Re: Match Thread v Barnsley

[AstonThriller]

To be fair Bjarnasson historically hasn't really beena defensive midfielder, he's always been an offensive one for both Basel and Iceland, usually cutting in from the left hand side, so can't really blame Bruce for playing him out of position as such. But he's always been known for his combative play, so if he can re-invent himself as a Kanté type player then fair play to him.

I think he did play some games for Iceland in central midfield tbh, hence the reason he actually started in that position on his debut at Brentford where he partnered Lansbury and Hourihane who were also on debut. His rise could be a very important one because Thor has quicker legs than Whelan and Jedi and he will also provide another goal threat aswell, So I hope this switch will work in the long term.

[achilles]

Another thing that has occurred to me concerning the game yesterday was that Barnsley tried to do what Millwall did to us and pressurise us and play a high line but this time it just didn't work as we actually played our way out of trouble and Barnsley ended up chasing shadows. To be fair a couple of occasions in the second half we gave the ball away in dangerous positions but overall it was so much better. We actually tried something different from a corner for the first time this season, although it was a miserable failure it was good to see that something is being done on the training ground.

Barnsley are a big physical side and will cause other sides loads of problems, so on reflection I think it was a very good performance especially when I think that we can even improve on that performance.