A player that's talked about less in our squad, thought it would be interesting to see thoughts/expectations on how he'll do this season..
Firstly looking at our formation and the players we have, Ross Barkley has within a few months gone from not really fitting in to our formation to arguably being the best choice to start with Jorginho and Kante now in a 4-3-3. The 3rd midfielder to play with Jorginho and Kante should really be a goalscoring, chance creating one. At Napoli it was Hamsik, at Chelsea, with our squad as it is, Barkley fits that role best. The only midfielder we've been truly linked with (outside of being linked with Milinkovic Savic for £100m along with every other big club in Europe) is Golovin, who is currently having a medical with Monaco, and even then so far in his career hasn't really backed himself up with a good goalscoring record.
On Barkley himself, it's a bit of a strange one. I personally really rated him when he first came through at Everton as a teenager, under Moyes. If you'd told me we'd have a 24 year old Barkley in a 4-3-3 at the tie I'd be gassed. The guy was hard working, aggressive, could take players on, strong shot from distance with both feet, good stature..but as the seasons went on I stopped rating him highly. He seemed less motivated in matches, and a big thing I noticed was when in space with Everton he'd no longer make driving runs, just played a simple pass, to me it's like he lost that bit of vigour (http://www.ja606.co.uk/articles/viewArticle/302065).
I hope Barkley still has it in him to become the player he could be..don't want to use the word potential as I wonder if, with a player turning 25, it's the right word to use. But if he reaches the initial heights he first promised at Everton he could well be perfect for us, and Sarri has a history of improving players..I think Barkley has the ability to surprise people this season
Ross Barkley
posted on 25/7/18
I hope the lad does well.
''Over-hyped'' or not, there's a good footballer in there in his prime years.
Good luck Ross
posted on 25/7/18
So where does that leave RLC?
posted on 25/7/18
I would not be surprised if Barkley has already had his peak season in his career. He doesn't look like he'll ever learn and get better. Overhyped waste of talent.
posted on 26/7/18
He's an off the cuff player, and he's got it in his locker to produce something spectacular, but he's just too inconsistent. He's a good sub, but he's not a 90 min player.
posted on 26/7/18
comment by Bov (U6696)
posted 1 hour, 40 minutes ago
So where does that leave RLC?
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He also has a good chance of getting good game time in our current midfield
posted on 26/7/18
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posted on 26/7/18
So 4zA r u saying Anchelotty is betr than Sarri?
posted on 26/7/18
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posted on 26/7/18
comment by Don Maurizio (U5245)
posted 5 hours, 26 minutes ago
So 4zA r u saying Anchelotty is betr than Sarri?
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Ancelotti is the best manager and nicest manager we've had at Chelsea imo. Abramovic made a real error interfering and sacking Wilkins which marginalised Ancelotti and he knows it. When he sacked Wilkins, we were top and playing champagne football. Players were happy, egos controlled but we stuttered after that once the players knew that Carlo was on his way out and with the bad feeling after Butch left. I think he was the man who could have built something special at Chelsea.
Sarri has come now. I hope they give him time. I ope they sign the players he needs and wants. I believe he is similar to Ancelotti in many ways. A positive sign has been our not signing Golovan - a player that Chelsea had earmarked before Sarri came and who had more or less agreed to sign. I think Sarri knows we need a striker first and I think he is also interested in a couple of other midfield targets.
posted on 26/7/18
comment by Bov (U6696)
posted 8 hours, 56 minutes ago
So where does that leave RLC?
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These two are almost identical....if we can get one of them working well it'll be a bonus...both is probably a stretch