Harvey Barnes - West Brom (loan)

[Ric Flair]

If he was here, he'd likely be 2nd choice behind Maddison and 2nd choice behind Gray at either the ACM or LW role. It's very easy for him to get game time being the understudy as Puel likes to rotate his midfielders and we've picked up injuries to every player in midfield and attack so far bar Albrighton. 

 

I think theres genuine cause to call him back now, whereas last season was never going to see much gametime for him unless he was exceptional in those cup games and beyond. He really doesn't need to step up much now to get regular chances with us, simply because we've not many alternatives and anyway he looks ready for the chance.

[Simoken]

Didnt he have a bad spell a few weeks ago? I read post-game twitter posts from WB fans and it didnt sound too good.

Edited 4 December 2018 by Simoken

[Babylon]

34 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

If he was here, he'd likely be 2nd choice behind Maddison and 2nd choice behind Gray at either the ACM or LW role. It's very easy for him to get game time being the understudy as Puel likes to rotate his midfielders and we've picked up injuries to every player in midfield and attack so far bar Albrighton. 

 

I think theres genuine cause to call him back now, whereas last season was never going to see much gametime for him unless he was exceptional in those cup games and beyond. He really doesn't need to step up much now to get regular chances with us, simply because we've not many alternatives and anyway he looks ready for the chance.

I just look at our bench and think, where are the attacking options. Puel gets moaned at for defensive subs, but sometimes the most attacking players on the bench have been Okazaki and Albrighton etc. The more defensive minded sorted forward players, so the options are limited.

[Ric Flair]

17 minutes ago, Simoken said:

Didnt he have a bad spell a few weeks ago? I read post-game twitter posts from WB fans and it didnt sound too good.

Yeah, West Brom had a run of games where they turned to shit and didnt win for 4 games. They changed from 3 at the back and Barnes in the 10 role to 4-2-2-2 and Barnes back out towards the left. Since then he's scored 3 goals in about 5 games.

[Ric Flair]

1 minute ago, Babylon said:

I just look at our bench and think, where are the attacking options. Puel gets moaned at for defensive subs, but sometimes the most attacking players on the bench have been Okazaki and Albrighton etc. The more defensive minded sorted forward players, so the options are limited.

LOUDER

 

There are so few options, which is going to look even more painful with Vardy and Ghezzal out. There's very little in the academy available either. Ndukwu really would have got a chance this season and he's now out for a long while.

[Xen]

26 minutes ago, Simoken said:

Didnt he have a bad spell a few weeks ago? I read post-game twitter posts from WB fans and it didnt sound too good.

A lot of those twitter reactions seemed to acknowledge that Barnes was having an off-day and that it was not indicative of his ability/form. Very, very few players are consistently 8 or 9/10 every week (I can only really think of Kanté for us), so that's hardly surprising.

[Xen]

2 hours ago, Ric Flair said:

Always did ok for us, he would be a decent option without having to spend a load of dough in January.

Thought the same.

 

Not sure what the relationship with him is like or if we've burned bridges, but if he's still an option I'd give him another chance here.

 

Touch like a donkey, but with the way we're playing at the minute and the improved set pieces from Maddison et al, he could really suit our style as an alternative to Vardy.

 

Half a season back here and make a permanent decision in the summer to either sell at a loss & upgrade, or keep.

[Ric Flair]

1 minute ago, Xen said:

Thought the same.

 

Not sure what the relationship with him is like or if we've burned bridges, but if he's still an option I'd give him another chance here.

 

Touch like a donkey, but with the way we're playing at the minute and the improved set pieces from Maddison et al, he could really suit our style as an alternative to Vardy.

 

Half a season back here and make a permanent decision in the summer to either sell at a loss & upgrade, or keep.

I suspect its Fenerbache who want shot of him, therefore he's no choice but to come back and put the effort in. We are 2nd behind Everton at the most crosses made in the league which given the system we play and the lack of a striker like Slimani is frustrating. Everton dont even play a striker at times which shows how stupid football managers and teams are at times, surely theres analysts who flag up shit like this?

[Foxxed]

I think Barnes would best fit playing in front of Maddison.

 

I've seen Barnes nearly tackle someone once at the start of this season. Since then I swear I've not seen a single tackle. If he comes back and plays on the wing, his postion in his last match for the Baggies, our defending will take a serious hit. Mahrez has better tackling stats than Barnes. And Mahrez's position only really worked with a solid full back in Simpson, not marauding full backs.

