FFs Barnes

[Twinkle Toes]

No not thread closed. Your acting like someone who just looks at BBC website and says 'oh barnes scored two goals, must be an ok player'. The fact is the first 65 minutes it was like we were playing with ten men and after his goal he only improved slightly. As for the guy saying "fishing", it's not fishing, it's an opinion that has lots of foundation.

You evidently know fack-all about football if that's your opinion. Still, I doubt if that will stop you from slagging off Barnes; & at least you can be safe in the knowledge that you have a number of equally clueless people who share your views.

 

[Twinkle Toes]

Exactly. Gus plays him because of his all round contribution to the game. Some people on here need to remove the blinkers and see Barnes for what he is, a valuable member of the team.

Spot on SD. The amount of stick the kid gets is, frankly, disgraceful.

 

[British Grenadier]

I don't know what some people expect from Barnes. It's like they need to criticise him. He stands on the right wing and the ipswich keeper plays the ball to the centre circle, he makes his way from the wing to the centre, and gets criticised for not having won the ball before he even gets there. He does something that other players do and he gets criticised; he played the ball into CMS and it was a little over hit and gets slated, Razak and Buckley both did that same and received "ooh, bad luck, nice try!", he runs down the wing, mattock coming up behind him and he lays the ball off into mattock's path, mattock stops unexpectedly and Barnes is criticised (bizarrely for not playing it forward for mattock to run onto). Barnes has an occasional poor first touch and the moans come up, CMS has a poor first touch almost colliding with Navarro and nothing. Players get in to space and the one with the ball is criticised for not seeing the option, barnes gets into space, he's criticised for not yelling across the the pitch to let the player know he was available (and drawing attention to the defenders he has evaded). Any other player has an opponent closing down and the crowd yell warnings, Barnes has the ball, no one gives him the call, then they get pissy at him for being caught in possession.

It's sometimes like people expect him to have the attributes of every other player. When he doesn't do the CMS role of closing the keeper or defender down, he gets criticised (even when CMS is already playing that role). When he doesn't use the pace of Lualua, Buckly or Noone to skin the full back, he gets criticised. When he isn't making the defensive tackled of El Abd, he is criticised. No one seems to judge him on who he is, what he is in the team to do, or what he does.

And yet again, he was being criticised for other player's bad play (there was a moment when mattock cleared the ball by booting it into the sky, at which point he was criticised).

It was also a bit weird that when we're 2-0 up, CMS has just been clattered into by an ipswich defender, and the option being brought on is vokes, that people are surprised Barnes stays on. A winning position, so we don't need the constant harassing of CMS, we need the holding up strength of Vokes. If we take Barnes off and put Vokes on, he and CMS (with a knock) stay up front leaving space for Ipswich in midfield. Take CMS off, we have the strength to hold it up without losing anything in the middle.

I'm not saying barnes was great. But he was no where near as bad as some of the moaners on here and at the ground would have you believe.

A lot of tactical sense here - supporters have double standards for players.

Barnes doesn't have the same on the ball skills as say Lua Lua or Vicente and he can be guilty of dithering with the ball - at one point yesterday, when in the middle of the park, this happened and he lost it, but then there were two men on him.

However he DOES have the ability to get back in to good defensive positions and yesterday he did that made two good defensive headers away.

As others have said, he does a job that other players don't or can't do and that is why Gus picks him.

 

[JBizzle]

Essentially our striker converted defensive left winger has scored 10 goals this year. If he was Lua Lua we'd all be requesting new pants.

Gus knows how VITAL Barnes is to our style of play, therefore he retains Gus' faith.

Sent by the power of Gus' tactical genius

 

[severnside gull]

some of us choose to believe that he isnt of the required standard to play week in week out in the championship. Of course we would love to be proved wrong as ive stated before, but its just an opinion, rightly or wrongly. Its called debate my friend and its what a forum is used for.

repeating the same gospel week in week out despite every indicator being contrary to your very particular views is not debate.

It is hate.................... and yes, it is what forums are used for.

 

[Acker79]

Essentially our striker converted defensive left winger has scored 10 goals this year. If he was Lua Lua we'd all be requesting new pants.

Gus knows how VITAL Barnes is to our style of play, therefore he retains Gus' faith.

