Ashley Barnes

[The Wizard]

I think its now time to get rid of Muzza. Barnes has the far better attitude and is much younger. Cash in on Murray, sign Barnes and another quality striker or two imo. If we are planning on promotion next season we CANNOT have a liability up front. 10 yellows and 2 red cards is appalling , totally unacceptable, but people will still stick up for him. When Murray wants to be good, he is unplayable, unfortunately, he acts like a petulant schoolboy / like he doesn't care far to often for my liking and I'm sure Gus agrees that its not on.

I wouldn't mind keeping both though if Murray can sort his discipline out.

 

[Brighton Breezy]

Without Glenn Murray we would have been relegated last season and probably be in the shit this season.

 

[The French Mistress]

I think Murray is one of our best players.

I think Barnes has done well - particularly as he has operated as a lone striker when he clearly prefers playing off someone - but I have to say I would not expect us to be challenging next season if he is our main striker.

If we could get him free or cheapo then by all means he would be useful squad player.

But lets not go over the top here. He has scored a couple of lovely goals, one which hit him and another which the goalie should have saved. Looked bright as a button at times, but annonymous at others.

Brighton fans love a ruddy bandwagon almost as much as they love a witch hunt.

Not forgetting your man will be suspended for the first 2 games next season!

 

[Brighton Breezy]

Virgo has been sent off twice as well this season. No witch hunt there though...

I would counter the red card argument with the 31 goals in 76 games argument. In a struggling team.

 

[S'hampton Seagull]

Virgo has been sent off twice as well this season. No witch hunt there though...

I would counter the red card argument with the 31 goals in 76 games argument. In a struggling team.

I don't really think there is a witch hunt against either player. It may end up costing them their first team places and possibly future career with the Albion though.

 

[The Wizard]

Virgo has been sent off twice as well this season. No witch hunt there though...

I would counter the red card argument with the 31 goals in 76 games argument. In a struggling team.

Virgo is a defender who gets cards for tackles. Murray is a STRIKER who has 10 yellow cards and 2 red cards, most if not all of those have been for petulant kicking the ball away, hand balls, violent conduct ect. Sorry but that is not acceptable.
His attitude, although it may sound crazy, reminds me a bit of Ronnie O'Sullivan, everyone knows he has the talent and when things are going right he is superb and almost unplayable, but when things don't go his way he gets frustrated and acts childish. Don't get me wrong I appreciate Murray's goals and his attributes as a player but the fact he is a striker and gets that many bookings/red cards is despicable.

 

[Brighton Breezy]

Kevin Davies gives away more fouls than any other Premier League player. I dare say he gets booked a lot as well.

I take the point that Murray needs to change his attitude, but then again I think that petulance is part of what makes him such a good player. Take away that swagger, hard-done by, arrogance and you nulify his ability.

 

[Jim D]

Virgo has been sent off twice as well this season. No witch hunt there though....

Not quite right - many posters on here are suggesting that Virgo is released in June. He's already lost his place in the team and his wages, coupled with his disciplinary record, are now working against him.

 

[BensGrandad]

The witch hunt against Glen Murray started witha few 'children' getting upset because he didnt wave to them at Brentford and has continued throughout the season and people are now looking for an excuse to have a pop at him. Lets leave Gus to sort out any disciplinary problems or attitudes that he may have and look forward to him scoring 20+ goals for us next season to help us get promotion. Yes sign Barnes as support/back up if he is available at the right price but dont rely on him to score sufficient goals for us to be promoted.

 

[bhaexpress]

As a striker Murray has the 'pleasure' of a lot of snide fouls which I would say cause provocation.

 

[bhaexpress]

The witch hunt against Glen Murray started witha few 'children' getting upset because he didnt wave to them at Brentford and has continued throughout the season and people are now looking for an excuse to have a pop at him. Lets leave Gus to sort out any disciplinary problems or attitudes that he may have and look forward to him scoring 20+ goals for us next season to help us get promotion. Yes sign Barnes as support/back up if he is available at the right price but dont rely on him to score sufficient goals for us to be promoted.

