Ross Barkley

[Jimmy1]

This one made me laugh



Average first touch? Almost every time he receives the ball he has to turn two men, and usually succeeds

Its ridiculous isn't it.

 

[andy4efc]

I think some posters on here don't actually watch Barkley. It does my head in when people say he should be this or that. He is what he is and thats Everton's best player in 20 plus years. His strengths are being able to receive the ball in any situation, retain it, draw in multiple opponents and then pass to an available team-mate. On top of that he can carry the ball half the pitch, can score, assist. Anything else? He's not the player some on here crave and receives unfair criticism for not being so.

It does your head in that others don't think he is our best player in 20 years? Disagree, sure, but 'does your head in' is a bit much when thats a bold statement in itself.

For me he's not the best player in the squad. Lukaku is.

You say his strengths, which are correct, but every one of those strengths can be ruined by his poor decision making or decisiveness in itself. He's talented but he is still making the same mistakes as 3/4 years ago. I think people just expect him to have progressed more by now.

He has Howard syndrome for me. Makes the impossible look easy, but fails to do the simple things sometimes.

 

[Jimmy1]

It does your head in that others don't think he is our best player in 20 years? Disagree, sure, but 'does your head in' is a bit much when thats a bold statement in itself.

For me he's not the best player in the squad. Lukaku is.

You say his strengths, which are correct, but every one of those strengths can be ruined by his poor decision making or decisiveness in itself. He's talented but he is still making the same mistakes as 3/4 years ago. I think people just expect him to have progressed more by now.

He has Howard syndrome for me. Makes the impossible look easy, but fails to do the simple things sometimes.

I fail to see by saying it does my head in is a bold statement when taking into account the rubbish people say on here. However i agree his final ball at times can be poor and i wish he'd shoot more instead of taking a touch which leads to the chance disappearing. But he's 21 years old and to expect a finished product at this stage is strange to me. We should be celebrating having a player of his ability and potential in our team instead of jumping on his back at every mistake. These type of mistakes are not unique to Barkley.

 

[andy4efc]

I fail to see by saying it does my head in is a bold statement when taking into account the rubbish people say on here. However i agree his final ball at times can be poor and i wish he'd shoot more instead of taking a touch which leads to the chance disappearing. But he's 21 years old and to expect a finished product at this stage is strange to me. We should be celebrating having a player of his ability and potential in our team instead of jumping on his back at every mistake. These type of mistakes are not unique to Barkley.

First of all don't get me wrong, he's talented.

Secondly, Yes hes 21, and that should give him more time, fair enough. However I, like others don't feel he has progressed over the time since playing against Villarreal in that friendly years and standing out a mile. He still loses the ball in silly places sometimes, he still cant decide to shoot or pass, his shooting is quite eratic most of the time, his final ball decision,; when he gets it right, is beautiful, but at the moment he gets it wrong just as much. Personally, I feel if we had someone else giving him competition for the behind the striker role, I think we'd not only see a better Barkley, but pressure would be taken off him of being one of the few creators at EFC and he'd be able to sit out sometimes and observe how to approach certain situations.

I can forgive hte football mistakes with Barkley as, as you say, is only 2, he will make mistakes, fair enough. However what I can't forgive is his casual passes and casual 'closing down/defending'.

I was pointing out that saying hes the best player we've had for 20 years was a bold statement and it's a bit unfair to say others 'do your head in' cause they see something other than that.

 

[Jimmy1]

First of all don't get me wrong, he's talented.

Secondly, Yes hes 21, and that should give him more time, fair enough. However I, like others don't feel he has progressed over the time since playing against Villarreal in that friendly years and standing out a mile. He still loses the ball in silly places sometimes, he still cant decide to shoot or pass, his shooting is quite eratic most of the time, his final ball decision,; when he gets it right, is beautiful, but at the moment he gets it wrong just as much. Personally, I feel if we had someone else giving him competition for the behind the striker role, I think we'd not only see a better Barkley, but pressure would be taken off him of being one of the few creators at EFC and he'd be able to sit out sometimes and observe how to approach certain situations.

I can forgive hte football mistakes with Barkley as, as you say, is only 2, he will make mistakes, fair enough. However what I can't forgive is his casual passes and casual 'closing down/defending'.

I was pointing out that saying hes the best player we've had for 20 years was a bold statement and it's a bit unfair to say others 'do your head in' cause they see something other than that.

I was referring to the criticism as the thing that annoys me as I think its over done. The statement about being the best player ive seen for us is 20+ years is probably a bold statement but I genuinely believe it.

I think he's progressed massively this season. He's consistently putting in performances when compared to last season.

 

[AJC5]

To me he is someone who simply needs the ball as much as possible but doesnt have barry's levels of experience and calm which is completely fine for his age. Personally I would like him to try left mid again but I know most would disagree. He watches videos of zidane and imo zidane was best in that position for real madrid I guess. I would like to him try that position for at least two games and if it doesn't work out then I can see him having a very similar career to steven gerrard position wise which would be a shame. Hope I'm wrong

I'm not sure what issue people are trying to solve. He been great as a central midfielder. He is a much

First of all don't get me wrong, he's talented.

