Barnsley suffered another frustrating result in the Championship on Wednesday with them on the end of a second half fightback from Nottingham Forest to fall to a 3-1 defeat at Oakwell.

The Tykes went into the game under pressure to try and get their season back on track after they suffered a 1-0 defeat against Blackpool on Saturday to extend their winless run to seven matches in the Championship.

Things started brightly for Markus Schopp’s side in the first half and they were able to get themselves into a 1-0 through Cauley Woodrow’s penalty on 20 minutes after he had been fouled by Tobias Figueiredo in the box.

In truth, that goal came somewhat against the run of play, but Barnsley grew into the first half after their goal and took the crucial lead into the break.

Forest though were able to turn things around in the second 45 minutes after a tactical shift from 3-4-2-1 to 3-4-3 by Steve Cooper.

The defeat against Forest leaves Barnsley just one place above the bottom three in the Championship.

While they are only outside of the drop zone on goal difference at this point in the season. It is a far cry from the excellent form they were displaying on their run to the play-offs last term.

Following the defeat to Nottingham Forest, we take a look at THREE things we have clearly learnt about Barnsley…

Markus Schopp has a lot of work to do and is a manager now under fire

The task of coming into Oakwell this summer and trying to replace the work that Valerien Ismael did with the Tykes last season against all of the odds was always going to be a very difficult one for whoever the club chose.

However, Markus Schopp seemed to be another name that Barnsley had gone for that could prove to be the right fit for them at the right time following the successful appointments of Gerhardt Struber and Ismael.

The Tykes were not expected to reach the same sort of heights as they did last term having lost Ismael and also even Dane Murphy from their setup over the summer.

Having said that, a return of one win from their opening ten matches with a squad that is largely similar to the one that Ismael was working with is not really good enough from Schopp at this stage.

Following the second half fightback from Nottingham Forest, there was audible discontent from sections of the support inside Oakwell.

Schopp confessed to the media after the game that he fully understands that unrest from fans given the nature of the results so far this term.

Barnsley are not a club that fire managers on a whim, so Schopp could get given more time but he needs to start getting a little more out of some of the Tykes’ key players to turn things around.

 

 

Teams have figured out Barnsley this season

Soccer Football - Championship - Barnsley v Nottingham Forest - Oakwell, Barnsley, Britain - September 29, 2021 Nottingham Forest´s Brennan Johnson in action with Barnsley´s Claudio Gomes Action Images/Lee Smith EDITORIAL USE ONLY. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 75 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club /league/player publications. Please contact your account representative for further details.

Last season, Barnsley’s youthful and vibrant squad managed to shock almost all of their opponents in the Championship with the way that they set up to press high with a lot of energy and be constantly in their faces for 90 minutes.

That surprise element to Barnsley helped them put most teams in the Championship to the sword and it was enough to take them all the way into the top-six in the table.

It was always going to be more difficult second time around to try and repeat that same kind of form and performance levels.

Teams have started to take the threats posed by the Tykes a lot more seriously this term and are being set up to specifically nullify some of their most potent threats.

Schopp confessed after the Nottingham Forest defeat that he fears teams have perhaps worked out his players now following last season. On the evidence of the season so far, you would have to agree.

It now has to be Schopp’s job and the rest of the squad to come up with new ideas to try and cause problems for their opponents.

At the moment they are not really enough of a threat going forwards and they have lost that edge about from them last term.

Barnsley’s struggle for goals showing no signs of changing

Soccer Football - Championship - Barnsley v Nottingham Forest - Oakwell, Barnsley, Britain - September 29, 2021 Barsley´s Cauley Woodrow scores their first goal Action Images/Lee Smith EDITORIAL USE ONLY. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 75 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club /league/player publications. Please contact your account representative for further details.

Following their defeat against Nottingham Forest, the Tykes have now scored just seven goals in their ten Championship matches so far under Schopp.

That is the joint second-lowest tally in the division so far and is just one more than Hull City’s total of six goals from their opening ten fixtures.

Woodrow has now got three of Barnsley’s seven goals in the Championship this season after he converted from the spot after being brought down in the first half in the box.

Barnsley are going to have to get more players chipping in with Woodrow. At the moment it is difficult to see too many of their other options adding many more goals to the side than they have been able to so far this term.

The Tykes could manage just eight efforts on goal against Nottingham Forest, and that was never going to really be enough to help them score more than the one goal they managed on the night.

Other teams are far more clinical than the Tykes when they get into the final third. It is looking like being a real slog for Barnsley if they do not manage to find a way to get more out of their attacking players that they currently are doing.