BringBackSwales said:
You either watch the games live or you do not. If you watch them live you see what GB does - he shields the back four, breaks up play, tracks opposition runners, sets up plays, uses the ball well - a lot of these things you do not see on the telly. In addition he did all these thing consistently well last season and was in our top 5 (probably top 3) consistent performers last season. Add to that he is English, which helps for the quotas, and is a good bloke and good role model, doesn't moan when not picked. He was never a pacey player, but this is no different to when he was a regular member of our title winning squad, and he has not noticeably got any slower since then. I think people got too blinded by his own goal against southampton. Letting neverton have him for the last year of his contract for free, and then subsidising his wages makes little sense to me, and given Jack Rodwell's issues with injuries we are quite light in central mid, as was shown last night we had to play Javi Garcia and were unable to rest both Yaya and Fernandinho - - no offence to Garcia, I will never slag a City player on here, but relatively GB is far more effective than Garcia. Also read what players like David Silva have said about GB's effectiveness and importance for City.
Nothing I can do to change either decision, but what we did with NDJ & GB were really poor decisions, in my opinion
1) I don't watch the games live, but you'd be wrong to pressume I don't know what Barry does for City. You can go back 2 years ago and check the threads in which Barry was constantly slated, and check out the those who were pointing out all you've written above and more. You'd find my ahndle quite prominent. Before the Barry lovefest began (a year and a half late I might add) I was one of the 'very very few' pointing out what he was doing on the field. So I know Barry's value. Way better than most, and pointed it out long long before he became a favorite. That said, he was not a squad saver. He was a very good role player who got slated for a problem that really had little to do with him. Back then, 3 years ago, City was not a very cohesive team and many were looking for a scapegoat. De Jong was loved, Yaya was talented, so Barry was the easy target. I was one of the few pointing out his intelligence, movement and passing. I even predicted that De Jong was the player most likely to be benched if City were to improve cohesion and not Barry. Many considered my comments "shocking" then too. And I got a fair bit of insults to boot.
So trust me when I say, i know the value of Barry. But that said, leaving Barry on the team would have been grossly shortsighted.
1) Fernandihno is every bit the player Barry is and more. Might be weaker at some qualities here and there, but overall he is a better tackler, a better pressure defender, and way quicker and more athletic. So for what Pelegrini wanted (a high pressure team) Fernandihno would eventually (and some ar even beginning to believe he already is) be a better fit.
2) If City had kept Barry, this would have guaranteed that Rodwell would see less action this year, and limit his chances of development. Rodwell is now 22. He is not a kid anymore. If he doesn't develop and show what he has now, he is destined for the middle of the league. He has the talent to be one of England's best, but he wouldn't get that chance if Barry is there to take his minutes. It isn't that Barry couldn't contribute, he can. But with Fernandihno becoming 1st choice, it was always better to let Barry go, so Rodwell gets the rotation games as opposed to Barry. This is MP and the management saying, "hey, lets see what this talented kid has, and if he is ready to succeed at this level." If Barry stays, then City has failed to give him that chance. At 22, he is already behind. 22 is when you are supposed to become a star. ROdwell's window is beginning to close. Keeping Barry would have narrowed that greatly.
3) Why not Garcia? This is always the question: And for that, there are 2 answers. 1) Garcia is not half as bad as City fans think he is. He wasn't as good as Barry, but Barry had the luxury of having played 3 more years in the system and countless more in the culture. 2) Garcia is multipositional. Plays CM as well as CD. Granted many City fans think he doesn't play either at all :p But the reasoning is sound. Keep the 1) younger 2) multipositional player, over the older player who predominantly plays one position.
4) Finally, one of the main reasons Barry was let go, was human. He was let go as a sign of respect to a class professional. Rather than sit him on the bench, and have him play solely in league cup games, while they install their current starter (Fernandihno, who they had researched and deemed an important piece) and then give rotating games to their future starter (Rodwell). They did the humane thing. Let Barry go play for a competitive team who needed him.
He simply wasn't going to get the marquee games here. Truth be told, Barry's presence might have made Fernandihno's adaptation slower (as fans would have moaned for his inclusion at the sight of the first mistake - just like they have even in his absence). Barry might have turned sour, and the dressing room might have gotten a little more intense.
Letting him go was best for everyone involved in my opinion. Including Barry's.
