Heading into our Sky Bet Championship clash with Cardiff City on Wednesday evening, Valérien Ismaël believes Barnsley are better equipped to deal with the Bluebirds than they were back in November.
The Reds were beaten 3-0 in South Wales, but our Head Coach is confident that his side have adapted to his principles and are capable of achieving a positive result this time around.
“We have to distinguish the two performances,” he asserted. “If you look at the starting 11 against Cardiff last time and the starting 11 against Norwich, it is a completely different team with a completely different mindset now.
“We are very happy at the moment – we are unhappy with the results and points. But it was very important for us to win against Norwich to make the next step and now with the performance and confidence it’s all about getting the result and points, and this is our motivation.”
Cardiff head to South Yorkshire in dreadful form having lost their last six games in all competitions. They have since parted company with Neil Harris and appointed Barnsley legend Mick McCarthy as manager, who will be hoping to get one over on the side he spent six years with as a player.
However, Ismaël insists that Barnsley will be prepared for any eventuality when the Bluebirds visit Oakwell.
“It will be a fight; it will be about the set-pieces and it will be about the second balls,” continued our Head Coach. “It will be about the desire to win the duels and win the game, so we have to prepare the guys.
“It will be a completely different game than against Norwich but we have shown in the past that we can compete at this level, we are more adaptable and we will be ready for the fight.
“We are on the right way after Norwich. We created a lot of chances and found a way to work with the guys to put pressure on the box and to create more chances to score more goals.”
You can watch Valérien’s press conference on iFollow Barnsley.