 

[Simster]

The witch hunt against Glen Murray started witha few 'children' getting upset because he didnt wave to them at Brentford and has continued throughout the season and people are now looking for an excuse to have a pop at him. Lets leave Gus to sort out any disciplinary problems or attitudes that he may have and look forward to him scoring 20+ goals for us next season to help us get promotion. Yes sign Barnes as support/back up if he is available at the right price but dont rely on him to score sufficient goals for us to be promoted.

Wise words. The GM witch hunt is really f***ing pathetic as he is a class player. He's going to be a class act for us next season.

 

[Blackadder]

Virgo is a defender who gets cards for tackles. Murray is a STRIKER who has 10 yellow cards and 2 red cards, most if not all of those have been for petulant kicking the ball away, hand balls, violent conduct ect. Sorry but that is not acceptable.
His attitude, although it may sound crazy, reminds me a bit of Ronnie O'Sullivan, everyone knows he has the talent and when things are going right he is superb and almost unplayable, but when things don't go his way he gets frustrated and acts childish. Don't get me wrong I appreciate Murray's goals and his attributes as a player but the fact he is a striker and gets that many bookings/red cards is despicable.

I think you have summed up GM well there. He does annoy with his needless bookings. HOWEVER, I still want to keep him AND Barnes next season.

 

[The Wizard]

What a surprise, the old 'its a witch hunt' comes out again. For what its worth I don't believe there is a witch hunt but if there was, as you say, Glenn doesn't exactly help himself does he. Look at my posts on Glenn in the past, I think he is a GREAT player when he wants to be, this isn't very often though as most of the time he is acting like a schoolboy. If he can sort that out for next season then I hope we keep him, if not then I think it will be a better idea to get rid as if we are serious about promotion then we can't afford to have a striker who is going to miss loads of games through silly suspensions.

I think I'm babbelling on in this thread anyway and I'm wasting my time because for some people, they would defend Muzza if he shagged their sainted mother.

 

[BensGrandad]

Thank you I've never had 2 people agree with me before

 

[Harold]

Why do we need to compare them? We've got them both, so it's not really a case of one or the other.

Actually we don't have them both in the true sense.

The comparison stems from the man we do have (Muzza - high fee, high expectation, clearly able but frustrating) rated against the man we don't have (Barnes - on loan, low expectation but high return).

The comparison merely supports the thread discussion, i.e. is Barnes worth a permanent move?

You're right though in that it doesn't necessarily follow that it's one or the other.

 

[Brighton Breezy]

I agree with you BG.

Wziard, you say he isn't a great player very often? I think his goals record would suggest otherwise.

There were times at the start of last season we he was almost single-handedly carrying us through games.

 

[Withdean Wanderer]

Just as well Ferguson didn't sell ERIC CANTONA when he got sent off twice in two games once

 

[mccraque]

It amazes me the short memories that people have.

OK...so that may be an element of his game that Murray can improve on, but his goal record speaks for itself. He's a great player, seems to be settling now (according to reports) and, as mentioned, has carried us through the last couple of seasons with regards to his tally.

He's also fended off competition from Forster, Dickinson, Davies and a few others to hold down his slot in the 4-5-1. So Gus rates him

 

[The Wizard]

I agree with you BG.

Wziard, you say he isn't a great player very often? I think his goals record would suggest otherwise.

There were times at the start of last season we he was almost single-handedly carrying us through games.

I wouldn't define anyone in league one as a GREAT player, I think he is one of the best in league one when he wants to be. As I said, its a shame he has serious attitude/Discipline problems but if he didn't he would probably be playing at a higher level. I think we have seen so far as well that Poyet hates players who have attitude problems ect so I'm not sure Murray will be here next season.