Barry on ice

[Plain Speaking]

A few half decent performances in NO WAY make up for his general poorness. He makes more mistakes and gives the ball away more than any other regular starter, this could probably be the last season in which he plays a major role.

Against spurs he was under very little pressure, it wasn't a tough game for him so he wasn't found out.

Prove it.

I think you are completely wrong. He is a very tidy player in possession and makes a lot of crucial interceptions and tackles. The reason he keeps getting picked is that he plays to a consistently good level, plays with discipline and is tactically very aware. Managers love him, SOME fans constantly say he's crap. I think I'll trust Mancini on this one.

Discipline went out the window at Spurs he picked up a booking for a late tackle. He has a knack of giving away stupid frees and picking up bookings from them.

Barry's booking was a joke, he made no contact. Van der vaart jumped 3 foot in the air to win a free kick in a dangerous position. In that case the ref was conned!

 

[nedums noodles]

he's a rich mans charlie adam?

 

[RandomJ]

The Barry wanking has gone way OTT this season. He's been decent but nothing more, nothing less.

 

[Citizenhill]

Barry's more attacking instincts have kicked in this season and he's now playing very well, not just well. Anyone saying he is just decent desperately underestimates his role in the side, whilst we do have Milner who can also play the role well, he is the pinnacle of the defensive English midfielder. But, his body won't run forever and I hope Milner is seen as his heir, and we continue the English contingent.

 

[Zin 'messiah' Zimmer]

mirror image of the thread of after the liverpool home game last year - barry is belting 'Squad' player, imo to even suggest he start games ahead of de jong is wrong on so many levels, he isnt consistent enough to command that role and he certainly won't be as effective when we need to retain the ball in europe - i'm all for his performances of late, but don't get giddy.

yet they play totally different positions when in the first 11 together and barry does not really take up the de jong role when he is out it is shared with yaya!

i thought we got passed this barry gets dropped when de jong comes in theory as proven for the past two seasons?

Totally draw the line under the argument and answer if its a toss up between barry/de jong/yaya - which two will be certs?

I know one thing, imo barry will be the one who plays less due to the new system

 

[Berkovic_blue]

A few half decent performances in NO WAY make up for his general poorness. He makes more mistakes and gives the ball away more than any other regular starter, this could probably be the last season in which he plays a major role.

Against spurs he was under very little pressure, it wasn't a tough game for him so he wasn't found out.

Prove it.

I think you are completely wrong. He is a very tidy player in possession and makes a lot of crucial interceptions and tackles. The reason he keeps getting picked is that he plays to a consistently good level, plays with discipline and is tactically very aware. Managers love him, SOME fans constantly say he's crap. I think I'll trust Mancini on this one.

Discipline went out the window at Spurs he picked up a booking for a late tackle. He has a knack of giving away stupid frees and picking up bookings from them.

I think you're nitpicking in the extreme there. What did you make of Yaya booting the ball away for his booking?

 

[King Geedorah]

Barry won more headers, won more tackles, covered more ground and made more interceptions than De Jong last season. It's always been clear who was more important to the team and now Barry's passing is more progressive and he's threatening the goal regularly it's a no brainer.

 

[leewill31]

mirror image of the thread of after the liverpool home game last year - barry is belting 'Squad' player, imo to even suggest he start games ahead of de jong is wrong on so many levels, he isnt consistent enough to command that role and he certainly won't be as effective when we need to retain the ball in europe - i'm all for his performances of late, but don't get giddy.

yet they play totally different positions when in the first 11 together and barry does not really take up the de jong role when he is out it is shared with yaya!

i thought we got passed this barry gets dropped when de jong comes in theory as proven for the past two seasons?

Totally draw the line under the argument and answer if its a toss up between barry/de jong/yaya - which two will be certs?

I know one thing, imo barry will be the one who plays less due to the new system

i doubt even mancini could answer that! :0

makes you wonder why mancini is looking at getting an out and out defensive midfielder in and it isnt to replace barry at any given time is it imho?

 

[Rammyblues]

IMO he has been re inventing himself as an out and out defensive holding midfield player rather than a box to box midfield player. IMO in the pure holding role doesn't need the pace of box to box but in my view I reckon if Bert is only going to play Yaya/Barry/NDJ/Milner in those roles with Hargreaves as backup plenty of games to rotate. Last season when NDJ was injured we generally lost the game, not this season. Highlighted on MOTD 2 that the four front players of Nasri, Silva, Aguero and Dzkeo were free to attack and roam at will because they knew Yaya and Barry would mop up. Not saying this will be employed in every match but it certainly looks good.

