Barnsley FC urged to fix "silly" issue with play-offs still in sight | OneFootball

FLW's Barnsley fan pundit has identified the biggest issues at the club right now

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Barnsley are once again in competition for a play-off place in League One this season.

The Tykes finished inside the top six in both of their previous campaigns in the third tier, but narrowly missed out on promotion back to the Championship.

Darrell Clarke’s side face stiff competition this year, with the likes of Bolton Wanderers, Reading and Leyton Orient all in the mix.

Barnsley will need to be at their best to qualify for a play-off place again this year, which will mean ironing out some of the costly mistakes that have dropped them to 10th in the table.

Barnsley’s biggest issue highlighted

When asked what the biggest issue at the club is at the moment, FLW’s Barnsley fan pundit Andy Symcox highlighted the lack of strong forward options in the squad.

He also believes that silly defensive errors need to be addressed and stomped out, particularly amid their push for promotion.

“For me, the club’s biggest issue at the moment is strength and depth, particularly related to striker options,” Symcox told Football League World.

“We’ve said for a long time that we needed a striker to complement the players we have.

“It’s good that Max Watters is back, and I hope he stays injury-free for the rest of the season.

“On the pitch, the most pressing matter is how many silly goals we concede late on in matches.

“From approximately 75 minutes onwards, I think we have conceded more goals in that period of time than any other club in our league, and perhaps the whole of the Football League.

“Most of those goals have been as a result of silly mistakes from different defenders, not the same defender.

“It feels like they have all taken a turn to make really silly mistakes to gift the opposition a goal.”

Barnsley are 10th in the League One table, six points adrift of the play-off places with 11 games still to play.

Clarke will have to resolve defensive issues

The defensive lapses late in games have been costly, and is something Clarke should be working on to iron out.

But the lack of forward options is just something the team has to live with for the time being, as they have to wait until the summer to bring in any fresh faces.

Perhaps there is a young player coming through the ranks at underage level that could be given an opportunity in the final 11 games.

But cutting out the issues at the back is the bigger concern right now and is what the team should be focused on trying to fix.