from Liverpool Daily Post:
TRANMERE complete a sequence of daunting August fixtures against leaders Charlton Athletic tomorrow with manager John Barnes predicting that the going won’t become any easier over the course of the League One campaign.
The Londoners, a Premier League club as recently as 2007, arrive at Prenton Park intent on extending a sequence of four straight wins at Rovers’ expense.
John Barnes’ team, outplayed and out-fought in a 3-0 defeat at Leeds United last weekend, found greater resolve in losing a Carling Cup tie to Premier League giants Bolton on Tuesday and know their resilience will be tested again by Charlton.
“The hard games are coming thick and fast and that is what League One is all about now,” Barnes said.
“It is not just the games this week, but every game we play. This is a very strong division and we have to be up to the challenge.”
Barnes is introducing a pass and move style of play to Prenton Park at a time when he believes many other teams in the division will be following a similar course. Some, such as Charlton, Leeds, Southampton and Norwich were Premier League or Championship clubs not so long ago.
“An increasing number of teams at this level want to get the ball down and pass because they have players with the ability to do that,” Barnes said.
“Charlton are among them. They have players who were on the books when they were a Premier League club. They were in the Academy or they were first and second year professionals. Those players are now first-teamers at this level.”
Barnes added: “I keep on going on about the old days when people said you had to kick your way out of this division. But many of the teams down here will try to play their way out because they have the players to do it.”
Barnes is working on bedding in the playing pattern at Tranmere with a small squad, assembled with modest resources in comparison to many rival clubs.
Results and performances have been uneven so far. Tranmere played some sparkling attacking football in their only League One win out of four against Gillingham and were encouragingly solid against Bolton.
But they will be anxious to avoid a third successive league defeat at the hands of Charlton that would leave them in the bottom four of the division on Saturday evening.
Barnes said: “It is a new way of playing for the team and it will take time for the system to bed in. There have been times when it worked and we are trying to get it to work consistently. That will take time.
“I am hopeful and I keep saying to the players: believe in yourselves that you can do what I want you to do, because it is not complicated.
We had spells of 20 minutes or half an hour against Gillingham and in the first half against Grimsby when we showed we can do it. We have to have the belief. I was a bit fearful after the Leeds performance that they lost the belief.
“But against Bolton they performed well.”
Barnes added: “We had the midfield players protecting the back four against Bolton which they failed to do against Leeds. Now we have to look at creating more chances by improving the delivery of the ball in the final third of the field.”
The three players sidelined by injury in midweek, Shaleum Logan (bruised toe), Gavin Gunning (blisters) and Ian Thomas-Moore (groin) should be fit and available for selection tomorrow. Michael Ricketts, who followed his 25-minute appearance against Bolton with an hour-long run in the reserves on Wednesday, is likely to start on the bench once again.
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Glad also because we tend to do better against "footballing" teams.
We will now lose after I have opened my big mouth :-)
unless of course they click and we get shafted ; )
I see you mean John Barnes not our own Barnesy (NSS)
god that would have been a doom and gloom thread
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