After getting his Barnsley reign off to the perfect start with a 3-0 victory over Queens Park Rangers on Tuesday evening, Valérien Ismaël expressed his delight at the way his side performed.
It appeared as though it would be a tricky first assignment for the Frenchman as the visitors dominated the opening exchanges at Oakwell, but when Rob Dickie was dismissed for a foul on Cauley Woodrow inside the box, the game turned on its head.
“It’s a very good feeling for your first game when you win like this,” began the Reds’ Head Coach, speaking to iFollow Barnsley. “But I have to say, the first 20 minutes, it was a tough game because QPR were good and very aggressive. They put a lot of crosses into the box and applied a lot of pressure, but the guys did their job very well; they were confident and stable.
“After that, it was very good from us; we came into the game and I saw a lot of pattern to our play after two days. The penalty situation was exactly what we wanted and that’s why it was a very good start for us.”
Woodrow, naturally, dispatched the resulting spot-kick and Conor Chaplin added a second before the interval as the hosts looked to make their numerical advantage count.
An own goal from Joann Barbet midway through the second half effectively ended the tie as a contest, but the Reds continued to pile forward at will and should have added a few more to their tally as the evening wore on.
“I’m very happy for the result but we had a lot of possibilities to score more goals,” continued Ismaël. “It’s good if you have the possibility to create a lot of situations and this is the way we want to play football.
“It’s a good feeling that the team has the feeling to know that we can do this – that we can have a lot of possibilities to score goals. Now we have to concentrate on our game; it doesn’t matter which opponent comes, we have to play our game.
“It’s the perfect start, but the next task is on Saturday against Watford.”
You can watch Valérien’s post-match interview on iFollow Barnsley.
