Ross Barkley

[BleedClaretAndBlue]

Deano is clearly gambling on playing him hoping he plays himself into some form. But its clearly backfired, after 7 games and hardly a decent half hour to pick out from that, its time to cut your losses and try something else. Especially against Leicester and Leeds, theres no way we can afford any passengers in those games. Trez or El Ghazi back in, Jack in the middle. The period Barkley was out coincided with us hitting some very good form with some very good performances.
 

Ross Barkley off the bench is a good option to have with opposition tiring anyway, no need to worry about upsetting him; he’s not our player and never looks happy anyway.

[barry'sboots]

I couldn't believe how bad he played last night, and in the recent period for that matter.  He is a shadow of the player he was in that first Liverpool game and a few subsequent games before he picked up the hamstring.  I'm not sure how Dean managed to justify not hooking him at half time - probably a request by the water bottle man not to upset Ross again!

Given what we are seeing at the minute, there is no way that I would be entertaining the mooted £40m move and I would be instead looking at, say, Buendia or maybe an ambitious move for Draxler (on a free I believe but no doubt with big wages) or Brooks, although I would love to see him play from the right.

[Thug]

3 hours ago, PaulC said:

Hes won us at least 4 points this season. Although I don't think he is performing well, hes not the only one and i dont think he was our worst player yesterday. Maybe second worst. 

By that rationale, el Ghazi has won us at least 15 points.

 

[Zhan_Zhuang]

Ross Barkley undoubtedly has talent but unfortunately not the desire; there were rumours he likes a drink and he's not really invested to be a top athlete. Anyone notice he's huffing and puffing after ten minutes and pouring with sweat, WTF is that all about? Barkley has been ducking challenges ALOT the last few games too which is really annoying me and invites pressure on an already soft midfield.

It is a crossroads period for him, he can rescue his career at Villa if he wants it.

The way it's going though is we'll send him back to Chelsea say thanks but no thanks and he'll be on loan again next season to someone like Newcastle or a newly promoted team. 

His England career is over.

Edited February 14, 2021 by Zhan_Zhuang

[PaulC]

21 minutes ago, Thug said:

By that rationale, el Ghazi has won us at least 15 points.

 

A bit of an exageration.  His goals against Leicester and Southampton were significant. El Ghazi scored a late pen and two against Palace and another couple which were great contributions obviously 

[sharkyvilla]

3 hours ago, AvfcRigo82 said:

Martinez was won us points this season that reach double figures and hardly got a look in at Arsenal, he is now worth atleast £70m+.

The critism with Barkley comes because he has been poor since his return and he hardly makes any effort in games either.

I understand the shouts of 'Just returned from a long injury' 'He's recovering from Covid' 'He's played more than he's trained', but this is now also waring a bit thin.

When you review the stats since he's been a Villa player, it doesn't make for good viewing for this "calibre of player" and not one I would even spend £10m signing.

Any funds that may have been set aside for Barkley should be used in unearthing the midfield equivalent of Martinez instead.

 

Yes I gave him the benefit of the doubt with the injury then training ground being shut down because of covid when he was coming back but he had a whole week training and several games to get match fit.  He looked way below the level needed yesterday and it's up to him to put the effort in to earn a full-time move here.  Teams have been able to double up on Jack because Barkley and to a lesser extent Traore arent contributing much off the ball.

[Thug]

13 minutes ago, PaulC said:

A bit of an exageration.  His goals against Leicester and Southampton were significant. El Ghazi scored a late pen and two against Palace and another couple which were great contributions obviously 

You’re missing the point.

This is a team game.  It’s not an individual game.  It doesn’t matter if RB scores a cracker in the last minute if for the rest of the game he’s doing sweet FA.  
You could argue that having someone else in his position may have meant we had better control over the whole game, and may well have gone on to win by an easier margin.

Since when does the final touch before the ball ends in the net count as the winning contribution? Let’s say Douglas pulls off an amazing last ditch tackle, and plays the ball to Jack, who then runs the entire length of the field, beating 5 men, rounding the keeper and squaring the ball to Ross who taps it in resulting in us winning the game 1-0 in the last minute.  By your logic he just won us 2 points. Wouldn’t matter if for the rest of the game he’d just stood around doing diddly squat.

So when I say ‘by that rationale..’ I mean if I apply your logic.  So YES, it’s an exaggeration to say AEG has won us 15 points, as it was wholly intended to be.

