Barnes: Couldnt score in a Brothel?

[Sam Ovett]

Sorry, I meant day one after we signed him, i.e. after watching him about six times last season.

I think off the bench he would be ok. As I said, the one massive thing in is favour is that he clearly has some ability to score goals. I can't for the life of me work out how he does it, but just as I've written him off yet again he always seems to score. However, he's not really bringing a lot else to the team, so when he's not scoring (and 3 in 12 this season is not exactly prolific) he's a bit of a waste. Compare that to, say, Glenn, who has exactly the same record but creates and contributes SO much, and you may see my issue.

So when he dipossesses the opposition midfielders, setting up counter attacking possibilites?

When he holds up the ball, setting up attacking possibilities?

When he scores goals from attacking play?

Absolutely nothing for the team He is one of our best players.

 

[Sam Ovett]

Hmmm...11th best? Disagree with that. I personally think he brings more overall to the game than Dicker, and Kish, but can't really compare him to the defence. A squad of 11 players that are all very good is a great sign for the season, and with Barnes and Murray up front, we can score a lot.

We should be scoring more than we are, but we are not letting any in, and in a results business, we are top

 

[Mr Smggles]

Hmmm...11th best? Disagree with that. I personally think he brings more overall to the game than Dicker, and Kish, but can't really compare him to the defence. A squad of 11 players that are all very good is a great sign for the season, and with Barnes and Murray up front, we can score a lot.

We should be scoring more than we are, but we are not letting any in, and in a results business, we are top

Completely disagree on the dicker and kish side. Dicker is so calm headed and has the ability to get out of a lot of situations, and kish put the best cross into the box yesterday - a certain someone just couldn't finish

 

[Seagulls4life]

He isn't going to score every single chance that is presented to him, easy or not, i'd like to see all of you do better than he is at the moment

 

[Sam Ovett]

Funny how people see it isn't it, because personally I'd say Kishishev is absolutely phenomenal and one of our most important players.

Completely disagree on the dicker and kish side. Dicker is so calm headed and has the ability to get out of a lot of situations, and kish put the best cross into the box yesterday - a certain someone just couldn't finish

Fair enough and I am not saying Dicker and Kishishev are bad at all; on the contrary they are both brilliant players, just in my personal opinion, Barnes gives more. Agree on the Kish cross though, that was good, and Dicker has always been very good on the ball.

 

[Hiney]

Some of the abuse directed at one of our young players who is working his nuts off for the team is, quite honestly, f***ing shameful.

The two main offenders don't really surprise me, as they have a proven track record for this sort of thing. It's about time we as supporters gave the team as much encouragement as possible, rather than hurl abuse at them indiscriminately.

 

[El Presidente]

Sorry, I meant day one after we signed him, i.e. after watching him about six times last season.

I think off the bench he would be ok. As I said, the one massive thing in is favour is that he clearly has some ability to score goals. I can't for the life of me work out how he does it, but just as I've written him off yet again he always seems to score. However, he's not really bringing a lot else to the team, so when he's not scoring (and 3 in 12 this season is not exactly prolific) he's a bit of a waste. Compare that to, say, Glenn, who has exactly the same record but creates and contributes SO much, and you may see my issue.

I think Glenn is currently a far better player, but we don't have the finances to sign anything better than a possibly decent League 1 striker from Plymouth's reserves.

If you look at Glenn's strike rate at the age of 20 it was far worse than Barnes'. Yesterday Barnes had one strike in the first half that was off target, a good shot in the second narrowly wide, along a goal that was disallowed and a chance that he should have done better with. Is he the answer to our desire for a 20 a season striker? Doubt it, but until someone hugely better (and no doubt far more expensive) arrives I'll give him 100% support.

In an ideal world we perhaps could have kept Nicky Forster, but even by Nicky's own admission he tried to force Poyet's hand and ended up out of the club. Nicky hasn't been very prolific this season either.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

When he was 20, he was playing non-league football.

