Ross Barkley

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Eggs said:
.....under Martinez our midfielders had specific tasks, McCarthy and Barry sat in front of the back and rarely passed the half way line and Barkley was given no responsibility when the opposition had the ball. RK demands an all around game with more dimensions, only Barry has been able to adapt but even he isn't overly expansive.

Perhaps Barkley has been found out meeting the demands of a top flight midfielder, it might explain why he's not been coveted by high profile clubs.
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Up the work rate yes (which I think he has) but its when we have the ball is where I think Koeman has got the best use of his players.

From his interview he said Ross has to be closer to the striker and not dropping deeper with the midfield. So he basically wants him to be like Dele Ali or at least what Martinez asked him to do but with more work rate.

The problem is we have zero build up play from defence and are very direct that it doesnt suit Ross, who wants it on the deck to play football.
 
kenada_blue said:
Up the work rate yes (which I think he has) but its when we have the ball is where I think Koeman has got the best use of his players.

From his interview he said Ross has to be closer to the striker and not dropping deeper with the midfield. So he basically wants him to be like Dele Ali or at least what Martinez asked him to do but with more work rate.

The problem is we have zero build up play from defence and are very direct that it doesnt suit Ross, who wants it on the deck to play football.
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...the players we are linked with (Gabbiadani) are more the type who will play close to Lukaku so you wonder where that leaves Barkley. I suspect he'll want energetic central midfielders sitting behind.
 
Eggs said:
...Barry has been poor of late but his form before that was consistently decent. I'm coming to the conclusion that perhaps the long ball game is because RK doesn't have the 'type' of players he wants. Barry and Gueye will naturally get behind the ball when the opposition has it and this causes a midfield void when we win it back. Last week, Mirallas gets alongside or beyond Lukaku, nobody drops to puck the ball up so you have to go long.

As @bluestevon said, somebody like Schneiderlin is a true box to box midfielder and could solve the problem. We also know RK likes 'inverted' wingers. We have to wait until he can bring in the types he wants but I fear Barkley will slip down the pecking order.
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That's a fair assessment. However If Koeman disregards Barkley then for me he is not the man for the job he needs to be persisted with as quite simply if he plays well you almost certainly win games regardless of the opposition players like this are exceedingly rare in the sterilised modern game.

I also think if he does want Barkley higher up the pitch he has misjudged the situation as ultimately he is better suited to coming from deep.

I suppose we have to hope your analysis of why we play this way is correct as it means Koeman sees it as a means to an end rather than a preferred choice.

The premiership has very very few teams who trust creative players centrally totthenam play erikkson wide as do Liverpool With countinho Chelsea until recently hazard with fabregas deep, even in big games city have moved silva wide & packed the middle as have arsenal witth ozil.

I don't actually see Barkley as a similar player to any of these creative players however we don't have a comparative player who he could link with to be effective. We have similar wide players who all consistently lose possession which in turn highlights barkleys weak point his off the ball game.

Perhaps if we manager to pick up some better wingers/creative wide players it would be the making off him
 

Simon baker said:
That's a fair assessment. However If Koeman disregards Barkley then for me he is not the man for the job he needs to be persisted with as quite simply if he plays well you almost certainly win games regardless of the opposition players like this are exceedingly rare in the sterilised modern game.

I also think if he does want Barkley higher up the pitch he has misjudged the situation as ultimately he is better suited to coming from deep.

I suppose we have to hope your analysis of why we play this way is correct as it means Koeman sees it as a means to an end rather than a preferred choice.

The premiership has very very few teams who trust creative players centrally totthenam play erikkson wide as do Liverpool With countinho Chelsea until recently hazard with fabregas deep, even in big games city have moved silva wide & packed the middle as have arsenal witth ozil.

I don't actually see Barkley as a similar player to any of these creative players however we don't have a comparative player who he could link with to be effective. We have similar wide players who all consistently lose possession which in turn highlights barkleys weak point his off the ball game.

Perhaps if we manager to pick up some better wingers/creative wide players it would be the making off him
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...I'm not agreeing with RKs doctrine, I'm just trying to understand what he's trying to do. Just as there is more than one way to skin a cat, there is more than one way to win a football match. At the end of the day, Koeman's system and Koeman choice of players will be judged on winning games, only time will tell.
 
One of the things that irks me in the modern game is the ultra specialisation of positions such as dm or acm . Any midfielder by definition should be capable of defending or attacking, playing in that position means you are the link between attack and defence. Barkley has been tasked to perform in a midfield often containing Barry and McCarthy, two players who are virtually glorified defenders.
One of the reasons Besic was so popular and Gana has been such a success is that both have more of an 'all round' midfield capability ostensibly dm's they can also attack well.
If Barkley could play in a midfield containing actual midfielder's not defenders, I believe he would approach the performances we expected of him. However if he has to play centrally he has to improve defensively himself (something I believe he is doing.
Perhaps his true natural position is an old style inside forward ?
 
Eggs said:
...I'm not agreeing with RKs doctrine, I'm just trying to understand what he's trying to do. Just as there is more than one way to skin a cat, there is more than one way to win a football match. At the end of the day, Koeman's system and Koeman choice of players will be judged on winning games, only time will tell.
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It's hard work at the minute though we're really really hard to watch
 
I completely agree with the decision not to play him today. After last week, everyone would be expecting him to play well today, but, if he didn't then people would be writing him off for good.

Ross gets the harsh end of the stick from us fans because we demand a lot.
 

LocalNative said:
I completely agree with the decision not to play him today. After last week, everyone would be expecting him to play well today, but, if he didn't then people would be writing him off for good.

Ross gets the harsh end of the stick from us fans because we demand a lot.
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100% this. Now Bolasie is injured barkley will take a lot more of the flak again
 

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