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Match day thread: Barnet

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  • Return of the Sido!

  • Good news on Sido. COYB!

  • Perfect result for us with County and Mansfield drawing 1-1 with Mansfield scoring a pen in the 9th minute of added on time.

  • Need to get the ball on the floor and play around these big centre backs. Very poor football so far.

  • Freeman, Gape and Sido the best performers so far. Otherwise poor

  • I feel like there has only been one chance the whole game - Barnet's mad scramble. Hopefully we can crack on and start creating.

  • 1-0! JJ pen!

  • Luton draw with Newport, but Accrington beat FGR 3-1. Title race far from over.

  • edited March 2018

    Get in you Blues! This is getting interesting again!

  • It feels so good to be back to winning ways!

  • Vital win not the best of games but who cares 3 points is all that matters, hope we can back it up at Crawley wednesday night.

  • I’ve lost three toes to frostbite. However, Sido was bloody magnificent today. I hope he remembers to take John Akinde out of his pocket before the kit goes in the washing machine.

  • that's what happens when you go toe, two toe with Barnet

  • I thought Freeman was comfortably MOTM. Absolutely excellent in almost everything he did and our best attacking threat. Excellent pass to put in CMS for the goal.

  • Freeman and O Nien were excellent today.

    We pretty much limited Barnet to that one mad 30secs where they hit the bar from close in, and then couldn't put the rebound away.
    Except for that they're just a typical non league type outfit, brute up front, and brutes at the back. Not even a hint of creativity in there.

    It was also good to see Kasket having a run around, he looked keen, and hopefully in the mood for making up for lost time.

    God results around us in the table, so we're back on track.

    If we could get a positive result in midweek, we're back in the top 3.

    9 big games to go.

  • Very comfortable win in the end after a dire 1st half. You could visibly see the confidence return to the side after the penalty. Freeman the best player on the pitch by a distance, so very worrying to see him hobble off. Sido also had a good game on his return.

  • The difference between the way Wycombe played first half and second was remarkable. Really poor first 45 - lots of hoofing to nowhere, neither Akinfenwa or CMS holding the ball at all, Barnet first to loose balls and far more physical. Second half the roles reversed - we started playing neat passes and actually aimed for each other. Ainsworth must have reminded them at half time there's a reason why we're so much higher up the league table and told them just to take an extra second on the ball. I don't think it's any coincidence that the first time we played the ball on the ground into the box we got a penalty out of it (also not a coincidence that it was one of the first times CMS was near the box rather than out wide).

    We played more of a 3-5-2 today with Freeman and Moore as wingbacks and a tight central three of Jacobson, el-Abd and Jombati and it really worked - Jombati particularly immense but Jacobson also restored in confidence with that extra support. I agree with @Glenactico, Freeman was MOTM for me, great incisive runs, real attacking threat and a willingness to get back and defend. O'Nien bossed the midfield second half and Gape looked assured as holding midfielder. Kashket looked sharp when he came on and Tyson proved far more effective on the wing than CMS, as usual.

    I can see us signing Akinde if Barnet go down and we go up - he looks just the man to eventually replace Akinfenwa (who did not have his most effective match but came alive when Kashket came on - I really hope they get to start together soon and rekindle that remarkable partnership).

    Anyway, great support from the fans, lovely stand (with delightfully warm bar) and a good second half. Probably worth the frostbite.

  • I hope we don’t try to replace Bayo with Akinde, he offered pretty much nothing today.

  • I loved Bayo's attempt to head juggle the ball along the edge of the area in the first half. Just to echo other's posts - Freeman looks a seriously classy prospect, and Sido was back doing what Sido does best - sublimely confident on the ball, so often taking the route less obvious, giving us a few heart-in-the-mouth moments when doing so and just being brilliant and mercurial. Also JJ's best game in a while, which will hopefully boost his confidence

    I'd be seriously depressed if I were a Barnet fan; first half they didn't really look a bottom of the table team, however limited they were, but the moment they went 1-0 down they were never going to get back in it. How bad must the atmosphere be there when there aren't 1000+ noisy away fans?

  • If we were playing 3-5-2 it was too subtle for my frozen body to take in.

    Akinde i'd imagine is on a good whack, and probably not even out of contract this summer anyway, so it'd take a fee.

    Massive strong beast of a player, but not the same sort of target man as our beast.

    Saw Bean chumming up with a Barnet player or 2 after. Wonder how close he came to joining them in the summer just gone

  • @Malone said:
    If we were playing 3-5-2 it was too subtle for my frozen body to take in.

    Akinde i'd imagine is on a good whack, and probably not even out of contract this summer anyway, so it'd take a fee.

    Massive strong beast of a player, but not the same sort of target man as our beast.

    Saw Bean chumming up with a Barnet player or 2 after. Wonder how close he came to joining them in the summer just gone

    I did wonder if I'd completely missed something when I read the 352 thing!

  • Came on here to sing Freeman’s praises but that looks to have already been done. What a performance though - his best for us I think. Really glad we’ve got him tied into a longer term deal.

    Also, my first visit to the Hive but I was very impressed. Great view from behind the goal and the warm bar at half time was an absolute god-send. Shame to see so few home fans - they look to have accepted relegation in all but name.

  • Maybe I was seeing things that weren't there with the 3-5-2 but Freeman definitely much lower down the pitch than you'd expect as a striker; Moore much higher than a full-back and Jacobson-el-Abd-Jombati quite tight together. This is at the start of the match - things got a lot looser once we'd gone ahead.

  • Barnet certainly look to be stuffed in the league. Rock bottom, and 7 points off safety, with only 8 games left.

    Next game? Luton away.
    Although Luton are on a most bizarre record of only 1 win out of the last 7 in the league!
    That shows how miles clear they were for a long time.

    If they can manage not to win against Barnet, something really has gone sour there.

  • Not 3-5-2 just the usual 4-3-3. Freeman given the left hand forward role but happy to roam a bit more than others as that’s his playing style.

    Excellent second half performance after a distinctly average first half effort. Had Akinde scored his absolute sitter it might have been a different game.

    Tough conditions, however.

    Overall though that was as poor a Barnet side as I can remember, a shame as I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for them really.

    They just can’t get it together as a League club can they? The Hive is a really great set-up given the challenges of finding land in London for sports facilities, it’s a real sporting hub. Yet, even though they are surrounded by literally hundreds of thousands of people they can’t get more than a thousand of their fans through the door. A bit dispiriting really.

    Anyway back to us. Smashing performance from Freeman, he offers so much creativity. At times he was reminiscent of Kevin Durham in the way he cut in off the left and just drifted past opponents. Let’s hope the knock he picked up wasn’t anything too serious.

    Much as I’ve enjoyed contributions from CMS, Tyson and PCH this season it’s a future front three of Bayo, Freeman and Kashket that really gets me licking my lips.

    As others have said, top effort too from Sido given his lack of football of late. He has a real touch of class at centre half, I hope we persevere.

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