Born 1983

Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
2002–2004 Workington Reds 57 (36)
2004 Wilmington Hammerheads 14 (3)
2004 Barrow 9 (9)
2004–2007 Carlisle United 46 (5)
2006 → Stockport County (loan) 11 (3)
2006–2007 → Rochdale (loan) 12 (4)
2007–2008 Rochdale 42 (21)
2008– Brighton & Hove Albion 85 (34)

 

[Sam Ovett]

Cough, Barnes' scoring record is better than Forsters?

 

[Barnham Seagull]

Nicky Forster is passed it, great player for us but it was only a matter of time before his legs went and his age catched up with him.

I would have loved us to sign a big name up front but we did'nt and probably could not afford what was being asked for. I'm sure once we are at Falmer wages wil be higher and it would be much easier to one attract these players and also have the funds to buy them.

All that said I'm happy to see that we have a player like Barnes who is a good prospect and twice the player of the likes of Robinson etc we have had in the past learning his trade with us and seeing the underlying quality he has.

7 goals in 17 appearences aint that bad.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

I think we were very lucky to get Forster. I'm sure our location certainly helped him make his decision.

Just out of interest, I am a bit stumped, where is another Nicky Forster? I am struggling to think of anyone that might fit into that category.

 

[Sam Ovett]

But Barnes is a better buy. He is 16-17 years younger, has a better scoring ratio at this league and does a hell of a lot. Sure, he doesn't score 100% of his chances, and with the number of chances he creates for himself, if he did put them all away, he would be at effing Barcelona or some such club. He plays in League One, for a team people are surprised are doing this well.

Our win against Swindon was classed as a shock result at the start of the season I believe, so stop whinging.

 

[El Presidente]

But it's not ALL about goals with Glenn, because he's so good at other things. In fact, apart from a total lack of pace, he doesn't really have any weaknesses. I imagine at 20 he was still offering lot more than Barnes does at that age.[/img]

I thought Glenn was immense yesterday, won a lot in the air, wily when dealing with defenders, and held up the ball well as always.

With Barnes, I get the feeling he COULD score goals, but if he's not then he's a bit of a waste of space because he's not really that good at anything else.

Agreed to an extent, he certainly has areas of his game that need attention, but perhaps we should give him time to develop those. Gus certainly sees something in him, and he is a pest to defenders, but not as cunning as Glenn.

I disagree with this point about us not being able to afford better. I'm by no means saying we should spend big money like ludicrous football clubs do, but the fact is we have managed to sign proven strikers for fees on a regular basis in recent years - Forster, Murray, Knight, Dickinson. So this year surely we can't have any LESS to spend can we? By no means did we need a Kevin Phillips or a Ricky Lambert, but another Nicky Foster would have been bloody brilliant.

Dickinson was proof that waving the cheque book around is not necessarily the answer. He's not scored yet this season, but having seen women from Barnsley he probably put his back out trying to carry one over his shoulder. I think we spent the money on Greer, Sparrow and a few others, gambling on Barnes scoring 10-12 and Glenn 15+, which with a defence currently tighter than a gnat's chuff for 89 minutes of most games might be enough to sneak a play-off place, especially if the likes of Lua Lua and Bennett can get onto the scoresheet too.

 

[Scampi]

I think if we're being fair here, he should be in double figures this season bearing in mind how many great chances he has missed. You can't knock him for getting in the right positions, but if he could finish he'd have three times as many goals. As an example of slow thinking, that one yesterday just summed it up. Someone lobbed it over the top to him, he was about eight yards out with noone near him. A clinical striker would have just BANGED it, probably first time or if not then after one very quick touch. But Barnes tried to chest it down, set himself, and then by the time his body had contacted his brain a defender had taken it.

Thats all very nice apart from the fact he had a defender right next to him. Still I notice you failed to answer the original question.