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2017/18 Ross Barkley

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kenada_blue said:
We'd still be stronger than we are now just due to keeping the ball better and creating chances. Say him, Rooney, Sigurdsson all played, you'd get a good intelligent attack but lacking a focal point. We'd probably look more like Southampton than bottom of the league as in we dont have a threat up top.

This is what we should've looked like at the start of the season. Solid, able to create, but just lacking that goal threat. Instead we leak goals, can't score, and look a mess.

Overall the point is we've spent £200mill and gone backwards because we haven't replaced either player. While one is more important in terms of goals, the other is equally important in terms of being a good side.

We've neither and look exceptionally short.
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I'm baffled as to how including Barkley would add to the intelligence of our attack. He'd definitely add his speed on the ball, which would add something in counter attacks, for example, but I'm looking for evidence that he'd add this still quite vague notion of "balance". In your Rooney, Barkley and Sigurdsson example, we'd still lack goals and they'd still all struggle to create for the likes of DCL and Niasse, with Rooney the only genuine goalscorer among them. No problems anywhere else in the team would be solved.

We have an insane number of talented number 10s, who all just happen to be misfiring and I'm pretty positive it's in no small part due to the fact our number 9s are generally useless at scoring and no credible threat to defences, meaning we are pretty easy to cut off at source. Would Barkley solve this? I've seen poor performances from him attributed to a lack of "movement" on Lukaku's part on here more times than I can count. Imagine him playing with DCL ffs.

Even on Lukaku's worst days, his one contribution would always be that both centre backs would be glued to him from the first minute to the last. Throw a proper striker like him into your system and it's a completely different ball game for me. Both centre backs occupied at all times, space for Rooney to create, Barkley to run and Sigurdsson to whip balls in. We could actually play to our strengths for a change.
 
paulbefc said:
I'm baffled as to how including Barkley would add to the intelligence of our attack. He'd definitely add his speed on the ball, which would add something in counter attacks, for example, but I'm looking for evidence that he'd add this still quite vague notion of "balance". In your Rooney, Barkley and Sigurdsson example, we'd still lack goals and they'd still all struggle to create for the likes of DCL and Niasse, with Rooney the only genuine goalscorer among them. No problems anywhere else in the team would be solved.

We have an insane number of talented number 10s, who all just happen to be misfiring and I'm pretty positive it's in no small part due to the fact our number 9s are generally useless at scoring and no credible threat to defences, meaning we are pretty easy to cut off at source. Would Barkley solve this? I've seen poor performances from him attributed to a lack of "movement" on Lukaku's part on here more times than I can count. Imagine him playing with DCL ffs.

Even on Lukaku's worst days, his one contribution would always be that both centre backs would be glued to him from the first minute to the last. Throw a proper striker like him into your system and it's a completely different ball game for me. Both centre backs occupied at all times, space for Rooney to create, Barkley to run and Sigurdsson to whip balls in. We could actually play to our strengths for a change.
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I've never doubted the need for a striker. However you need to create for him as we're not going to get another Lukaku.

At the moment the most active on the ball in the final 3rd is Rooney and his legs aren't the best. Barkley would take the pressure from him to be more effective towards goal, his need to drop back into space would be less so.

As for Siggurdson, the feller only exists in and around the box. Again, another midfielder like Barkley allows him to do that as he doesn't have to engage any build up play.

And saying they wouldn't create for Niasse or DCL would be down to them as players not making any movement, because Ross, Rooney, or Sigurdsson would pick them out.

The problem is those strikers aren't top level, so they'd only be so effective.

I don't agree we've abundance of quality number 10s. We've one getting to the end of his career and a set piece merchant. That's it. Each have their positives but IMO still need a Barkley like midfielder around either of them to add balance.

Overall, away from the striker problem this is another problem, to add to our full back and centre half problem. Getting just a striker (we need 2 to be honest) isn't going to fix everything.
 
What exactly is his injury? Was is a torn hamstring? Surely there should be some noises made about when he is coming back, as it nearly 3 months since the injury.
 

rochdaleblue said:
To be honest, I was thinking along those lines. But surely if he doesn't want to play for the club and he is fit to do so, he is in breach of his contract.
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Maybe Everton is totally freezing him cause of that agreement. We cannot do much cause of his contract situation. Both parties deeply hurt and thats why this kind of a mess. (Ofcourse this is just a quess)
 
Back fit next week

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kenada_blue said:
I've never doubted the need for a striker. However you need to create for him as we're not going to get another Lukaku.

At the moment the most active on the ball in the final 3rd is Rooney and his legs aren't the best. Barkley would take the pressure from him to be more effective towards goal, his need to drop back into space would be less so.

As for Siggurdson, the feller only exists in and around the box. Again, another midfielder like Barkley allows him to do that as he doesn't have to engage any build up play.

And saying they wouldn't create for Niasse or DCL would be down to them as players not making any movement, because Ross, Rooney, or Sigurdsson would pick them out.

The problem is those strikers aren't top level, so they'd only be so effective.

I don't agree we've abundance of quality number 10s. We've one getting to the end of his career and a set piece merchant. That's it. Each have their positives but IMO still need a Barkley like midfielder around either of them to add balance.

Overall, away from the striker problem this is another problem, to add to our full back and centre half problem. Getting just a striker (we need 2 to be honest) isn't going to fix everything.
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Precisely. They need a top striker who is, above all else, a goalscorer because they won't be padding out the goals total much themselves. My real point on this is that we could swap players in and out of that position as much as we like, giving them chance after chance to play themselves into form, but it's doubtful they will without a proper striker in there. Where we differ is that I think that if Barkley came in without that striker in place, he'd end up just being another number 10 that we try out, who would probably struggle as well for the same reasons. Not least because his two fellow forwards would be shunted out wide and out of their ideal positions, making their lives all the more difficult.

I agree this won't fix everything, just our goalscoring issues. If Coleman's not going to get back to his best, the defence will require an eye-watering amount of investment which doesn't bear thinking about.
 

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