Barnes' defending

[blockhseagull]

Barnes again in the first half put in a great shift defensively and in his own half, however he is doing less and less going forward and doesn't look a goal threat whatsoever.

Time for him to either be played as a midfielder or not at all, yet again yesterday our lack of support to our front player was shocking

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Barnes again in the first half put in a great shift defensively and in his own half, however he is doing less and less going forward and doesn't look a goal threat whatsoever.

Time for him to either be played as a midfielder or not at all, yet again yesterday our lack of support to our front player was shocking

He played centre midfield yesterday.

 

[Birdie Boy]

I have thought all season that Barnes is not good enough but in 2012 he has improved greatly. I thought in the first half he played very well.
My wife met Ashley, his wife and child on the train to London last week, she mentioned to him that she hopes his child will be a better footballer than him! He smiled and his wife laughed!

 

[Brighton Breezy]

I don't rate Barnes especially. But, the last four or five games, he has been one of our better players.

And yesterday, his work rate and defensive play was as good as anyone else's.

The only issue I have is that (through no fault of his own) one of our attacking threats is having to do his best work defending.

 

[Brighton Breezy]

He played centre midfield yesterday.

Not strictly true. He was clearly not playing as an out and out forward, but looked to me to be more in the gap behind Vokes - but forced back a lot because of how much possession they had.

He seems to play up front when we have the ball but make up an extra body in the middle when we lose it. Not a typical centre midfield role though.

 

[vegster]

What, the free kick kick awarded when Lualua picked up the ball on the halfway line, then beat two players, before being tripped just outside the box?

Thats what I saw too

 

[beorhthelm]

Barnes is becoming the Virgo/El-Abd of previous years, a player offering himself to play anywhere, do a job asked of him by the manager, cover for others but then get slated because he didnt do what fans think he should do. Gus doesnt pick him for giggles.

having said that i dont believe he is suitable for midfield as his passing isnt good enough. he's clearly quite good at tackling so Gus has him drop back when we lose possesion.

 

[1066familyman]

Barnes is becoming the Virgo/El-Abd of previous years, a player offering himself to play anywhere, do a job asked of him by the manager, cover for others but then get slated because he didnt do what fans think he should do. Gus doesnt pick him for giggles.

having said that i dont believe he is suitable for midfield as his passing isnt good enough. he's clearly quite good at tackling so Gus has him drop back when we lose possesion.

What a lovely turn of phrase.

Precisely my point - Gus knows exactly why he picks him to start virtually week in, week out.

 

[One Legged Striker]

I think the fact that he is mentioned every week, is due people are now looking for him to make mistakes, I'm not a great fan of him to be honest, but you cannot fault the shift he puts in week in out.

But the man we put our trust in Mr Gus Poyet who see's him in training and match days has faith in him, so that must mean something.

One Little thought is he in the last year of his contract? if so why has Gus not thrashed out a new deal to keep him, with time running out? and why is no one sniffing around him?

 

[dingodan]

Sure enough, the first thing I read when I come on here this morning is someone slagging off Ashley Barnes.

Was it only me that saw him clear the ball off the line at least five times in the first half alone! He was so busy covering for our vanishing defenders he hardly had the chance to do anything else. Well played Ashley Barnes.

Agreed. If there was one performance which stood out, it was Ashley's defensive work. Well played that man.

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

Barnes wasn't marking Skrtel - he was the free man on the near post. Skrtel was being marked by Greer but lost him and also managed to get ahead of Barnes, who failed to attack the ball quickly enough.

 

[Acker79]

I think the fact that he is mentioned every week, is due people are now looking for him to make mistakes, I'm not a great fan of him to be honest, but you cannot fault the shift he puts in week in out.

I think there are some people who only look for his mistakes, and always have. Same with Brez, Ankergren, Navarro, Painter, Paynter, Calderon, Dicker. They will rush back to list a misplaced pass, a poor touch, a wild shot, while ignoring the often times wildly outnumbering accurate passes, good touches, great movement, interceptions, blocks, "give and go"s, pressure relieving/goal providing free kicks won, ushering of players away from danger areas, forcing opposition back etc. or finding an excuse to dismiss them as luck or poor opponents, or "only penalties" etc. or give disproportionate value to mistakes to make them seem worse, talking about what could have happened rather than what actually did happen.

I'm sure it works the other way too, people only look at the good some players do and rush back to post the positives, ignoring the negatives.

 

[perseus]

Yeah, his marking for the first goal was superb

The TV commentators were too harsh. Goals are scored like this in the Premier quite often without the defence getting panned so badly.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

What, the free kick kick awarded when Lualua picked up the ball on the halfway line, then beat two players, before being tripped just outside the box?

Easy mistake to make

#bobbyrobson

 

[bhawoddy]

Agreed the man is excellent at defending now.

Did anyone else notice the amount of times he just nips inbetween the attacker and the ball and just wins a freekick. Think I saw this at least 4 times in the first half

Apart from the first five minutes where he was supposed to be defending our near post and stopping it getting past the first man, oops!! lack of concentration from a striker- Hes no defender!!