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.

[brontebilly]

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?’.

It does to a degree. Id also question maybe our sub preparations. Emery might like to make changes without much notice at times, like at Liverpool with a triple change. But I distinctly remember Mings, Barkley and was it Sancho struggling to get their gear removed. That's no kind of preparation. Mings limps off a few minutes later with a hamstring injury. If Barkley needs a good workout before he goes on then maybe that's something that can be worked on 5 or 10 mins beforehand where possible. He's never going to be leading on a press from the front, mind.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

I like Barkley and he seems very professional in accepting up until now his bit part role for us. We shouldn't forget despite his first spell here, he was a very highly rated player. Talk of playing for England again makes me  think he's had a shandy or two. What we see on a weekly basis however is a happy lad who's fully integrated into the squad and all that comes with it.
Right now he just needs to maintain the focus and be ready when called upon. He knows he has the love and respect of Unai. After all he's been though I'm sure that and being surrounded by top pros makes life a lot easier.

[OCD]

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.

Yeah, I think any runners in the group would get this. The first few minutes of running are horrible until you're properly warm (and in this case, in the game).

[eamonn]

The article didn't explain the personal issues as to why he missed the first couple of months of the season unless I missed it. Thought it would do, considering it's a personal interview. His season on-loan with us under Deano not mentioned either.

[PeterWithe]

He speaks about what alcohol does to his sometimes fragile mental state, I think its a nice supportive article with just enough in it to draw your own conclusions, good on the club for their support of him.

[Somniloquism]

I suppose it depends on how much he was dependent on alcohol but it might be that the "personal issues" were the club agreed he could take time away at specific facilities to help him over the first few months of getting over the need for drinking. I suspect if there was something more personal (edit: removed due to examples of more speculative personal reasons not being needed) they weren't covering it.