Following our 2-0 defeat against Coventry City on Sunday afternoon, Valérien Ismaël spoke of his disappointment at the performance that lacked the usual cut and thrust.
Strikes from Dominic Hyam and Matt Godden were enough to see the Sky Blues take all three points at St. Andrew’s on a disappointing trip to the Midlands.
However, our Head Coach was keen to stress that the Reds remain in a strong position to finish the season strongly and secure a play-off place, with four points separating us from Reading in seventh.
“When you play with only 80% or 90%, you can’t pretend to win,” admitted Ismaël. “For sure, we are disappointed with the result; it was a chance to make a big gap but it was not enough and Coventry deserved to win.
“They were disciplined and organised, and we were sloppy in the first half without intensity. We had one shot just before the half-time with one situation and, in the second half, we tried everything, but the feeling was we could play for two hours and never score a goal.
“Some games, it happens like this but it is important to bounce back, just stay focused on the next game against Huddersfield on Wednesday. There are four games left; we are near to the line but not over the line – we’re just focused to bounce back quickly.”
It’s always important to take the positives from a defeat and an encouraging aspect for Barnsley over the course of Ismaël’s tenure has been the ability to react to setbacks.
Our dip in form at the start of January was followed by a return of 30 points from 13 games, which propelled us to this lofty position in the table, and our Head Coach is looking for a response.
“We have to,” insisted the Frenchman. “It’s as simple as that. There’s only four games left; we have to react on Wednesday, we have to come back on the winning way quickly and to do our job.
“Our job is to win the game; it’s all about getting the three points. As long as you win your game, it doesn’t matter what’s going on around you.”
You can watch Valérien’s post-match interview on iFollow Barnsley.
