Ross Barkley

[Vive_La_Villa]

I was so happy when we signed him. I was even happier after the first 4 games.  Was gutted when he got injured. Delighted when he returned. Patient while he got back to fitness. I’m now at the stage I want him nowhere near the team so we aren’t playing with 10 men!!  
 

I know a lot of fans wanted this several games ago and I understand why. Brighton was the final straw for me. Leicester just confirmed how much he is hindering the team. 

Edited February 23, 2021 by Vive_La_Villa

[The Hawk]

27 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

I was so happy when we signed him. I was even happier after the first 4 games.  Was gutted when he got injured. Delighted when he returned. Patient while he got back to fitness. I’m now at the stage I want him nowhere near the team so we aren’t playing with 10 men!!  
 

I know a lot of fans wanted this several games ago and I understand why. Brighton was the final straw for me. Leicester just confirmed how much he is hindering the team. 

We’ve had the exact same journey my friend.

[birdman]

3 hours ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Bet we all gave you a load of shite for that original post as well at the time haha.

Personally, I hope it's not long before I get to do the " I've been a huge critic, but my god he was outstanding tonight " post.

Then quietly delete all the other ones if the form continues.

Not holding my breath though.

It doesn't look like he's enjoying his football at the moment and that's not gonna help him get out of this rut. I genuinely hope he turns up for Leeds though and shuts us all up. It's not all on him of course as the entire midfield have had a bad drop in form, but he is the most experienced one so there is a certain expectation on him. I hope Dean can find the right team for Leeds as I'll have to have a social media blackout if we lose this one lol

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

1 hour ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

I was so happy when we signed him. I was even happier after the first 4 games.  Was gutted when he got injured. Delighted when he returned. Patient while he got back to fitness. I’m now at the stage I want him nowhere near the team so we aren’t playing with 10 men!!  
 

I know a lot of fans wanted this several games ago and I understand why. Brighton was the final straw for me. Leicester just confirmed how much he is hindering the team. 

Maybe pre injury Barkley has been kidnapped, locked up and replaced by his evil twin brother.... Barclay ... who we've been hearing so much about.

He was the younger, shite one who was always jealous of Ross for his career in Football. It's got B rated Friday night cable movie written all over it.

Alright i'm out. lol

[Delphinho123]

1 hour ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

I was so happy when we signed him. I was even happier after the first 4 games.  Was gutted when he got injured. Delighted when he returned. Patient while he got back to fitness. I’m now at the stage I want him nowhere near the team so we aren’t playing with 10 men!!  
 

I know a lot of fans wanted this several games ago and I understand why. Brighton was the final straw for me. Leicester just confirmed how much he is hindering the team. 

I’m exactly the same! I thought he might do well against Brighton as he’d had a week to rest and he’d played a few matches before to get his sharpness up. 

He was as bad as ever in that match.

He just has to be dropped. It’s really frustrating because I hate saying anything bad against Smith but when something is so glaringly obvious, it makes me want to criticise him.

[Tomaszk]

He owes Smith big time.

One of the two men is doing his best to revive Ross Barkley's career. No one else seems to care about it.

[Vive_La_Villa]

14 minutes ago, Delphinho123 said:

I’m exactly the same! I thought he might do well against Brighton as he’d had a week to rest and he’d played a few matches before to get his sharpness up. 

He was as bad as ever in that match.

He just has to be dropped. It’s really frustrating because I hate saying anything bad against Smith but when something is so glaringly obvious, it makes me want to criticise him.

I’m the same. Don’t like criticising Smith trust he knows what he is doing as time and time again he has shown that. But he just has to drop him now!

[MNVillan]

On 22/02/2021 at 00:49, Spoony said:

Not sure I completely agree with this analysis because the lad has been around a multi hundred million dollar Chelsea team and looks mostly shit. So if he’s meant to look good around talented players, he rely hasn’t proved that (unless I misunderstood your point). 

Well yes, that’s true. What I’m trying to say is that Ross has never looked good without help from others around him. Which means that you can’t rely on him.

[Thug]

On 22/02/2021 at 20:57, Keyblade said:

I used to think it was tactics, and then I see Ramsey and Sanson pressing properly. Barkley does this thing where he kind of runs into the area he's supposed to be pressing half-heartedly and then backs off when the player passes the ball. It's completely ineffectual.

I’ve seen this too.

he actually ‘does’ the press.  If you watch him, he’ll run up to the player with the ball quickly, and then... stop.  Wave his arms around a little, and actually not do the whole try to steal the ball part.  No pressure on the player whatsoever - who will duly just pick a pass at his leisure.

The real killer is that once the ball has gone past him, he thinks ‘oh well, done my bit.’ And strolls around.

I’ve never seen him slide tackle, hardly ever see him foul, does he even have a booking?

Just no desire to ‘get involved’ at all.

 

 

[villaglint]

I get the pressing is important in the modern day game but we didn’t but Barkley because of his pressing ability. 

If he generally did his job tactically but didn’t “get involved” that much I wouldn’t be bothered IF he was doing what he’s in the team to do which is to contribute going forward, creating chances, getting assists and goals. That’s where he’s disappointing me right now. 

