Do we expect that lot to drop points?

How someone deemed Barker worthy of long term costly deal is beyond belief. Guy is a total charlatan and im delighted to see hes getting bombed out if the report is true.
 
MearnsUnionist said:
Why mate?

Certainly couldn't have been based on his performance against Stranraer.

Attitude rumours aside, Jones seems to be struggling to adapt to the narrow forward position in our formation.
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I think you’re right MU but Kent struggled to get into games too & I think them starting wider & then making diagonal runs should be considered anyway.

Once the space is achieved & the run gains momentum then the opposition are on the back foot.
 
SDF said:
I guess it boils down to attitude from the players involved. Gerrard's big on players owning up to mistakes and taking responsibility for their actions.

Look at Barisic. I imagine Gerrard would've been impressed with how he accepted responsibility and apologised after 'that' Liverpool friendly. The other players mentioned didn't.

He got a reprieve and Grezda and Lafferty didn't. It's clearly not a coincidence.
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I think accountability and personal responsibility play a huge part in leadership and it's clearly how SG was brought up. You can hear it in every interview, he never shirks and he seldom blames factors outwith our control.

Now all that might sound like the fundamental habits required for elite level professional sports and I think it's a mantra in US sports coaching but I wonder if he was the exception in his dressing room and not the norm?
 
Grigo Yossarian said:
I think you’re right MU but Kent struggled to get into games too & I think them starting wider & then making diagonal runs should be considered anyway.

Once the space is achieved & the run gains momentum then the opposition are on the back foot.
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Kent is now adding goals to his game Grigo, something he's been criticised previously for.

He's been a bit off it in the past couple of games, but overall the role has worked well for him imo.

Particularly at the piggery, which was just 3 games ago.
 
MearnsUnionist said:
Both are pretty much wingers though and we don't play with them now.

Plenty folk complained about 1 striker and 2 wide men not working last season.

Prior to Sunday, the new formation has been way more effective.
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Position granted, but for me I'm talking more about the individual players work rate, technique, returns, even pace wise Candeias was certainly no slower than Jones. There's no competition for me as I felt that the original quote was unfair and did a disservice to Candeias who was a great wee servant for us. It's a shame that he moved on but we just need to get the head down and focus on Wednesday now. Wit Jones and Barker going someone that can play centrally to support the striker as well as in the wide forward role would be great as it's obvious that Defoe needs assistance when he's playing but I'll not hold my breath.
 
MearnsUnionist said:
Why mate?

Certainly couldn't have been based on his performance against Stranraer.

Attitude rumours aside, Jones seems to be struggling to adapt to the narrow forward position in our formation.
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Just think with Morelos being back it gives us the chance to play a bit wider. Jones on one side and Kent having more of a free role on the other.
 
MearnsUnionist said:
Kent is now adding goals to his game Grigo, something he's been criticised previously for.

He's been a bit off it in the past couple of games, but overall the role has worked well for him imo.

Particularly at piggery, which was just 3 games ago.
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MU, don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen a significant improvement in Kent from the perspective of the final third. He’s already showing clear improvement in shooting & his final ball.

My comment is in respect to teams being able to keep him out of possession & what he should consider to become more available in certain games. Of course he’s seen as a danger man so teams are often setting up to crowd the areas of the park he likes to work from.
 
Portals_Bear_Blue said:
This is a great point

the stage we’re at now, when we bring squad players in to replace for injuries/suspensions they should be making a mark and making it hard for Gerrard to bring back the 1st team players

none are doing that and it’s not good enough. We need guys to come off the bench to make a difference and change games like yesterday and we have no one capable
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Exactly agree.
 
Actually still think that Jones is a decent enough backup player who gives us something a bit different. Depends if someone better comes in I suppose.
Barker has been really poor so far
 
Barker is miles away from being good enough, and obviously Jones has blown it with the management team. Although, I’d only let Jones go if someone else is coming in.
 
There is no logical reason why Jones would be offloaded other than:

a) Ranger got an offer for him from tha Championship side - Stoke perhaps - that way, way, too good to pass up, or

b) the more likely scenario if true, that Gerrard was really pissed off at Jones getting himself injured at a time when we weren't sure if the Kent deal would pan out. Rangers were thus forced to bring Barker in as a low-rent replacement option. My guess would be that Jones and SG had never patched things up and were having an on-going feud.

As I said there is no rational basis for kicking Jones out and retaining Ojo. Let us hope theres nothing in it.
 