I’ll give you the two points he won us against Leicester.  That was all Barkley. But I’d knock a few points for all the matches where he’s been invisible.

 

[PaulC]

1 hour ago, Thug said:

You’re missing the point.

This is a team game.  It’s not an individual game.  It doesn’t matter if RB scores a cracker in the last minute if for the rest of the game he’s doing sweet FA.  
You could argue that having someone else in his position may have meant we had better control over the whole game, and may well have gone on to win by an easier margin.

Since when does the final touch before the ball ends in the net count as the winning contribution? Let’s say Douglas pulls off an amazing last ditch tackle, and plays the ball to Jack, who then runs the entire length of the field, beating 5 men, rounding the keeper and squaring the ball to Ross who taps it in resulting in us winning the game 1-0 in the last minute.  By your logic he just won us 2 points. Wouldn’t matter if for the rest of the game he’d just stood around doing diddly squat.

So when I say ‘by that rationale..’ I mean if I apply your logic.  So YES, it’s an exaggeration to say AEG has won us 15 points, as it was wholly intended to be.

I’ll give you the two points he won us against Leicester.  That was all Barkley. But I’d knock a few points for all the matches where he’s been invisible.

 

My whole point is he seems to be the one player that is singled out here and that we are far worse with him the team when I don't think that's entirely true.  He was rubbish yesterday and should be dropped but hes not the sole reason for our poor performances. Traore has been a bigger liability imo.

[DCJonah]

Very interesting stat about Watkins goals. 

I would still say that even playing poorly, the opposition still have to think about him because of who he is. 

[TRO]

1 hour ago, PaulC said:

My whole point is he seems to be the one player that is singled out here and that we are far worse with him the team when I don't think that's entirely true.  He was rubbish yesterday and should be dropped but hes not the sole reason for our poor performances. Traore has been a bigger liability imo.

There was 4/5 players not at it......its too many on one night.

[TRO]

1 hour ago, PaulC said:

My whole point is he seems to be the one player that is singled out here and that we are far worse with him the team when I don't think that's entirely true.  He was rubbish yesterday and should be dropped but hes not the sole reason for our poor performances. Traore has been a bigger liability imo.

We have some players with that magic touch......we need a few who can graft in the middle and work for 90 odd minutes.

one player rarely is the problem.....its when you have too many doing the same thing.

 

 

[villa89]

4 hours ago, Zhan_Zhuang said:

Ross Barkley undoubtedly has talent but unfortunately not the desire; there were rumours he likes a drink and he's not really invested to be a top athlete. Anyone notice he's huffing and puffing after ten minutes and pouring with sweat, WTF is that all about? 

1. He hasn't been able to train because of his injury, that's probably why he's sweating like freddie bouma in a sauna. 

2. Not sure where you got the rumours about him being a big drinker and not worried about being an athlete. Dean smith has said that he's been exceptionally professional since he got here, so much so that he can play 6 games in 18 days without being able to train. 

3. If he didnt have the desire I dont think he'd be kicking water bottles when he gets subbed. Mesut ozil doesn't have desire, ross has loads of it. 

Edited February 14, 2021 by villa89

[Zhan_Zhuang]

40 minutes ago, villa89 said:

1. He hasn't been able to train because of his injury, that's probably why he's sweating like freddie bouma in a sauna. 

2. Not sure where you got the rumours about him being a big drinker and not worried about being an athlete. Dean smith has said that he's been exceptionally professional since he got here, so much so that he can play 6 games in 18 days without being able to train. 

3. If he didnt have the desire I dont think he'd be kicking water bottles when he gets subbed. Mesut ozil doesn't have desire, ross has loads of it. 

1. Then he should not be anywhere near the first team. Another passenger, like McGinn.

2. Like I said it was 'rumours'. Smith isn't going to admit anything or tell us about Barkley's drinking habits is he!

3. He's kicking waterbottles because he seems like the 'big I am'.

Opinions yo!

*of course, I do hope I'm wrong and Barkley can fire us up the league.

 

Edited February 14, 2021 by Zhan_Zhuang

[useless]

I think people are going overboard with the criticism of Barkley, he's had a few bad games, but you'd think he'd been rubbish all season going by the reaction to yesterday, it's not as if he hasn't shown any good form for us, for the most part he's been pretty decent with moments of sheer poetry, and I don't think there's any reason to doubt that he won't get back to those levels,  a sort of progression to the mean.