[MrBlack]

35 minutes ago, villaglint said:

I get the pressing is important in the modern day game but we didn’t but Barkley because of his pressing ability. 

If he generally did his job tactically but didn’t “get involved” that much I wouldn’t be bothered IF he was doing what he’s in the team to do which is to contribute going forward, creating chances, getting assists and goals. That’s where he’s disappointing me right now. 

I do agree with this, but also think that there are players out there who can do what Ross does, as well as the "supporting the team" role. And in not talking about world class options out of our reach.

He needs to do what you say, but also for me needs to do more all round. If he was "just" scoring goals regularly, he'd probably get away with it.

Edited February 24, 2021 by MrBlack

[TRO]

Just being Devil's advocate for a minute.

Why are we judging Barkley on his defensive work?.....don't get me wrong, he is pants at everything right now, but we was all talking completely different about him when he come.....we was ecstatic, in the capture, and Dean said he will raise the profile of the whole club, all the players are delighted he is here.....so fast forward to this....there couldn't be a more stark contrast, could there?.....what's gone wrong?

Whoscored have his attributes down as Weaknesses.....Defensive contribution ( Very Weak).....Tackling (Weak)...so what are we expecting?

So my question is?   are we judging him on something he was never good at anyway? Right now imo, he is not doing what he is good at, but I have a nagging feeling he is being clobbered, for eveything that is amiss with us.

 

 

[TRO]

15 hours ago, Tomaszk said:

He owes Smith big time.

One of the two men is doing his best to revive Ross Barkley's career. No one else seems to care about it.

Well he is certainly turning out to be a Jeykll & Hyde.

[Tomaszk]

21 minutes ago, TRO said:

Just being Devil's advocate for a minute.

Why are we judging Barkley on his defensive work?.....don't get me wrong, he is pants at everything right now, but we was all talking completely different about him when he come.....we was ecstatic, in the capture, and Dean said he will raise the profile of the whole club, all the players are delighted he is here.....so fast forward to this....there couldn't be a more stark contrast, could there?.....what's gone wrong?

Whoscored have his attributes down as Weaknesses.....Defensive contribution ( Very Weak).....Tackling (Weak)...so what are we expecting?

So my question is?   are we judging him on something he was never good at anyway? Right now imo, he is not doing what he is good at, but I have a nagging feeling he is being clobbered, for eveything that is amiss with us.

The age of the luxury player is gone. Literally the only top player I can think of that is exempt of defensive duty and doesn't even attempt to track back is Lionel Messi. He's probably good enough to get away with it, Ross Barkley isn't. 

I don't care if you're aren't good at it. I don't care if you don't want to. You put the effort in and help your teammates going forwards and backwards. 

I don't think it's Ollie's job to storm backwards 70 yards past Jack and Ross to left back against Southampton but it needed doing. He's probably not that great at it once he gets there either, I would guess Grealish and Barkley have done more defending in the last 12 months than him.

I don't know if Barkley is actively thinking "not my job, I'm not tracking back", or the game is just playing out and he isn't reacting. The reality is players are running off him, past him, round him and killing us.

Also, the answer to your question is no. He's been garbage on the ball as well recently, so judge him on that if you prefer. He's been incredibly wasteful when given the ball in loads of advanced areas. Either bottling controling the ball under pressure and flicking it off to no one, or dribbling blindly in no direction into trouble. It's really peeing me off.

Edited February 24, 2021 by Tomaszk

[Indigo]

10 minutes ago, TRO said:

Just being Devil's advocate for a minute.

Why are we judging Barkley on his defensive work?.....don't get me wrong, he is pants at everything right now, but we was all talking completely different about him when he come.....we was ecstatic, in the capture, and Dean said he will raise the profile of the whole club, all the players are delighted he is here.....so fast forward to this....there couldn't be a more stark contrast, could there?.....what's gone wrong?

Whoscored have his attributes down as Weaknesses.....Defensive contribution ( Very Weak).....Tackling (Weak)...so what are we expecting?

So my question is?   are we judging him on something he was never good at anyway? Right now imo, he is not doing what he is good at, but I have a nagging feeling he is being clobbered, for eveything that is amiss with us.

 

 

I agree with you but there's levels to it I suppose. My main issue with him right now too is 100% that he isn't performing in the manner you'd expect him to that would even partly make up for what he lacks defensively. He's been slow and ponderous on the ball and has been as much a reason as anyone as to why we've been so poor in possession in recent games, which for me has probably been even more cause for concern than how we're playing off the ball as one feeds into the other and only serves to give the defence more work to do. I thought he did well against Arsenal but that's been sandwiched between some real cumbersome performances either side where he hasn't been ticking at all, and when that's happening it just puts his lack of pressing, tracking runners etc under even more of a microscope.

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

3 hours ago, villaglint said:

I get the pressing is important in the modern day game but we didn’t but Barkley because of his pressing ability. 

If he generally did his job tactically but didn’t “get involved” that much I wouldn’t be bothered IF he was doing what he’s in the team to do which is to contribute going forward, creating chances, getting assists and goals. That’s where he’s disappointing me right now. 

