Blackpool v Barnsley Preview
Posted on | September 12, 2008 | No Comments
It’s a game between two sides tipped for the drop, even though both managed to stay a few places clear of the bottom three last season. However, Blackpool and Barnsley are sides that don’t have the big budgets like a lot of Championship sides and because of this; both sets of fans are going to be classing this as a must-win fixture.
The Seasiders are said to have one of the best young managers in the game in Simon Grayson, and the former Leicester defender has had to deal with two big departures this summer. A clause in Wes Hoolahan’s contract meant he was allowed to leave for next to nothing to Norwich, while highly rated centre half Kaspars Gorkss made way to QPR. It has left Grayson with two massive holes to fill and without doubt, he’s been very busy this summer. No less than thirteen players were brought in permanently and on loan, with the likes of Alex Baptiste, David Vaughan, Rob Edwards and Steve Kabba being the pick of the bunch. Despite the influx of new faces, it’s not been a completely successful start for Grayson and he’s seen his side pick up four points out of a possible twelve so far. It’s fair to say that the fixtures haven’t been too easy though, with games against promotion hopefuls Bristol City and Sheffield United accompanying away ties to Southampton and Norwich. With Saturday’s opponents Barnsley tipped as fellow strugglers, Grayson will be desperately hopeful that he can get his side to the seven point barrier by the end of the weekend.
As for Barnsley, they picked up their first points of the season a couple of weeks ago against Derby. The performance was anything but convincing, but manager Simon Davey claimed that it was justice after playing so well in the other three league games. There’s no doubt that there’s increased belief around Oakwell after that victory, with several key players also resuming fitness meaning that Davey will have a much bigger pool to choose from. Argentinean summer signing Hugo Colace finally received international clearance during the week so he will add some competition to midfield, as will tricky winger Jamal Campbell-Ryce. Davey has said throughout the last few months that the aim is to better last season’s finish and after recording his first points against Derby, he’ll be confident of doing the same at Bloomfield Road on Saturday.
In terms of team news, Barnsley will welcome back Jamal Campbell-Ryce who hasn’t played for the first team this season following an ankle injury. Hugo Colace could be in line to make his debut having received international clearance, although he’ll be fighting competition from Diego Leon and Bobby Hassell. As for Blackpool, they could hand a debut to Daniel Nardiello. Nardiello, who has coincidently played most of his football with opponents Barnsley, hasn’t yet featured after a hamstring injury in pre-season. Elsewhere, Stephen Crainey won’t feature after having an operation on his heal.
This will be one of the tightest games of the day, with both teams looking very similar on paper. They played each other three times last season and Barnsley managed to record two wins and a draw, so history is with them. However, it has to be said that they are not so good away from home and that will play a part on Saturday. We’ll go for a 1-1 draw.
Related posts:
- Barnsley v Blackpool Preview
- Reading v Blackpool Preview
- Blackpool v Southampton Preview
- Blackpool v Norwich Preview
- Coventry v Barnsley Preview
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