The Ross Barkley Thread | Page 16 | Vital Football

The Ross Barkley Thread

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Villan57 said:
Our bench could seriously damage the first 11, the alternative to Ross is Hourihane or John McGinn and bring in Marv to play alongside Dougie.
Unless Deano is really brave and trusts Ramsey there really aren't many options to replace Barkley
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And as much as most (including me) agree that Angela would never get up to standard, you have to think that McGinn and Barkley aren't too worried about being replaced if they aren't performing. Seems like it's Hourihane or Ramsey. Neither are going to give McGinn/Barkley sleepless nights... If either get injured for more than a game or two our midfield is in trouble.
 
Leeds was a misguided team performance, not an individual player failure. I'd play the same team, and concentrate on the sort of performance which will get the better of Southampton.
 
Kiwivillan said:
We scored against Liverpool from Barkley free kick and should've done better from similar from him against Leeds. How many goals did we actually score last season from Hourihane free kicks?
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I don't have the figures. I just know when I watch us now and we get a free kick or a corner I don't expect anything to come of it.
 
Thought he got off lightly today, seemed a lazy arsed, casual type of player. Didn't do a fat lot considering he was being talked about as a 40m player a week or so ago.
 
McGinn was our worst midfielder but Barkley was very poor. He had a very clearly defined role in the Liverpool game and made some excellent forward runs and in general supported Watkins well.

Over the past two games he has been stuck in no mans land in terms of his position on the pitch, not clear what his role is supposed to be.
 
sirdennis said:
He has been anonymous the last 2 games.
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I didn’t think he looked match fit against Leeds but I can’t comment on today as I didn’t watch it had to make do with radio.

If you aren’t match fit, at least keep shape and keep goal side. When he is match fit, I think we need to decide what position is his, and if SJM has to change his style to make Barkley work that’s fine with me. Currently, they are both leaving us a bit exposed on the counter.
 
He was virtually the second striker v Liverpool and then after 30 mins v Leicester we swapped him and McGinn around which altered the course of the game .

Personally he doesn't look as effective playing deeper , I think the role he played v Liverpool is his best position.
 
sirdennis said:
He was virtually the second striker v Liverpool and then after 30 mins v Leicester we swapped him and McGinn around which altered the course of the game .

Personally he doesn't look as effective playing deeper , I think the role he played v Liverpool is his best position.
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Barkley is no battler is he may as well play him as a second striker or drop Trez and play him there and bring in Marv along side Luiz
 
We need Barkley either driving through the middle into the final third with the ball or we get the ball down the flanks quickly so that he can make late runs into the box and support the striker.

McGinn needs to become a more defensive workhorse for that to work.
 
Pangloss said:
McGinn was our worst midfielder but Barkley was very poor. He had a very clearly defined role in the Liverpool game and made some excellent forward runs and in general supported Watkins well.

Over the past two games he has been stuck in no mans land in terms of his position on the pitch, not clear what his role is supposed to be.
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Strikes me he's a player who needs a clear role. He's not the only player we've got like that, and who quite often doesn't get that clear role.
 
I said this in the match thread but when this lad goes up the gears you can really see the quality he has. Inspired at times today.
 
I think I said after the Leeds game and again after the Southampton game that Barkley and Grealish need to be playing close together. I don't think they were further than 20 yards from each other at any point during our attacks last night. Beautiful football between the two of them again, especially for goal 3 (I'm still fuming that McGinn's wasn't given and I refuse to forget it).
 
sirdennis said:
I said last week he needs to play where he did v Liverpool which was more or less the second striker and again tonight he looked different class in that position.
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Spot on. Barkley was pretty much false nine with Watkins roaming wide left during attacking play and up front with Watkins pressing in a 4-4-2 during defensive play. It's exactly what I and many of us have been asking for and it worked to perfection.
 
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