Poya Asbaghi says Barnsley can help him as much as he can help them

It has been two years in the making, but Poya Asbaghi thinks he and Barnsley are made for each other.
NEW COACH: Poya Asbaghi started his new job at Oakwell on MondayNEW COACH: Poya Asbaghi started his new job at Oakwell on Monday
NEW COACH: Poya Asbaghi started his new job at Oakwell on Monday

The Iranian-born Swede was interviewed for the job in 2019, but they kept him in mind and when Markus Schopp was sacked in October, they went back to him.

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Poya Asbaghi's Barnsley priorities revolve around formations, fitness and form

The 36-year-old is a young head coach at a young club, and he thinks they can do good things for one another."Always before I take on new adventures, new challenges, the first question I ask myself is will this job develop me as a coach?" said the former Sweden Under-21s and Gothenburg coach.

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"If the answer is yes, I know it's a job to take. When considering Barnsley, there were a lot of aspects I felt could develop me as a coach in terms of how the club works, how they think about football, how they work with young players.

"At the same time, when looking at Barnsley and the challenges the club had, I felt as much as the club can develop me, hopefully I can develop the team.

"There's no secret that it's a challenging situation. We've lost nine of the last 10 games, we have one victory in the last 16, and what can happen to a young squad in this situation is your confidence is not the highest.

"What I hope me together with the rest of the staff can bring is good clarity in what we need to do on the training pitch and good gameplans so the roles are more clear and hopefully with that you feel more confident in what to do.

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"Just as much as your confidence can sometimes get lower when you don't get the performances you want, you can just as much gain confidence pretty fast as a young player if you succeed."

Asbaghi starts with a home game, against Swansea City on Wednesday. He will be without Aapo Halme and has doubts over Liam Kitching and Claudio Gomes for his first game in charge of Barnsley.

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