First of all I would like to say hi to everyone, I am not new here, but because of my poor english I hadn't decided to post yet, but reading few hours a day, kind a addiction. I am from Poland (exactly from Poznań ;) ) and I am supporting City for few years now as my family lives in Manchester and I got long time ago Anelka's shirt from uncle
Anyway, refering to the topic, I think Gareth Barry is one of the most valuable puzzles in Bobby's jigsaw. As for holding mids we have 3 different players, and any of them has something to offer, and it's Bobby's headache to choose perfect combination:
1. De Jong is one of the most mobile DMs I ever saw, everytime I watch game, and I think "there should come tackle" out of nowhere comes De Jong and makes it. Altough his short passing is really good, and he is calm on danger situations, but he has almost no long range pass ability. He is good in games when we will be put under pressure and then he is world's best. He becomes tank and cleans everything in front of box
2. Barry is more kind of deep-lying playmaker kind of DM. Lacks pace, doesn't put as many tackles, but the way he set-up goals is amazing, like in this pre season when he set goals just from the middle of the park. He covers quite a lot of ground, but his main ability is his short and long range passing. He offers good shots from distance so also can be relied on when you need goals. Whem we dominate the game Barry is one of the most reliable players, creating, scoring, and marking; when we are under pressure I am sometimes in nerves, and prefers De Jong then.
3. Yaya for me is similar to Barry with the difference, that he covers more ground, but also sometimes lacks slide tacke. Has better short pass than Barry, but also weaker long one. Good finisher, way better than Barry, but what is remarkable he has no distance shots in him, or this are poor. What is special about him that are his runs, which are problem for every defence, and set up goals perfectly.
I wouldn't say Barry is world beater because it isn't true, but is decent DM and would be crucial to our succes this year, with our current system which is more 4-2-3-1 because of our attack power, Mancini will have to choose only 2 of our DMs, and adding Milner to this mix who isn't DM but can play as one offering speed and work-rate, and now Owen Hergraves, he will have players to choose from. For lesser teams I would stick with Barry-Yaya midfield, which while quite good defending can offer us real creativity from back. Better teams, if Bobby deicides to put 3 man's midfield I will use 3 of them leaing Milner on the bench, but if we will go with 4-2-3-1, I would stick with De Jong and Yaya because of De Jong's mobility and Yaya's speed and ground covering, and also Yaya is more reliable with his performances, while Barry is sometimes make mistakes when pressed.
Sorry for my english I hope it is quite understendable, that are my thoughs about Barry and our other DMs, you can argue with this if you want, it's not based on few games or so, but based also on whole last sesson which I saw every game from.
Dirak