Barnsley can handle pressure of relegation battle

There is little doubt that Barnsley are destined to spend the remaining weeks of 2019-20 scrapping for their life.
Barnsley manager Gerhard Struber.Barnsley manager Gerhard Struber.
Barnsley manager Gerhard Struber.

Second from bottom of the Championship and four points adrift of safety, the Reds are well and truly embroiled in a relegation dog-fight.

Yet, Tykes manager Gerhard Struber believes that his players have what it takes mentally to deal with the strain of the challenge which lies before them.

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Most would have anticipated a season of struggle for the Oakwell club following their promotion from League One last term, thus they are unburdened by the weight of expectation.

The same can probably be said of the other two sides currently mired in the drop zone – Luton Town and Wigan Athletic.

Struber’s belief is backed up by the fact that, seemingly dead and buried less than two weeks ago, Barnsley have gone on to win three games on the spin, the first time they’ve done that in English football’s second tier since 2016.

Similarly, Luton have emerged victorious from three of their last four, while the Latics have secured back-to-back successes.

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Meanwhile, a quartet of clubs – including Huddersfield and Hull City – who were in the Premier League as recently as 2017 and will doubtless have been expected to challenge higher up the table this term, find themselves floundering at the business end.

“Some teams maybe they don’t think that they are near the relegation zone, but it’s very close for many teams right now,” Struber said.

“For us, it is not a new thing to play with this pressure but for other teams I think it is a big pressure. Especially the big clubs in the league who stay very, very close to the bottom.

“This is a big challenge for my team, for me, for my whole staff, to believe in our big goal to stay in the league, but I trust my boys.

“We can stay in this league.”

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