Ross Barkley

[Bobby Boy]

I have always believed there is an underlying fitness problem. At 27 he should be at his peak.

There's an underlying attitude and application problem with him that he has had for years. It's why he never kicked on from a promising young player at Everton.

Like with the OP, I'm not buying the narrative that it's only since Barkley's injury that his form has become a problem. He was appalling in the home defeats to Leeds and Southampton, check back those match threads and you'll see ratings of 3 and 4.

Smith had a chance to lay down a marker then with Barkley then, I'm fairly sure for the Leeds game he was terrible for one or two goals by not bothering to track a runner. Instead he was given 90 mins in both those games and his laziness was tolerated.

Ross Barkley is nowhere near good enough to be given an armchair role in our team and we arent good enough to carry him. The penny should have dropped with him years ago (Conte treated him as a joke player at Chelsea for example) but evidently it still hasn't. Clearly hasn't much respect for Smith or the club if his repeated antics after being deservedly taken off are anything to go by.

A fair summary there BB.

Yup. Pretty much nails it.

[pauliewalnuts]

Barkley has two settings - brilliant or abysmal.

Too much of the latter, not enough of the former of late.

[ChicagoLion]

If Smith starts Barkley against Leeds he wants a slap round the face with a wet fish. We can't afford any passengers whatsoever against arguably the hardest working side in the Premier League. At least with Traore you get a bit of unpredicatability and goal threat, but we can't afford two players who aren't known for their defensive capabilities, especially when one of them isn't contributing in any sense at all.

and you definitely can not start with both of them and Traore is far more productive.

[Bobby Boy]

Villa's Premier League results this season:

With Barclay;

W 6
D 1
L 7

Without Barkley;

W 5
D 2
L 2

[exigo]

As seen on twitter

[Three Spires Villa]

Villa's Premier League results this season:

With Barclay;

W 6
D 1
L 7

Without Barkley;

W 5
D 2
L 2

Wow Ok

[placeforparks]

Clearly hasn't much respect for Smith or the club if his repeated antics after being deservedly taken off are anything to go by.

agreed. i wonder how a full villa park would have reacted to some of his recent performances and reactions at being subbed?

[brontebilly]

Clearly hasn't much respect for Smith or the club if his repeated antics after being deservedly taken off are anything to go by.

agreed. i wonder how a full villa park would have reacted to some of his recent performances and reactions at being subbed?

Well if he had tried sitting down on the advertising hoardings in front of a packed Holte End, I suspect he wouldn't be togging out for us again!

This isn't a kid either, he's 27 ffs, involved in top level football for nearly 10 years. There are no excuses. Shouldn't even need Smith to tear him a new one. Senior pros like Mings and Grealish should be letting him know that he is firmly at a career cross roads right now and his conduct on the pitch isn't remotely acceptable.

[ChicagoLion]

I was confused by his exit, was he trying to get attention or was he just knackered?
It was very strange knowing the cameras were bound to pick it up.

[paul_e]

I think the thing that bothered me most about Barkley yesterday is that not only was he largely invisible in defence but when we had breaks, unless he was on the ball, he was 5-10yards behind play consistently.

Having a player like Barkley or Traore is a trade off, you sacrifice some defensive stability for a bit more creativity at the other end. Traore has, generally, paid back his part by being involved in creating and taking chances. Barkley just isn't doing that, he's not making us a better team going forward so his lack of effort coming back is all the more noticeable. I had issues with signing him in the summer (either on this thread or the general transfer thread) and they were about this exact thing, at Chelsea he developed a bad habit of doing very little to impact games if he wasn't scoring or creating goals. In his first few games with us he went totally the other way, he was involved in play much more, he was making smart runs off the ball to open space and he was picking key passes in the build up as well. Since he came back from his injury he's done none of that, he's a completely different player and I think it's a lot more than merely fitness.

As it stands I'd be upset if we paid £10-12m for him let alone the £40m that is supposedly being asked, I just don't trust him not to play like this for long spells because it's what he's done for about 4 years now.

[danno]

Someone needs to remind him it's Dean Smith and Aston Villa who have taken a chance on him, not the other way around.

I can put up with people not playing well, but the pantomime stuff when he's taken off is clip round the ear territory.

[CT Villan]

Deano has a cunning plan - as cunning as a fox who’s just been appointed Professor of Cunning at Oxford University...

Ross is playing like shit to get Chelsea to drop the price. We pay 5m in the Summer then he plays to his full potential and we suddenly have a 50m player.

I'll get my coat.

[Risso]

I hope Smith's comments are just him defending a player, because if not they're a bit concerning:

"It's a long way off the mark to say things aren't working out for him," Smith reiterated, with the reporter suggesting things aren't quite going to plan for the England hopeful. "He had just been substituted after 73 full minutes.

"His numbers have been really good in terms of his output on the pitch and we have to remember he's been out for six or seven weeks with a hamstring injury and then had to play games to recapture that fitness because we haven't been able to train."

In terms of output he's been dreadful, and he's played 8 games now since being injured, and if anything he's getting worse. We also haven't had a mid week game in nearly 3 weeks, so the "not training" excuse is wearing a bit thin.

[Paulo]

Villa's Premier League results this season:

With Barclay;

W 6
D 1
L 7

Without Barkley;

W 5
D 2
L 2

Wow Ok

We are clearly better without Barkley in the team. The 2 loses were against West Ham (where we dominated, missed a pen and had Watkins last minute goal disallowed) and Man utd (where I thought we matched an inform utd team).

We were playing some great stuff and dominating games with Jack in the middle. Shoehorning Barkley into the team has made our midfield weaker and Jack easier to take out of games.

[aj2k77]

I hope Smith's comments are just him defending a player, because if not they're a bit concerning:

"It's a long way off the mark to say things aren't working out for him," Smith reiterated, with the reporter suggesting things aren't quite going to plan for the England hopeful. "He had just been substituted after 73 full minutes.

"His numbers have been really good in terms of his output on the pitch and we have to remember he's been out for six or seven weeks with a hamstring injury and then had to play games to recapture that fitness because we haven't been able to train."

In terms of output he's been dreadful, and he's played 8 games now since being injured, and if anything he's getting worse. We also haven't had a mid week game in nearly 3 weeks, so the "not training" excuse is wearing a bit thin.

How long do they want to be given after injuries? You can't take months to get back to fitness. Wesley's totally fucked if that's the case, he won't be fit until 2028.