Dominik Frieser admits he panicked when Gerhard Struber left Oakwell but was delighted when he was replaced by Valerien Ismael.
The striker worked under new Barnsley head coach Ismael at LASK Linz in Austria last season before being brought to England by Struber.
Frieser told the Chronicle: “In the first moment after Gerhard left I was thinking: ‘oh s**t’. But then Adam (Murray, the caretaker) did really really well.
“He let me play and I scored my first goal under him.
“I was 100 per cent happy when I heard Valerien is coming here.
“We had a really, really good time last year. I think we won 35 out of 45 games. He is a really really good coach.”
He added: “It is my job now to explain to the players what Valerien wants to have from us.
“I told the players he is really, really good. He speaks a lot with us which is important for a player.
“It is important when a coach speaks with you and explains things.”
Frieser netted his first goal in English football last week in the 2-2 draw at Stoke, putting the Reds 2-1 up with an acrobatic volley.
“It was very important for me to score my first goal. I hope I can score more goals. For me it doesn’t matter how I scored, it is a goal. When I score from one metre, it is also a goal. Now we have to win matches. We played good games but we didn’t earn three points.”
Frieser admits adapting to the Championship has been difficult. He said: “It is a little bit harder than in Austria. Every defender is two metres tall.
“But that is English football and I like it. I hope I can do well.”
Ismael’s favourite formation is 3-4-3 with two wide forwards either side of a striker, whereas Struber used two strikers with an attacking midfielder behind them.
Frieser said: “He is a little bit the same as Gerhard, they want to press and play forward fast. The formation is different, with Valerien we play a 3-4-3 with wingers. Gerhard plays two strikers.
“Last season he played me on the right wing or the left wing and I know that position. Here, when I played as a striker, I played against really, really big defenders. My strength is to get the ball in space and go past players.”