Sent by the power of Gus' tactical genius

He's scored 11 (plus one more in the shoot out v wrexham), 8 in the league, 3 in the cup

 

[Twinkle Toes]

I think this summarises it very well. I used to be a harsh Barnes critic up until his amazing January, and his quieter February has told a lot about the player he is. He is either a defensive minded player, or Gus is telling him to do so. Up front he offers very little apart from his penalties and other set pieces. He often is infuriatingly too slow deciding to pass, or just completely unsupportive. Yet, in defence he is brilliant and does indeed cover the shortcomings of other players. This, I feel, is why Gus has not been choosing CMS. CMS and Barnes don't entirely click as Barnes is never what CMS needs him to be. CMS and Vokes would be ideal, but then Gus loses an incredible asset when we're not attacking. Ash is an enigma if there ever was one. Him and Navs probably don't deserve their places in the starting lineup, but caution says otherwise.
Personally I'd rather see CMS and Vokes start, and bring Ash on to steer a result home; in that way he can defend as much as he likes, similar to the Posh game.

Yeah, like the 2 goals he scored yesterday for example...

 

[ATFC Seagull]

Probably already been said, but (like last week at Liverpool) he was literally going box to box for 90 mins, did as much defensively as anything else.

 

[The Wizard]

I'm struggling to believe people seriously don't think he played well yesterday, he had a very good game, link up play and some fantastic movement as well as his 2 goals

 

[Twinkle Toes]

I'm struggling to believe people seriously don't think he played well yesterday, he had a very good game, link up play and some fantastic movement as well as his 2 goals

Some people wouldn't know their elbow from their arse-hole, so it shouldn't come as any great surprise.

 

[British Grenadier]

There are positives and negatives to any player and with Barnes today he seemed to be at both extremes. The positives the expert goals bagged and his willingness to defend and most importantly for me to be in the right place at the right time when a cross comes over. He has that magical knack about him. The negatives today were him seeming to linger on the ball and be robbed, quite often not seeming to know what to do and being on a different wavelength to the rest of the team and their sweet touches. And there were a couple of chances nearer the end in which i thought he should have scored.
I'll never scream out telling him what to do though, and i was most glad that he scored after the bellend behind me had made some arsey comment about selling him back to Plymouth. A dance and an in-your-face anthem were carried out toward the opinionator and his endless drivelling.The lad battled and scored and as much as i might sometimes be flustered with him, he comes up with the goods and i like to think the team needs him.

Yep, I had a fella behind me shouting for him to be subbed and enjoyed turning around TWICE to see him celebrating Barnes' goals.... I just got the middle finger in return...

 

[JBizzle]

I don't know what some people expect from Barnes. It's like they need to criticise him. He stands on the right wing and the ipswich keeper plays the ball to the centre circle, he makes his way from the wing to the centre, and gets criticised for not having won the ball before he even gets there. He does something that other players do and he gets criticised; he played the ball into CMS and it was a little over hit and gets slated, Razak and Buckley both did that same and received "ooh, bad luck, nice try!", he runs down the wing, mattock coming up behind him and he lays the ball off into mattock's path, mattock stops unexpectedly and Barnes is criticised (bizarrely for not playing it forward for mattock to run onto). Barnes has an occasional poor first touch and the moans come up, CMS has a poor first touch almost colliding with Navarro and nothing. Players get in to space and the one with the ball is criticised for not seeing the option, barnes gets into space, he's criticised for not yelling across the the pitch to let the player know he was available (and drawing attention to the defenders he has evaded). Any other player has an opponent closing down and the crowd yell warnings, Barnes has the ball, no one gives him the call, then they get pissy at him for being caught in possession.

It's sometimes like people expect him to have the attributes of every other player. When he doesn't do the CMS role of closing the keeper or defender down, he gets criticised (even when CMS is already playing that role). When he doesn't use the pace of Lualua, Buckly or Noone to skin the full back, he gets criticised. When he isn't making the defensive tackled of El Abd, he is criticised. No one seems to judge him on who he is, what he is in the team to do, or what he does.

And yet again, he was being criticised for other player's bad play (there was a moment when mattock cleared the ball by booting it into the sky, at which point he was criticised).

It was also a bit weird that when we're 2-0 up, CMS has just been clattered into by an ipswich defender, and the option being brought on is vokes, that people are surprised Barnes stays on. A winning position, so we don't need the constant harassing of CMS, we need the holding up strength of Vokes. If we take Barnes off and put Vokes on, he and CMS (with a knock) stay up front leaving space for Ipswich in midfield. Take CMS off, we have the strength to hold it up without losing anything in the middle.

