Brandon Barker

[the originalkippaxman]

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.

Should have been the case all year no reason why when playing teams you would expect to beat at home 1 of them is a young player. For example what was the point in having Lampard and Fernando both on the bench when we played Newcastle. Only remember that because I brought up the same argument then that in those games we should be bringing youth through.

 

[Centurions]

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.

Besides our Champions League place?

 

[.A.]

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.

Besides our Champions League place?

The biggest risk to our CL place is persisting with the crap that has seen us drift so far away from the top of the league recently; the team needs a spark, a freshness to kickstart the season and avert disaster. Bringing Barker off the bench could be no worse than Navas or Nasri; he's far more direct, unpredictable and dangerous than those two, and while miles away from the finished article Itd only take one moment of brilliance to change a game for us.

 

[Hungarian blue]

I'm his big admirer but no, this would absolutely be the worst decision to play him at this stage of our fucked up season, and to throw him into the middle of our current slump.

Not that Manuel and co. are considering it or so.

 

[Nelly's Left Foot]

It won't happen this weekend as we have the youth cup final first leg on Monday

 

[CityFan94]

I think Barker should be on the bench for the West Ham game.

Brown did that for Chelsea last Sunday, sub on the Sunday before a youth game on the Monday.

Even being an unused sub would be a boost to the lad's confidence and gets him used to the first team surroundings.

 

[supercity88]

People need to calm down on this Barker hype. He will not make a difference for us. There are better players at EDS level than him. It would make more sense to re-call Lopes and play him than put Barker in there. He's played one game at senior level and that was a friendly. He was poor. He wanted to entertain and play his natural game but he made mistakes like taking his eye off the ball and dribbling when better options were on. He's been played above his age group consistently and he can spend another season developing at the level he is or out on loan to gain confidence. He'd be pretty easily dealt with at senior level by a bit of muscle. Yes he's a quality talent but we'd be wrong to play him at this stage.

There doesn't need to be this mass panic. We're in an appalling run but we've still shown bright flashes. We smashed the rags in the opening ten minutes, we played good possession football against Palace. The sides we will play from here on out will come at us and if we show the same form as in the opening ten minutes against the rags, for 90 minutes we will win our remaining games.

 

[CityFan94]

People need to calm down on this Barker hype. He will not make a difference for us. There are better players at EDS level than him. It would make more sense to re-call Lopes and play him than put Barker in there. He's played one game at senior level and that was a friendly. He was poor. He wanted to entertain and play his natural game but he made mistakes like taking his eye off the ball and dribbling when better options were on. He's been played above his age group consistently and he can spend another season developing at the level he is or out on loan to gain confidence. He'd be pretty easily dealt with at senior level by a bit of muscle. Yes he's a quality talent but we'd be wrong to play him at this stage.

There doesn't need to be this mass panic. We're in an appalling run but we've still shown bright flashes. We smashed the rags in the opening ten minutes, we played good possession football against Palace. The sides we will play from here on out will come at us and if we show the same form as in the opening ten minutes against the rags, for 90 minutes we will win our remaining games.

There's a big difference between throwing him and having him as an unused substitute.

Being an unused substitute in a few games this season would give Barker a chance to get used to first team surroundings a little before a good loan move next season. Maybe get a little run out if we're 3-0 or 4-0 up in a game (unlikely the rest of this season!).

I've always thought 7 substitutes is way too much and 1 or 2 of those should be filled with young players.

 

[SaddleworthBlueRhino]

People need to calm down on this Barker hype. He will not make a difference for us. There are better players at EDS level than him. It would make more sense to re-call Lopes and play him than put Barker in there. He's played one game at senior level and that was a friendly. He was poor. He wanted to entertain and play his natural game but he made mistakes like taking his eye off the ball and dribbling when better options were on. He's been played above his age group consistently and he can spend another season developing at the level he is or out on loan to gain confidence. He'd be pretty easily dealt with at senior level by a bit of muscle. Yes he's a quality talent but we'd be wrong to play him at this stage.

There doesn't need to be this mass panic. We're in an appalling run but we've still shown bright flashes. We smashed the rags in the opening ten minutes, we played good possession football against Palace. The sides we will play from here on out will come at us and if we show the same form as in the opening ten minutes against the rags, for 90 minutes we will win our remaining games.

There's a big difference between throwing him and having him as an unused substitute.

Being an unused substitute in a few games this season would give Barker a chance to get used to first team surroundings a little before a good loan move next season. Maybe get a little run out if we're 3-0 or 4-0 up in a game (unlikely the rest of this season!).

I've always thought 7 substitutes is way too much and 1 or 2 of those should be filled with young players.

Keep all of the youth away from this mess. Let them enjoy cup finals and other competitions and when we are sorted we need to develop a strategy of bringing them forward. This could be out on loan or with our EDS + first team links. The latter is sadly missing at present.

 

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

I'm his big admirer but no, this would absolutely be the worst decision to play him at this stage of our fucked up season, and to throw him into the middle of our current slump.

Not that Manuel and co. are considering it or so.

If he played and we ended fifth, he'd be taking that millstone into next season!. We should have placed these youngsters, games permitting, on the bench from the start of the season! And not just for cup games against lower league opposition.