Brandon Barker

[Nelly's Left Foot]

The idea isn't that Barker should be thrown into the first team and left to sink or swim but that he should be more involved in the 1st team squad and on the bench maybe on a regular basis.Then when an opportunity presents itself, like WBA on Saturday, throw them in for 15/20 minutes. Games like WBA or cup games are ideal .

Give them tasters and see how they react to the environment initially and then some game time if it happens.

 

[.A.]

Nobody is saying he will be expected to make an impact if given minutes; the importance of it is his development. Milner coming on the other day was pointless, but would have been significant for one of our youngsters.

 

[sam-caddick]

I think we should do something similar to what Liverpool did with Ibe in that they loaned him to Derby yet had the option to bring him back 6 months later because of how well he was doing.

I think the Championship is definitely the next step for Brandon, he should get 20-25 games in that division and will come back a better player whether mentally, physically or hopefully both.

The Premier League is too big of a jump at this moment in my opinion, let's not forget less than 12 months ago he was in the u18's.

 

[CityStu]

What harm could possibly be done by having him on the bench for a few games? You don't need 7 first team players there.

 

[twosips]

How great would it be if we could find a championship team to take both Angelino and Barker for a couple of months? That'd be an interesting experiment.

 

[sam-caddick]

How great would it be if we could find a championship team to take both Angelino and Barker for a couple of months? That'd be an interesting experiment.

I agree, either that or Celtic.

I can see Celtic coming back in for a loan or two again in the summer because of the success of Denayer and maybe to to a lesser extent, Guidetti.

Ronny Deila has a history of loaning City players since his time a Stromsgodset.

 

[Neville Kneville]

That's the thing with wingers they are either poor or great..

You really would think that people who watch football regularly would know that, but apparently they don't.

You would also think they would know that the same rule often applies to kids in various positions, but no, that one has sailed by as well.

Some of the people on here making a judgement that Barker can't play any minutes for the first team, because he wasn't Jairzinho in Abu Dhabi, or against Walker, are just talking such absolute crap & really should know better. It is absolutely no indication of anything. If you judged any young sportspeople like that you would be stupid, not just footballers.

He wasn't actually great in the EDS round about that time either. It's called a dip in form & it happens, for various reasons, nerves, slight injuries, anything especially to wingers but more especially to kids, & will likely happen for some years to come, at first team level, be that at City or elsewhere. That doesn't mean he can't play at all, at that level. If he faced Zabaleta one on one, 50 times, I would back him to beat him about half, & on about ten of those occasions, rip the living shit out of him & leave him on his arse whilst disappearing into the penalty area. I wouldn't be worrying about the times he failed.

As for being too lightweight. Utter nonsense. He's well built already for a wide player & not only good going forward but good tracking back. He's not Wlfried Bony, fair enough, but he's deffo more build than Ryan Giggs when he started.

Regarding his game in Abu Dhabi, he was average, not poor, but it also shows how absolutely brain dead Kolarov is, compared to Angelino, & how pedestrian the level of his football compared to the link up between Angelino & Barker. Had both played, Barker likely wouldn't have been average.

Breaking up that partnership should only be done if there is no other option. I would prefer both to stay at City & to get regular ten twenty minutes here & there in he first team, until they get used to it & start to show what they can do. But a joint loan would be good otherwise.

 

[ell]

What harm could possibly be done by having him on the bench for a few games? You don't need 7 first team players there.

Especially when most the time we have 3 defenders on the bench ffs

 

[CityFan94]

At least one young player like Barker should be on the bench for every home game this season now.

If we have a game like Saturday against West Brom, we could give that young player 30 minutes which would be hugely important to the player's development and confidence.

7 substitutes is complete overkill and there's absolutely no reason why 1 or even 2 young players shouldn't be on the bench in our home games.

We still have West Ham, Aston Villa, QPR and Southampton to play at home.

 

[Blue Llama]

Lets get a win against West Ham then put an EDS player in the starting team for 4 or 5 of the last few matches. Nothing to lose have we at this point. May as well have one on the bench as well.