Ross Barkley

[London Villan]

A three of Sanson and Doug at the base, with McGinn further forward must be worth a try.

[Lastfootstamper]

A three of Sanson and Doug at the base, with McGinn further forward must be worth a try.

Maybe not even at the base, maybe a flat 3 in a midfield pushing up as one. We can go full Christmas tree.

[eamonn]

Imagine Bielsa working Barkley. He'd sweat the shit out of him.

[algy]

I'm happy giving Barkley til the end of the season to prove himself. He's shown flashes of absolute brilliance. Needs to be more than just flashes, though, at 27 years old and a big wage to pay. And he's not offered a huge amount post-injury. There's mitigating circumstances for that - lots of games, hardly any training - but now we're not playing 2 games a week, you do expect an improvement.

Just wondering ... are we obliged to play him if he's fit? It just seems a bit weird the number of games he's playing when he's just come back from injury, and not showing particularly great form.

[The Edge]

I'm happy giving Barkley til the end of the season to prove himself. He's shown flashes of absolute brilliance. Needs to be more than just flashes, though, at 27 years old and a big wage to pay. And he's not offered a huge amount post-injury. There's mitigating circumstances for that - lots of games, hardly any training - but now we're not playing 2 games a week, you do expect an improvement.

Just wondering ... are we obliged to play him if he's fit? It just seems a bit weird the number of games he's playing when he's just come back from injury, and not showing particularly great form.

I doubt very much that we're obliged to play him. We're paying his wages so I'd imagine we call the shots. I don't think his fitness levels are where they should be since his injury and my guess is they are trying to play him back to full fitness.

[Drummond]

Was my Coutinho idea missed or did everyone just find it so laughable that it was brushed over? Barca are broke and he can’t get a game for their reserves from what I have been told.

If he can't get a game for their reserves I wouldn't want him. He's unlikely to take the sort of paycut that would be needed and let's face it, he's nowhere near the player he was. But other than that, maybe.

[Smithy]

Started brilliantly, but has been underwhelming since coming back from injury.  You can forgive a little rustiness, but as others have said, he's several games back into it now. 

However, his brilliant start means I'm still willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for the rest of the season.  That said, I don't want him to be the automatic first-choice for that position - he has to understand that the players in the wings will play if he doesn't perform. 

It would be difficult to drop him given he scored the winner against Leicester last time out, but I also like the idea of bringing him on with 30 mins to freshen up the attack a bit.

If nothing else, it's nice to finally have options, isn't it?

[danno]

Was my Coutinho idea missed or did everyone just find it so laughable that it was brushed over? Barca are broke and he can’t get a game for their reserves from what I have been told.

If he can't get a game for their reserves I wouldn't want him. He's unlikely to take the sort of paycut that would be needed and let's face it, he's nowhere near the player he was. But other than that, maybe.

Didn't he help knock them out the champions league last season? That possibly has more to do with it than him not being good enough.

[LeeB]

Was my Coutinho idea missed or did everyone just find it so laughable that it was brushed over? Barca are broke and he can’t get a game for their reserves from what I have been told.

If he can't get a game for their reserves I wouldn't want him. He's unlikely to take the sort of paycut that would be needed and let's face it, he's nowhere near the player he was. But other than that, maybe.

See Gareth Bale.

But the idea itself isn't so mad, the quality of options available for this role would be a lot higher for us on the back of this season than when we signed Barkley, I don't think we'll do a deal for him ultimately.

[Brend'Watkins]

Not unless he goes on a great run of form. The problem is, he may not get the opportunity if he's dropped. If he's looking exhausted with the level of effort he's putting in now it's hard to see how he can improve on his work rate. A big few weeks for Barkley's future career coming up.

[OCD]

I would hope our recruitment team would be watching a few players closely with thoughts of signing the right one this summer. We're significantly improving in this area so I would hope they could do better than simply paying big money for someone just because they're the current incumbent. I would want someone who will offer a lot more goals and assists, have a high energy and really help with the press. Someone who gives opponents a lot more to think about when they've done a job on Grealish like West Ham and Brighton have. 

[Pat Mustard]

Unless there is still some underlying issue with his fitness than Barkley is rapidly reaching the point of no return.  The performance on Saturday night, coming off the back of his hissy fit when subbed last week means he is not going to get cut a lot of slack.  He isn't our player so it's not like we lose much if he leaves, we just look for someone more suited to the role we need.

He is 27 now so isn't going to get many more opportunities to prove himself.  It's a shame as when he is on it he is a real asset, but the breaking point for me on Saturday was when Trossard had that shot in the first half - Barkley had not bothered to track him, and even when the ball was played back to him on the edge of the area Barkley is barely moving despite being the closest man.  In a side that puts as much effort into the defensive side of the game as we do, it must royally piss off his team-mates.

It was said that he was annoyed at being subbed last week as he feels that it is in the last 20 minutes that he can do the most damage.  If that's the case then he can start on the bench, and come on if we need it late on, but he can't start games if he continues to be a passenger like he was against Brighton.

[pauliewalnuts]

He has two settings - brilliant and awful, not much in between.

The brilliant / awful ratio is not looking anything like good enough currently, and we don't have a big or good enough squad to be able to live with that sort of non-delivery.

For me, based on events thus far, I wouldn't make the deal permanent.

[chrisw1]

Unless there is still some underlying issue with his fitness than Barkley is rapidly reaching the point of no return.  The performance on Saturday night, coming off the back of his hissy fit when subbed last week means he is not going to get cut a lot of slack.  He isn't our player so it's not like we lose much if he leaves, we just look for someone more suited to the role we need.

He is 27 now so isn't going to get many more opportunities to prove himself.  It's a shame as when he is on it he is a real asset, but the breaking point for me on Saturday was when Trossard had that shot in the first half - Barkley had not bothered to track him, and even when the ball was played back to him on the edge of the area Barkley is barely moving despite being the closest man.  In a side that puts as much effort into the defensive side of the game as we do, it must royally piss off his team-mates.

It was said that he was annoyed at being subbed last week as he feels that it is in the last 20 minutes that he can do the most damage.  If that's the case then he can start on the bench, and come on if we need it late on, but he can't start games if he continues to be a passenger like he was against Brighton.

Agree with this.  I'm a fan oh his and still believe that when on form he can be perfect for us.  But unless he can put in a sustained run of top performances between now and the end of the season I'd be looking elsewhere, which is a real shame as it could have been a good fit.

[kippaxvilla2]

Don’t win anything with waffer thin squads.

Thank you Mr Creosote.