Maddison and Barnes

[majaco]

In my opinion, these should be among the first names on the team sheet.

 

When these two fire, we have our mojo.

 

Any opposition defence would feel happier if they were not in our team.

 

I have seen a lot of criticism of these players on this forum.  I don't get it.  Players with this flair are players I want in our team.  As far as I can see, both show commitment consistently.

 

Equally, I have seen a lot of favourable posts recognising that they are special players.

 

They are not always our best players; they need structure around them.  But the structure also needs the outlet of flair.  With these two, more chances are created for others as they need a lot of defensive attention.

 

Edited 28 November 2021 by majaco
Typos

[dayday]

13 minutes ago, majaco said:

In my opinion, these should be among the first names on the team sheet.

 

When these two fire, we have our mojo.

 

Any opposition defence would feel happier if they were not in our team.

 

I have seen a lot of criticism of these players on this forum.  I don't get it.  Players with this flair are players I want in our team.  As far as I can see, both show commitment consistently.

 

Equally, I have seen a lot of favourable posts recognising that they are special players.

 

They are not always our best players; they need structure around them.  But the structure also needs the outlet of flair.  With these two, more chances are created for others as they need a lot of defensive attention.

 

Both players have struggled since injury, but there are signs finally they’re finding there form again, touchwood they stay fit.

[FLAN]

Not seeing what Barnes is adding really. The snow put paid to his game today but generally I feel he offers little to nothing off the ball and isn’t available enough to get on it much. 

[st albans fox]

Barnes had a rough game today but he offers a lot when on song and teams to have to make special arrangements to double up on him 

[hejammy]

2 hours ago, FLAN said:

Not seeing what Barnes is adding really. The snow put paid to his game today but generally I feel he offers little to nothing off the ball and isn’t available enough to get on it much. 

It's basically his decision making that let's him down. The final pass is pretty poor most of the time. However he has been playing a lot better in his last few matches. Let's hope he has found some form. 

 

Problem with Madders and Barnes is that if they play well, they really play well. If not then they tend to disappear out of games. 

Edited 28 November 2021 by hejammy

[Finnegan]

I don't think Barnes is quite "there" yet. He's definitely on the way but he's still got a bit to do to really recover the form he was in before. He's always been a bit more of a confidence player and I think he's going to need to play himself in to that over the next few games. Hopefully Rodgers lets the team settle (and gets the opportunity to, with no more injuries) in to a system and shape that lets that happen. 

 

Madders was superb today and very good against Legia. Definitely has his mojo back at just the right time with YT out. We'll really need him now.

[K1FOX]

We were at our best when these two were firing last season and scoring a lot of goals between them. Get these two on it again and Fofana and Justin back and could be a very interesting second half of the season.

 

Both of their injuries came at the worst time possible for both us and them. They would both have gone to the Euros the form they were in

Edited 28 November 2021 by K1FOX

[frany104]

Agree entirely with the OP. We are not blessed with attacking quality in the squad and these are the only two players who can open up defences. Great to see Maddison shining again and Barnes has looked like coming back into form recent weeks. He didn’t have the best game today but his presence alone opens space for others as he frightens defenders with his pace and directness. 

[Scotch]

The problem with Flair players is that they tend not to have anything else to fall back on. If Vardy doesn't have a great game, he's always going to work extremely hard for the team and you take that at the very least. With Maddison and Barnes, they are not going to put in the work rate sonif they don't have a good game offensively, they don't have anything else to add. 

 

Flair players are also notoriously hit and miss so we need to bare that in mind also. 

[Hamilton Fox]

They should be among the first names on the team sheet when they are playing well. Unfortunately one of the main the reasons why we’ve played poorly this season is they’ve both been pretty dreadful up until the last few games. 
 

[lcfc sheff]

They look back up to peak fitness, Barnes more so on Thursday than today but madders looked like the chap we compared to Aston Villa’s version of grealish today. Vardy, Barnes and madders fully fit and in form not many teams can compete with that attacking talent 

[Blanchflower78]

Madders getting there. Barnes still labouring to make the impact he should be. I'm sure it will come but another gear still to be found

[gurru991]

54 minutes ago, FLAN said:

Not seeing what Barnes is adding really. The snow put paid to his game today but generally I feel he offers little to nothing off the ball and isn’t available enough to get on it much. 

Kin'hell !!

When he's on he is almost unplayable & gives the team a completely different dimension. Nobody looked particularly great in the second half playing in a blizzard but he more than held his own.

[FLAN]

5 minutes ago, gurru991 said:

Kin'hell !!

When he's on he is almost unplayable & gives the team a completely different dimension. Nobody looked particularly great in the second half playing in a blizzard but he more than held his own.

I said the snow today didn’t help. I wouldn’t say we’ve seen much of him being unplayable this season 

he could affect games much more if he would improve his off the ball positions and movement. 

[Corky]

You saw the way Maddison played today and it frustrates you even more when he just doesn't impact games. He's got a lot of quality.

[Lambert09]

Honestly with Barnes, mads and lookman you have a bit of attacker insurance. If any of them are having an off-day you’d like to think one of them will be on it. 
 

Add in youri pulling the strings and once again we will terrify teams.  We don’t need to just rely on Vardy anymore and that’s how it should be. 
 

I think the snow actually hindered us today. If we’d had a normal game, I think we could have crushed them. 

