Ross Barkley

[brontebilly]

Players that have left us and done a good comeback? From my memory Gordon Cowans and Ashley Young.

Those players performed for us! Barkley was an embarrassing flop that has already cost us a 12m loan fee.

Is there any precedent of a player bombing in his first chance with a club and they sign him again and he does well? Suspect this second punt on Barkley is unprecedented.

[Monty]

Players that have left us and done a good comeback? From my memory Gordon Cowans and Ashley Young.

Those players performed for us! Barkley was an embarrassing flop that has already cost us a 12m loan fee.

Is there any precedent of a player bombing in his first chance with a club and they sign him again and he does well? Suspect this second punt on Barkley is unprecedented.

I wonder if Unai knows this.

[Astnor]

That I couldn’t tell you.

No idea how to post videos either but this had him salivating (fingers crossed):

Most of those clips against good teams.

Looks a stronger variant of Luiz on those clips.

[brontebilly]

Players that have left us and done a good comeback? From my memory Gordon Cowans and Ashley Young.

Those players performed for us! Barkley was an embarrassing flop that has already cost us a 12m loan fee.

Is there any precedent of a player bombing in his first chance with a club and they sign him again and he does well? Suspect this second punt on Barkley is unprecedented.

I wonder if Unai knows this.

Im not really sure forums work if everyone blindly accepts the decisions the manager or even the club make.

[AV82EC]

No one is blindly accepting anything, we’re looking at the most recently available evidence and saying for £5m it’s a pretty low risk decision and we’ve seen what Emery can do with less talented players than Barkley. It may blow up in our faces but that’s the risk with any transfer.

[Monty]

Players that have left us and done a good comeback? From my memory Gordon Cowans and Ashley Young.

Those players performed for us! Barkley was an embarrassing flop that has already cost us a 12m loan fee.

Is there any precedent of a player bombing in his first chance with a club and they sign him again and he does well? Suspect this second punt on Barkley is unprecedented.

I wonder if Unai knows this.

Im not really sure forums work if everyone blindly accepts the decisions the manager or even the club make.

No, but I'm pretty sure who's watched more football other than the Villa.

[Ads]

Criticism narrows when there's probably 1 manager better than him in Europe.

Still on favour of this. Good physical presence too, which seems to be the profile; height/aerial ability, pace, power. Would have slotted in on plenty of ocassions to cover Doug or Yuri.

[LeeB]

Criticism narrows when there's probably 1 manager better than him in Europe.

Still on favour of this. Good physical presence too, which seems to be the profile; height/aerial ability, pace, power. Would have slotted in on plenty of ocassions to cover Doug or Yuri.

Certainly seems to be a push towards this, which given the problems say Newcastle caused us I can understand.

Imagine a bunch of angry giants playing the kind of football we did last season, God help everyone else.

[Ads]

Criticism narrows when there's probably 1 manager better than him in Europe.

Still on favour of this. Good physical presence too, which seems to be the profile; height/aerial ability, pace, power. Would have slotted in on plenty of ocassions to cover Doug or Yuri.

Certainly seems to be a push towards this, which given the problems say Newcastle caused us I can understand.

Imagine a bunch of angry giants playing the kind of football we did last season, God help everyone else.

How do you defend against a JJ in full gallop, being overlapped by The Flash if The Flash was stacked and you've got a man whose 6'4" in your eye line that appears impossible to knock off the ball.

[LeeB]

Criticism narrows when there's probably 1 manager better than him in Europe.

Still on favour of this. Good physical presence too, which seems to be the profile; height/aerial ability, pace, power. Would have slotted in on plenty of ocassions to cover Doug or Yuri.

Certainly seems to be a push towards this, which given the problems say Newcastle caused us I can understand.

Imagine a bunch of angry giants playing the kind of football we did last season, God help everyone else.

How do you defend against a JJ in full gallop, being overlapped by The Flash if The Flash was stacked and you've got a man whose 6'4" in your eye line that appears impossible to knock off the ball.

You spend all game getting the shit knocked out of you by angry Mings and co, then get beaten in the air at the near post from a corner by Buendia.

[eamonn]

Aside but God I hope Ramsey comes back fit and as good as he was in 22/23. A joy to watch when he drives forward. More than Grealish in a way. With Jack, I always felt like he'd end any dribbling by winning a foul. JJ is stronger, when he drives, you're more confident that there will be end-product.

[paul_e]

Aside but God I hope Ramsey comes back fit and as good as he was in 22/23. A joy to watch when he drives forward. More than Grealish in a way. With Jack, I always felt like he'd end any dribbling by winning a foul. JJ is stronger, when he drives, you're more confident that there will be end-product.

With JJ, Rogers and Bailey we have a lot of strong ball carriers in squad if we can get them all fit. Add Iling-Junior as well and we look very dangerous.

[Ian.]

Aside but God I hope Ramsey comes back fit and as good as he was in 22/23. A joy to watch when he drives forward. More than Grealish in a way. With Jack, I always felt like he'd end any dribbling by winning a foul. JJ is stronger, when he drives, you're more confident that there will be end-product.

With JJ, Rogers and Bailey we have a lot of strong ball carriers in squad if we can get them all fit. Add Iling-Junior as well and we look very dangerous.

They all know where the net is too, I'd say if Jack had a weakness for us, it was the final shot or knowing when to shoot.

[Smithy]

That I couldn’t tell you.

No idea how to post videos either but this had him salivating (fingers crossed):

Most of those clips against good teams.

Looks a stronger variant of Luiz on those clips.

he's clearly a different player to the one we had in 20/21.  Whether something has 'clicked' having left Chelsea without a Premier League suitor, or having to kick on over in France, but it's obviously to everyone that the player who spent last season at Luton is head and shoulders above the one who spent time in our midfield three seasons ago.

The only real question is 'has he changed permanently'?  And the only people who can answer that are the club, and those who get to talk to him and look in his eyes.  If he can play at the level he did for Luton, then he will be an asset, undoubtedly.  If he feels he's back in the big time and takes his foot of the pedal, then it could be a mistake.  But that's about mentality rather than ability, because he clearly has the latter.

[KevinGage]

Don't recall much of a physical presence from him in his first spell with us - even during his initial good phase.

In that period, he was capable of being explosive over short distances and opening the game up with a quick pass. Or having a pop from distance.

For his height and build he was always punching below his weight when it came to the other stuff.