Ross Barkley – midfielder or forward…

[Seathestars]

No 10.

 

[gaino92]

Doing bits @Connor

 

[BlueToff]

I must have missed the part where Barkley is dicussed...

For me, Barkley is a forward. He has no vision, is a horrible passer of the ball, and while I hoped that might be improved over the last 2 seasons, he has made zero progress in that area. Instead, his strengths are he can rip a shot, he is good at taking people on, and he always looks to shoot first. That is CLASSIC striker behavior. His best position would be as a forward, slightly reserved of the main striker. Continuing to put him in midfield is just ensuring plays continue to break down.

he got 13 assists for club and country last season?

 

[jtl60]

This whole 'not tracking back', I'm convinced it was something Martinez was urging him to do, rather than track back. stay up top and keep the defence occupied . It just seemed to blatant and I'm sure he used to track back more earlier in his career

 

[diguyo]

Centre mid, just needs more discipline and tutoring. Martinez had him strolling around without a care in the world, that won't happen under RK IMO.

 

[Lanolin]

This whole 'not tracking back', I'm convinced it was something Martinez was urging him to do, rather than track back. stay up top and keep the defence occupied . It just seemed to blatant and I'm sure he used to track back more earlier in his career

Completely agree. Him and Deulofeu were clearly given instructions not to get involved in the defensive side of things, I actually saw them being instructed to stay where they were (in attacking positions) while teams were attacking us on more than one occasion.

I said it a lot when Martinez was here and people were saying he'd developed young players - in my opinion he hindered Barkley and Deulofeu massively by just concentrating on their strengths and failing to encourage them to become more rounded players.

 

[summerisle]

Photographer

 

[rochdaleblue]

Thought he did really well today albeit against limited opposition. Notwithstanding the brilliant goal, thought he controlled the game when he came on, to hear koeman describe him as a 'great player' in the post match interview, shows how highly he rates Ross. Another player in a long list I feel, who will be transformed under koeman's guidance.