Ross Barkley

[BillyShears]

+1, Lots better, never seen Barkley put in a performance anything like Lopes v West Ham last year where he ran them ragged. Had a hammer supporting mate who usually crawls under a rock when they lose ringing me at 90 mins gushing with praise for him.

Completely different players who play in completely different positions IMO.

Lopes has been poor for Lille and isn't even good enough to be playing in the French league. Somewhere Joe Cole shone. Not saying he won't make it but the idea that he's currently ready to play in place of Nasri/Silva/Navas is well wide of the mark.

Lopes was rated by an awful lot of their fans as their best player until he sustained a serious injury.

I live in France and the general consensus amongst the Lille supporters I know (I know a few who go regularly) is that he's not good enough for Lille and not good enough for the league at present. Or certainly not for a club of Lille's stature. The games he played he drifted in and out of. To suggest he will be PL ready next season is well wide of the mark. Again, certainly for a club of our stature and with our expectations.

Didn't know he was seriously injured, I thought he had been plagued with a series of muscle injuries which were niggly rather than anything major.

 

[kun]

Completely different players who play in completely different positions IMO.

Lopes has been poor for Lille and isn't even good enough to be playing in the French league. Somewhere Joe Cole shone. Not saying he won't make it but the idea that he's currently ready to play in place of Nasri/Silva/Navas is well wide of the mark.

Lopes was rated by an awful lot of their fans as their best player until he sustained a serious injury.

I live in France and the general consensus amongst the Lille supporters I know (I know a few who go regularly) is that he's not good enough for Lille and not good enough for the league at present. Or certainly not for a club of Lille's stature. The games he played he drifted in and out of. To suggest he will be PL ready next season is well wide of the mark. Again, certainly for a club of our stature and with our expectations.

Didn't know he was seriously injured, I thought he had been plagued with a series of muscle injuries which were niggly rather than anything major.

Strange, from what I gathered, he was their only creative threat when fit, and their brightest player.

 

[aguero93:20]

Lopes was rated by an awful lot of their fans as their best player until he sustained a serious injury.

I live in France and the general consensus amongst the Lille supporters I know (I know a few who go regularly) is that he's not good enough for Lille and not good enough for the league at present. Or certainly not for a club of Lille's stature. The games he played he drifted in and out of. To suggest he will be PL ready next season is well wide of the mark. Again, certainly for a club of our stature and with our expectations.

Didn't know he was seriously injured, I thought he had been plagued with a series of muscle injuries which were niggly rather than anything major.

Strange, from what I gathered, he was their only creative threat when fit, and their brightest player.

From the games I saw I'd be inclined to agree, their coach is the most negative bastard I've ever seen so a lot of the play was high balls bypassing Ron, but he always managed to get himself on the ball and create chances and going by the results they've missed him badly since his injury.

 

[Latics Fan SJK]

I don't get it. I watched him again tonight and again all I saw was lots of running, some skill, but zero intelligence or end product. He lost the ball twice to set up dangerous West Ham counter attacks. He's worth no more than maybe £10m-£15m because he's all raw talent and one of our most promising young attacking midfielders probably produce similar end product (Barkley has 1 goal and 1 assist this season). He looks dangerous but isn't actually that dangerous most of the time because he isn't sure how to proceed once he's done all the fancy stuff. Yes I know he'll probably have a stormer against us now I've said this, but I've watched him quite a lot and don't see anything *close* to a £40m player.

I agree with you there. Barkley is, certainly at the moment, just an overated English midfielder with raw potential at the most. He doesn't score enough, he doesn't create enough and, like you say, seemingly lacks intelligence on the pitch. However because he is capable of scoring an occasion long-ranger, he's elevated in status.

I'd love to see him turn into a England regular and star man, the same way we relied on the likes of Gazza, but he's got an awful lot to prove yet and I cannot fathom how anyone can see the sense in a valuation of £40m.

Sterling isn't worth that either, but he's proven to me a much better player at the moment given the respective performances of both over the last 2 years.

 

[Gareth Barry Conlon]

I don't get it. I watched him again tonight and again all I saw was lots of running, some skill, but zero intelligence or end product. He lost the ball twice to set up dangerous West Ham counter attacks. He's worth no more than maybe £10m-£15m because he's all raw talent and one of our most promising young attacking midfielders probably produce similar end product (Barkley has 1 goal and 1 assist this season). He looks dangerous but isn't actually that dangerous most of the time because he isn't sure how to proceed once he's done all the fancy stuff. Yes I know he'll probably have a stormer against us now I've said this, but I've watched him quite a lot and don't see anything *close* to a £40m player.

I agree with you there. Barkley is, certainly at the moment, just an overated English midfielder with raw potential at the most. He doesn't score enough, he doesn't create enough and, like you say, seemingly lacks intelligence on the pitch. However because he is capable of scoring an occasion long-ranger, he's elevated in status.

I'd love to see him turn into a England regular and star man, the same way we relied on the likes of Gazza, but he's got an awful lot to prove yet and I cannot fathom how anyone can see the sense in a valuation of £40m.

Sterling isn't worth that either, but he's proven to me a much better player at the moment given the respective performances of both over the last 2 years.

I think you need to hit a level of form and sustain it for a couple of seasons to justify the kind of price tag people are floating for Barkley. Right now I think his form is down slightly on his best and he would struggle to get in our team just like the last couple of English players we bought did. He could pick up from here and be a world beater but right now it’s a fairly flat trajectory. Sterling had an off year a while back and has come back strong, being at a club where you have a good chance of game time is important and I would suggest both would be stupid to move anywhere right now.

 

[BongoBlue]

Of course you just know that the fucker will look world class on Saturday and probably score against us. Shop window and all that.

Then he will be ordinary again for the subsequent games.

 

[mrtwiceaseason]

Thought he was absolutely crap today .didn't look like a £4m player let alone a £40m player ,but what do I know

 

[Ray78]

I don't quite get the hype.

 

[supercrystal7]

I don't quite get the hype.

He has potential and is English. Plus he has come along when we are not blessed with world class players like 10 years ago where we had a lot. He has the potential to become world class, has the huge marketing potential because of his nationality and is homegrown.

 

[Ray78]

I don't quite get the hype.

He has potential and is English. Plus he has come along when we are not blessed with world class players like 10 years ago where we had a lot. He has the potential to become world class, has the huge marketing potential because of his nationality and is homegrown.

The key word is fulfilling that potential. I have my doubts that he will reach those kind of levels.