Is Barnes a dud or will he come good?

[Twinkle Toes]

So the guy plays in an unnatural position & suddenly he ain't up to it? Sake.

ps Murray hasn't really looked like scoring for a while now either (yes, I know he bagged one last week) - but for some reason he still seems to be the Golden Boy round here. It's a funny old game ain't it...

 

[sir albion]

I looked at the barnes signing as a bench warmer and one for the future

 

[oh ah stantona]

W*nkers

 

[Napper]

He is a proffesional footballer unlike the McPhees and Gattings of the past.

A top 6 L1 striker is highly debatable and unlikely

Better as 3 rd / 4 th choice off the bench I suspect

Did do a lovely one two with Murray last week though

 

[Trigger]

It's early days but I'm nowhere near convinced yet.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

Plymouth Were not too unhappy to get rid of him, I think that says a lot.

 

[clarkey]

I had reservations about him last year even when he was scoring for fun. There was something about him that struck me as 'lucky', not quite the word Im looking for but I really wasnt convinced.

Whats worrying this year, and in preseason, is that hes not even getting into scoring positions. Hes barely involved in the play.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

I had reservations about him last year even when he was scoring for fun. There was something about him that struck me as 'lucky', not quite the word Im looking for but I really wasnt convinced.

Whats worrying this year, and in preseason, is that hes not even getting into scoring positions. Hes barely involved in the play.

A couple of his goals where more down to weak keeping than good striking

 

[clarkey]

A couple of his goals where more down to weak keeping than good striking

Yep and a peach of a cross from LuaLua. More optimistic of him having an impact if he's alongside/off Murray in a 442.

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

Barnes is a good player, holds the ball up well and I think is beginning to link well with Murray. I didn't go yesterday so cannot comment on his performance, but clearly he is a forward not a left winger or left sided midefield player.

His movement and postioning was good against Rochdale and he held the ball up well, set Murray up for a chance and arguably created Elliott's goal by pulling defenders out of position.

Once he get's a goal everything will flow again, not getting many chances though......

 

[Don Quixote]

He scored goals for us last season, nothing has changed. He will score soon.

 

[the hitman]

He seems better coming off the bench.

Needs to be played upfront not in midfield

He is a better FINISHER than Murray.

With a new striker coming in to play in 4-5-1 and with Barnes coming on for last 10/15 i'm confident he will score goals.

Fact is, niether Barnes or Murray are no where near good enough to be first choice in a promotion winning team.

 

[public school boy]

Play Barnes and Murray as Strikers and get the midfield to feed them then you might see some goals.

 

[cuthbert]

I thought he played badly in the first half at Swindon but very well in the second, he held the ball up well and put his body between the defenders and the ball as well having a part in the second goal. Against Rochdale he was OK but nothing special. Yesterday he was very poor but the Wednesday centre backs were very solid. At the moment we have a young player who is inconsistent. He seems to like the ball played directly to his feet and is not so good if he has to run after it or it is delivered in the air. Last season he was finishing well but we haven't seen that yet this season. He may come good or he may not, much too early for me to be able to guess.

 

[Silent Bob]

When he was scoring he wasn't neccesarily contributing huge amounts more to the team, so I'm not surprised people are now criticising him since he hasn't scored (in three games). The main problem is that he's playing where we should have another creative player, so he's not in his best position (which imo would be in a proper 2 up front) and we're not creating much, or as much as we should be. He's alright, as a squad player, yesterday the bench was so weak - players like Barnes would be useful to bring off the bench but we need to strengthen the first team to be able to do that.

 

[BensGrandad]

Murray hasn't really looked like scoring for a while now

He is the only one who does look like he will get a goal and as regards Barnes I wou;ld like to have him as thsrtiking option to come on as a sub late in the game. At the moment we do not have anybody to bring on who might score a goal ifit is needed. Yesterday Wednesday had a a proven goal scorer in Paul Heffernan which shows how far we are behind the better teams of this division.

 

[cuthbert]

He is the only one who does look like he will get a goal and as regards Barnes I wou;ld like to have him as thsrtiking option to come on as a sub late in the game. At the moment we do not have anybody to bring on who might score a goal ifit is needed. Yesterday Wednesday had a a proven goal scorer in Paul Heffernan which shows how far we are behind the better teams of this division.

I agree, but they play in a massive stadium in front of 18000 fans, Southampton, Huddersfield and Charlton are also in the league. We are going to need to punch well above our weight to get up this season. It won't be easy but we can give it a go. I know Elliott Bennett is an excellent winger and an OK full back, but could he play as a striker?

 

[Nappy thrower]

Shit in my books.The guy has trouble like Murray with the offside rule and has trouble staying on his feet.He hit a purple patch while on loan to us last season but something just wasn't right about him.
We now have two crap strikers on our books but at least Barnes has hit the net for us.
We have major problems up front and i feel we need another two strikers.One quailty one and one that's been around the block but is experienced like Lee Hughes without his history.

 

[southstandandy]

He looked out of his depth yesterday, but then we won't be playing teams like Wednesday every week. I would just play 1 up front in Murray and play 5 in midfield when Sparrow's back and use Barnes from the bench. If we did get another forward in during the last week of the window then we could revert to 4-4-2.