Ross Barkley

[olaftab]

Excellent. Thanks for posting SV.

[brontebilly]

I've never been much of a Ross Barkley fan and that article skims over the reasons why he ended up in Luton in the first place - was his first spell with us even mentioned? But when he's getting regular minutes he has proven a decent squad option for us. He does have a goal in him, very good in the air and a good strike on the ball. He has looked increasingly sharp when coming on, even at Liverpool I thought he looked decent. Good job he's back in the Europa league squad as he will get plenty of minutes there.

He's always had plenty of talent. Fit, alcohol free and focused and he might surprise a few this season.

[ChicagoLion]

He was blowing within minutes of being on the pitch and continued to be sucking in great gulps of air.
Great finish though.

[VILLA MOLE]

He was blowing within minutes of being on the pitch and continued to be sucking in great gulps of air.
Great finish though.

He maybe blowing but he does look strong and sharp

[Somniloquism]

Probably explains the "blowing" comments.

If I come on for 10 minutes and because I’ve got asthma, I start to question, ‘Am I not fit?’.

[algy]

Yeah, if he’s got asthma then potentially caught COVID it’d easily explain it. I was fucked for years after getting that, it’s only been in the last 12 months that my breathing has got back to something close to normal.

Comes across as a decent chap in that interview. Hope he stays with us for a while longer.

[paul_e]

He was blowing within minutes of being on the pitch and continued to be sucking in great gulps of air.
Great finish though.

He maybe blowing but he does look strong and sharp

I'm never worried about someone looking like that a few minutes after they come on because sometimes that first 5-10minutes trying to get up to the speed of the game is the most demanding part.

He looks a lot fitter this year than he did in his loan spell with us.

On the drinking part I really hope the club are having him talk to the academy kids about his experiences and the impact that lifestyle has had on him.

[PeterWithe]

A good article but one that leaves a lot unsaid, I cant help but think he might have been wiser to have agreed to the piece a little further down his sobriety road.

[Virgil Caine]

I think the environment of a successful football club with the cocooning of players from 'normal life' and therefore potentially unlikely to gain life skills is the worst if you have an addiction of any sort. The fact that he has admitted to a problem will protect him from the peer pressure of having a drink, and I hope he has a strong and mature circle of players around him that recognise his issue. However those of us who either have had problems with alcohol or live closely with someone that has, will know that one of the tactics an alcoholic will use is to lie about their drinking to an extent that it becomes ridiculous. The complex hiding of and lying about a drinking issue can manifest in all kinds of ways to include the fabrication of attendance at AA meetings and Counsellor sessions to disposing of evidence of a drinking habit in bizarre ways. I wish Ross Barkley and his family the strength to be alcohol free for the rest of his life rather than 'for the rest of his career in football',as that comment demonstrates that the inner drinker has still got some form of influence over him.