 

[Dzeko's Right Boot]

he's a rich mans charlie adam?

No. Charlie Adam is a poor man's Gareth Barry. GB is class personified. If he is so bad, why was he picked so much last season?

 

[RandomJ]

he's a rich mans charlie adam?

No. Charlie Adam is a poor man's Gareth Barry. GB is class personified. If he is so bad, why was he picked so much last season?

No ones saying he's bad. I don't rate him as highly as many do on here but I would never call him a bad player. Just not as good as some of the people on here are saying he is.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

The great thing about Gaz Baz this season is that he's getting forward into the last third and doing what he does for England. The last goal at WHL & his ealrier shot plus his goal against Bolton show how dangerous he can be in that sort of position.

 

[matt99is]

he's a rich mans charlie adam?

No. Charlie Adam is a poor man's Gareth Barry. GB is class personified. If he is so bad, why was he picked so much last season?

Lack of options...You know, the lack of options he's been talking about for ages. Do you think if he had so much faith in the ability of Gareth Barry that he would be trying to sign another midfielder?...

Mark my words you wont be seeing much Barry next season, maybe not after the January window for that matter.

 

[Abbeygoo]

I always think that someone who criticises Barry doesn't watch what he actually contributes to a game.

And the same person would be salivating over a flick from David Silva or a dribble from Adam Johnson and miss the constant covering that Barry does for the team.

The first 30 seconds at WHL showed this as Zabaleta gets caught out of position and Assou-Ekotto gets a free run to the edge of our box ... the person covering was Gareth Barry.

If you don't believe me then watch the coverage of the ESPN game or indeed the FA Cup semi v United or the Bolton Sky game and just watch Barry ... not the ball or any other players ... his contribution is immense and much more than many people think.

 

[canyerdogputoutafire]

I watched an England game not long after he signed for us,He was everywhere.
His ommision is the reason we got beat at wembley.

 

[Thaksins Love Child]

I watched an England game not long after he signed for us,He was everywhere.
His ommision is the reason we got beat at wembley.

Bang on

 

[cookster]

Mancini is no mug! Barry plays in the all the big games.

 

[leighton]

Prove it.

I think you are completely wrong. He is a very tidy player in possession and makes a lot of crucial interceptions and tackles. The reason he keeps getting picked is that he plays to a consistently good level, plays with discipline and is tactically very aware. Managers love him, SOME fans constantly say he's crap. I think I'll trust Mancini on this one.

Discipline went out the window at Spurs he picked up a booking for a late tackle. He has a knack of giving away stupid frees and picking up bookings from them.

I think you're nitpicking in the extreme there. What did you make of Yaya booting the ball away for his booking?

Nitpicking maybe. Barry picks up the yellows as much as De Jong does. Last season Barry got 8 and De Jong got 9. So his discipline isnt all that great in my view. It is mainly down to him loosing the speed and giving away needless frees like his one he got on Sunday.

 

[johnmc]

NDJ is now far too one dimensional for our first 11. At spurs we saw the midfield 4 all passing, shooting, making runs, interchanging positions etc etc. Barry gets an assist, Yaya gets an assist, Nasri gets two assists, Silva could have scored 2.

All of them at one time were the most and advanced midfielder and all off them at one point were the most defensive. All of them had shots on goal. All put in a shift in their own half. If you keep the ball when you have it and close down when you dont a destroyer isn't necessary. No great team plays with one, and that includes barca for whom Mascerano is very versatile.

We can retain the ball better and have players who can be a defensive midfielder, a box to box midfielder, an attacking midfielder and a general all rounder in the same game. De Jong can't do that.

 

[bluetoo]

Firstly, I genuinely think Sunday against Spurs is the best performance I have ever seen from a City team.

Quite justifiably, the fluidity of the 3 creative players and the movement and finishing of Dzeko are getting all the headlines.

However, I have watched the game back again today and Gareth Barry was absolutely incredible. He must surely be the most underrated player in the league.

If Xavi Alonso or Mascerano, or even Tom Cleverley had played like that, the media would be purring.

He is such an intelligent player in that position. He reads the game so well, and he uses the ball quickly and decisively. His decision making is absolutely outstanding. He is never going to get the headlines, and he is not the quickest player, but on Sunday he proved the old cliche that the first 5 yards are in your head.

yeah...bullshit