[moore_94]

2 hours ago, FLAN said:

Not seeing what Barnes is adding really. The snow put paid to his game today but generally I feel he offers little to nothing off the ball and isn’t available enough to get on it much. 

Doesn't help that we have regularly been playing a 5 at the back system that does not suit a winger like Barnes.

 

Should maybe take a look at his output when we play the 4 at the back system and he starts as an out and out left winger, the last 4 games where we have actually done that:

 

For whatever reason it doesn't look like he actually got an assist because the keeper got a touch but it was a great run and play by him for the Lookman goal

Assist for Daka against Legia

Goal against Leeds

Assist against Crystal Palace

 

For someone who offers little to nothing off the ball and isn't available enough on it, its not bad when he actually gets played where he is best.

[foxfanazer]

You leave Barnes out and you've got nobody to take on a opposition player. He's the only player in the squad that even attempts to dribble past the opposition. He makes things happen imo

[MPH]

2 hours ago, FLAN said:

Not seeing what Barnes is adding really. The snow put paid to his game today but generally I feel he offers little to nothing off the ball and isn’t available enough to get on it much. 

 

[StriderHiryu]

3 hours ago, majaco said:

In my opinion, these should be among the first names on the team sheet.

 

When these two fire, we have our mojo.

 

Any opposition defence would feel happier if they were not in our team.

 

I have seen a lot of criticism of these players on this forum.  I don't get it.  Players with this flair are players I want in our team.  As far as I can see, both show commitment consistently.

 

Equally, I have seen a lot of favourable posts recognising that they are special players.

 

They are not always our best players; they need structure around them.  But the structure also needs the outlet of flair.  With these two, more chances are created for others as they need a lot of defensive attention.

 

Both had poor starts to the season and were rightly dropped. But in recent games both have been much closer to their best. Maddison was definitely at his best today!

 

We have tried so many tactics this season and last, and got some decent results with the 3412. But our best attacking performances always come with the 4231, and always when Maddison and Barnes are in it. It means Vardy gets more of the ball, and both the full backs support the attack much better too. The entire team works much better because we can play higher up the pitch and the interchange between the front 4 and fullbacks can carve any team open. Lookman I thought was better than Barnes today, and having both him and Barnes on the pitch is so effective, teams get dragged out on either side and Maddison can drift between the lines, meaning Vardy gets more space too. This was without having Tielemans and Ricardo playing which makes that system work even better than it did today.

 

If these two can kick on now and have good seasons then they can rescue or season too. For both their is the added incentive to try and play your way into Gareth Southgate's plans for the England team for next year's world Cup (albeit in the Winter).

 

The thing both of them lack is consistency. On their day they are unplayable, but when they are off it they are poor. They need to make it so that their worst performances are still 7/10's and their best the 9's that we know both can produce. When they are on it, they walk into our team no question about it.

[Gerard]

4 hours ago, K1FOX said:

We were at our best when these two were firing last season and scoring a lot of goals between them. Get these two on it again and Fofana and Justin back and could be a very interesting second half of the season.

 

Both of their injuries came at the worst time possible for both us and them. They would both have gone to the Euros the form they were in

 

Forgot about Fofana. 

 

The main reason we have struggled is Barnes, Maddison, Soyuncu and Ricardo have struggled whether that be coming back from injury or whatever but none have been the player they were for the last 1-2 years. 

 

Justin was outstanding pre injury and Fofana is very good himself. If we can get four or five of  those six players I mentioned back to their A game then we're maybe the best team in the division who has their eye on 4th place this season.

[Vardinio'sCat]

Well it's about bloody time they showed up, I don't think we got bringing them back in right at all, which is perhaps not their fault.

 

Best part of a year to get them back and looking like themselves, what a nightmare it has been for us.

[Guest SO1]

2 hours ago, Gerard said:

 

Forgot about Fofana. 

 

The main reason we have struggled is Barnes, Maddison, Soyuncu and Ricardo have struggled whether that be coming back from injury or whatever but none have been the player they were for the last 1-2 years. 

 

Justin was outstanding pre injury and Fofana is very good himself. If we can get four or five of  those six players I mentioned back to their A game then we're maybe the best team in the division who has their eye on 4th place this season.

Is that my two long lost friends optimism and hope that I smell?

[Cadno'r Cymoedd]

6 hours ago, FLAN said:

I said the snow today didn’t help. I wouldn’t say we’ve seen much of him being unplayable this season 

he could affect games much more if he would improve his off the ball positions and movement. 

Perhaps we should only play him in August to October and then May, just to be safe? 😉

Edited 29 November 2021 by Cadno'r Cymoedd

[volpeazzurro]

8 hours ago, majaco said:

In my opinion, these should be among the first names on the team sheet.

 

When these two fire, we have our mojo.

 

Any opposition defence would feel happier if they were not in our team.

 

I have seen a lot of criticism of these players on this forum.  I don't get it.  Players with this flair are players I want in our team.  As far as I can see, both show commitment consistently.

 

Equally, I have seen a lot of favourable posts recognising that they are special players.

 

They are not always our best players; they need structure around them.  But the structure also needs the outlet of flair.  With these two, more chances are created for others as they need a lot of defensive attention.

 

Quite right, but the important bit there was the 'when they're firing' because when they're not,  you can't just sit back and persist with two unproductive players at this level. It would have neither helped them physically following lengthy injuries or mentally I feel. I criticise Rodgers quite a bit over some things but his fairly gradual reintroduction of these two has been good for different reasons I feel.