Barnsley assistant coach Andreas Winkler admits the performance in the 3-1 loss at Shrewsbury Town on Tuesday was the most disappointing since he and head coach Daniel Stendel arrived at the club in the summer.
The Reds went 2-0 down after 24 minutes then, after Ethan Pinnock pulled one back, they conceded a third from a set piece midway through the second half. Winkler told the Chronicle: “It was the most disappointed we have been. You won’t win a match if you don’t win the duels, you have to play physical in League One but we couldn’t do it as a team.”
He added: “We didn’t have a good start and the opponents tried to bring us out of our plan with very hard duels and direct play. It really wasn’t a good performance, we didn’t fight back. Only in the first ten minutes of the second half did we believe in ourselves, but we didn’t deserve to get a point or a win. It was perfect to score early in the second half but the 3-1 goal killed us off and we were really disappointed with conceding from a set piece.”
Winkler declined to comment on the incident which saw Stendel sent off. The Reds staff were frustrated with Shrewsbury’s physical play, which began early and saw Kenny Dougall have to be substituted after 15 minutes following a tackle by Anthony Grant who was shown a yellow card.
Winkler said: “Kenny is injured. He has to go for a scan tomorrow (Wednesday). I hope it wasn’t a plan for Shrewsbury. The referee could have done a little bit more to save our players. I think it was a red card. It was just a tackle to hurt him, not to win the ball. But the referee thought it was too early. A strong referee can send him off.”
The midweek loss follows a 2-0 defeat at Charlton Athletic on Saturday, which came after just one loss in their first 12 league games. Winkler said: “We didn’t expect these performances, we have to think about why they happened. We have to look at the footage and talk to the players then do better on Saturday (at home to Bristol Rovers).
“I am confident because I know the team will show a reaction. We have a strong squad and more players will be available on Saturday. We have to do it for our supporters who came to see us at Charlton and Shrewsbury. I am sorry to the fans but it is a young squad and we have shown good performances this season.”
