The return of Gareth Barry

[Da_Blu_Moona]

Think this is the key to the success under Mancini and the early success we had under Hughes this season.

Remember seeing him at the start of the season and he totally ran the midfield in all those games and was extremely composed on the ball. However when his form dipped for us is when things went a little skewed for us and out form dipped alongside his. His resurgence now under Mancini has definitely been a highlight for me so far and I think it has been the underlying cause of our current run of good performances.

Think if he starts to chip in with the odd goal like he was at Villa then we will have quite the legend in the making.

I just hope and pray that Mancini can get the best out of Ireland too.

 

[Bill]

good post, barry and ireland are class, we miss them when they go off the boil.

barry was again brilliant last night.

 

[halfcenturyup]

He took a dip in form after the Villa game with all the abuse, his confidence seemed to take a knock then. Looking better again now.

 

[chedinho]

although i appreciate the work done by barry,i was wondering if kompany was the reason.
sometimes it only takes 1 player to step into the side and everything just falls into place.
all the work done by other players including barry is not being undone by bad defending.

 

[felixbg]

Some of the criticism he got on here was stupid, and couldnt believe it yesterday when after a bad pass some lad goes ''he's shit barry, get him off''. He holds our midfield together .

 

[BlueLlama]

He was at fault for the Blackburn goal and he did have a couple of lapses in concentration in the game. I think from Mancini's comments that he will be having a word. However overall I would not have taken Barry off but he needs to remember that he is playing where Vieira would slot in.

 

[bluetonium]

I have a feeling that we bought Vieira to allow Barry to have this hernia op before the World Cup - he's mentioned it a couple of times in post match interviews since November time.

 

[big gaz]

At fault for the Blackburn goal ? Given gives a cocky chip pass to Kompany who looses contoll of ball and Peterson bends his shot into the net. I didn't see Barry involvement in this at the game or on the highlights on the o/s.

 

[Nelly's Left Foot]

Ir was noticeable how little Barry got forward last night. He and Nigel just sat in their positions and let the others do the attacking. It's working.

 

[Fat Chance]

Three times with the score at 3-1 and them turning the heat-up(the ball had been bouncing around deep into our half with 3 or 4 players already having a do at squashing the pressure)Barry was the person that stepped in and neutralised the situation, 2 of the 3 occasions he did it.. he knowlingly called for the ball whilst being shadowed and on one of the occasions he actualy pointed to his team mate and instructed him where to pass the ball in full confidence his marker would not be interjecting. We never went 3-2, we went 4-1....not saying his play had a direct bearing on that end result but they do say for every action there is a reaction. It was certainly pleasing to view a city player instruct his under pressure team mates to simply pass the feckin ball to him and for them not to worry thier nickers about his marker cause he's about to be rubbed out....it certainly trumps Micah blaming team mates, Zabba getting sent off when urgently needed and Ade not being able to resist his ego and ensuring that we miss his services.