Poya Asbaghi comments over his approach to Barnsley’s current situation | OneFootball

Barnsley manager Poya Asbaghi has insisted that he is not going to let the Tykes’ position in the Championship table impact on his approach to life in charge at Oakwell.

Asbaghi was able to at least pick up his first point in charge of Barnsley on Saturday as the Tykes held Peterborough United to a goalless draw away from home.

However, despite that result, they are still in a very precarious position in the table with them now sitting eight points adrift of Reading who currently occupy the last place above the bottom three.

The form of the likes of Hull City and Cardiff City in recent weeks have seen them two clubs pull further clear of Barnsley. That means that Asbaghi is now facing the daunting task of trying to turn around the Tykes form and pick up enough points to get them back in touch with the sides that are immediately above them in the table.

Barnsley did not do enough against Peterborough to win the game, but they were at least able to stop a three match losing streak. That now has to be something that Asbaghi aims to build on with wins needed desperately to allow them to have some belief that they could yet survive the drop this term.

Speaking to the Yorkshire Post, Asbaghi has insisted that he is not going to be drawn into looking at the league table and letting the Tykes’ current predicament impact on his approach.

He said: “I cannot keep looking at the league table as that will not change my mind on how to approach games. I’m also not going to concentrate too much on what other teams are doing as that is not in my hands.

“For every minute or hour I do that I would lose focus on the thing I can effect, which is ourselves.”

The verdict

This is going to be an enormous task for Asbaghi and his first two games in charge against Swansea City and Peterborough will have shown him what he is up against. The Tykes have not had the new manager bounce that they needed and it now seems as though it is going to be a major uphill struggle for them to turn things around and get out of trouble.

Asbaghi is right to try and stick with an approach that he believes in and he will rely on his own methods to get the Tykes out of their current situation. That is to be admired and if he is going to fail then it might as well be on his terms. Having said that, the Championship is a very unforgiving league and he needs his players to swiftly buy into his methods.

Barnsley’s squad are capable of going on good runs of form, with Valerien Ismael taking the same bunch of players on a lengthy run that guided them to the play-offs last term. The issue is that for Asbaghi the players’ confidence levels are nowhere near where they were last season.