We never bought Ollie for his pressing ability either, but the sight of him sprinting full pelt after a breakaway opposition attacker is a regular occurrence.

A big part of our game is now dependent on everybody working hard.

One player not working as hard as the others throws everything off IMO.

[Thug]

1 hour ago, TRO said:

Just being Devil's advocate for a minute.

Why are we judging Barkley on his defensive work?.....don't get me wrong, he is pants at everything right now, but we was all talking completely different about him when he come.....we was ecstatic, in the capture, and Dean said he will raise the profile of the whole club, all the players are delighted he is here.....so fast forward to this....there couldn't be a more stark contrast, could there?.....what's gone wrong?

Whoscored have his attributes down as Weaknesses.....Defensive contribution ( Very Weak).....Tackling (Weak)...so what are we expecting?

So my question is?   are we judging him on something he was never good at anyway? Right now imo, he is not doing what he is good at, but I have a nagging feeling he is being clobbered, for eveything that is amiss with us.

 

 

Yes.

As I have said multiple times before, he is living off a reputation he’s never really earned.

In 216 appearances in the premier league, he has 28 goals and 28 assists.  Basically a direct goal involvement in ever 3.9 games.  For  someone who does sweet **** all else - that’s pretty poor.  I’m not talking about a dip in form coming back from injury covid drained Ross Barkley.  This is an average over 216 games, and what, 8 years of hype Ross Barkley.

For comparison sakes, Mason Mount has a direct goal involvement every 3.2 games, but offers infinitely more elsewhere.  Jack Grealish 2.8 games, james Madison 2.5 games.  
 

Connor Hourihane - that other guy that sweet **** all else - has an assist or a goal every 3.1 games.  Even the ‘needs 30 shots to score, has no bottle and contributes nothing else’ El-Ghazi has a direct goal involvement every 3.6 games, the vast majority of his games played in a relegation threatened side.

 

So in response to your little devils advocate question - no, he hasn’t earned the right to stroll around like he’s Ronaldinho.

Edit: all above stats are premier league only

Edited February 24, 2021 by Thug

[PaulC]

3 hours ago, villaglint said:

I get the pressing is important in the modern day game but we didn’t but Barkley because of his pressing ability. 

If he generally did his job tactically but didn’t “get involved” that much I wouldn’t be bothered IF he was doing what he’s in the team to do which is to contribute going forward, creating chances, getting assists and goals. That’s where he’s disappointing me right now. 

Good point, if he was in the team creating chances, making things happen, providing that little bit of magic and scoring goals nobody would care about his work rate. I didnt when he scored the winner at Southampton. 

[TRO]

2 hours ago, Tomaszk said:

The age of the luxury player is gone. Literally the only top player I can think of that is exempt of defensive duty and doesn't even attempt to track back is Lionel Messi. He's probably good enough to get away with it, Ross Barkley isn't. 

I don't care if you're aren't good at it. I don't care if you don't want to. You put the effort in and help your teammates going forwards and backwards. 

I don't think it's Ollie's job to storm backwards 70 yards past Jack and Ross to left back against Southampton but it needed doing. He's probably not that great at it once he gets there either, I would guess Grealish and Barkley have done more defending in the last 12 months than him.

I don't know if Barkley is actively thinking "not my job, I'm not tracking back", or the game is just playing out and he isn't reacting. The reality is players are running off him, past him, round him and killing us.

Also, the answer to your question is no. He's been garbage on the ball as well recently, so judge him on that if you prefer. He's been incredibly wasteful when given the ball in loads of advanced areas. Either bottling controling the ball under pressure and flicking it off to no one, or dribbling blindly in no direction into trouble. It's really peeing me off.

I too think workrate is paramount.

So Tom, my question is....

If we drop him and Against Leeds and  I would......will our recent ills, be rectified?

PS Ollie,is just a top man, his tracking back is an add on, he wasn't signed for that, he was signed to score goals.....but he is such a complete player.

[TRO]

51 minutes ago, Thug said:

Yes.

As I have said multiple times before, he is living off a reputation he’s never really earned.

In 216 appearances in the premier league, he has 28 goals and 28 assists.  Basically a direct goal involvement in ever 3.9 games.  For  someone who does sweet **** all else - that’s pretty poor.  I’m not talking about a dip in form coming back from injury covid drained Ross Barkley.  This is an average over 216 games, and what, 8 years of hype Ross Barkley.

For comparison sakes, Mason Mount has a direct goal involvement every 3.2 games, but offers infinitely more elsewhere.  Jack Grealish 2.8 games, james Madison 2.5 games.  
 

Connor Hourihane - that other guy that sweet **** all else - has an assist or a goal every 3.1 games.  Even the ‘needs 30 shots to score, has no bottle and contributes nothing else’ El-Ghazi has a direct goal involvement every 3.6 games, the vast majority of his games played in a relegation threatened side.

 

So in response to your little devils advocate question - no, he hasn’t earned the right to stroll around like he’s Ronaldinho.

Edit: all above stats are premier league only

Interesting...so what we are getting from him now, is no surprise in some quarters.

made our early season adulation of him look a bit silly, doesn't it.