BARNSLEY are at one of their lowest points in recent decades, at least in terms of the league table, but return to a ground on Monday where they have had some incredible highs.

Few clubs can say they are unbeaten at Anfield since 1959 and, while that is a slightly tongue-in-cheek stat considering they have only played there three times in those 67 years, they were spectacular visits.

The snowy draw with the European champions in 1982, Ashley Ward’s Premier League winner and the remarkable ‘cupset’ 18 years ago are etched in Oakwell folklore.

A win on Monday would be the biggest shock of all – partly because Barnsley are far worse than in 1997 or 2008 but also because the gap between the big fish and minnows is wider than ever.

Liverpool consistently pay more for one player than Barnsley have for all their signings ever while Arne Slot’s squad’s weekly wages are probably broadly comparable to the Reds’ yearly salaries.

The FA Cup has already gone as well as it could realistically have gone for Barnsley this season. They won two games then were rewarded with a superb third round draw at one of the biggest clubs in the world – generating plenty of money and interest.

It is a break from the drudgery of 17th in the third tier and a chance to dream.

The league is the realistic priority this season but for those 90 or so minutes on Monday evening they will share the pitch with the champions of England and give everything to make themselves national news and Reds legends.

At the very least, a competitive performance and ideally a goal would give them something to take back into their faltering league campaign.

There will be a tiny part of everyone of the thousands who journey across the Pennines and the rest who watch on TV thinking ‘could we?’

That will increase if the team they face is more like an under 21s side.

Liverpool played a B team last season and lost at Plymouth who would be relegated into League One months later.

The last two times the Reds played Liverpool away, they were in relegation battles and had just suffered three-goal losses at Southampton in 1997 and Plymouth in 2008.

Conor Hourihane’s Reds drew at Wigan but are on poor form.

Like the Irishman, the last three managers to take a Barnsley team to Anfield – Simon Davey, Danny Wilson and Norman Hunter – were all in their first manager’s jobs.

Barnsley will hope to give a better account of themselves than in last season’s 7-0 loss at Manchester United in the EFL Cup when they gifted their illustrious hosts a series of silly goals.

Hourihane was next to a furious Darrell Clarke in the dugout that night.

This season they were humbled 6-0 in the EFL Cup by Brighton who scored a collection of stunners – the kind of drubbing the gulf in class sometimes leads to.

Since their run to the FA Cup semi-final in 2008, in which they also beat Chelsea as well as Liverpool, the Reds have faced top flight opponents six times in the competition and lost each time.

They were beaten by West Ham, in 2009 and 2011, Swansea in 2012, Manchester City in 2013, Burnley in 2019 and Chelsea in 2021.

Their last win against top flight opponents was against Burnley in 2009 in the EFL Cup, in which they have since lost nine out of nine against Premier League teams – conceding 38 goals.

HOW REDS MIGHT LINE UP

Barnsley’s back four at Anfield could be: Tennai Watson, Mael de Gevigney, Jack Shepherd and Josh Earl.

They all are impressive characters but, collectively and individually, have struggled recently against League One attacks.

They could play Eoghan O’Connell in an attempt to continue a glorious history of players making their debuts in wins at Anfield – see Luke Steele in 2008 and Peter Markstedt in 1997.

Luca Connell – who is from Liverpool and a staunch Everton fan – will be devastated to be suspended for his daft kick at Wigan and miss the chance to captain a team at Anfield.

His absence means Jono Bland will probably come back into the 11 and play in holding midfield alongside one of the former Liverpool academy players at Oakwell – Adam Phillips or Vimal Yoganathan.

Barnsley have some exciting attacking players, especially Reyes Cleary who terrorises third tier defences. If Marc Roberts is injured still, Davis Keillor-Dunn will likely be captain – having been cup-tied at Old Trafford last season.

BLACKPOOL ARGUABLY A BIGGER GAME

The home league game with Blackpool five days after Anfield is arguably a more important fixture for the Reds who could be only clear of the drop zone on goal difference by that point.

The Seasiders are right next to them in the League One table and caused the sackings of the last two head coaches, Neill Collins and Darrell Clarke, by beating their Reds’ teams in embarrassing fashion.

Could they make it a hat-trick and end Conor Hourihane’s time as head coach?

That would surely be harsh but he is certainly under some pressure.

Considering Collins had the Reds fifth in April 2024 and Clarke 11th in March last year, leading Barnsley into a relegation fight would – using only that basic logic – be enough for another sacking.

Hourihane is a very serious man – and a hard-working, driven coach – but he is currently in charge of an un-serious team who make bizarre errors very frequently and throw away points when in control of games.

They have plenty of games in hand and their tally of 29 points from 21 would, if they repeat that ratio until May, give them 64 points and put them in mid-table.

But they have only won three of their last 14 league games, two of which were courtesy of big refereeing mistakes going their way late on against Doncaster and Leyton Orient.

That is after winning five of the first seven, without which they would be well in the relegation zone.

The festive period was the first busy spell of league games in months and looked like a test of where Barnsley would be competing this season.

One point from a possible 12 is a disastrous outcome considering they played two sides who were in the relegation zone at the time.

But this was always likely to be a work-in-progress season under a rookie manager who deserves at least one more transfer window in the role.

