honeybradger

That's a reason why we should be disappointed, it's so bloody hard for a non top 6 team to break into champions league places and we were 14 points clear halfway through the season. Might never get the opportunity again.

Another start in a back 3 for him today. Cant believe bristol city were starting williams over him of all players, now with the old manager gone hopefully he can get a decent run of games in.

Players in their peak have a good mixture of experience and athletic ability. If he can kick on from this year and create 10+ big chances a season then he would be at his peak or reaching it as he's used his experience to propel him to the next level. I think he's going to need another season or two to gain the experience he needs to perform at his absolute best though but if he can do it next season that's fantastic, peak years arent age dependent as you can see with elite youngsters like sancho who play like they already have 5 years of experience.

We'll see next season, but if he gets less assists i dont want to see anyone getting on his back for not being as good as last year or whatever when he's still a work in progress.

Nothing bizarre about saying that him having more assists than big chances created is overperformance, it's pretty much unheard of.

I give up, im not shitting on him because he's not son heung min, sadio mane or mahrez ffs, im saying that 8 assists, which are the numbers that these top level players are pulling, is not his level just yet and there is nothing wrong with that! If 6+ goals and 8+ assists is Barnes's base level of performance and he's only going to improve these stats from this season maybe we should be comparing him to these players because those are absurd numbers. My point is that he's not at the level of these players just yet and the creation statistics back this up. "Give this guy a break" get off it i only have praise for him as it's his first season and he's been top quality but we need to stop comparing him to the top creators in the league as it's setting expectations too high, he's overperformed this season, now he needs to kick on in the next few seasons and improve so he can reach 8+ assists whilst also having the stats to back it up.

Honestly it's insane how everyone on this forum is so black and white, i love barnes and think he's had a great season. Those southampton and manchester city passes were superb but he's created 6 big chances this season and has 8 assists, players around him on that assists table like mahrez, traore, son, robertson all have 10-12 big chances created, maddison has created more big chances and is on 3 assists, it's all dependent on if the player you're passing to can finish or not. You can back a player and say he's quality whilst also saying he's gotten a bit lucky this season and for the record im not the type to shit on players, i backed him when he was missing sitters and ill continue to back him next season even if he doesnt pull the same numbers as this season. Im just not overreacting to assist numbers when he still has a lot to work on in terms of creating chances.

How is saying he can get 10 goals 5 assists next year not rating him? Fact is he's created the same number of goals as those players but half the number of chances that's all im pointing out. Saying he's got 8 assists so he must be a creative winger is disingenuous as from watching matches you can see he doesnt create enough chances to warrant those numbers. If he creates the same number of chances for the next few seasons he will get 4/5 assists, in his peak hopefully he will double the number of chances he creates therefore justifying his 8 assists but right now this season is an anomaly for him assists wise.

Logic is is that he's well overperformed in terms of assists this year and this isnt a total we should expect from him. Wouldnt be surprised if he manages 4-5 assists next year with more playing time, which is also completely fine. In his peak years hopefully he will be averaging 8 or above but for now he doesnt create enough to make me think he can get these numbers consistently over multiple seasons.

My problem with him is that he doesnt do the hard work enough, if he's going to get to the next level he needs to orchestrate attacks more. Maybe he's not able to just yet but his performance vs southampton and that one game where he played centrally and was involed heavily in the linkup for most of our attacks tells me otherwise. Knowing when to pass is very important and he's actually quite good at that but he needs to get himself into passing situations more.

I probably got a bit ahead of myself saying where i think his ceiling is, you never know where players will be in a few years. Right now he doesnt strike me as a creative winger though, a good one will pick up the ball and move it around to try and create space for other attackers then pass, with barnes it feels like the option for a chance creating pass is either there for him or he passes it to someone else and gives up responsibilty.

Personally think the number of assists flatters him, hes not been as creative as that table suggests. I do think he could become a 10-15 goal a season winger which would be incredible but i dont see him getting more than 8 assists in the future even in his peak years.

Looks even better for Gray if you count that cross against burnley that brushed against Barnes's leg as a Gray assist, which i think it should as barnes didnt change the direction of the ball. Say what you want about gray as a starter but his ability to make a pass is leagues better than any of our other wingers, it's just his decision making that lets him down.

Just because loads of people on this sub thought we should go 3412 doesnt mean rodgers didnt get it wrong. In arsenal's previous game against wolves they attacked the space between the wingback and the centrebacks in the exact same way. It was tactically naive to face an opponent with the same system that they exploited the previous game.

Barnes ok but Gray pants? Youre on one mate. Gray created more chances in 10 mins than perez did in 90. Not sure what people see in perez as a CAM he's best getting on the end of chances as a second striker not creating them as he doesnt have the vision.

Tielemans was playing in the pivot, perez was supposed to be our creative outlet that game.

Im shitting myself, that front 3 doesnt look great.

Hope you lot can do us a solid and take points off of United next week. Potter seems like a quality manager so im at least a little bit hopeful.

Barnes steps inside because Rodgers tells him to not because Chilwell forces him to. Apparently our tactic is we move the ball up to the left side of their box with barnes then he gives it to one of madders or chilwell to cross and moves inside.

Only player who gave a **** that game and he might be out the door. Depressing honestly that him chasing lamptey to stop them scoring is probably the highlight of the game.

No such thing as straight wingers anymore mate, you've either got wingers who make runs into the box (barnes) or wingers who can double as a 10 (mahrez). We need a mahrez type to complement Vardy and Barnes and Brooks fits that profile.

David Brooks is a dream signing for me. 22, British, Left footed, extremely technical, bags of potential, was great last year and potentially quite cheap if Bournemouth go down. He fits the profile of right winger we need more than anyone else around for me.