Did well after a poor display last week Loads of energy and was closing down more than anyone at the end Well done
His corners are terrible. I'm not joking when I say I think I could do better. Its not that hard to put the ball over the first man. You just put your boot under it and float it into the middle. Knowing Joey, he's probably trying to put all sorts of swerves and curls on it (that he's not equipped to do) and he ends up just scuffing it to the defender on the near post. When Kranjcar's not playing our set-pieces turn to mush
? he always works hard, even I'll give him that. About two of his long passes found the target. We were counting. No one in our midfield today could beat the player in front of them with the ball at their feet. Barton and Henry don't have this in their game, Vargas (as Col pointed out) seems short of confidence, and Fer....well he likes dicking about for a bit and if he doesn't lose the ball turns back and passes that way. I think there is a good player in there somewhere trying to get out. Nico's arrival was a breath of fresh air in terms of entertainment value. Mutch only had a cameo but tried hard down the right.
Pretty much agree with all of that. I think Fer can beat a man and did a couple of times. He's grown on me a lot. I'd still prefer him in the middle though. I agree that Kranjcar was very good when he came on. we keep the ball so much better when he's on the pitch. I'm not sure we can play him and Fer in the same team right now though. (Nice to see you sober mate!!)
I thought Barton was crap today. Especially 1st half Gave the ball away far to often which helped Burnley dominate the 1st half. Lucky not to be behind after the poor 1st half
I'd put Mutch in him ahead of Barton next week. But for all I know he could be a bloody forward. Does anyone definitively know what position Mutch is supposed to play in?
In the match programme today it says on the stat page that Barton has 25 key passes a game....Much more than anyone else. Good player and captain....Seems to have sorted his temper out too without losing his competitive edge.
I thought he was ****. The defence was excellent but I felt the midfield got totally overrun for vast swathes of the game.
Thought Joey had his best game today since coming back from injury ( though that's not saying too much)
This thread really shows how differently peoples can see the match and certain players in it. Didnt saw the match but im inclined to believe those who were pro barton. That is because Joey really does many littlle things for the team that are overlooked or forgotten by many spectators.
Joey gives us energy and never stops working. He just gives the ball away far too often and his set pieces are generally very poor. We lack creativity and it showed today. There was no decent final ball for much of the game. We did keep the ball much better once Nico came on and he is someone who looks like he can unlock a defence. Unfortunately I'm not sure he and Fer can play in the same side. I wouldn't mind Fer in Barton's position.
