Barnet are an odd side, last season they were dominating the game against us at Underhill and then we scored against the run of play and ended up winning 5-0. At Sincil Bank they also pushed us all the way, with only a fantastic Frecklington effort separating the sides. However, other than that Barnet had a good season by their standards, they ended Stockport’s record-breaking run without conceding a goal and also ended Hartlepool’s club record unbeaten run. Barnet are certainly not a side to be taken lightly.

Although they don’t have a squad that will set the world alight, they still have one or two very talented individuals. Their most talented player is arguably Jason Puncheon who has been scouted by teams higher up in the Football League, and at just 21 he is set to have a bright future ahead of him. However, Barnet’s biggest transfer of the summer was finally getting rid of Ross Flitney, quite possibly the worst professional goalkeeper that I’ve ever seen in person.....and I saw Massimo Taibi at Man Utd.

Barnet’s main problem is recent years has been consistency. Whilst they often do extremely well against teams higher up in the division, they struggle against those near the bottom. The greatest example of this inconsistency is when they defeated Northampton 4-1 in the FA Cup, before losing 1-0 at struggling Grimsby Town the next week. If they could only be more consistent then they could even prove to be dark horses for the playoffs, unfortunately for them it doesn’t seem very likely.

They also need to seriously improve their away record, just 4 wins on the road last season. Only 4 teams lost as many on the road last season as they did, whereas only 3 teams won fewer on the road. Alternatively they have a great home record, last season only one of team outside of the Top 7 had more home wins than them, and only 6 teams overall secured more home wins than them. They also lost fewer times at home than that Imps did

Overall I think Barnet are a good side in the making but it will still be a few years until they are capable of challenging for promotion, or even a top 10 placing. I think it will say it all about the progress Barnet are making that most of their fans will be disappointed I’m only predicting them for 15th.

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