Ross Barkley

[bicycleheader]

...whilst we all have our favourites, the club/team is undergoing significant change and RK has to do what he feels is best.

No Eggs, I'd prefer a short term manager not mess with the status of a very good player who is Everton through and through and could easily play his whole career with us.

Play him less....yeah, I could understand.

Sell, no.

 

[Kiwi]

Zidane also had plenty of off days too even after establishing himself as a great. Watched him lots at Juve and Madrid.

Obviously they are nowhere near the same level but I agree with the context given. Some wildly over the top criticism of Barkley at times.

Indeed, Zidane was the premier player in world football IMO.
I think Ross is becoming more consistent and developing his game under Koeman, if he can get his head right he can be what we dreamed of during his first season.

 

[Barnfred 55]

....his performances can be so polar, I'm sure I'm not alone in finding him a frustrating footballer. Indeed, I suspect Koeman can't make up his mind, although there is no doubt in my mind the lad is trying really hard to be the player his coach wants him to be.

Whilst I find some of his performances and aspects of his game frustrating, I sincerely want him to be a success.

I don't think his performances are so polar on the whole mate. I would say he's probably had 2 very poor games this season. He's probably had another 7/8 games that I would consider below par. But Ross, even being below par, is still our most productive player as regards creativity. the remaining games have ranged from good to excellent imo.

I go back to my previous post Eggs. I think you are being overly harsh on him. In the last 7 games Ross's form has been, on the whole, very good. And by that I mean on a par with or better than any other creative midfielder in the league. Within that run he had a poor second half against Stoke when he gave the ball away a lot, and that's the one thing you are concentrating on. I've seen little or no praise from you for his good performances during that spell.

 

[bicycleheader]

Indeed, Zidane was the premier player in world football IMO.
I think Ross is becoming more consistent and developing his game under Koeman, if he can get his head right he can be what we dreamed of during his first season.

Messi for me, at least for consistent greatness but for sure there's been plenty of threads on that in World Football.

I was a bit worried at the start that Koeman might look to sell, in fact it was one of my main worries about the new boss, but I think he is happy with him now and I don't think he would consider selling.

 

[Little Ralphy]

...I don't disagree, he's certainly good enough to be involved. When he plays well the team usually plays well. I have a view that Koeman is 'finding certain players out' but I think he's unsure about Barkley. Let's hope he puts a fabulous run of games together.

What makes you think that? He's started all but 4 of our games this season, compare that to someone like Mirallas who has started on the bench 12 times.


I’d say the evidence is there that Koeman knows full well how good a player Barkley can be and his management of him is now paying dividends.

 

[hetion]

Ross is effing great. In terms of key passes per game, in the whole league he's only behind Payet, De Bruyne, Erikesn, Ozil, and Sanchez. Higher than Silva, Coutinho, Hazard, Sigurdsson, Pogba, Tadic, Mane, Mkhitaryan, Zlatan, Fabregas, Mata, Sterling, Alli, Mahrez, Lallana, you name it. And now he's tracking back, throwing in tackles and being arrogant.

You can talk about him 'needing' to do this, 'needing' to cut out that...and of course he can improve, enormously, the sky's the limit for the kid. But it's not like he's crap otherwise, which seems to be the implication from some. He's boss.

 

[AaronTheBlue]

Think @Eggs being far too harsh on Barkley to be fair.

Understand you just want him to improve but to me it kind of comes across as dismissing him outright, and being a little too overly negative on him.

Personally I think koeman knew he had talent and likes him, but wanted him to work harder and get fitter, whilst becoming a more rounded footballer, which he has.

 

[Baines' left foot]

Just never understood the criticism of him. It's really quite simple; when people move for him, he'll either find them, or he'll exploit the space they leave behind by running the gaps.

The problem under Martinez particularly were twofold - first, we simply didn't move off the ball, ever. Second, he was told to play the role of a free-roaming playmaker and was quite clearly instructed not to defend anything but his own space. So what happened was people were moaning at him for not tracking back or throwing tackles and for not picking out passes, when for me the reason why he wasn't/couldn't do these things were obvious.

When Lukaku plays like he did against Bournemouth, it opens up Ross Barkley to be a superstar. When Lukaku doesn't, the movement dies in the final third and Barkley is less effective as a result. He can't do it all on his own. Barkley behind a channel runner as a striker and two clever inside forwards would be consistently one of the best attacking midfielders in world football.

The challenge for Everton - and particularly Lukaku, who simply has to learn from those type of performances what is required to be a truly top level footballer - is to keep that level up so we get the best out of the player who is in my view the biggest talent we've had at Goodison since Rooney.

Spot on this.

 

[bluestevon]

...whilst we all have our favourites, the club/team is undergoing significant change and RK has to do what he feels is best.

Mate he's put more time into Barkley by a mile than anyone else. It should tell you how highly he rates him, the ones Koeman is unsure of he gets rid of quite quickly.

 

[Khalekan]

If Ozil had played a backheel throughball assist social media would have had a collective spaff. As it is, everyone's just talking about if Barkley was being 'classless' by celebrating before scoring.

Anyway, I'm happy if he's kept away from Southgate's inevitable failure.

I must say I have not seen or heard any such criticism.

