Ross Barkley

davek · August 16, 2014

orly said:
Yeah it's really worrying I think. Right knee, no real prospect of a quick return, Martinez talking about 'periods of adversity'.

Huge player to lose as the side is built around him. Pienaar was great today but the options in that area are very thin

There must be some player in the squad looking at themselves very closely today. That should not happen in training.

DanEFC92 · August 16, 2014

Hugely frustrating.

EverBlue86 · August 16, 2014

My worry is for his age the lads had a few nasty injuries already especially if this is anything that takes months to return from. A bad leg break and bad knee ligament damage hope it doesn't take its toll on him long term

davek · August 16, 2014

kevdotbadger said:
We'll live without Barkley. We've got Mr Reliable Steven Naismith who'll play that AFM role.

Gutting news, but if it serious we need to give Naismith our support.

He cant do that for us mate. He was lost second half there. Did nothing.

We need to buy in.

kevdotbadger · August 16, 2014

davek said:
He cant do that for us mate. He was lost second half there. Did nothing.

We need to buy in.

Not a lot of people did anything the second half. There was loads of games last season where Barkley drifted off. It happens.

davek · August 16, 2014

kevdotbadger said:
Not a lot of people did anything the second half. There was loads of games last season where Barkley drifted off. It happens.

Absolutely. Apart from a tidy pienaar, they all were poor. But it's from that position where Naismith had that you expect the drive to come from. He's been good today linking up with teammates, but ACM have to have that ability to drive at defences and make syuff happen.

We need to buy in.

EverBlue86 · August 16, 2014

kevdotbadger said:
Not a lot of people did anything the second half. There was loads of games last season where Barkley drifted off. It happens.

Sorry mate disagree look at rivals players in that role:

Spurs: Erikson
Rs: Coutinho
Chelsea: oscar/hazard
Arsenal: oil
Utd: mata/herera

We need someone to feed lukaku Naismith doesn't do that on a consistent basis

kevdotbadger · August 16, 2014

davek said:
Absolutely. Apart from a tidy pienaar, they all were poor. But it's from that position where Naismith had that you expect the drive to come from. He's been good today linking up with teammates, but ACM have to have that ability to drive at defences and make syuff happen.

We need to buy in.

We had Osman and Cahill at AMF for so many seasons, they hardly drove at defenders.

kevdotbadger · August 16, 2014

EverBlue86 said:
Sorry mate disagree look at rivals players in that role:

Spurs: Erikson
Rs: Coutinho
Chelsea: oscar/hazard
Arsenal: oil
Utd: mata/herera

We need someone to feed lukaku Naismith doesn't do that on a consistent basis

Why do we need Naismith to feed when he can score? The way Martinez wants us to play, we don't define a single playmaker. Pienaar got an assist (could had been Baines), and you could argue Distin got another (with being in the right place at the right time). That means LB, LW and CB contributed to goals today, the AMF scored.

orly · August 16, 2014

kevdotbadger said:
We had Osman and Cahill at AMF for so many seasons, they hardly drove at defenders.

And we played horrible, dismal footy.

No way you could trust Jagielka and Distin to hold out at this moment in their careers.

riddick · August 16, 2014

EverBlue86 said:
Sorry mate disagree look at rivals players in that role:

Spurs: Erikson
Rs: Coutinho
Chelsea: oscar/hazard
Arsenal: oil
Utd: mata/herera

We need someone to feed lukaku Naismith doesn't do that on a consistent basis

thats not really what Barkley does tho. We have been mentioning for quite some time we need someone to feed Lukaku(or whomever the striker was) since Barkley isnt really a playmaker...yet.

EverBlue86 · August 16, 2014

kevdotbadger said:
Why do we need Naismith to feed when he can score? The way Martinez wants us to play, we don't define a single playmaker. Pienaar got an assist (could had been Baines), and you could argue Distin got another (with being in the right place at the right time). That means LB, LW and CB contributed to goals today, the AMF scored.

Because lukaku isn't the type to get the ball and run at players ala suarez/sturridge etc. Why pay £28 mil for a striker if we don't intend to make him the focal point of our attack?

Tubey · August 16, 2014

EverBlue86 said:
Because lukaku isn't the type to get the ball and run at players ala suarez/sturridge etc. Why pay £28 mil for a striker if we don't intend to make him the focal point of our attack?

Exactly my worry prior to signing him right there... Perhaps he would have been if Barkley was fit and we could get that link up working, who knows...

kevdotbadger · August 16, 2014

EverBlue86 said:
Because lukaku isn't the type to get the ball and run at players ala suarez/sturridge etc. Why pay £28 mil for a striker if we don't intend to make him the focal point of our attack?

I don't understand what you mean by this. Obviously Lukaku is the focal point. But we're talking about Barkley/Naismith.

EverBlue86 · August 16, 2014

kevdotbadger said:
I don't understand what you mean by this. Obviously Lukaku is the focal point. But we're talking about Barkley/Naismith.

My point mate is lukakus main strength ie having the ball at the feet and he will score but if we don't have a CAM to have pace on the counter/the ability to feed him through balls he ends up having to wait to collect it and then often loses it due to his weakness of no holding it up well.