As I remember it (and I could be wrong) Barnes got slated when he played as a left sided midfielder or as a lone striker - neither of which was he very good at.
however he was good at both, as lone striker he had to hold up the ball and provide for others, and as winger he was very decent giving forward momentum when we had posession (rather than the general crab like tendancy), cover on the wing and bite in midfield. he was critised for not getting 20 goals a season because he was a "striker", a few wayward chances missed (that no one else was ever near or would have created) and maybe fairly for some rash challenges.
Bent is a better goal scorer.
I wasn't his biggest fan, but he is better than anything we currently have
another quality player we cast off without realising what part they played in the squad
Bent has spent many years in the Premier League, played for England & his most recent transfer fee was £18 million, ffs.
We let Ash go halfway through a promotion campaign, with an injury decimated squad, to save possibly losing £750 poxy thousand
its not fashionable to slate him, its fashionable to play him. it seems hes been played by everyone and we can all see he's sh1t. with barnes he would actually help the team, score goals and put a shift in. all jfc does is lose the ball, jump away from challenges and waste space. I don't think the hate they get from the fans is comparable in the slightest
Hang on, hang on. Some people are re-writing history here. I was one of the people that did not like Barnes for a while but NOTHING to do with ability. Many people took a dislike to his 2 red cards in the space of a few games, his utter stupidity at trying to kick a ref, diving frequently and moaning at the ref all the time.
Like me, many of the posters who had an annoyance with Barnes had no issues with his ability at all. Many called for him to be sold on following the ridiculous red card at Bolton which followed a red a few games earlier at Shef Weds.
Really?
They were many blinkered posters who said he wouldn't make the step up to the Championship - and were proved wrong. Then he was top scorer here. Then he moved to a Premier League-bound club, and they said he wouldn't get a game and were proved wrong. Then they said he wouldn't do anything in the Premier League, and are being proved wrong.
'Barndoor Barnes' was the puerile nickname.
His petulance was infuriating, but people mistook that as a consideration on his ability and tenacity.
Hang on there! Barnes was always being slagged off [harshly imo]. Buckley was rated but wanted out, and that was when Albion were pushing for promotion!Barnes is thriving on the standard of the Prem, it is making him a better player. I'd love to see Buckley do some of this and come on too.
What the Barnes saga shows me is how all our judgements about how good a player is are far too black and white .You need to factor in the position a player is asked to perform in, whether the system suits him, whether he feels valued and trusted by by the manager. It's only if all those things come together that you can see how good someone truly is.
Barnes has obviously got all that going on for him at Burnley - and I'm delighted for him. It could be that he was back here playing out on the left in a lone-striker system and he wouldn't look as good. Similarly everything obviously came together for O'Grady at Barnsely - none of it has come together for him here. Doesn't mean he's not a player with some ability.
Everytime someone on here writes, about ANY player, "He's shite, end of, get rid" they're just showing their own ignorance about how football works. IMO.