Ashley Barnes is off if buying clubs meet asking price...

[Mellotron]

that's the sensible view. Its not universally held though. Read any Greer thread, and there are anumber of posters who will enlighten you about how slow he is, how poor in the air he is, etc, etc, etc.

Those are his flaws. I suppose some just choose to focus on them.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Maybe we should get Billy Paynter back, he was never petulant

I can't believe there are people on here who would rather keep CMS, Hoskyns, Barker and Toby over Barnes. Have they managed to get to a match over the last 3 seasons ?

If (Big IF !) he doesn't want to sign a new contract or we get a ridiculous bid, then business is business, but i can't believe some of the comments on here.

All of that.

Thing with Barnes' aggression, too, is that (channeled properly) its something we actually NEED in the side. We have a squad full of NICE midfielders and forwards, especially before Leo arrived, and a real lack of players who were prepared to get stuck in. Barnes, as the Australians say, has 'a bit of dog in him'. Its broadly a GOOD thing.

 

[mejonaNO12 aka riskit]

Roy Keane
Patrick Vieira
Gennaro Gattuso,
Sergio Busquets

all proof that petulant players bring nothing to their teams....

 

[Icy Gull]

Barnes is the kid at school who bullies the person who takes the ball off him by smashing him up seconds after it's been taking from him. No room for idiots like that.

Show me a Championship player without any aggression in the challenge and you'll find it's probably Ryan Harley

 

[Mellotron]

All of that.

Thing with Barnes' aggression, too, is that (channeled properly) its something we actually NEED in the side. We have a squad full of NICE midfielders and forwards, especially before Leo arrived, and a real lack of players who were prepared to get stuck in. Barnes, as the Australians say, has 'a bit of dog in him'. Its broadly a GOOD thing.

This. We were CRYING OUT for him in the Palace Semi 2nd leg. Palace were all over us in midfield and Orlandi and Lopez didn't look interested. Barnes and a fully fit Crofts is actually what we needed there,

 

[spring hall convert]

He got sent off the same number of times as our captain Gordon Greer, in the time that he's been with the club. I don't see 'hate' posts for Greer anywhere.

I'm not sure it's fair to compare the disciplinary record of a forward & centre back. How many of GG's sendings off have been professional fouls?

Barnes' 2 sending offs last year were completely avoidable. I'm not knocking him, I'm very keen on Ashley but it's an area of his game he needs to sort out.

 

[Marshy]

if we get offered over a million quid he's off, be mad to turn down that money, OG can bring in someone for that easily that fits the bill.

He has a year left on contract, that would be a good offer

 

[Mellotron]

if we get offered over a million quid he's off, be mad to turn down that money, OG can bring in someone for that easily that fits the bill.

He has a year left on contract, that would be a good offer

He can EASILY bring in a young, talented, improving ENGLISH striker with a ratio of about 1 in 2 when playing upfront?!

I'll have some of whatever you're on.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

I'm not sure it's fair to compare the disciplinary record of a forward & centre back. How many of GG's sendings off have been professional fouls?

Barnes' 2 sending offs last year were completely avoidable. I'm not knocking him, I'm very keen on Ashley but it's an area of his game he needs to sort out.

Greers were actually both for off the ball elbows, as it goes. But carry on...

 

[8ace]

Read any Greer thread, and there are anumber of posters who will enlighten you about how slow he is, how poor in the air he is, etc, etc, etc.

The same posters who are unable to see that El Abd's defending mainly consists of shirt pulling and shoving people in the back.

 

[Rookie]

I'm not sure it's fair to compare the disciplinary record of a forward & centre back. How many of GG's sendings off have been professional fouls?

Barnes' 2 sending offs last year were completely avoidable. I'm not knocking him, I'm very keen on Ashley but it's an area of his game he needs to sort out.

Really? I like Greer (quality captain and leader of the team) but his red cards were ridiculous

 

[hans kraay fan club]

The same posters who are unable to see that El Abd's defending mainly consists of shirt pulling and shoving people in the back.

Yes - those ones.

 

[Mellotron]

Yes - those ones.

Well I rate El Abd ("best defender at the club" - Gus Poyet) AND Gordon Greer, so dunno where that puts me.

There are also those who LUDICROUSLY underrate El Abd, and can't see the humungous improvement in his vision, passing, intelligence, positioning. He's always been a superb headerer of the ball, that hasn't really changed.

 

[somerset]

The same posters who are unable to see that El Abd's defending mainly consists of shirt pulling and shoving people in the back.

I think most see this in his game, but at least when he gets the ball at his feet he makes every effort to pass to someone in his own team, unlike Dunk who simply hoofs it as far as he can.

 

[spring hall convert]

Greers were actually both for off the ball elbows, as it goes. But carry on...

Ok GG, is in the naughty corner as well.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

I think most see this in his game, but at least when he gets the ball at his feet he makes every effort to pass to someone in his own team, unlike Dunk who simply hoofs it as far as he can.

Utter, utter nonsense.

you are Bensgrandad, and I claim my £5.

 

[Betfair Bozo]

The same posters who are unable to see that El Abd's defending mainly consists of shirt pulling and shoving people in the back.

Cannavaro made a fair living doing just that!

 

[Betfair Bozo]

I think we are pretty well off central defensively at present. No problem with Upson, Greer or El Abd personally and one hopes that with the weight of the off the field stuff off his shoulders Dunk can resume his progress. He clearly has (had) the potential to become very good.

 

[Simster]

Well I rate El Abd ("best defender at the club" - Gus Poyet) AND Gordon Greer, so dunno where that puts me.

There are also those who LUDICROUSLY underrate El Abd, and can't see the humungous improvement in his vision, passing, intelligence, positioning. He's always been a superb headerer of the ball, that hasn't really changed.

El Abd improved immeasurably under Poyet. In fact, he represents everything Poyet did for this club. AEA had been a total liability under Adams and yet within 3 games Poyet labelled him the best defender at the club - to the total bemusement of most of our fans. It turned out he was right, but although he continued to improve, he is not quite good enough to be a first choice centre half for a team with ambitions of promotion to the Premiership. That's why Greer was brought in, and why I think Poyet hoped Dunk would make it (and gave him every chance). Personally I don't think there is all that much between 3 of our 4 centre backs, but Upson and Greer deserve to be considered the first choice pairing. I'm VERY happy to have El Abd and Greer as back up though, as both slot in to do a decent job when called upon.

If only we'd had this sort of seamless ability to slot in by the covering squad players in the attacking third of the field, we'd have been promoted by February.

 

[Mellotron]

El Abd improved immeasurably under Poyet. In fact, he represents everything Poyet did for this club. AEA had been a total liability under Adams and yet within 3 games Poyet labelled him the best defender at the club - to the total bemusement of most of our fans. It turned out he was right, but although he continued to improve, he is not quite good enough to be a first choice centre half for a team with ambitions of promotion to the Premiership. That's why Greer was brought in, and why I think Poyet hoped Dunk would make it (and gave him every chance). Personally I don't think there is all that much between 3 of our 4 centre backs, but Upson and Greer deserve to be considered the first choice pairing. I'm VERY happy to have El Abd and Greer as back up though, as both slot in to do a decent job when called upon.

If only we'd had this sort of seamless ability to slot in by the covering squad players in the attacking third of the field, we'd have been promoted by February.

I think the problem with that is that Greer and Dunk are too similar. Dunk is basically a worse version of Greer at current. I think it's good to have a balance, a ball player and a workhorse, a JT and a Rio if you will.