Ashley Barnes isn't nearly good enough for us.

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Can we not just close this thread down now?

Of course not. It's not the NSC way

 

[JBizzle]

OKay cowards a bit harsh, but yer completey lacks bottle. You have to be a top top striker to be able to get away with it. He could in my opinion, and I am being completely serious here, be pushing Peter Ward record if he didnt pull out of things and generally avoid taking a clump, which you need to do if your a striker. He's got away with it, because hes playing in a side that is creating so many chnaces, he still scoring, but for me, he should be up pushing 30 by now. Bollocks about his age, you dont gain bottle with age.

THat might sound mad, but at this level he can get away with it. When the going gets tough like it will next season, and the chances dry up, and we are no longer playing teams of the park, he wont be able to get away with it like he does now, and you wait and see the grief he gets on here then! A very very lucky player, who should be something special, but in my opinion never will be. I really hope he becomes a top player, or course I do, but dont think he will. Last post for tonight, but rest assured I'll be back to say more later!!

Drogba was piss weak and shite until he was 26 as well as being a complete non-entity. People change and I think footballers "harden" as they get on. He's 21 and is still raw but in his first full season he's got 14 goals and a couple of assists. It also worth mentioning that he held off two defenders for one of his goals, finished clinically for both and set up the first. I think a certain amount of bottle was needed when he scored the second so soon after the equaliser

 

[Super Steve Earle]

Funny how some of the fans started chanting 'He shot, he scored, he must be Ashley Barnes' today.

 

[Icy Gull]

Johnny Byrne rates him, that's good enough for me

 

[mona]

As good as Teddy Sheringham was at that age!

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

Couple of people slating Ashley in B block yesterday, of course within 2 minutes he'd scored.

Generally the level of criticism on this site and in the ground is completely unjustified and probably from 'fans' who know very little about the game. It does seem that our 'fans' love to find a scapegoat that they can latch on to and vent their frustrations. Casper gets flack, Adam El Abd used to as well, just completely hacks me off.....

 

[Mackenzie]

Just seen his Carlisle goals. Top class.

 

[Guy Fawkes]

Couple of people slating Ashley in B block yesterday, of course within 2 minutes he'd scored.

Generally the level of criticism on this site and in the ground is completely unjustified and probably from 'fans' who know very little about the game. It does seem that our 'fans' love to find a scapegoat that they can latch on to and vent their frustrations. Casper gets flack, Adam El Abd used to as well, just completely hacks me off.....

You get idiots like that all round the ground, a couple of them near me were calling for Barnes to be subbed because he was 'useless' and within a minute he'd scored his first. They then had a good old moan about Noone being taken off and when Carlisle then scored, started shouting at Gus that he didn't know what he was doing and that decision to change to 4-3-3 had cost us the match.

No matter how ever many times their rants prove to be unjustified and just completely wrong, they still do it week in, week out.

My guess is that it is either due to high anxiety levels or that because they have watched a fair number of games and seen experts give their analysis on TV, they themselves have suddenly become top notch experts who know everything to do with the game and tactics are are obviously better qualified than the manager to manage the side and would know things including players fitness levels, how well they have been training, etc, from just watching from the stands and reading stuff written about the Albion on various sources

 

[Stevie Boy]

he took his goals well today, why people are moaning about him, he is 21 for fucks sake, plenty of time to get better

 

[Sheebo]

Couple of people slating Ashley in B block yesterday, of course within 2 minutes he'd scored.

Generally the level of criticism on this site and in the ground is completely unjustified and probably from 'fans' who know very little about the game. It does seem that our 'fans' love to find a scapegoat that they can latch on to and vent their frustrations. Casper gets flack, Adam El Abd used to as well, just completely hacks me off.....

You get idiots like that all round the ground, a couple of them near me were calling for Barnes to be subbed because he was 'useless' and within a minute he'd scored his first. They then had a good old moan about Noone being taken off and when Carlisle then scored, started shouting at Gus that he didn't know what he was doing and that decision to change to 4-3-3 had cost us the match.

No matter how ever many times their rants prove to be unjustified and just completely wrong, they still do it week in, week out.

My guess is that it is either due to high anxiety levels or that because they have watched a fair number of games and seen experts give their analysis on TV, they themselves have suddenly become top notch experts who know everything to do with the game and tactics are are obviously better qualified than the manager to manage the side and would know things including players fitness levels, how well they have been training, etc, from just watching from the stands and reading stuff written about the Albion on various sources

Utter clueless idiots and yes they clearly know f*** all about football. Next time tell em to pipe down!

