Crewe v Barnsley: Reds must deal with physical challenges

The side relegated from the Championship last season has yet to muster a goal or a positive result from a home league game with Crawley Town and a Capital One Cup tie at Oakwell against today’s opponents.

Barnsley head to Gresty Road this afternoon for their second appointment of the League One season with their lack of physical strength one of the growing concerns surrounding a new-look Reds squad.

“We’re working towards getting better and stronger as we go along,” said Wilson, who since succeeding David Flitcroft in December, has overseen just six wins for the Oakwell club.

“The longer we play together, the more understanding we have, the better we’ll be.

“We have got some technically very good players, but the other side of the game they can do just as well.

“We have to work on the basis that it will be a physical game against us and we have to make sure that when we’re out of possession we are tough opponents and are very clued into what we need to do defensively.

“It’s not how other teams play against us, it’s how we allow them to play, and we’ve got to stop them from playing and be difficult to break down.”

Wilson is looking to recruit players who bring that physicality in the remaining two weeks of the transfer window.

He said: “Yes, there are one or two additions we’d like to bring in but, from what we have at this moment in time, we have got that ability. We have also got players who could come into the team who can add that steel.

“You have to deal with the physicality in this league, so it’s no surprise that we’re looking for someone of that ilk.”