It is never clear exactly what the owners will do but it seems as though they believe the team will move away from trouble eventually and they are desperate to back a manager for the long-term and have some stability.

It is unlikely that they would have stuck with Hourihane at the start of a transfer window – or scheduled a fans’ forum with him and chairman Neerav Parekh on Tuesday which could be illuminating and tense in equal measure – if he was on the brink of losing his job.

They have given Hourihane more say in transfers and let him move away from the 3-5-2 system.

That is a double-edged sword because it puts more blame on him when things go wrong but also suggests the owners should give a project they have committed to more time.

Monday February 2 is Hourihane’s 35th birthday and transfer deadline day – possibly a huge one for him and the Reds.

Some poor signings over the years have left him with a squad lacking in quality and depth in various areas.

Of course there will be a cut-off point and, if the current winless run grows significantly and they are in the relegation zone well into the second half of the season, it will be hard to make a case that he should stay on as Barnsley head coach.

He desperately needs to sort out the defending, with Barnsley keeping the fewest clean sheets in the EFL this season – and just two in 31 league games under him – while their tally of 55 goals conceded is on course to smash last season’s 90 which felt like rock bottom at the time.

If they solidify at the back then their attacking quality should push them into mid-table, as long as they increase their depth in that area and keep the stars.

A SAD DECLINE IN FIVE YEARS

Only five years ago, Barnsley were about to launch the remarkable run that would place them fifth in the Championship and see them fall just two wins short of a second top flight season in their history.

Now they are battling to stay away from a fight to avoid dropping into the fourth division – where they have not been since the 1970s.

Both seasons might be outliers – the Reds will expect to move up into at least mid-table this season while the Valerien Ismael era was one of stupendous over-achievement – with the club generally near the bottom of the second tier or top of the third for the last two decades.

But is that changing?

Successive finishing positions of 22nd in the Championship, then fourth in League One, then sixth, 12th and – currently – 17th, paint a clear picture.

Part of that is the classic case of a club dropping a division with players recruited at a higher level and competing well but, after narrowly missing out on promotion, turning into a mid-table outfit as attendances and resources dwindle.

The Reds believe they have some top players for the level, with an exciting new crop coming through, and will be able to make some big money off them in the future and ultimately build back into one of the bigger hitters at the level.

But supporters, who are used to better, may not have the patience or stomach for a rebuild at the bottom of the third tier.

It is a very tight table, with some teams going up or down five or six places in one matchday. For example, the Reds have four games in hand on fourth-placed Huddersfield, who are ten points and 13 places clear of them.

But the idea of them bridging that gap seems far-fetched due to their wild inconsistency and defensive dodginess.

If you take 75 points as the rough total needed for the top six, Barnsley are close to requiring two points per game for the remainder of the season to reach the play-offs.

It would take something similar to ten years ago when Hourihane was captain and they went from the relegation zone at Christmas to play-off victory in May.

But that remarkable rise had already started by mid-January and they had a centre-back partnership of Marc Roberts – then aged 25 not 35 – and Alfie Mawson who would be in the Premier League in months and selected for England within two years.

Their current defence is nowhere near as solid as that side who kept 14 clean sheets from this point until May.

SIGNINGS DESPERATELY NEEDED

No team in the EFL has used fewer players in their league games than Barnsley this season with 21.

That is compared to 37 last season which was the third most in League One.

The Reds squad is far too shallow in many areas, both in terms of quantity and quality – carrying players who are either not trusted by Hourihane or have not yet proven they are League One standard.

Others are good enough but not playing like it consistently, or are up and down because of their age.

O’Connell seems a good signing having helped Wrexham to promotion last year.

They need a couple of forwards to add depth and to keep star men such as Reyes Cleary – already linked with moves -– and Davis Keillor-Dunn.

All of that will be more difficult the lower they sink in the table.

2ND HALF OF SEASON PLAYED IN HALF TIME OF 1ST

With Sunday’s postponed game at bottom club Port Vale set to be rearranged, the Reds will play their final 24 league fixtures of the season between January 24 and May 2.

The second half of the campaign will be played over 95 days, with the first across 175 which is nearly double.

They have plenty of opportunities to collect points and climb the table but the downside is their main players will probably be exhausted by March unless they significantly bolster their squad in January.

From January 27, they play on seven of eight Tuesday nights including long trips to high-flying Cardiff and Stevenage.

There are only five free midweeks remaining this season, and one will be filled by the Port Vale trip, plus other games could be called off in a division of many clubs with no undersoil heating.

There is an international break in late March when – if the Reds get three call-ups as they have throughout the season – they will have to decide whether to play at Northampton without the selected players or postpone another game.

They might just need a breather by then.

Three games were called off in international breaks, one due to the FA Cup run and now this week’s frozen pitch in Staffordshire.

It is fair to ask – and surely will be at next week’s fans’ forum – why some of the games called off in the autumn have not been played by now, alleviating the schedule in the spring.

Barnsley have won just one of their last nine away league games and their next five on the road look very tough.

After Anfield, they visit Reading, Cardiff, Bolton, Stevenage and Huddersfield who are all currently in the top nine and fighting for promotion.

That appears to make their home games absolutely vital, as they host bottom half clubs like Blackpool, Northampton and Wimbledon in the coming weeks.