn't complain but I thought going so strong was an odd decision in terms of the squad and the rest of the season. Of the probably 13 regular outfield starters available 12 of them played some part in the game (Kerkez was the only one who didn't get minutes), along with Chiesa, Rio and Nyoni who are fringe players two of whom got starts and Nyoni got minutes from the bench. Given how small our squad is I would have thought we would have wanted to get minutes into the legs of Endo and Ramsay and more than 2 mins for Nyoni, because it feels inevitable that we are going to get more injuries and probably need to play them at some point. We shifted Szoboszlai to RB when we had a RB in Ramsay on the bench. I get that Slot didn't want a repeat of last year and results have been difficult to come by this season but it feels like there is still a lack of trust with some players and we are going to try and get through the rest of the season with probably 14 regular outfield players plus Chiesa, Rio and Nyoni getting 2 mins here or 10mins there. I worry that in having so few players that we will get injuries from over playing players and we are probably only a couple of injuries away from having real problems.

Yep that’s a fair summary & I totally agree. Ramsay must be totally useless in training to not get to play a minute under Slot.

[Exiled_red]

Yep that’s a fair summary & I totally agree. Ramsay must be totally useless in training to not get to play a minute under Slot.

He played 45 mins i think a while back and then looked knackered, so clearly he isn't fit, but there's no chance of him getting fit without minutes. 3rd round FA Cup tie is one of the few times you might want to consider giving him or Endo a start. Even if it isn't to get them fit, by playing them you are keeping a regular player fresh.

To be honest I find it frustrating seeing Szoboszlai play at RB because we effectively only have 4 midfielders who are getting regular minutes and at time all 4 of them are fairly often on the pitch at the same time including for about 15mins in this game, those in particular are going to need a rest at some point and if we don't trust Endo or Nyoni how does that happen? Slot has been talking about overplaying leading to injury and that feels inevitable with our squad size

[vlahka]

I noticed the other fans singing it a couple times and realised I've only ever heard that 'cheating' song sung against us while other teams who cheat absolutely disgustingly all the time dont get anything sung about. We rarely do any cheating and get a song. Maybe we should cheat heaps like other teams. Probably win more games.

[rudedog]

He played 45 mins i think a while back and then looked knackered, so clearly he isn't fit, but there's no chance of him getting fit without minutes. 3rd round FA Cup tie is one of the few times you might want to consider giving him or Endo a start. Even if it isn't to get them fit, by playing them you are keeping a regular player fresh.

To be honest I find it frustrating seeing Szoboszlai play at RB because we effectively only have 4 midfielders who are getting regular minutes and at time all 4 of them are fairly often on the pitch at the same time including for about 15mins in this game, those in particular are going to need a rest at some point and if we don't trust Endo or Nyoni how does that happen? Slot has been talking about overplaying leading to injury and that feels inevitable with our squad size

Yeah but Slot is probably only thinking week to week at the moment

[Exiled_red]

Yeah but Slot is probably only thinking week to week at the moment

That is understandable from a coaching point of view I guess but from a strategic point of view should we not be looking to bring someone in and/or there be plans or discussions about fitness and squad development.

Slot has brought up the stuff about not overplaying young players, and talked about someone (I forgot who) getting injured probably due to being overplayed, seems odd to mention it but not really apply it because it doesn't suit