Ian Wright was waxing lyrical about it on MOTD......saying he wishes he had done sommat like that

When you see the replay from behind, I love the way Rom puts his hands above his head and starts clapping them a split second after Ross puts his arms up lol

Great stuff from boys whom are not only super confident right now but obviously enjoying their football immensely.

Personally, I think that fifth goal should win goal of the month.....the backheel pass was just so spontaneous and the finish was sublime.

I so much prefer that kind of superbly crafted goal to thirty yard shots which could just as easily sail over the crossbar as into the net.

 

[tsubaki]

Just never understood the criticism of him. It's really quite simple; when people move for him, he'll either find them, or he'll exploit the space they leave behind by running the gaps.

The problem under Martinez particularly were twofold - first, we simply didn't move off the ball, ever. Second, he was told to play the role of a free-roaming playmaker and was quite clearly instructed not to defend anything but his own space. So what happened was people were moaning at him for not tracking back or throwing tackles and for not picking out passes, when for me the reason why he wasn't/couldn't do these things were obvious.

When Lukaku plays like he did against Bournemouth, it opens up Ross Barkley to be a superstar. When Lukaku doesn't, the movement dies in the final third and Barkley is less effective as a result. He can't do it all on his own. Barkley behind a channel runner as a striker and two clever inside forwards would be consistently one of the best attacking midfielders in world football.

The challenge for Everton - and particularly Lukaku, who simply has to learn from those type of performances what is required to be a truly top level footballer - is to keep that level up so we get the best out of the player who is in my view the biggest talent we've had at Goodison since Rooney.

I agree with most of it, apart from the bit in bold there. The marked upturn in Barkley's (and ours) performance levels since Christmas has come when he has played as part of a front three, not when he has been behind a front three.

Barkley is big enough, quick enough and enough of a threat to do that role really well anyway and when combined with differential threats like Rom's all-round menace and the daft pace of someone like Mirallas or Lookman (or Bolasie and Deulofeu when they come back) it means that opposition defences, especially jarg defences, can't really cover them all without support from midfield. This then leads to gaps there which our other players can go on to exploit.

 

[Tubey]

I agree with most of it, apart from the bit in bold there. The marked upturn in Barkley's (and ours) performance levels since Christmas has come when he has played as part of a front three, not when he has been behind a front three.

Barkley is big enough, quick enough and enough of a threat to do that role really well anyway and when combined with differential threats like Rom's all-round menace and the daft pace of someone like Mirallas or Lookman (or Bolasie and Deulofeu when they come back) it means that opposition defences, especially jarg defences, can't really cover them all without support from midfield. This then leads to gaps there which our other players can go on to exploit.

That's absolutely fine - Lookman/Mirallas and Lukaku have worked too as you say. Point being that movement up ahead of him is key for Barkley succeeding.

Barkley is potentially world class at exploiting space; when I see him dally on the ball and get closed down, I don't look at it as his fault - instead, I look at the chronic lack of movement ahead of him for him to seek out.

It's similar to a quarterback being sacked in the NFL because the runners are crap and moving in straight lines.

 

[Eggs]

Think @Eggs being far too harsh on Barkley to be fair.

Understand you just want him to improve but to me it kind of comes across as dismissing him outright, and being a little too overly negative on him.

Personally I think koeman knew he had talent and likes him, but wanted him to work harder and get fitter, whilst becoming a more rounded footballer, which he has.

..to be fair, I did post a clip of Bobby Charlton and said Barkley reminds me lots of him. That's some accolade. I certainly don't dismiss him outright. There are not many better sights than Ross Barkley running with a football and it's that running style that reminds me lots of Charlton. I'm sure some of the older folk know what I'm talking about.

However, I do find him a frustrating footballer at times. I'd be genuinely chuffed if we can get to the next level with Barkley in the team but I have to be honest and say I'm not certain he will be.

 

[Eggs]

What makes you think that? He's started all but 4 of our games this season, compare that to someone like Mirallas who has started on the bench 12 times.


I’d say the evidence is there that Koeman knows full well how good a player Barkley can be and his management of him is now paying dividends.

...he did leave him out for a spell and brought him off early in games. I'm sure you're right and Koeman does know what a talent he has with Barkley, as @bluestevon suggests he appears to be devoting a lot of time on him. I just wonder if he's totally convinced that the player can apply himself to take us to the next level.

 

[bluestevon]

...he did leave him out for a spell and brought him off early in games. I'm sure you're right and Koeman does know what a talent he has with Barkley, as @bluestevon suggests he appears to be devoting a lot of time on him. I just wonder if he's totally convinced that the player can apply himself to take us to the next level.

He's been around the game enough and around top top players as both a manager and mporeso as a player mate to figure out whose worth the effort and who isn't (IMO), if you'd told me 3-4 months back that Barkley would be starting to get stuck in so much and controibuting a lot defensively i'd have never believed it (btw the first signs just going on stats that he was trying etc to add this was the city game - attempted 7 tacklles and won none) so its obviously something theyve been working heavily on in training as slowly hes been coming on sicne that point and it seemed to all click last two games

Don't discount Koemans playing career for him as well mate, he knows the importance in having a home grown nuclei to the side - as both Ajax and Barca sides did in his playing days.