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The inside track on Barnsley, who they fear and what they really think of Swansea City ahead of huge play-off showdown

Wales Online logo Wales Online 13/05/2021 10:01:00 Tom Coleman

Preparations are already under way for Swansea City as they aim to book themselves a trip to Wembley and a place in the Championship play-off final.

It's Swansea's second play-off campaign in as many seasons and, after failing to make it through the semi-final stage last time out, they will be desperate to make amends.

Swansea, of course, did the double over the Tykes during the regular season, but will surely be taking nothing for granted against Valerien Ismael's side, who come into this tie on the back of a stunning run of 13 wins in their last 19 league games.

So, what can Swansea really expect from the South Yorkshire outfit?

We spoke to Doug O'Kane, sports editor at the Barnsley Chronicle to get the full lowdown.

Bournemouth and Brentford appear to be the favourites for promotion, but how will Barnsley view Swansea as a play-off opponent?

Well, they were the only team to do the double over Barnsley. Whereas the Reds went to both Bournemouth and Brentford and won. So a lot of fans might well say that in that respect, Swansea are the worst team to play.

Obviously Brentford and Bournemouth have so much quality that over 180 minutes it seem like it would be very difficult to beat them, but I wouldn't put Swansea much lower than the other two teams in terms of quality. Andre Ayew, Jamal Lowe, Conor Hourihane, they're all players Barnsley will fear.

The form of Swansea is obviously a factor and maybe they're going into it not in the best of shapes in terms of their recent results, so I guess that's one reason why it might be better to play Swansea.

But I don't think when the draw came out there was a feeling of 'oh good, it's Swansea'. Any of them would have been tough and some have said it's the worst possible draw as the Swans are seen as something of a bogey team for Barnsley.

Barnsley have been in terrific form of late, how much can we read into that? Or indeed the two Swansea wins earlier in the season?

The difference between the Barnsley team Swansea played in December and January is that they've made some really significant signings in January. Daryl Dike and Carlton Morris have not only scored a lot of goals, but they've added a really big and physical presence to the front three that was lacking before, and it makes Barnsley a very different proposition in terms of attack.

They obviously got into the top six on the back of a really good run, so they have got momentum and confidence from that, and I think when they played Swansea before, they were expecting Swansea to build up from the back, play possession-based football, and they surprised them by pumping a lot of long balls over the back of Barnsley's high line for the likes of Lowe to run on to.

Barnsley's main strength is that they press teams into submission, but if you go long then obviously that stops it a little. That's what a lot of teams started to do, but Swansea were probably the first to do it.

But I think Barnsley have worked out how to deal with that now and they're much better at coping with it, and they're more equipped to deal with Swansea. I think they could be a more difficult proposition this time around.

Is it fair to say this season has massively exceeded expectations?

The only person I've spoken to who's said he saw this coming was one of the centre-backs, Mads Andersen, who said he thought they would get into the top six last season. I don't know if he's slightly exaggerating, but everyone else that I've spoken to, players, staff, fans, they all expected an improvement on last season because they ended the season strongly. A lot of people were maybe thinking mid-table, at a push top 10.

Whatever happens now, this is arguably one of the best performances from a manager this season. To take a club that just managed to stay up last season to then finish in the top six of the Championship with one of the smallest budgets in the division, it's just dreamland for Barnsley fans.

Is this a free hit for them then?

It's a tough one. I think that's the mentality that the manager is projecting outward, but I suspect that in private he's reiterating to the players how much of a big opportunity this is. It's two or three huge games in their careers.

If they were to lose, there would obviously be no shame in that. It would still be regarded as a brilliant season, but these chances don't come around very often for a club like Barnsley.

There's no guarantee that if they stay in the second tier, and with all the interest in the players and manager that is likely to arrive this summer, that they will be able to achieve this again.

Who's the player Swansea should be most worried about?

Alex Mowatt is definitely one of their key players. He's my personal choice for player of the season, although there's probably about six other decent candidates.

Eight goals from central midfield, with seven assists, he takes a lot of the corners and a lot of the free-kicks. He's just that sort of leader on the pitch. It will be an interesting battle between him and Hourihane because he was essentially brought in to replace him back in 2017.

He's been ever-present and become an outstanding midfielder, and it'll be interesting to see those two on the pitch together.

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jeudi 13 mai 2021 13:01:00 Categories: Wales Online

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