People just low with him at the moment because of focusing too much on a few games after injury, rather than looking at his overall contribution to this wonderful season that we're having.

[Zhan_Zhuang]

I hope indeed that Barkley can find form, it's just hugely frustrating that we cannot find some consistency. But I am aware it takes time.

Consistency will get us into the top six this season for sure, we are so close.

But yes, we are having a wonderful season so far!

Edited February 14, 2021 by Zhan_Zhuang

[Risso]

17 minutes ago, useless said:

I think people are going overboard with the criticism of Barkley, he's had a few bad games, but you'd think he'd been rubbish all season going by the reaction to yesterday, it's not as if he hasn't shown any good form for us, for the most part he's been pretty decent with moments of sheer poetry, and I don't think there's any reason to doubt that he won't get back to those levels,  a sort of progression to the mean.

People just low with him at the moment because of focusing too much on a few games after injury, rather than looking at his overall contribution to this wonderful season that we're having.

He's had three good games for us, been injured for a long spell, and now is taking weeks to get back to any sort of form. Not for me, thanks.

[nepal_villan]

3 hours ago, DCJonah said:

I would still say that even playing poorly, the opposition still have to think about him because of who he is. 

They've been bypassing him and not thinking about him lately.

[MotoMkali]

18 hours ago, PaulC said:

My whole point is he seems to be the one player that is singled out here and that we are far worse with him the team when I don't think that's entirely true.  He was rubbish yesterday and should be dropped but hes not the sole reason for our poor performances. Traore has been a bigger liability imo.

That has made me actually laugh. Barkley is being singled out because he has been our worst performer in every game since he has back. In that period we have been dominated in the middle of the park every game. We can't keep the ball on the floor. We have conceded more goals through this period than any other in the season despite only playing 1 really good team in city. Newcastle dominated possession against us ffs. Edit: I was incorrect, recency bias and all that. They had around 60% from like 60 minutes which taunted my memory. 

 

With him on the pitch we look like a clueless Bruce side where we pass around the back and make stupid decisions around the box but when it actually comes to advancing the ball we have to hoof it.

And traore being the bigger liability. I don't think we have conceded a single goal down the right hand side of the pitch in this run I think they have all come in from players getting free running through the middle. I suppose you could maybe say one of Lingards goals but that was because barkley didn't sprint back properly and didn't try to challenge on the edge of the six yard box. 

Edited February 15, 2021 by MotoMkali

[MotoMkali]

50 minutes ago, useless said:

I think people are going overboard with the criticism of Barkley, he's had a few bad games, but you'd think he'd been rubbish all season going by the reaction to yesterday, it's not as if he hasn't shown any good form for us, for the most part he's been pretty decent with moments of sheer poetry, and I don't think there's any reason to doubt that he won't get back to those levels,  a sort of progression to the mean.

People just low with him at the moment because of focusing too much on a few games after injury, rather than looking at his overall contribution to this wonderful season that we're having.

For me he prevents us playing our best player in his best position. The position where he gets the ball the most where he can influence the game in all facets of play.

He hurts our defence because he doesn't bother to press properly or track back or even make a tackle. He makes less than 0.2 tackles a game (less than 1 every 5 games).

I'm convinced we would be better with 10 men on the pitch because that way we wouldn't have to pass it to barkley so he can lose it with a stupid flick or ruin a good move with his indecision. He takes too long on the ball and can't execute 90% of what he tries. 

[DCJonah]

5 minutes ago, MotoMkali said:

That has made me actually laugh. Barkley is being singled out because he has been our worst performer in every game since he has back. In that period we have been dominated in the middle of the park every game. We can't keep the ball on the floor. We have conceded more goals through this period than any other in the season despite only playing 1 really good team in city. Newcastle dominated possession against us ffs. 

With him on the pitch we look like a clueless Bruce side where we pass around the back and make stupid decisions around the box but when it actually comes to advancing the ball we have to hoof it.

And traore being the bigger liability. I don't think we have conceded a single goal down the right hand side of the pitch in this run I think they have all come in from players getting free running through the middle. I suppose you could maybe say one of Lingards goals but that was because barkley didn't sprint back properly and didn't try to challenge on the edge of the six yard box. 

I mean the bit in bold is quite misleading. We've kept 4 clean sheets