 

The only position we currently have, which allows for so few tackles, is in front of Ndidi and Mendy. And if we bench Maddison it will be a scandle. And if we bench Barnes and wait for an injury to Maddison it will be a serious waste of talent. If we bring Barnes back as a number ten it'll be a serious waste. So we don't put him on the wing, and we don't bench Maddison, then only decent position for him is up front.

 

Obviously he's young. And his tackling could improve. And our formation could change. But his shooting and ability to find space would not go amiss up front. I think he's only played up front for the Baggies a couple of times but I'd love him to get some more game time up there. If a boy from Leicester, who grew up watching Leicester and then went to play for Leciester replaces the man who best represented Leicester's return to the Premier League it would be immense.

[gurru991]

After todays game at Fulham I'm starting to think we need to seriously think about bringing Barnes back. Outside of Madisson we just don't seem to have much imagination. 

He has the ability to break games open and that is something we desperately need.

[rachhere]

7 hours ago, Foxxed said:

I think Barnes would best fit playing in front of Maddison.

 

I've seen Barnes nearly tackle someone once at the start of this season. Since then I swear I've not seen a single tackle. If he comes back and plays on the wing, his postion in his last match for the Baggies, our defending will take a serious hit. Mahrez has better tackling stats than Barnes. And Mahrez's position only really worked with a solid full back in Simpson, not marauding full backs.

 

The only position we currently have, which allows for so few tackles, is in front of Ndidi and Mendy. And if we bench Maddison it will be a scandle. And if we bench Barnes and wait for an injury to Maddison it will be a serious waste of talent. If we bring Barnes back as a number ten it'll be a serious waste. So we don't put him on the wing, and we don't bench Maddison, then only decent position for him is up front.

 

Obviously he's young. And his tackling could improve. And our formation could change. But his shooting and ability to find space would not go amiss up front. I think he's only played up front for the Baggies a couple of times but I'd love him to get some more game time up there. If a boy from Leicester, who grew up watching Leicester and then went to play for Leciester replaces the man who best represented Leicester's return to the Premier League it would be immense.

I agree. I think largely his struggles last time were that we were playing him out of position (RW is I recall rightly). He looks much more at home in a front three, which obviously as you say doesn't have the same defensive responsibilities. Likewise he wouldn't do well as a lone striker, so it's a bit of headache trying to figure out how best to get him into the team long term. 

 

6 hours ago, gurru991 said:

After todays game at Fulham I'm starting to think we need to seriously think about bringing Barnes back. Outside of Madisson we just don't seem to have much imagination. 

He has the ability to break games open and that is something we desperately need.

I agree, especially as otherwise we are going to have to spend money, and who knows how successful that would be. 

[Captain...]

On 04/12/2018 at 09:25, Ric Flair said:

I suspect its Fenerbache who want shot of him, therefore he's no choice but to come back and put the effort in. We are 2nd behind Everton at the most crosses made in the league which given the system we play and the lack of a striker like Slimani is frustrating. Everton dont even play a striker at times which shows how stupid football managers and teams are at times, surely theres analysts who flag up shit like this?

Or it shows how intelligent opposition managers are. Where will they hurt us the least? Pumping crosses into Vardy/Richarlison. OK play narrow and deep funnel them wide, stop them running at/through our defence stick someone on Maddison/Gylfi force them to cross it in for our centre backs to mop up and launch the counter.

[Ric Flair]

40 minutes ago, Captain... said:

Or it shows how intelligent opposition managers are. Where will they hurt us the least? Pumping crosses into Vardy/Richarlison. OK play narrow and deep funnel them wide, stop them running at/through our defence stick someone on Maddison/Gylfi force them to cross it in for our centre backs to mop up and launch the counter.

Yeah, that exactly what we used to do to teams under Ranieri. Most teams will have felt like they had played well enough to have got something out of the games, yet most of the time they'd not got near us. If this is what is happening then get a striker who, if playing will give the opposition more to think about. It is difficult for us to counter attack when teams sit deep and we can't enforce errors or press enough to cause the disruption, this is why we see the possession football that is synonymous with Puel but in fact not necessarily how he wants us to play, we just find it difficult to break stubborn teams down.

 

We have to keep improving the squad to make it harder for teams to nullify us, a more dynamic central midfielder and another option up front and out wide will help. Pace is key for us, theres not a great amount in reserve and last night we had very little with Gray, Vardy and Ricardo not playing. 

[GingerrrFox]

This is what needs to happen. 

 

Harvey comes back at the beginning of January. Give him a couple of weeks to get integrated back with the lads and then unleash him against Southampton on 12/1.

