city diehard said:I don't think this man gets enough credit for what he does; with dispossessing opponents then distributing the ball wonderfully what more do you want. His ball to Bellamy to assist Adebayor was prime Barry and being from the Midlands it was great to see him sign for us to get them off those villa scumbags anyway that's another rant for another day.
He's a class player and is a prominent England player from our team. (I think he should of been captain but hey!)
I think he's fantastic defensively and that a lot of people don't see that but come on, he doesn't distribute the ball wonderfully. He played one decent pass on Sunday and suddenly he's a wonderful distributor of the ball? Most of the time he passes the ball 5-10 yards to the left winger or left back, or back to the defence. For games when we don't need De Jong I'd have Barry and then a real box-to-box all round proper midfielder, who would obviously be a new signing, or Michael Johnson if he can get fit.