Barton is poison. He should have been replaced January when this became 100% clear. But he wasn't, and for all his poor passing he again ran more than anyone else again on the park yesterday, and won a lot of ball. I don't understand all the attacks on here on him now on here, especially those showing saying he is not trying hard enough when he runs and tackles more than anyone else. We hardly have anyone to replace him with either, Diacite who may have done didn't last long! Derry is all effort but doesn't move quick enough.
I don't think Barton has had a good game for months. Glad to know I am not the only one who thinks he is bottling out of 50/50 challenges. I reckon he thinks if he goes in and doesn't make a 100% clean tackle that every ref in the country will flash the red card based on his previous record. As a result he just doesn't bother unless he can get to the ball first. He came with a lot of baggage and that has just increased with his poor performances, slating of other team members, back stabbing the manager, making out he is Gandhi on Twitter and a failure to have any sort of positive effect since he signed for us. You could almost forgive his antics if he was setting up goals, scoring regularly himself and we were in comfortable mid-table territory. Instead we are up against what I see as certain relegation now and the bad feeling around the club isn't just coincidence, it his his attitude that is ruining what ever morale we may have had left. The sooner he departs the better.
Realisation, once the blinkers are removed.... Saying he was any worse than the majority out there on Saturday is ridiculous. SWP/Mackie/Zamora/Taarabt were all god awful. Fair enough though, people on here have found a scapegoat and won't let it go.
I thought I'd come back after 24 hours to prove we will indeed not let go unless there is a radical change to Barton's contribution. Nobody had a great game but bracketing Mackie or Tarrabt with Barton is bordering on the laughable. Let me know when JB shows half the determination or threat carried by these two. I freely admit I don't like the bloke but as a number of us said at the start of the season we would forget all the history if he played for the the club with passion. Sadly the opposite has been true.
Determination from Taarabt? Please. He cares less about the team and club than any of them. Comparing him with Mackie or Tarbs isn't laughable because he had a decent game and once again covered more ground than any other player on Saturday. I don't love the bloke either, but I'm not going to sit here and say he's awful every week and isn't trying just for the sake of it, when I can clearly see he is. No doubt he hasn't been a roaring success, but singling him out is just too easy as he makes himself an easy target. Lots of players have been dreadful for the majority of the season.
This! If Barton is such a terrible player that some on here make out, why have NW and MH picked him for every game he's been available? I think hatred of the personality Barton is blinding them to his performances on the pitch. In terms of consistency thoughout the season, Barton is about our Player of the Season so far, I have difficulty in finding anyone else who has consistently put in even the slightly above expected performance game in, game out that Barton has. Luckily for us our Managers have not been so blind.
Barton is our player of the season so far!!!!!!! That does say a hell of a lot for our season then! Forget his baggage he has been a massive let down along with others granted. He gets picked due to lack of other options. the same for swp. these guys were last minute rush buys who in my opinion are past there sell by date!!!
Because Faurlin got injured and his contract, like SWPs means they almost have to be picked. Like Torres, they are getting picked in the hope they eventually come good, not because they deserve to be in the team. Barton has not had one good game where Id rate him over 6, nor has SWP.
Yeh, it has been a cr*p season so far! Who do you think has been consistently better than Barton then? Only player I can think of who is in with a shout is Adel, but he put in a few performances mid-autumn, where he may as well have taken the bus home before the game started.
Faurlin even though out for most of the season is and has been better. barton does nothing but run according to the stats, if that's the case then mackie should be above him as he has weighed in with goals. Young has been better than joey along with helguson. Smith has scored more, buz hit a peach of a free kick (didn't run as far as joey). Derry hasn't been sent off. Ferdinand probably has a better pass ratio. gabbidon has the same amount of goals. traore has put better crosses in. Taraabt can do more in a second than joey in 90 minutes. But if its down to running distance then joey should get world player of the year never mind QPRs!!
Faurlin, Traore, Hill, HH, Ferdinand, Cerny, Taarabt, Young, Onuoha to name a few. Taarabt and Buz can do more in 5 seconds than Barton can do in a whole game, Barton has been consistently poor with a couple of mediocre games thrown in. He have not been above average all season.
! You can't be a good midfield player unless you run a fair amount. Adel ran the 3rd futhest against Fulham, which I expect will surprise a few! I do agree on Ale, I forgot him I'm afraid him being out injured so long - he was consistently our best player til he got injured, and I would defintely vote for him over Barton. But all the others mentioned haven't been consistent enough game in game out, as everyone's friend has! So if you all think Barton is so sh*t useless, don't you think we also must have have sh*t Managers to keep picking him week in, week out?! Perhaps its time for our 3rd Manager of the season, one who can be relied on to drop Barton and play a promising 17 year old as defensive central midfield instead?
For me our top five performers this season so far goes something like this: 1. Ale Faurlin 2. Heidar Helguson 3. Luke Young 4. Joey Barton 5. Jamie Mackie Shame the best two hasn't played for a month, what a difference Ali would have made during our "winnable" run of games. Five poorest/most disapointing: 1. DJ Campbell 2. Paddy Kenny 3. Anton Ferdinand 4. Shaun Wright-Phillips 5. Jay Bothroyd
Agree with 4 of your 5 best but the most disappointing in my opinion are past 1. Barton 2.Swp 3.Campbell 4.barton again 5.swp again Dyer hasn't played enough to disappoint!!
I agree pretty much with that Norway! I wouldn't have Luke in the top 5 because I do think he was losing wide players coming into the box behind too many times just before he got injured, and this cost us a few goals conceeded. HH has been a bit too much in and out, probably due his ageing body, for me to have put him above Barton.
There's no alternative other than to pick him. We haven't got a strong squad. Oslo.....I can't believe you think Barton has been our best player! You wouldn't if you were actually at the games!!
