I may have cracked it- What Rafa sees in Gareth Barry

[red g]

everyone complains we dont but english, then we go out and try and buy a very good midfielder who can cover any possition on the left as well as the alonso type role in the middle oh and his set pieces are excellent. get rid of riise for 4m and kewell for a bag of nuts, bring in barry and i would be very happy.

[red g]

a villa fan rates him

jono36 (Aston Villa fan)
"Drogba was spot on in his assessment of the great 'Rafa', the man lacks class. I used to admire him but lately he is showing his true colours and total lack of respect for those below him who are fighting tooth and nail to get into a position to challange for CPL. I rate Barry very highly, he is on an average day what Alonso is on a great day(two years ago), great vision, excellant left peg and extremely versatile. But Benitez would ruin the lad, he would play him centre back probably once a month to keep him rested. Yes Liverpool are a great club, yes you have won alot of trophies, yes you can offer immediate European football but what is true in every sense is that your team is only 3 quality players at most ahead of Villa in terms of potential. Torres, Gerard and Mascherano, any other player couldn't lace the boots of Laursen, Barry, Young, Agbonlahor. The truth is if the turmoil at Anfield continues, if Rafa continues to rest players in August, if Rafa continues to play the magical Kyut as a winger, keep looking over your shoulder because we are coming to get you.

[rage]

a villa fan rates him

jono36 (Aston Villa fan)
"Drogba was spot on in his assessment of the great 'Rafa', the man lacks class. I used to admire him but lately he is showing his true colours and total lack of respect for those below him who are fighting tooth and nail to get into a position to challange for CPL. I rate Barry very highly, he is on an average day what Alonso is on a great day(two years ago), great vision, excellant left peg and extremely versatile. But Benitez would ruin the lad, he would play him centre back probably once a month to keep him rested. Yes Liverpool are a great club, yes you have won alot of trophies, yes you can offer immediate European football but what is true in every sense is that your team is only 3 quality players at most ahead of Villa in terms of potential. Torres, Gerard and Mascherano, any other player couldn't lace the boots of Laursen, Barry, Young, Agbonlahor. The truth is if the turmoil at Anfield continues, if Rafa continues to rest players in August, if Rafa continues to play the magical Kyut as a winger, keep looking over your shoulder because we are coming to get you.

boys got a point

[Attilladahun]

Great post
I'd have him without doubt
His quality shone through when he stepped up to play for England -Croatia excepted
He lloked very comfortable
Yes he'sversatile-but why is that considered by some to be a weakness and dismissed as a utility player?

[puredale]

His set piece delivery - given Alonso's injury plagued year and general poor form, Fabio's over rated ability from a dead ball, Riise turning into a non-league footballer, SteG's inconsistency - alone makes our 1st X1 better.

[el matador]

Says who?????? internet transfer wizards thats all. Alonso has said today in the press that he wants to stay, just maybe Barry is for the left hand side and Babel will move to the right

He isnt a left sided winger or midfield player. Villa play him central and that's the role he will probably play for us.

He will not play out wide because he isnt cute enough to play as a winger but he has the ability to drift out to the left and deliver good crosses into the box.

The other thing in his favour and against xabi is that barry will get you between 5 and 10 goals a season which alonso wont do. Although we have been the top scorers this season we havent looked enough of a threat against the top 3.

Barry's extra goals and more foward thinking play might be the difference between finishing top and finishing fourth. Having said that i will be sorry to see alonso go.

[kev776]

He isnt a left sided winger or midfield player. Villa play him central and that's the role he will probably play for us.

He will not play out wide because he isnt cute enough to play as a winger but he has the ability to drift out to the left and deliver good crosses into the box.

The other thing in his favour and against xabi is that barry will get you between 5 and 10 goals a season which alonso wont do. Although we have been the top scorers this season we havent looked enough of a threat against the top 3.

Barry's extra goals and more foward thinking play might be the difference between finishing top and finishing fourth. Having said that i will be sorry to see alonso go.

And Kuyt is ????


