Ashley Barnes for Player of the Season-show a little love

[Super Steve Earle]

I'd hate to lose our top scorer because he feels unloved.
For top scorer also read:
Multiple assist provider.
Centre forward
Creative left midfield/wide player
Defensive cover
Offensive free kick winner
100% penalty scorer

 

[Trigger]

Er, I'd rather give it to one of the outstanding performers to be honest.

 

[albion534]

greer or bridcutt for me

 

[Silkster365]

Barnes will be last on my list

 

[halbpro]

Barnes is really good, but El-Abd has been better for me. Plus I like giving defenders love, they're so often overlooked just because they don't score goals.

 

[Icy Gull]

Too much of the season left to even consider my player of the season yet.

 

[drew]

Multiple Assists! Can you double check to see how many of our players have more than one assist and they too will fall into that category. Barnes is doing a good job in what one assumes is not his preferred position so credit there. If he could just eradicate some of the basic errors such as missed placed passes and be about stronger when on the ball rather than get muscled off by the opposition he could be in the top 3 or 4 but he would have to be exceptional to get ahead of the likes of Buckley, Bridcutt, El Abd.

 

[Ⓩ-Ⓐ-Ⓜ-Ⓞ-Ⓡ-Ⓐ]

Multiple Assists! Can you double check to see how many of our players have more than one assist and they too will fall into that category. Barnes is doing a good job in what one assumes is not his preferred position so credit there. If he could just eradicate some of the basic errors such as missed placed passes and be about stronger when on the ball rather than get muscled off by the opposition he could be in the top 3 or 4 but he would have to be exceptional to get ahead of the likes of Buckley, Bridcutt, El Abd.

HE'S OUR TOP SCORER FFS! Give the guy a break. He put's in a lot of defensive work, can play some neat passes and scores goals. Plus he's only 21 years old and will keep improving. All players can be prone to the odd misplaced pass or bad touch occasionally. Why don't you focus on all the positives to his game.

 

[JBizzle]

I would vote for him but I LOVE Barnes. I think he's a perfect role model for a professional footballer and he makes huge sacrifices to his personal preferences to support the team. For me, he symbolises the "Gus Way" and is a pivotal performer.

Amongst the rest of the team, Greer has had a great season in patches but some curious performances; Bridcutt started well but is a little off the boil at the moment; El-Abd has been our best player since his return but he's only just racking up a consistent run again.

Other than that nobody has been massively consistent but thats not what this team is about. Its about pulling together performances based on a team ethic front to back and, for me, Barnes is the man who stands out in that criteria.

 

[Knotty]

Plus he's only 21 years old and will keep improving.

I am not a critic of Barnes but why do people keep saying this?

There is absoulutely no guarantee whatsoever that he will keep improving. Football is littered with players who were good at a certain age and just didn't 'train on'.

He might improve to be a top Premier League Player, he might stay as he is which, in my opinion, is average Championship/upper League 1 standard, or he might regress to be lower league.

Let's hope it's the first of those!

As for Player of the Year - let's wait for a few more games yet.

 

[CheshireSeagull]

I see where your coming from but Greer for me!

 

[Springal]

If the season ended today it'd be:

Bridcutt
Greer
Barnes
Buckley
El-Abd

for e

 

[weststanduppercheerleader]

I'd hate to lose our top scorer because he feels unloved.
For top scorer also read:
Multiple assist provider.
Centre forward
Creative left midfield/wide player
Defensive cover
Offensive free kick winner
100% penalty scorer

Ash is doing well and you can see that his confidence has increased massively since the few goals he's scored recently. However, as much as I love him, he's not player of the season material; there are at least 4/5 that would come before him. It's Greer or Bridcutt for me, with right now GG just pipping it - he's been solid all season.

 

[Triggaaar]

I'd hate to lose our top scorer because he feels unloved.

Ashley has earned our love, he's great. But asking people to vote him player of the season isn't going to give the desired results, it's a step too far.

 

[ROSM]

I am definitely a Barnes fan. Those who have a moan at him (the vocal minority) are actually becoming figures of fun. I heard some people in the family stand on saturday just after he played someone in say 'bet those whingers will be saying 'get rid' because he didnt score there'.

However I couldnt make a case for him being better than 3rd this year in the players of the season poll because despite being top scorer there are so many OTHER good candidates such as Greer, El-Abd, Buckley and Bridcutt. I would personally have El-Abd and Buckley above him and Bridcutt and Greer just behind.

 

[drew]

HE'S OUR TOP SCORER FFS! Give the guy a break. He put's in a lot of defensive work, can play some neat passes and scores goals. Plus he's only 21 years old and will keep improving. All players can be prone to the odd misplaced pass or bad touch occasionally. Why don't you focus on all the positives to his game.

to you to. Trying to contrive a poll just to give a player a big hug via the internet is a bit poor. If you read my post you will see that I said he is doing a good job. Yes he is top scorer, by way of the fact he has had all our penalties. How many others have assisted more than once thus making them a multiple assister! Also, I would expect every footballer to work on their weaknesses, not just focus on what they do well. So why is it a problem that I just said he needed to work on a couple of things. And finally, why the stupid comment about his age. We know he is 21 but there is nothing that states he will improve. There are plenty of players at that age that don't. The correct comment should be that at 21 he has potential and it is up to him to improve his game, including working on his weaknesses.

