The Opposition View: Barnet

Last updated : 22 February 2016 By Jim Bonner

How happy are you with Barnet's season so far?

I have to say that I am disappointed with our results this season, although I know that even if we finish in our current position it will be our best finish since 08/09! Looking back, our summer recruitment was not great and didn't strengthen our squad, only Dembele (who will be out injured for the next 8 weeks) and Stephens can be called unqualified successes.

If we had recruited wisely, that little bit of extra quality in our squad could have pushed us a long way up the table - certainly into the top ten.
Having said all of that, it will be a welcome novelty for us to not have an end to a League Two season where we are not involved in a relegation dogfight.

Why is there such a contrast between Barnet's home form and away form?

 I think a reason for the contrast in our home and away form lies in our playing style. We play stodgy football, without great variation in our style. It's all honest endeavour and at home we're usually able to create enough chances to get a result. Away from home, the lack of quality in our central midfield and the lack of variety in our general play means that we're unlikely to score more than one goal away from home.

Moreover, our defence gets put under pressure as we give away the ball cheaply too often and that usually creates sufficient chances for the opposition teams to win the match.

Of course, we have drawn and won our last two away matches but with the opposition being Stevenage and Dagenham, that reinforces my point as neither team had the quality to create enough chances against us. Actually that Stevenage match should be preserved as a exhibit of how bad a spectacle a football match can be!

How are Bondz and Akinde coping with life in the Football League now?

Both have not performed as well, for a start. With Akinde, he's worked hard but all too often he's been lacking the necessary support to score lots of goals and the quality of ball for him has been deficient. Moreover, League Two defenders are cannier than those in the National League and he has not reaped the harvest of penalties that he did last season. I would maintain that with a good partner and a better midfield, he would do very well at this level as he has the necessary attributes. He has by no means had a bad season.

As for Bondz...oh dear... His lack of pace, his confused decision-making and his tendency to lose concentration have all been exploited by other teams. The latest case of this was on Saturday against AFC Wimbledon where he misjudged a simple long ball, which sailed over his head and gave the Wombles player a simple chance, which he did not miss.

4) What are your side's biggest strengths and weaknesses and who are the key players?

Our biggest strength is the stodgy football that we play as we will grind out enough results to stay up comfortably. Our biggest weakness is also the stodgy football we play as it won't get us into the top half of the league.

In terms of key players, Stephens has come in for Stack in goal and has performed very well, usually making key saves in every match. That match at Pompey was one of his first and I think he was still adapting to playing in the first team (I still think that his sending-off was harsh).
Dembele has been our key central defender, adding pace and mobility to the back line and being a threat at set-pieces. 

Andy Yiadom is now a key player for us, he just adds some brio to our play coming from right-back and was a big miss during his 3 match suspension. Unfortunately, it looks like he will leave for nothing in the summer with his contract expiring.

Luke Gambin, on the left wing, has steadily improved as the season has progressed - showing some trickery on the flank. His goal at Daggers was Messi-esque. He receivied a roll-out from Stephens, he dribbled the length of the pitch, exchanged passes with our left-back Elliot Johnson and then slotted home.

What kind of match can we expect at The Hive on Tuesday evening?

I expect a match where you will have a lot of possession and we will try to counter. I'm not sure whether we will go 4-4-2, with Allen giving youth prodigy striker Matt Stevens his first start for us or a 4-3-3 with Akinde as the spearhead. If we go the latter, we might actually use the ball better as this will give space for Matthew Randall to come in and add a touch of finesse to our play.

Our pitch, which looked good for the first two seasons at the Hive is starting to deteriorate badly with the excessive rain we have suffered this winter so things could get very tricky all round!

Predict the outcome of the game.

I'll go for 1-1 as you lot seem to like drawing matches.