GaudinoMotors said:
Anyone who has been to training will know that Barry isn't slow at all.
Unfortunatley I fear he isn't the type of player City fans appreciate - he isn't the enforcer type like De Jong and he isn't the constant motion of a Tevez
What he is is an intelligent player that reads the game well, provides cover and can deliver educated passes - long or short. It's also about what he doesn't do with the ball - he makes the opposition choose a different route by his coverage and makes them pass sideways or back.
He is class - he was at villa and he is for England - lets not start on him already!
Not starting, Gaudino. What Barry does in training is another thing. He is hardly competing with pace merchants in De Jong, Ireland and Komps in the central positions.
You can only really gauge his attributes in a real match situation, and last night, he did not engage the opposition quick enough.
More worringly, against a player such as Scholes, whose best years are well behind him. He also appears to over-rotate when he runs, like his legs are quick enough to keep up with his brain, and falls over. Hopefully not a sign that he is already on the downward spiral of his career.
Yes, there is an art to winning free-kicks, relieving some of the pressure, but most of the time, they are nothing free-kicks, based on him not having the out ball we all that he possessed.
It does make me smile when we go on about our guys being the best of this and that.
The football word is a big place and we are having to learn the hard way what improvements we need. The likes of Yaya Toure and Gerrard are exactly the type of players this City midfield is missing.
We were in double figures last season scoring from midfield. Take our wingers our of the equation, and Barry and De Jong are not chipping in.
Compare that to Fletcher, Carrick, even Gibson, when he plays, they all provide a scoring threat.
Our central two/three don't even get the opposition to concern themselves with this.