 

Kasper

 

Morgan

Evans

Maguire

 

Albrighton

Mendy

Ndidi

Chilwell

 

Barnes

Maddison

 

Vardy.

 

Play a 3-4-2-1 and let it happen. 

[Foxxed]

24 minutes ago, GingerrrFox said:

This is what needs to happen. 

 

Harvey comes back at the beginning of January. Give him a couple of weeks to get integrated back with the lads and then unleash him against Southampton on 12/1.

 

Kasper

 

Morgan

Evans

Maguire

 

Albrighton

Mendy

Ndidi

Chilwell

 

Barnes

Maddison

 

Vardy.

 

Play a 3-4-2-1 and let it happen. 

I'd swap Richardo for Albrighton or at least rotate them heavily. And swap Benk for Morgan. But it looks good. 

[les-tah]

26 minutes ago, GingerrrFox said:

This is what needs to happen. 

 

Harvey comes back at the beginning of January. Give him a couple of weeks to get integrated back with the lads and then unleash him against Southampton on 12/1.

 

Kasper

 

Morgan

Evans

Maguire

 

Albrighton

Mendy

Ndidi

Chilwell

 

Barnes

Maddison

 

Vardy.

 

Play a 3-4-2-1 and let it happen. 

Morgan is not talented enough to play in a back 3 unfortunately. 

[rachhere]

20 minutes ago, GingerrrFox said:

This is what needs to happen. 

 

Harvey comes back at the beginning of January. Give him a couple of weeks to get integrated back with the lads and then unleash him against Southampton on 12/1.

 

Kasper

 

Morgan

Evans

Maguire

 

Albrighton

Mendy

Ndidi

Chilwell

 

Barnes

Maddison

 

Vardy.

 

Play a 3-4-2-1 and let it happen. 

I agree... I really think this would leave everyone playing in their optimum positions too, apart from Marc unfortunately and as such I would have Ric starting ahead of him. Gray and Ghezzal would both play well behind Vardy, so we have solid rotation options there. If Callum Elder is to replace Fuchs, then from what I have seen from him, a wing back role would suit him best too. 

[MPH]

i think our main area of concern is a striker.. we need a back up to vardy who knows how to score...

[Foxxed]

1 hour ago, MPH said:

i think our main area of concern is a striker.. we need a back up to vardy who knows how to score...

That's either Shade, Gray or the transfer market. (*tries to work Vardy Shades of Gray into a joke but gives up*) Sounds like the transfer market to me. If Vardy is out for longer than expected I'd seriously like up see GingerrrGox's selection with Ian or a January buy.

[Stadt]

1 hour ago, Foxxed said:

I'd swap Richardo for Albrighton or at least rotate them heavily. And swap Benk for Morgan. But it looks good. 

It’s Ricardo, not Richardo

[Foxxed]

1 minute ago, Stadt said:

It’s Ricardo, not Richardo

I'll attempt to inform my auto-correct as well as my brain. Thank you kindly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Damn spelling Nazi! Jk....)

[Captain...]

There is only one reason to bring back HB that is to play him in the first team.

 

Lets say we bring him back and integrate him into our currently misfiring team, best case scenario is a few more points and maybe squeaking into 7th and Europa League, but it will be papering over cracks.

 

Worst case scenario he comes back he doesn’t find his feet, struggles and regresses. 

 

Give him a full season at West Brom, he will hopefully continue in the same vein scoring goals and improving as a player. He comes back has a full preseason no expectation on him to rescue a flagging season he gets to bed in come on as an impact sub early season, hopefully find his feet quickly and boss the league. If he doesn’t then there is no shame in another loan in January.

 

Recalling him mid season from a successful loan and not playing him or it not working out could be the most damaging path, and it’s not worth the risk when the reward is a slightly better than average season.

[mozartfox]

12 hours ago, GingerrrFox said:

This is what needs to happen. 

 

Harvey comes back at the beginning of January. Give him a couple of weeks to get integrated back with the lads and then unleash him against Southampton on 12/1.

 

Kasper

 

Morgan

Evans

Maguire

 

Albrighton

Mendy

Ndidi

Chilwell

 

Barnes

Maddison

 

Vardy.

 

Play a 3-4-2-1 and let it happen. 

That back 3 will get roasted by quicker front lines we will be facing.  Frightening prospect...

[Stadt]

48 minutes ago, mozartfox said:

That back 3 will get roasted by quicker front lines we will be facing.  Frightening prospect...

Any pairing of the three are more exposed weekly playing in a four than they would be in a three. With how high Chilwell and Pereira get they have to cover more ground than they would in a three.

[Foxxed]

West Brom Villa on now.