Barnsley FC: Big Darrell Clarke shortcoming evident again in Wycombe stalemate - View | OneFootball

Nine games into the League One season, most Barnsley fans still cannot see what Darrell Clarke`s team identity is.

After two disappointing draws at Oakwell in four days, Barnsley manager Darrell Clarke faces a huge issue with his squad.

With a lack of playing style and identity, Clarke’s Barnsley side showed endeavour and effort but a real lack of quality to create any flowing football.

Despite starting both recent games quickly, Barnsley soon ran out of ideas and laboured through the rest of the matches lacking any form of cutting edge. Barnsley supporters are yet to see a definitive playing style from Darrel Clarke's team.

Big Darrell Clarke shortcoming on show

Nine games into the season and Barnsley fans are yet to identify what Darrell Clarke’s football style is. There is no clear identity in his team's play.

Clarke himself has been vocal in his interviews expressing the attributes he wants to see from his side. It is clear Clarke was a side with a strong mentality and to be on the front foot. However, as each week goes by, his current Barnsley side fails to deliver his ideas.

Clarke wanted his players to play on the front-foot and dictate the tempo in games against Stockport County and Wycombe Wanderers, yet what he got was a five-minute performance against County and a disjointed dour serving against Wycombe.

Fans wondering where Clarke's identity is

From the opening games this season, supporters would struggle to pinpoint one identity of their sides play. Occasionally, Barnsley go long to big front men in the form of Sam Cosgrove or Stephen Humphrys but then rarely press the opposition anywhere on the pitch. Sometimes players pass within triangles but with no regularity. There appears no one set style of play.

Clarke has tinkered with his formations during games, evident in the 2-2 draw with Wycombe where Barnsley started with a 4-4-2 formation, changing to a 3-5-2 with the introduction of second half substitutes.

Clarke admitted post Wycombe that he doesn’t know his best 11 or his best formation, citing the players need to up their game and improve the quality of their performances.

Whilst his players have been inconsistent in their play, for example, the defenders often gift possession to the opposition in dangerous areas when attempting to play out from the back. Also, wing back Barry Cotter gets himself into good positions on the edge of the opposition penalty area but regularly fails to find his teammates with his poor crossing. It is still up to Clarke and his backroom staff to coach these errors out of the players. In the first half of the Wycombe game, Barnsley put 12 crosses into the opposition penalty area, yet only one cross went to a home player.

Clarke has had a full pre-season with these players and now almost 10 games into the league season, rather than highlighting where the players have gone wrong, he could settle on a system, formation and style of play that suits his players and supporters could buy into.

Thankfully, on Tuesday evening against Wycombe, Clarke’s substitutions changed the game. With Fabio Jalo and Stephen Humphreys adding some impetus to a sluggish performance, the Reds managed to salvage a point from the game. There is no evidence that the players are not playing for their manager, but Clarke needs to find an identity in this squad and play to its strengths.

Whilst it is early days in the season, Darrell Clarke must overcome this shortcoming before supporters start to lose faith in him being the man to return this club to the Championship.