I'm hoping getting rid of Jones won't be a mistake but Barker clearly isn't up to the standard we require if we are going to take the title.
 
baystatebear said:
There is no logical reason why Jones would be offloaded other than:

a) Ranger got an offer for him from tha Championship side - Stoke perhaps - that way, way, too good to pass up, or

b) the more likely scenario if true, that Gerrard was really pissed off at Jones getting himself injured at a time when we weren't sure if the Kent deal would pan out. Rangers were thus forced to bring Barker in as a low-rent replacement option. My guess would be that Jones and SG had never patched things up and were having an on-going feud.

As I said there is no rational basis for kicking Jones out and retaining Ojo. Let us hope theres nothing in it.
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B) Kent played the game where he got injured
 
I remain fascinated by how good a player Jones has become in some folks’ minds. Can’t help wondering what exactly was seen? He looked ok. A fairly raw recruit with 2 clear skills - pace and an ability to draw fouls on the break - but also several limitations - poor decision making in the final ball, poor shooting, limited dribbling skill when pace alone was insufficient and a tendency to run into corners. His Rangers career could have gone either way, particularly as most of his best work was playing on the break into space which we rarely get. Looked very much like Gregg Wylde.

I’d be happy to give him time to come good if he was playing regularly but I saw nothing to make me question Gerrard’s views if he’s not showing enough in training. And he was awful against Stranraer. Again, I’d give him a by on that as he’s returning from injury. But he showed nothing to make me clamour for his return.

If he is going, you would have to assume that it is with a view to replacement just in terms of squad numbers. And I’d be perfectly fine with that.
 
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Maybe Jones is going on loan to get match fitness? We don't have any games we can afford to use to get him back up to speed. He we productive before he got injured, his pace was useful in the away Euro ties.
 
Coplandbear said:
I'll hazard a guess he doesn't have the ability to play the inside forward role.

If it was a counter attacking game then believe it or not he could be useful on the left flank but it's just a case of him not being up to the required standard the management want plus the whole wiping out Bauer and ending up injuring himself would have done him no favours either.

Bottom line is we need genuine quality game changers in our squad. We need to move on from hyping up bog standard players it's like being back post 2012 all this pandering over mediocre players who contribute nothing for us.

The days of that are over it even cost Mark Allen his job a few months ago.

The high standards are back at the club and the players coming in should all be of a similar standard/calibre aswell imo that's vital and crucial if we are to win the league just my take on it.

If we are having a mini reshuffle and rethinking our strategy to get better players in then I'm all for it.
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Absolutely. Can't go on with the squad players contributing eff all. We should have some who can affect games. We want 55 and can't carry passengers.
 
Starting Anew said:
I remain fascinated by how good a player Jones has become in some folks’ minds. Can’t help wondering what exactly was seen? He looked ok. A fairly raw recruit with 2 clear skills - pace and an ability to draw fouls on the break - but also several limitations - poor decision making in the final ball, poor shooting, limited dribbling skill when pace alone was insufficient and a tendency to run into corners. His Rangers career could have gone either way, particularly as most of his best work was playing on the break into space which we rarely get. Looked very much like Gregg Wylde.

I’d be happy to give him time to come good if he was playing regularly but I saw nothing to make me question Gerrard’s views if he’s not showing enough in training. And he was awful against Stranraer. Again, I’d give him a by on that as he’s returning from injury. But he showed nothing to make me clamour first his return.

If he is going, you would have to assume that it is with a view to replacement just in terms of squad numbers. And I’d be perfectly fine with that.
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He played well in maybe 3 games before his injury. Ojo did as much if not more in the same timeframe, before his big dip in form. The forum just gets attached to some guys more than others.
 
Clutching at straws a bit here but the only scenario that would make sense to me is that Jones is possibly upset about Ojo being used as a sub before him? He comes across as the type of guy who would say what he feels and maybe he's feeling the wrath of his actions because Gerrard wouldn't stand for it
 
RJ93 said:
Barker is a friend of a friend of Gerrard’s apparently, as is Andy Firth.
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Barker was signed by Mark Allen, on the recommendation of Mark Allen, who tried to sign him multiple times previously, because he was the best young player in the Man City academy when Allen was there.
 
Dont think any of us will miss Barker but I thought Jones was a decent backup. As others have said i just dont think SG fancies Jones.
 
Tom Petty said:
Barker was signed by Mark Allen, on the recommendation of Mark Allen, who tried to sign him multiple times previously, because he was the best young player in the Man City academy when Allen was there.
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I hope that is the case but the person who told me this works quite closely with the first team.
 
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