I'm not saying barnes was great. But he was no where near as bad as some of the moaners on here and at the ground would have you believe.

Best. Post. Ever. Covers pretty much everything about Barnes.

I have to admit, I'm a massive fan of Barnes

Sent by the power of Gus' tactical genius

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

I have not been a critic of barnes. far from it. his goal at oldham was qualla and only he would have scored that.

However BEFORE those goals he was our weakest link.

Two things stand out:

A) the almost constant bitching at the ref after a decision didnt go his way (yes the ref was wrong) but it was CONSTANT. He was still going when Ipswich had a corner and the ref had to get Greer to talk to him. He was lucky. I would have actually booked or even sent him off.

B) he left his foot in/cheeky stamp on the half way line on an ipswich player shortly after A.

Again Barnes was VERY lucky to be on the pitch yesterday.

Those two incidents plus his giving away of possession meant that yes i was calling for him to be subbed. More because i did not want us reduced to ten men.

 

[Trigger]

Those two incidents plus his giving away of possession meant that yes i was calling for him to be subbed. More because i did not want us reduced to ten men.

Not to mention his giving the ball away set up Ipswich's BEST two chances of the game!

 

[Twinkle Toes]

I have not been a critic of barnes. far from it. his goal at oldham was qualla and only he would have scored that.

However BEFORE those goals he was our weakest link.

Two things stand out:

A) the almost constant bitching at the ref after a decision didnt go his way (yes the ref was wrong) but it was CONSTANT. He was still going when Ipswich had a corner and the ref had to get Greer to talk to him. He was lucky. I would have actually booked or even sent him off.

B) he left his foot in/cheeky stamp on the half way line on an ipswich player shortly after A.

Again Barnes was VERY lucky to be on the pitch yesterday.

Those two incidents plus his giving away of possession meant that yes i was calling for him to be subbed. More because i did not want us reduced to ten men.

Actually Tone, the incidents you have highlighted from yesterday are the major flaws in Barnes's game. I hope he can cut them out of his repertoire , otherwise it will continue to overshadow all of the good work he does on the pitch. Unfortunately, I have a feeling that the kid ain't for turning any time soon - & I don't think G&T will bust a gut to eradicate these traits either...

 

[British Grenadier]

our new gary hart

I like this "Oh Ashley Barnes, Ashley Ashley Barnes, Ashley Ashley Barnes, Ashley Ashley Barnes" etc.

The trouble is as I see it. He doesn't do much to ever change a game. He plays. Most of the time he does a good job. But in my opinion, it really wouldn't be hard at all to put someone else in that position who would make more of a contribution.

I understand that we've done well with him playing. But I think we could do BETTER with someone else.

Fine but WHO?

Someone in the current squad like Vicente or Lua Lua? Can you see them tracking back and making defensive headers away from goal like Oh Ashley Barnes did yesterday? I can't.

 

[Barnham Seagull]

Barnes had an okay game today, 2 goals made up for the usual persistent diving when in good positions, moaning, and mistakes. Weakest player in the first 11 still, dont doubt the need for his type of role being needed but there are better options

Ok when we find a player who is capable of scoring doulble figures who can play up top, out wide, attacking midfield and is positional good for the team helping keep a good shape, then ok drop him!

Lets take his goals out of the team and see where would be...

 

[Acker79]

Not to mention his giving the ball away set up Ipswich's BEST two chances of the game!

You mean like mattock's pass to chopra that led to an initial swipe from brezovan who was quick to come out, and a final goal line clearance from gree who read the situation brilliantly to get back on the line?

 

[Acker79]

A) the almost constant bitching at the ref after a decision didnt go his way (yes the ref was wrong) but it was CONSTANT. He was still going when Ipswich had a corner and the ref had to get Greer to talk to him. He was lucky. I would have actually booked or even sent him off.

The anger he had in that moment seemed to make him more aggressive and determined in his defensive duties, because it was that same corner he made two brilliant headed clearances. It's that same argument that comes with rooney and balotelli and the like, take away his petulance and would he be as effective?

 

[Shooting Star]

Yeah, like the 2 goals he scored yesterday for example...

Little unfair to quote something I said before yesterday, when he hadn't scored from open play since September.