If I was AB I would be embarrassed by the list the OP has compiled.

At the end of the day, if we do get promoted to the premiership, AB, along with a few others, won't, on current form, cut it in the premiership. However, using El Abd as an example, if his game improves, who knows how good AB might become. Five years ago there were many who would not believe El Abd would become the player he is. They would have put Virgo head and shoulders above him but look where he is now!

 

[Ⓩ-Ⓐ-Ⓜ-Ⓞ-Ⓡ-Ⓐ]

to you to. Trying to contrive a poll just to give a player a big hug via the internet is a bit poor. If you read my post you will see that I said he is doing a good job. Yes he is top scorer, by way of the fact he has had all our penalties. How many others have assisted more than once thus making them a multiple assister! Also, I would expect every footballer to work on their weaknesses, not just focus on what they do well. So why is it a problem that I just said he needed to work on a couple of things. And finally, why the stupid comment about his age. We know he is 21 but there is nothing that states he will improve. There are plenty of players at that age that don't. The correct comment should be that at 21 he has potential and it is up to him to improve his game, including working on his weaknesses.

If I was AB I would be embarrassed by the list the OP has compiled.

At the end of the day, if we do get promoted to the premiership, AB, along with a few others, won't, on current form, cut it in the premiership. However, using El Abd as an example, if his game improves, who knows how good AB might become. Five years ago there were many who would not believe El Abd would become the player he is. They would have put Virgo head and shoulders above him but look where he is now!

So scoring penalties is a bad thing? How many did we miss last season? Barnes' penalty record is impressive. I think his young age is relevant - he's still learning and improving - not many strikers are at their peak at 21, he's still on an upward trajectory. With regards to AEA he was getting cussed on here at the age of 24/25 like no tomorrow, yet has improved markedly with AGE and now at 27 is heading into his prime. So surely if you can see that AEA has improved with age, experience and coaching then you can see that the fact Barnes is only 21 is entirely relevant as he still has many more years to get better and better.

 

[Mr Burns]

I am not a critic of Barnes but why do people keep saying this?

He's only 21 you know!

 

[Mr Burns]

to you to. Trying to contrive a poll just to give a player a big hug via the internet is a bit poor. If you read my post you will see that I said he is doing a good job. Yes he is top scorer, by way of the fact he has had all our penalties. How many others have assisted more than once thus making them a multiple assister! Also, I would expect every footballer to work on their weaknesses, not just focus on what they do well. So why is it a problem that I just said he needed to work on a couple of things. And finally, why the stupid comment about his age. We know he is 21 but there is nothing that states he will improve. There are plenty of players at that age that don't. The correct comment should be that at 21 he has potential and it is up to him to improve his game, including working on his weaknesses.

If I was AB I would be embarrassed by the list the OP has compiled.

At the end of the day, if we do get promoted to the premiership, AB, along with a few others, won't, on current form, cut it in the premiership. However, using El Abd as an example, if his game improves, who knows how good AB might become. Five years ago there were many who would not believe El Abd would become the player he is. They would have put Virgo head and shoulders above him but look where he is now!

Crickey! I sort of agree with you for a change. Good post.

 

[Mr Burns]

So scoring penalties is a bad thing? How many did we miss last season? Barnes' penalty record is impressive. I think his young age is relevant - he's still learning and improving - not many strikers are at their peak at 21, he's still on an upward trajectory. With regards to AEA he was getting cussed on here at the age of 24/25 like no tomorrow, yet has improved markedly with AGE and now at 27 is heading into his prime. So surely if you can see that AEA has improved with age, experience and coaching then you can see that the fact Barnes is only 21 is entirely relevant as he still has many more years to get better and better.

Very naive. This is one of the top arguments for Barnes. Why do people have to say he may get better. He should be judged on his performances now if he is a starter in the first team, not what he might become.

For every AEA you get a Jake Robinson. Remember him. THe new Wayne Rooney when he was 17, but he did well for a year or two, then never got any better.

I still stand by what I said that AShley Barnes isn't good enough. He has excellent games, Saturday being one of them, but overall his standard is well below that of the rest of the squad, and the fact he is willing to play in a role no one else will or can, and the fact he hasn't got a new contract yet, suggests to me Gus isn't planning long term with him.

In fact I'd loved to be proved wrong, but I can't see a role for him now Vicente seems to be firing up and we have a decent left back. Other than the goals, but whilst I think he was excellent Saturday against Pomey, I thought he was poor against Ipswich, Doncaster and Cardiff and had be been subbed instead of CMS moe would have been slating him.

But on Saturday he played a different role, a more central role behind Poke, and played it well, but, if Lord Gus is no longer playing him in that role covering the left back, then I can't see how Barnes will keep his place ahead of Vicente or Vokes/CMS for that matter.