Although players like Matty Craig must put their egos aside, the slick midfielder’s value to Barnsley is well acknowledged.
Despite having an abundance of talent in the middle of the field, coach Darrell Clarke’s young player on loan from Tottenham Hotspur is very certain to start in centre midfield against Stevenage on Saturday.
Because although Davis Keillor-Dunn’s goal scoring debut and Adam Phillips’ four goal start to the season have garnered the most notice, Craig’s work in the background has been vital. All he wants is to work at the job that best fits him.
“I have been the deepest midfielder most of the time, and I’ll do that if I can ease the forward players’ workloads in front of me and give them permission to go forward and create more opportunities and score goals,” he declares.
“You play the game more to your strengths, and I doubt I could score as many goals as Sam or Adam (Cosgrove, the center-forward for Barnsley).” I enjoy my position.
In order to succeed in this capacity, Clarke needs to possess intellect and game reading skills, which he demonstrated while on loan at Doncaster Rovers in the second half of the previous campaign.
“It was something I looked at during the summer,” he explains. “With Luca Connell, Herbie Kane, and Adam Phillips, I felt like we were a little open in the middle of the pitch during the games last season. Although we seem to counter a lot in the middle of the pitch when we give loose balls away, this is a really solid field three. However, I felt that it lacked a little bit of balance.
“Matty Craig simply provides me with a distinct kind of player.” Since he’s still a young man and has performed admirably, I take care not to place too much pressure on him.”
Furthermore, Craig’s role involves much more than just winning the ball and passing it to another player.
“For me the modern-day six (holding midfielder) has to do it all, he has be able to use the ball and defend,” Clarke stated. “He has to be defensively-minded in the right position in the right time to cut out the transitions and cut out the counter-attacks, I think Matty does that very well.”
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