Barry/McCarthy

[oldblue]

Barry is one of the weakest links in our team IMO. As time goes on he will become more and more Phil Neville. When experience and leadership are touted as your best qualities then your days are numbered. Besic is a perfect replacement for him though.

We are also missing baines a lot. The idea of having 2 DM's is fine when baines is being boss but without him it doesn't seem worth it.

Think this is spot on. The defensive midfield needs to reflect how we are breaking forward and without Baines and Coleman seemingly restricted, I don't see a need for a Barry/McCarthy set up. And also agree that Barry seems to be there for leadership on pitch and seen this go wrong a few times. when the player can't lead by example it isn't fair on them or the team. There needs to be more leadership generally, you can't be looking at one player to bring it all.
McCarthy got ran ragged at start of last season when he looked like he was covering three roles and hasn't looked at best since. Don't now how we can operate without him though. He will be back I reckon. McCarthy and Cleverley for me if we get Baines and Coleman as attacking options again. If we end up with two static full backs then we may as well play Barkley deeper with either McCarthy or Cleverley

 

[Saint Domingo]

70% of people don't think Barry and McCarthy work.

Apparently they're all dull and Ill informed. Or perhaps they watched the same dross I did last season where McBarry often failed to create one chance of note in some games. Besic and Barkley for me in the deep positions. Barkley is a huge talent but we're playing him out of position to accommodate a soon to be 35 year old who is a walking yellow card and needs McCarthy to hold his hand most games.

If you keep saying it's not Barry's fault though then eventually people will start to believe you. I mean we must be rubbish in front of goal because of the 45 mill of Belgian international talent we have, similarly our poor defensive record must be down to our Enhlish international centreback pairing and the best full backs in the league. Yeah, nothing to do with the only 34 year old still being given a starting spot in midfield in the league.

 

[Whistlin' Dixie]

Barry's far too slow. McCarthy, for all his running, can't (or won't) pass forwards. Tbh I don't think we'd miss either, if we had a berndt schuster-type midfielder (Yard dog with a range of passing) for Barkley & Cleverley to do the running & provide the creativity in the centre.

Besic is the player most akin to schuster but he doesn't have anyhwere near Schuster's vision.

 

[Dithering Dougie]

70% of people don't think Barry and McCarthy work.

All we need now is a link to some spurious website from your good self and that's point proven I suppose...

 

[Dymak]

They are a really poor central midfield pairing, and I have been saying so for months on end now. I believe the game is very often won or lost in central midfield, and seeing as these two are incapable of creating any attacking play, and they are no great shakes from a defensive perspective either, then we are persisting with a very poor central midfield pairing that will have us finish in mid-table once again.

Our attacking players are nowhere near filling their potential due to having these two behind them. People are saying it's down to the number 10 to create stuff, I don't agree, and you need to have at least one central midfielder who can create stuff for the number 10 himself, as well as for the wingers and the striker. Central midfielders who are incapable of attacking football aren't very good central midfielders imo.

 

[bluestevon]

probably been already said by someone, but the entire point - or at least the major reason for playing them both is to allow both our fullbacks to bomb on forwards and be a major creative part in our overall game, thing is though we haven't adjusted to the fact right now we our lb with Baines being out can't do that job and our rb is often playing with no cover in front which means he can't really go himself as much as say two years ago.

Really weird that we haven't seemed to really adjusted the middle of the park to take all that into account

 

[fitzyefc]

Given we didnt get a 10 we should now focus on playing 433. The midfield 3 should consist of Barkley, one of Cleverley snd McCarthy and one of Besic and Barry. However only one of Besic or Barry should be played as the holding midfielder.

 

[Furey1878]

Barry on his day is a class act, many forget how consistently good he was in his first season in which the only competition for his place was Osman.

Shouldn't be played every game, even without Europe. Or at the very least the manager has to start sacrificing him or McCarthy in a game we're chasing/looking to nick.

 

[Saint Domingo]

Barry on his day is a class act, many forget how consistently good he was in his first season in which the only competition for his place was Osman.

Shouldn't be played every game, even without Europe. Or at the very least the manager has to start sacrificing him or McCarthy in a game we're chasing/looking to nick.

I remember Osman and Puenaar rescuing a lot of games that were heading towards dour goalless draws in Roberto's first season. He's not had those players since and we have tanked (funnily enough not when Barry has been injured or suspended where we have won almost every game)

 

[hullefc]

If Martinez persists with this partnership then when the opposition is attacking McCarthy and Barry need to sit outside the box and not go into it. The space left outside the box for the opposition is a worry for me. If one of them drops into our penalty area then the other has to be disciplined enough to stay outside with maybe Barkley/Cleverley dropping deeper to fill in.

As far as going forward McCarthy is far too slow with his passing and needs to quicken up his game. That said there needs to be better movement in front of him so he does have an outlet. If they are playing together, and something I've noticed, Barry has been pushed further forward more lately, probably due to his better passing than McCarthy.

At home we only need one player to sit deep with Barry or McCarthy pushed further forward. Or play only one of them with Besic coming in, who I would like to see given more of a go at DM with McCarthy and/or Barry further forward.

 

[Furey1878]

I remember Osman and Puenaar rescuing a lot of games that were heading towards dour goalless draws in Roberto's first season. He's not had those players since and we have tanked (funnily enough not when Barry has been injured or suspended where we have won almost every game)

I'm talking about Osman playing as a DM, mate. He's accomplished as an attacking midfielder, not disputing that.

 

[riddick]

probably been already said by someone, but the entire point - or at least the major reason for playing them both is to allow both our fullbacks to bomb on forwards and be a major creative part in our overall game, thing is though we haven't adjusted to the fact right now we our lb with Baines being out can't do that job and our rb is often playing with no cover in front which means he can't really go himself as much as say two years ago.

Really weird that we haven't seemed to really adjusted the middle of the park to take all that into account

This is my thoughts as well. The whole point of them is to provide cover for when the fullbacks go forward but they are effective when they have cover in front of them. Martinez has almost no inclination of having wide players that support the fullbacks so there's no point in having them.

 

[Baines' left foot]

I think the lack of creativity has as much to do with McCarthy as it is to do with Barry. They're similar players with their defensive abilities, but neither are really able to get an attack going. McCarthy runs around a lot, closing down and making tackles, which I think can make him look better than he is at times. McCarthy is fairly quick for a CM so he can be handy on the counter attack, but I think Barry has a better range of passing.

I like McCarthy but I can't see him becoming a creative box to box midfielder. I hope that I'm either wrong or that he will later go on to occupy Barry's position with any of Besic, Cleverley or Barkley beside him.

 

[BlueToff]

They both look better in a 4-1-4-1 imo.

Barry is a very good holding player but I feel he's often left too exposed (because of his lack of pace) in a 4-2-3-1.

We played really well in a 4-1-4-1 towards the end of last season - and Barry and McCarthy both had their best game using that system against Utd.

 

[bluestevon]

I think the lack of creativity has as much to do with McCarthy as it is to do with Barry. They're similar players with their defensive abilities, but neither are really able to get an attack going. McCarthy runs around a lot, closing down and making tackles, which I think can make him look better than he is at times. McCarthy is fairly quick for a CM so he can be handy on the counter attack, but I think Barry has a better range of passing.

I like McCarthy but I can't see him becoming a creative box to box midfielder. I hope that I'm either wrong or that he will later go on to occupy Barry's position with any of Besic, Cleverley or Barkley beside him.

We badly (myself included) overate mccarthy as blues mate, hes a decent player not the next roy keane by a kong shot, been shown since barrys decline that i think