Could make a case for Rooney at right-back and moving Smith into midfield in place of White, with White used as a sub when the game has opened up a bit more.

comment by lastapostleofvidal (U1491)
posted 17 minutes ago
Could make a case for Rooney at right-back and moving Smith into midfield in place of White, with White used as a sub when the game has opened up a bit more.
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I agree with that video

Vidal!!

Vidz

So, is it one or more of the following:
1. We really do miss Bird?
2. With or without Bird we are too lightweight/naive in midfield, at least against the better sides?
3. Teams are now starting to suss us out noticing, eg, that Cash loves to play long diagonals to the right or long balls down the left, that our throw-ins are nearly always the same, that we don't like it up us in midfield, that if you stop our wingers you stop Derby, that etc, etc?
4. We are not truly disciplined when playing away from home?

Please feel free to comment or add more.

PS I'm not having a go at anyone, players or management. We have done brilliantly this season when we had no right to expect anything much given the circumstances. But a long hard season may now be catching up on our smallish squad. I hope not.

PPS I agree with Vidal's suggestion of moving Smith into midfield and putting Rooney in at RB. Well worth a try as White is not yet up to playing against Barnsley-types.

Personally I think Bird is good to a degree. I don't think he'd have done any better than Harvey against Barnsley. Maybe he will as he gets older and stronger. Yes, maybe Corey in Midfield but even he isn't a physical - breaking play up type of midfielder. We've lacked one for many years I feel.
I hope we can stay in the play off positions but we haven't done well against physical teams for a long time.
Cheers Terry. UTR

....oh...and....
How do you spot a cinderella fish?

They have glass flippers.....

I agree Bird isn't a Bielik, say, or a Eustace, but he's got a little bit more strength than White. We have to use what we've got as best we can. Smith has more experience in that position so might be a bit more savvy when it comes to winning fouls, knowing how to concede them and other dark arts. We haven't been quite right all season in midfield but against poorer teams we have got away with it and until very recently the defence has been excellent. I think Bird's defensive positioning is good so he protects the back four to some extent.

Looking back, I think we rode our luck at home to Charlton. If they’d have had a better striker it could have been a different outcome……… if your Auntie had balls….

I don't agree with that, I thought we were very comfortable against Charlton. The teams we have struggled against have been those that haven't let us settle and have hounded us in defence and in midfield. Both games against Lincoln and Port Vale, Wycombe and now Barnsley. I'm a bit worried that Shrewsbury might fancy their chances.

comment by lastapostleofvidal (U1491)
posted 36 minutes ago
I don't agree with that, I thought we were very comfortable against Charlton. The teams we have struggled against have been those that haven't let us settle and have hounded us in defence and in midfield. Both games against Lincoln and Port Vale, Wycombe and now Barnsley. I'm a bit worried that Shrewsbury might fancy their chances.
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You have the best part of a week to nobble em

comment by lastapostleofvidal (U1491)
posted 4 hours, 43 minutes ago
Maybe Rooney has the physique but it's streetwiseness we need aswell. For their third goal we had ample opportunity to stop their player from running with the ball. It's the kind of thing Bradley Johnson was very good at - he would have put his arm across the player and made sure they both fell over in a heap long before he was anywhere near our penalty area. He probably would have done it without even picking up a yellow card. We're a bit naive in that department.
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In the build up to that goal, my boy Jason had 2 opportunities to take one for the team 🤔

I think the more games Bird misses the better he gets.

Took me a few seconds to work that one out VC!

The truth is that we have not been able to see much of Smith in midfield but I'm sure one thing he does not lack is know-how. I think he could do really well there for us.

I think overall our midfield 3 were generally ineffective against Barnsley... which was surprising really...

Knight was unfortunate not score, great stop by their keeper. Hourihane set up a perfect header for Collins which of course he missed totally. Had those two events had a different outcomes would you still be saying the midfield was ineffective. We were undone by missing our chances and mistakes in defence.

Spart, unusually, is right!

Yes, I would, because they were. Obviously you can get away with a poor performance if the opposition misses their chances and you take yours, but there has been a pattern over the whole season where we are susceptible to teams that rattle us and don't allow our midfielders time to show their quality on the ball. We have been roughed up a few times lately in games where we haven't been able to dictate. The players we have are good at what they do but they can get out-muscled. Maybe if Barkhuizen's header had gone in instead of hitting the bar it would have panned out differently, but I don't think so. Barnsley were much more powerful than us on the day. In the two home games where we beat them easily either they didn't press us so hard or else we were better at passing it around so that it didn't become a test of strength.

And yes, the defence was terrible on the day as has been said.