Secondly, Yes hes 21, and that should give him more time, fair enough. However I, like others don't feel he has progressed over the time since playing against Villarreal in that friendly years and standing out a mile. He still loses the ball in silly places sometimes, he still cant decide to shoot or pass, his shooting is quite eratic most of the time, his final ball decision,; when he gets it right, is beautiful, but at the moment he gets it wrong just as much. Personally, I feel if we had someone else giving him competition for the behind the striker role, I think we'd not only see a better Barkley, but pressure would be taken off him of being one of the few creators at EFC and he'd be able to sit out sometimes and observe how to approach certain situations.

I can forgive hte football mistakes with Barkley as, as you say, is only 2, he will make mistakes, fair enough. However what I can't forgive is his casual passes and casual 'closing down/defending'.

I was pointing out that saying hes the best player we've had for 20 years was a bold statement and it's a bit unfair to say others 'do your head in' cause they see something other than that.

Footballs an easy game from the stands mate. Every footballer gives the ball away from time to time and most final passes and crosses don't result in goals. You don't realise how little time players have in the final third to get these things right. Ross is right up there with the best players in the league based on his stats which is remarkable given his age. If he maintains the level he is at now he will still be a great player and England's key player for the next ten years. If he improves he'll be in Zidane territory.

 

[andy4efc]

I'm not sure what issue people are trying to solve. He been great as a central midfielder. He is a much


Footballs an easy game from the stands mate. Every footballer gives the ball away from time to time and most final passes and crosses don't result in goals. You don't realise how little time players have in the final third to get these things right. Ross is right up there with the best players in the league based on his stats which is remarkable given his age. If he maintains the level he is at now he will still be a great player and England's key player for the next ten years. If he improves he'll be in Zidane territory.

I do realise, again, I believe he will be a great player but he's not as good as people make out now. Too many mistakes, mistakes he was making 4 years ago, he's hasn't progressed like you'd expect over four years.

Look at Lukaku, couldn't control or hold the ball up at all last year, this season he's grown and seems to be able to do this with ease in most games.

If we had another number 10, with more experience and a better knowledsge in the final third, Barkley could play next to McCarthy and learn whilst still contributing and being himself. Unfortunately I don't think we will ever see that.

 

[Titus Bramble]

He's boss

 

[Ehrlin]

I do realise, again, I believe he will be a great player but he's not as good as people make out now. Too many mistakes, mistakes he was making 4 years ago, he's hasn't progressed like you'd expect over four years.

Look at Lukaku, couldn't control or hold the ball up at all last year, this season he's grown and seems to be able to do this with ease in most games.

If we had another number 10, with more experience and a better knowledsge in the final third, Barkley could play next to McCarthy and learn whilst still contributing and being himself. Unfortunately I don't think we will ever see that.

If you think that a central midfield with McCarthy and Barkley would be great then you really can't think that people will take your opinions seriously. Who should defend our CBs? Barkley is great going forward but he still needs to learn how to defend.

 

[andy4efc]

If you think that a central midfield with McCarthy and Barkley would be great then you really can't think that people will take your opinions seriously. Who should defend our CBs? Barkley is great going forward but he still needs to learn how to defend.

Personally, mate, I wouldn't have Barkley sitting deep like Barry Does, McCarthy would be your anchor. Against teams like Swansea we should be more attacking rather than two holding like Barry and Mccarthy. Sure, if we are playing Man City away, lets not leave that space, but home games where we should be attacking, a back four and an anchor is enough for the base-line defence.

This would (with the assumption we signed another decent AMC)

Take pressure away from him, still give him the license to be creative, allow him to learn how to play the AMC role from someone with experience. He would still develop his defending this way (Which I did say in my last post was a downside of his), but without just sitting infront of the back four.

I also think we lack a connection between attack and defence in the middle and having Barkley being a box to box player rather than sitting deep and 'playmaking'. He has the energy to do it and whenever you see Barkley bang in the centre, he is generally positive on the ball.

Obviously not THAT simple, but how is how I'd see Barkley progressing as a footballer. (Just my opinion).

 

[Carlito]

I don't think we'll ever see the best of him while he's pushed as far forward as he has been. He reminds me of both Dembele and Yaya Toure at times, and like them I think he'll end up thriving alongside a holding player in centre midfield.

 

[orly]

He's boss

Stating Obviously

 

[riddick]

He let's the opposition know he's going to shoot far too early and subsequently most of his shots get blocked. He's got a great shot, just needs to be a bit further away from them.

 

[BlueToff]

It does your head in that others don't think he is our best player in 20 years? Disagree, sure, but 'does your head in' is a bit much when thats a bold statement in itself.

For me he's not the best player in the squad. Lukaku is.

You say his strengths, which are correct, but every one of those strengths can be ruined by his poor decision making or decisiveness in itself. He's talented but he is still making the same mistakes as 3/4 years ago. I think people just expect him to have progressed more by now.

He has Howard syndrome for me. Makes the impossible look easy, but fails to do the simple things sometimes.

And he's 22. And getting on his back won't help. Some people (both at the ground and on here) seem determined to jump on anything he does wrong.

There's nothing wrong with getting frustrated with him when he makes bad decisions, but if he was the complete player or even near-complete, he wouldn't be here - that's a fact.

He's a rare, rare talent and he's with us and he's easily one of the best players we've produced/had in the last two decades - and that's without being the 'full package' yet.

 

[The Hibbert Agenda]

He's an exceptional talent who's only going to get better, and when he does so all those getting on his back right now will be oh so happy – "we knew he had it in him, he just needed to sort out his decision-making".
The new breed of fan who deserves the best because they're just such inherent winners.