Ashley Barnes - Enough is enough......

[bhadeb]

I have seen Barnes goal - I could have scored that!! - if he had missed that he should have given up football forever

 

[Husty]

While I agree this isn't exactly a bragging rights win, I think you're doing a disservice to the tenacity of Crofts and his part in the goal to write it off as a defensive mistake. Crofts gets in and pokes it away from the blackpool players.

It was a defensive mistake that allowed Crofts to get in there though, ball should've been dealt with much earlier.

 

[Tom Bombadil]

Wow, it's frightening to think how thick some people must be.

Everybody was obviously wrong. The DISMAL performance at Leicester and the spastic impression in the first half today must have been totally wrong and we should instead judge him on a deflection off his shins.

What's your opinion on Crofts nowadays?

 

[Titus]

Great response.

In Year 4.

Poyet is a joke / we're going down

 

[Tom Bombadil]

Three or four reasonably good games at the start of the season, a couple of anonymous ones since he returned from injury. We'll see.

I just wondered if you stilll feel he's not good enough for league one.

 

[Westdene Wonder]

I can understand those who feel Barnes requires too many opportunities before he scores however until we obtain a tall goal scorer in January we dont have a decent replacement.

 

[Husty]

I can understand those who feel Barnes requires too many opportunities before he scores however until we obtain a tall goal scorer in January we dont have a decent replacement.

What makes you think that'll happen?

 

[Mackenzie]

Another goal today for Barnes.....take that haters. haha

 

[Ninja Elephant]

Right place at the right time, and he did his defensive shift really well.

I think that we've every right to expect more from him on the ball, for a Championship standard attacking player. It's a debate that will always rage on, but personally I think the attacking players should be good at attacking first and foremost. His strength is his work rate and defensive positioning and I just don't think we really need that, unless we're intent on forever being defensive.

 

[Was not Was]

Right place at the right time, and he did his defensive shift really well.

I think that we've every right to expect more from him on the ball, for a Championship standard attacking player. It's a debate that will always rage on, but personally I think the attacking players should be good at attacking first and foremost. His strength is his work rate and defensive positioning and I just don't think we really need that, unless we're intent on forever being defensive.

Hmmmm, agree that generally he is good defensively. However - that free kick for handball near the end today: in identical situations, both El-Abd and Bridge got much tighter to the player with the ball, which makes it much harder for the ref to give handball if it does strike the defender.

And offensively, Barnes was v poor today, I thought. Usually I defend him, but his passing and running with the ball both suggested he lacks form and/or confidence.

 

[Working class pride]

Bottom line is whether we think CMC and Barnes is a strike force that will take us up. If I was manager I would think they didnt do it last year and about a third into this year, they have not done it this year (just see league position). It doesn't make either of them bad players but week in week out, they are not winning us games. Promotion is aim. But it also sounds like that we are not dominating possession anymore either and that is a worry. Lets see where we are at Christmas and then Gus has to make decisions on players.

 

[JBizzle]

A lot of criticism of Barnes again. If he scores people criticise everything else, if he doesn't score people criticise that.

Its quite sad really.

 

[Phat Baz 68]

I don't think it's just Barnes that isn't good enough at this level though to be fair !!

 

[Ninja Elephant]

Hmmmm, agree that generally he is good defensively. However - that free kick for handball near the end today: in identical situations, both El-Abd and Bridge got much tighter to the player with the ball, which makes it much harder for the ref to give handball if it does strike the defender.

And offensively, Barnes was v poor today, I thought. Usually I defend him, but his passing and running with the ball both suggested he lacks form and/or confidence.

I think you're being a bit harsh there to be fair, he is good defensively but he's not a natural defender so he doesn't have that same defensive ability. I was screaming at my screen telling him to get closer though!

I have nothing against Barnes, at all. But he is the weakest player in our team and his inclusion is largely why we're not getting the results we could be getting. I understand the value he adds to the team defensively, but I genuinely don't think we'd be a weaker team without that work rate and we'd have a lot more attacking impetus. There was a break late in the second half when the ball came to Barnes and he had no idea what to do with it. Buckley was on the right and was the ball, but Barnes played it straight to their defence and they broke on us. On the ball he lacks the creativity to unlock a team and when you play the way we do, we can't afford for our few attacking players to be not be very good in attack.

 

[R. Slicker]

Right place at the right time, and he did his defensive shift really well.

I think that we've every right to expect more from him on the ball, for a Championship standard attacking player. It's a debate that will always rage on, but personally I think the attacking players should be good at attacking first and foremost. His strength is his work rate and defensive positioning and I just don't think we really need that, unless we're intent on forever being defensive.

I believe that this defensive shift is a myth put about because people have realised his attacking is not good enough.

 

[Ninja Elephant]

A lot of criticism of Barnes again. If he scores people criticise everything else, if he doesn't score people criticise that.

Its quite sad really.

It's not sad, did you watch the game? What's your opinion of his performance? Yes, he scored a tap in he knew nothing about from 6 yards out. But that doesn't mean he played well. There's a lot to the game of football and overall his performance wasn't very good. Again. It's not a vendetta, not at all. I don't think his contribution improves the team, and I don't think he has the ability to play at the top end of this league.

It's like Gary Dicker, both been good players for us and both work hard when in the team but ultimately their level of ability just isn't good enough to play at the top end of the Championship. Orlandi and Dobbie are both better players than Barnes and I hope one of them plays ahead of him on friday. If he does play, I'll support him as ever because he works hard and he cares about the team which is the absolute minimum requirement. A lack of talent maybe, but no lack of effort or desire.

I believe that this defensive shift is a myth put about because people have realised his attacking is not good enough.

It's deffinitely not a myth, he works VERY hard. Do you disagree? His attacking isn't good enough in my opinion, but I think it's hard to argue he doesn't put in a good defensive shift.

 

[Titus]

people have realised his attacking is not good enough.

Who scored more than him last season, and the season before?

 

[Rookie]

I believe that this defensive shift is a myth put about because people have realised his attacking is not good enough.

And you would be wrong in that, he does a job for the team by covering their full backs. If he stayed up top all game his attacking input would be alot more