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The Ashley Barnes thread for the Reading game.
- Thread starter Super Steve Earle
- Start date
The Birdman
New member
He will be our hero at OPR this week!
Mo Gosfield
Well-known member
- Aug 11, 2010
- 6,362
By the very nature of the word, every striker in the world is inconsistent. They simply do not score in game after game. They are confidence players and they have ' hot streaks ' and then they can go 6-8-10 games where they do very little. The best strikers fill their boots when they are on a hot streak. They score in clusters, two a game for two games, then a single, then nothing for two games, then a double again. Seven in six games. Its a typical scenario. They are also reliant on the players around them. If the service dries up, so do the goals.
If you look at top goalscorers like Lineker and Greaves, their international records feature four goals in a game as well as more than one hattrick. They score in clusters and fill their boots when they are on song. They know they will have barren spells so the cluster goals are their insurance.
Wardy was the same. Little streaks of form..six, eight games, then drying up again. There would be enough goals in those streaks to tide him over. CMS ( despite all the criticism ) is a confidence player. Little streaks of goalscoring, then off the boil. Zamora was the same.
Barnes is similar. He needs to be given time and can only be judged if he plays upfront, down the middle for 30+ games. Is that going to happen? Unlikely.
Why? Why does Ashley Barnes, a player at a championship side, have to have a better conversion rate than most of the worlds top strikers to be considered good enough for us?
- Jan 3, 2012
- 17,356
Personally I think it says something that the reading keeper was MOTM yesterday according to Sky Sports. And while last year we might have been bemoaning the lack of shots and so on, yesterday there were 20, according to the BBC stats, 5 of which were on target - both figures better than Reading.
Hungry Joe
SINNEN
I know messageboards, and the internet in general, attract a lot of clueless oddballs, but I can honestly say I've never been as bemused about anything as I am about the amount of people who allude to knowing something about football who still don't rate Barnes. Absolute fools.
shaolinpunk
[Insert witty title here]
I don't know what he did to pass the time during his tripgate suspension but since he returned he has been superb. He always puts in a shift but seems to have become more intelligent with both his positioning and what he does when receiving the ball.
While a loan striker would be welcomed, three games with Barnes up top isn't the end of the world
While a loan striker would be welcomed, three games with Barnes up top isn't the end of the world
mejonaNO12 aka riskit
Well-known member
That's weird. You called me a tosser the other day for writing my opinion on football....
Hard to disagree with this. He looks like a quality player pretty much every week now.
spring hall convert
Well-known member
If it had been one of Spanish contingent that hit that volley, everyone would have been falling over themselves to compliment it's technical excellence.
mejonaNO12 aka riskit
Well-known member
I'm genuinely looking FORWARD to his three games up top.
Ulloa is clearly a class above (not just Barnes, everyone) so I'd obviously prefer Leo up there, but I think Barnes can count himself quite unlucky to have such an excellent player in front of him. If we can let him get on with being a centre forward in these 3 games and making the intelligent runs into the 6 yard box then I have quite a bit of confidence that KLL, Buckley, Lopez can find him.
Ashley Barnes is always involved when he plays at centre-forward and I think, bizarrely, that's why he sometimes gets some stick. He has a knack of getting into good positions as he showed again yesterday but sometimes the finish lets him down (although his technique seems to have got better and better). The games where people moan the most are usually the ones where he's had half a dozen chances or more. That in itself is an achievement but some fans just can't see it. If he just strolled through the game like some strikers, hardly getting a touch, they'd just talk about how well the opposition defence played.
Thunder Bolt
Silly old bat
Whatever happened to Mr Burns?
Kalimantan Gull
Well-known member
It is quite possible that all these missed shots and great saves could suddenly transform into a mammoth scoring run. His luck HAS to change some time, surely?
Matt Richards
Member
- Jan 22, 2009
- 38
For what it is worth I have traditionally been a 'Barnes Hater' and would not have been disappointed had he left the club over the summer. Whilst he has always had an excellent positional sense and tracks back very well to support the rest of the team, his first touch has been suspect, his temprament has been awful (both through the Burnley and Tripgate sendings off and his desire to throw himself to the floor and moan at the referee at least 4 times a game) and his finishing has not been as good as other strikers at this level.
I have noticed a difference since he returned from Tripgate and have to admit that the 30 mins he played yesterday was the best I have seen him for the Albion. This was not just about his volley (which was very good) and the run he made for the chance that was saved but for his general attitude which I thought was much better. The best example of this (and the point that finally made me think he could convince people like me that we were wrong) was an incident where the ball was played up to him which he laid off before getting clattered from behind. Sensing there was a decent break on he pulled himself up, put in a 20 yard burst and took the ball forward to instigate another attack.
I am convinced that the Barnes of this time last season would not have done this and would have rolled around the floor for a bit. Whether this is due to him growing up after Tripgate or if it is Oscar Garcia not putting up with the theatricals that Gus not only put up with but also demonstarted himself on the touchlime every game is to be guessed at.
Either way, credit where it is due and 6 goals over the next 3 games please Ashley!
I have noticed a difference since he returned from Tripgate and have to admit that the 30 mins he played yesterday was the best I have seen him for the Albion. This was not just about his volley (which was very good) and the run he made for the chance that was saved but for his general attitude which I thought was much better. The best example of this (and the point that finally made me think he could convince people like me that we were wrong) was an incident where the ball was played up to him which he laid off before getting clattered from behind. Sensing there was a decent break on he pulled himself up, put in a 20 yard burst and took the ball forward to instigate another attack.
I am convinced that the Barnes of this time last season would not have done this and would have rolled around the floor for a bit. Whether this is due to him growing up after Tripgate or if it is Oscar Garcia not putting up with the theatricals that Gus not only put up with but also demonstarted himself on the touchlime every game is to be guessed at.
Either way, credit where it is due and 6 goals over the next 3 games please Ashley!
Justice
Dangerous Idiot
I haven't read all of this thread but to me its obvious Barnes is better in his natural position not stuck out on the left.