We have not had a real left footed decent midfielder since Digger. Kewell was meant to be that man but cant stay out of the treatment room

[peekay]

I would largely agree with that but I think what I am talking about is his reaction to our passing it about deep or not having the ball at all against teams like United. In those occasions he has been keen to come back and start moves which has exacerbated the problem as we then have no one to hit up pitch except for Torres and any half competent team has to have a back four who will 90% handle one man with ease even if they are a very good one man and the top PL teams all have very good defenses these days.

I agree about the lack of pace forward but that often happens in all games between the top teams. I would think that the Barry in for Alonso would help to some degree as he is more mobile and capable of running with the ball as an alternative to make and angle or space for a ball. The fact is that the midfields are all good enough and work hard enough to make rapid counters rare. In this case we need to look at what we can do about a packed defense. For me the options are as you suggest a more guileful attacking midfielder or fullbacks that overlap and give us more options wide.

I would also like to see more central involvement from the wings. I think Kuyt at times does well in this function but he lacks pace and often does a lot of work deep which when we don't have the ball puts more pressure on Gerrard. The impact of Ronaldo (when he isn't played at centre forward I'm talking about here) is often largely due to his willingness to be in the box when the forward(s) drop deeper or go wide.

Top top post..Agree with everything you said

[kev776]

Why does everyone assume Barry will replace alonso, who says alonso is going and who says Barry will play in central midfield, have I missed some statement from Rafa or are we all guessing as normal ???

[peekay]

Why does everyone assume Barry will replace alonso, who says alonso is going and who says Barry will play in central midfield, have I missed some statement from Rafa or are we all guessing as normal ???

Part of the reason is that Alonso is on greater than 90K pounds per week. Same wage bracket as Carra after his contract renewal. An inform Alonso is worth that wages and even more. But based on his average performances last 2 seasons I dont think he is in Carra bracket in terms of his importance to the team. I think Barry could reproduce those performances and even better Alonso in the league and we could save on wages.

Again I would like to reiterate that an in form Alonso is in a different league to Barry. But I think Barry can be an effective CM to replace Alonso. If his name was Gabriel Barrinho who just lead an unfashionable Spanish side to 6th in the la liga people would be a lot less unhappy about him.

[tomasjj]

Part of the reason is that Alonso is on greater than 90K pounds per week. Same wage bracket as Carra after his contract renewal. An inform Alonso is worth that wages and even more. But based on his average performances last 2 seasons I dont think he is in Carra bracket in terms of his importance to the team. I think Barry could reproduce those performances and even better Alonso in the league and we could save on wages.

Again I would like to reiterate that an in form Alonso is in a different league to Barry. But I think Barry can be an effective CM to replace Alonso. If his name was Gabriel Barrinho who just lead an unfashionable Spanish side to 6th in the la liga people would be a lot less unhappy about him.

but then he would cost half the money...and we could pool that money towards our real needs...

[Slinky Skills]

Part of the reason is that Alonso is on greater than 90K pounds per week. Same wage bracket as Carra after his contract renewal. An inform Alonso is worth that wages and even more. But based on his average performances last 2 seasons I dont think he is in Carra bracket in terms of his importance to the team. I think Barry could reproduce those performances and even better Alonso in the league and we could save on wages.

Again I would like to reiterate that an in form Alonso is in a different league to Barry. But I think Barry can be an effective CM to replace Alonso. If his name was Gabriel Barrinho who just lead an unfashionable Spanish side to 6th in the la liga people would be a lot less unhappy about him.

Alonso will still be here next year and he'll bounce back. Didn't he miss part of this season through injury?

[peekay]

but then he would cost half the money...and we could pool that money towards our real needs...

hard to argue with that

[frank the tank]

the problem is that Alonso is the better player, so although we may make money out of this deal (though to be honest I dont see Villa selling for £10m) what we're doing is trading down. Now I accept the points that Xabi's been off form, I also agree that the time he is given on the ball by opponents is less than what it used to be and this affects the influence he is able to have on the game. But Xabi at his best is much better than Bary IMO, and that is where I have the problem. I'd not be happy with him replacing Xabi. I'd rather get Flamini to be honest, if that were at all possible, which it probably isn't.

plus xabi is younger than barry!

[Marky]

I think he sees a very good Premiership player in Gareth Barry.