Daniel Stendel knows the next month’s fixtures will be vital in Barnsley’s promotion push and hopes they tighten up defensively after conceding nine goals in their last three matches.
The Reds are currently fifth in the League One table, nine points behind leaders Portsmouth and five off Sunderland who occupy the second automatic promotion place. They have a three-point cushion between them and the teams outside the play-off positions.
Stendel’s side are due to visit Wycombe Wanderers, who are tenth and one of the form teams of the division, tomorrow before hosting table-topping Pompey then visiting seventh-placed Blackpoool. Visitors for the Christmas week matches are Peterborough United and Charlton Athletic who are currently either side of the Reds in fourth and sixth.
The challenging festive fixture list is completed with a New Year’s Day trip to third-placed Luton Town. Stendel said: “We have seven games in the next month and we need points. It’s a very important month for us and we play against a lot of the teams in the top ten.
“If we win a lot of games we can decrease the gap to the top two. We can pick up a lot of points in the next few weeks which might be very important at the end of the season.
"We played very well in a big game in Sunderland but we lost so we need to learn that we have to be ruthless and to get the points. But every game is important. We dropped points against Wimbledon and Plymouth who are near the bottom.”
The Reds’ last three matches have all been six-goal thrillers. They lost 4-2 at promotion rivals Sunderland on Tuesday of last week before winning by the same scoreline at Southend United on Saturday in the FA Cup. They then drew 3-3 with Manchester City under 21s in the Checkatrade Trophy on Tuesday before losing on penalties.
Barnsley had the best defence in League One ten days ago but have now conceded nine goals in their last three matches. Coach Andreas Winkler said: “That is far too much. We have to be better. But it is not only the fault of the back four, we always say we need to defend as a team. Defending in our style starts with the strikers. We need to get back to how we defended in the first five or six matches of the season.”
Stendel added: “The focus now is on every player defending better. We can score in any game but, when we defend better, it is easier to win games.”
Barnsley’s 16-match unbeaten home run – which stretched over more than eight months since March – came to an end on Tuesday after they lost to City. They are still unbeaten in 13 league matches at home, including all nine so far this season.
Since Stendel took over in the summer, all four of his league losses have come on the road – at Coventry City in September then in three of their last four away league games at Charlton Athletic, Shrewsbury Town and Sunderland.
Tomorrow’s hosts Wycombe are currently tenth in the table after picking up 20 points from their last ten games while they have won five in a row at home in the league.
Gareth Ainsworth’s Chairboys have had an 11-day break without a match since a 2-1 success at Accrington Stanley, because they are out of both the FA Cup and the Checkatrade Trophy.
Both their senior goalkeepers are injured so they have made emergency loans for QPR’s Matt Ingram and then Birmingham City’s David Stockdale with the latest being Nottingham Forest’s Stephen Henderson who arrived on Tuesday and is expected to make his debut against Barnsley.
Stendel said: “They play a very simple style, but not in a bad way. They defend well and attack directly with fewer passes. We are prepared for them. We have the quality to win if we all stay together.”
Adebayo Akinfenwa, Wycombe’s veteran and physically-imposing striker, is their joint top-scorer with left-back Joe Jacobson on four goals. He missed all of November with injury but could return tomorrow.
Stendel said: “I watched clips of Akinfenwa for the first time in preparation for this game. When he has the ball he is a very good player but we need to make sure he doesn’t get the ball much. That will be a big point for us having a successful game.”
