Keener window-cleaner Posted May 20 Share Posted May 20 7 minutes ago, david-avfc said: He has played central midfield throughout his career, its not exactly a revelatory change in the last few months. I remember watching him stink out the England central midfield in 2019 in that weird Nations League mini-tournament in Portugal and I remember in the stadium explicitly thinking he was by far the worst player on the pitch, he was so slow it was embarrassing to watch.... and that was 5 years ago when he was in his "prime" years. Can't argue against your memories of a game 2019, but I'm fairly confident that he has been regarded and played mostly as AM throughout his career up untill Luton, also in line with the stats on transfermarkt, and previous managers comparing him to Gazza for example. Now it's of course not a big difference and positions change and it's not alway easy to say what is a DM, CM or AM depending on the formation and instructions. My point is that the last time he was here he had the expectaion of being an attacking outlet, together with Grealish expected to create and score goals. He was also played further up the pitch, the most attacking of our midfielders (hence getting stick from among others me for not running back and doing the defensive work properly). This time around - right or wrong - at least I see him as a playmaking CM. I don't think he is that slow, ppl wrongly said the same about Tielemans. On the wing or expecting to make lung bursting runs through the middle as an attacking midfielder - yes he would probably look slow. But in the CM position I don't think that's the case. Wasn't there also a stat on a previous page that he made quite many dribbles this year, you don't do that if you are too slow. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keener window-cleaner Posted May 20 Share Posted May 20 30 minutes ago, VillaChris said: In August hopefully it will be new DM-Luiz-SJM-Tielemans-Buendia-Ramsey-Rogers. Seven for four positions there and indeed it might only be three used if we play 4-2-3-1 as then Diaby comes into play for support striker. No need for Barkley at all unless one of those listed is getting sold.... Dont agree with that, new DM, Luiz and Tielemans are the only ones of those properly suited to the two CM roles (and on a side note I'd say we play more 4-4-2). I would prefer a blockbuster DCM signing to Barkley, but given he would be on a free or thereabout I think it can be a shrewd move. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheStagMan Posted May 20 Share Posted May 20 6 hours ago, Aston_Villan4 said: Agreed. Would love to know Emerys thought process behind this one. I think he got very very drunk at the end of the awards dinner. Like when you wake up with a hangover to find out you bought a car on eBay last night. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted May 20 Share Posted May 20 19 minutes ago, MotoMkali said: And 6 of them are best used as an AM or LM/RM As Barkley is. Luton gave him very little defensive responsibility from what I saw. We won't be doing much next season signing him and playing him deep. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AV82 Posted May 20 Share Posted May 20 5 hours ago, avfc1982am said: I don't care tbh..... Lets bring back all the previous shit signings and loans. I think we've got a brilliant manager however even he couldn't turn Dendoncker into Kamara 2.0 or turn Tim into a player he could trust in Kamara's absence so what is your point? Uhh... Emery didn't decide to sign Dendoncker or Tim? You need to chill out mate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avfc1982am Posted May 20 Share Posted May 20 5 minutes ago, AV82 said: Uhh... Emery didn't decide to sign Dendoncker or Tim? You need to chill out mate. I'm chilled out... Emery didn't sign most the squad so what's your point? And I ain't your mate.....mate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alakagom Posted May 20 Share Posted May 20 19 minutes ago, avfc1982am said: I'm chilled out... Emery didn't sign most the squad so what's your point? And I ain't your mate.....mate 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post leemond2008 Posted May 20 Popular Post Share Posted May 20 1 hour ago, TheStagMan said: I think he got very very drunk at the end of the awards dinner. Like when you wake up with a hangover to find out you bought a car on eBay last night. I remember playing Football Manager drunk, I was second in the Premier League, after a fair few snake bites I woke up the next morning loaded into the game and I was 9th and had signed Emile Heskey 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MotoMkali Posted May 20 Share Posted May 20 1 hour ago, VillaChris said: As Barkley is. Luton gave him very little defensive responsibility from what I saw. We won't be doing much next season signing him and playing him deep. He's much more comfortable playing deeper than all of them but Tielemans. He has size which none of them do for corners. And yeah I agree he's not very good defensively. Absolutely terrible when challenging players who are actively carrying the ball 2nd percentile for success rate among midfielders. But he still does enough to just get in the way, slow players down that you can use numbers to stop an opponent. Having mcginn as a wide midfielder improves our defence, having Tielemans as the CAM improves our defence as well. Cause they do more than their replacements in those positions. So in many ways it could be a case of addition by subtraction, by moving them in to positions where they are positive defenders instead of negative they can compensate for his relative defensive weakness. And look if the choice is between not signing an extra midfielder and signing Barkley im going to say sign Barkley. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted May 20 Share Posted May 20 I just hope it's a case of Emery liked what he saw from him at Luton (as that can surely be the only basis for signing him compared to his other stints in recent times) and feels he has a specific role in mind as we've seen with Tielemans once he eventually broke into the team. So on a free/small fee and reasonable wages he can boost our numbers for a year. If it's a case of signing Barkley and no one else and we're just going to play some of our existing midfielders deeper than I don't think that's going to work out at all. Can't be fudging the DM issue until Kamara gets back, would be a criminal waste of our maiden CL campaign. We simply concede too many goals without him and Barkley isn't correcting that issue. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jas10 Posted May 21 Share Posted May 21 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam2003 Posted May 21 Share Posted May 21 (edited) 2 hours ago, VillaChris said: As Barkley is. Luton gave him very little defensive responsibility from what I saw. We won't be doing much next season signing him and playing him deep. With respect I think you’ve missed a fairly big talking point of the season with this take. Whether you think he’s good or bad, Barkley definitely played most of the year in a much more defensive role for Luton, and did it well enough a lot of people called for him to get back in the England squad. Here’s an extensive BBC interview with him from a few weeks ago about how it came about, how he had been scared to tackle after his injuries (interesting to read given the criticism he got here) but got over it during his time in France, and was now loving playing deep again: https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/68499477.amp “Now aged 30 and with more than 250 Premier League games under his belt, Barkley has found recent success as a deeper-lying midfielder than he once was. This role is similar to one he played in youth football before breaking his leg on England Under-19 duty which led to him becoming an attacking midfielder.” Edited May 21 by Adam2003 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jas10 Posted May 21 Share Posted May 21 (edited) 17 minutes ago, Adam2003 said: With respect I think you’ve missed a fairly big talking point of the season with this take. Whether you think he’s good or bad, Barkley definitely played most of the year in a much more defensive role for Luton, and did it well enough a lot of people called for him to get back in the England squad. Here’s an extensive BBC interview with him from a few weeks ago about how it came about, how he had been scared to tackle after his injuries (interesting to read given the criticism he got here) but got over it during his time in France, and was now loving playing deep again: https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/68499477.amp “Now aged 30 and with more than 250 Premier League games under his belt, Barkley has found recent success as a deeper-lying midfielder than he once was. This role is similar to one he played in youth football before breaking his leg on England Under-19 duty which led to him becoming an attacking midfielder.” That’s really interesting… so he could actually have been restored to his more natural role or style. Must have matured and gained confidence with the different experiences he has had… We won’t be welcoming back the same player… should continue in this vein and help us keep hold of the ball better. I’m pleasantly surprised with his stats around ball recoveries and aerials.. he can help us while providing low cost depth… Allows us to spend more on higher priority signings/positions. No doubt we needed to improve our depth and options. Quote When I was younger, I was more of a holding midfielder, making tackles and similar to how I'm playing now but still taking some risks. "Then once I broke my leg and came back, I had no confidence in tackling or leaving my leg in for challenges. It took me a couple of years because every time I saw someone go in for a 50-50, I thought someone could have broken their leg. "Of course it affected me mentally, so I got moved further forward into more attacking positions because my decision-making when I was younger wasn't as good as it is now. That comes with experience." Edited May 21 by Jas10 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Jas10 Posted May 21 Popular Post Share Posted May 21 (edited) There’s really no greater endorsement than Unai being interested in the player… So many doubts over Rogers and that’s already turned out well… gave us that extra boost and energy, just when we needed it. Tielemans has more than proved himself too. Edited May 21 by Jas10 6 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post GlobalVillan Posted May 21 Popular Post Share Posted May 21 3 hours ago, leemond2008 said: I remember playing Football Manager drunk, I was second in the Premier League, after a fair few snake bites I woke up the next morning loaded into the game and I was 9th and had signed Emile Heskey Martin? Is that you? 4 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LondonLax Posted May 21 Author Share Posted May 21 5 hours ago, leemond2008 said: I remember playing Football Manager drunk, I was second in the Premier League, after a fair few snake bites I woke up the next morning loaded into the game and I was 9th and had signed Emile Heskey MON is that you? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CVByrne Posted May 21 Share Posted May 21 Let's be thinking about this analytically. His change in role has been a success he has higher ball recoveries than any of our CMs. Ball recoveries is about decision making, positioning and anticipation. Also he's 6'2" and has won lots of aerial duels, much higher than our other midfielders. Ross Barkley Stats, Goals, Records, Assists, Cups and more | FBref.com He is very good passer and he's a ball carrier, successful dribbles and take ons. Next is if he's coming on close to free, what salary is he getting. He's on 30k at Luton so if we offer him a 2 year deal on 60k that's a 3m annual cost for us. If we plan to add more pressing t our side next season we need a bigger squad and more versatile midfielders as it saps energy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexicon Posted May 21 Share Posted May 21 The more I think about the transfer, the more it makes sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Dogg Posted May 21 Share Posted May 21 We love a freebie, we're just trying to keep the cost of the entire midfield under £20 mill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foreveryoung Posted May 21 Share Posted May 21 Hopefully Emery can get some consistancy out of him. I mean he was good in squirts for Luton, less so for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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