 

[portslade seagull]

People were slating both him and Murray at the start of the season but without both we would be mid-table at best ... Barnes can only get better Murray is the best striker we have. When he went off yesterday nothing stuck upfront and we were on the backfoot

 

[Edgefield]

Ashley Barnes is a football intelligence test unsurprisingly a lot of NSC members fail it. Why the anger and the continual threads about him...

If you do fantasy football where assists and goals get you points of all strikers in league one - who, or how many are likely to score more points than him this season - not many, if any.

Hes 21 why the obsession its because despite getting a lot of goals in games when it matters he has missed a load of chances, but he spends most of his time supporting our strikers to be there to miss them is an amazing gift - and hes 21!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[CAPTAIN GREALISH]

murray missed 2 or 3 chances yesterday yet no one gets on his back?

 

[Spider]

Ashley Barnes is a football intelligence test unsurprisingly a lot of NSC members fail it. Why the anger and the continual threads about him...

To be fair, are there loads of people moaning about him? All I see is people imagining constant moaning to allow themselves to take the superior view of "oh, we have faith in him" etc. and lots of people saying exactly the same thing.

 

[One Legged Striker]

Don't mind admitting i have been one of Ashley's critics this season, but yesterday I thought he played very well, looked to link up with the team a lot better, and take his chances very well. I know at his age we will still c inconsistancy thats only natural, but for me yesterday he was outstanding.

Well done Ashley

 

[Acker79]

To be fair, are there loads of people moaning about him? All I see is people imagining constant moaning to allow themselves to take the superior view of "oh, we have faith in him" etc. and lots of people saying exactly the same thing.

Ashley Barnes isn't nearly good enough for us..
Barnes or Sandaza
Ashley Barnes - what's the point?
Barnes: Couldnt score in a Brothel?
baz, bati, barnes, hart, bridcutt................
Ashley Barnes - Was it a dive?
Could barnes finish his dinner?
Ashley Barnes
Is Barnes a dud or will he come good?

 

[garethlewes]

This, how can someone who has scored a hat-full of goals this season not be good enough. You say he gets easy chances, have you ever played a game of football. You have to be good enough to anticipate that the ball is going to be there to tap in, look at Ruud Van Nistelrooy how many goals has he scored outside an 8 yard circumference of the goal, is he not good enough for the leagues he's played in. I would love to do a test of fans in the different leagues and see who comes out as knowing what the laws of the game are etc, don't criticise when you may have no idea what you are talking about.

It annoys me when a team is drawing and its about the 50th minute and they play it round the back 4 waiting for an opening. Just shows the level knowledge a crowd has when they just want a team to pump it forward, if they did know that playing it round the back shifting the opponents round waiting for gaps to play through then they wouldn't moan all the time. Simple stuff, another one is when the other team has the ball at the back and the crowd want the strikers to run around like headless chickens to close the ball down when that just plays into the hand of the opponent if you take my first example into account.

 

[mcshane in the 79th]

Ashley Barnes isn't nearly good enough for us..
Barnes or Sandaza
Ashley Barnes - what's the point?
Barnes: Couldnt score in a Brothel?
baz, bati, barnes, hart, bridcutt................
Ashley Barnes - Was it a dive?
Could barnes finish his dinner?
Ashley Barnes
Is Barnes a dud or will he come good?

Not forgetting the now sadly deleted classic of "Would anyone notice if Ashley Barnes died on the pitch?"

 

[Easy 10]

Like several others under Gus's wise tutelage, Barnes is just getting better and better. Think he arrives in those onside one-on-ones by accident ? The timing of his movement now surpasses Murray, who is a far more experienced striker. Like any striker, he needs the ball delivered at the right time - and in Greer, he seems to have reached an almost telepathic understanding. Witness his fabulous run to set up Glenns tap-in for the 2nd goal v Hartlepool, and his first against Carlisle. Both times he was released by a pass from Greer, by timing his run to perfection.

He is being coached very, very well. And we are seeing the results.

 

[JBizzle]

Incidentally, I was watching the goals AGAIN this morning (because its a marvellous start to the day) and was still impressed that Barnes played a massive part in three of our four goals.

Sure he has off-games, but saturday clearly was not one.