Are we lacking or are we just not at the level yet?

Have your say in where the problems lie for Barnet FC currently

I know everyone has an opinion on how Barnet FC looks at the moment and why shouldn’t we all have one, after all we’re fans, we care about the club, the team, everything about it, or almost everything.

It’s not easy to have watched the lot over the past couple of years with players not good enough, coaches not good enough, the whole club just not good enough. We expected Dean Brennan to bring a whole new ethos to the club but there are some who aren’t believing we’re there yet and should be and again every right to an opinion, fully respectful of that.

Do we think it’s part the way there, not there or getting there? Well, I guess that depends on who you speak to along the way, that’s the beauty of the game opinions, debates etc.

If you think it was all going to be solved this summer and with a fantastic four game opening salvo to start this season then I think personally you’re way off the mark but of course you’re welcome to disagree.

That start might have raised a lot of expectations, winning games, conceding very few but not creating nor scoring enough at the other end as we are now. But that was never going to last if we were honest but since then it seems to have all gone pear-shaped in one form or another.

Conceding too many goals, not winning enough games, Brennan isn’t good enough, Dreyer isn’t good enough, we need a change, they’ve had their time, it’s their players this time and it’s not working.

All the things I’ve heard over the past couple of weeks and a few more. I fully agree we have conceded too many goals, is the set up wrong or does it go beyond that?

We know our intent is to attack and defend very high up the pitch, we are going to get caught on occasions I appreciate that, are the players able to execute that or do we have half a team that can? What you can’t legislate for is individual mistakes and they’re coming thick and fast every game which suggests the players aren’t at the level we need currently, let alone beyond this season.

It will be levelled that these are Brennan’s signings and quite rightly they are, an improvement on most from last year and the year before but not enough to move us to the next level, that’s becoming more evident as the games move on.

So why did he sign them I hear you ask? Well, there’s a budget to fit into isn’t there! We know there are players who took pay cuts to come to Barnet FC, to fit into our budget, there are players here who still need to be moved on, that’s not happening any time soon for most of them.

Those players should have been enough to see us through, and in some games they will be but we’re going to have to bear the brunt in others, it’s the stark reality of the level of players we shop at, we’re above the bottom somewhere near the middle in terms of what we can pay but nowhere near those who didn’t defend five we scored at the weekend.

Can they be coached better? Possibly. Can the system be changed? That depends on Brennan and Dreyer. Many of you I know will say it deserves to be changed, my thought is we will then become too defensive and not have the ability nor power to score enough should we go a goal down, a fine line we’re on not yet being able to do both sides of the game.

The balance of the squad isn’t quite right and those who need to move on might be a painful process to get them gone and the right and even better players to come in.

I’m sure the coaching team were expecting a little more from some and one or two have maybe excelled a little bit better than predicted, this is a bumpy ride and I’m very sure we’re going to get a few more sweary Saturday’s to come before the end of the season.

But I am confident we have enough to be ok this season and then it’s how we push on, how serious the chairman is on getting back to the Football League , when you read the next blog on the Supporters Association minutes to come in the next few days you might think it doesn’t matter if it’s Paul Fairclough, Martin Allen, or Dean Brennan in the hot seat, it’s not an easy ask…………………