I've seen some shocking comments about our Ashley on here and social media lately. There are a lot of short memories because, before his injury problems last season, we were clamouring for him to be in the England squad, such was his strike rate. There was a period where he was bagging at a rate of almost every other game and he scored big goals against big teams too.

He's going through a poor run, much like Wood, yet Wood hasn't had the injury issues that Barnes has. Barnes is a vital member of the squad and he was probably the main fans' favourite before his lay off. Let's get off his back.

It is why I have not made a single disparaging comment about Barnes, but even I am starting to wonder when he lost interest in playing football and just wanting fouls instead. He needs to calm it down.

He was excellent tonight, won lots of free kicks and broke play up. This is exactly what his boss would have told him to do. He made Mings life difficult and if the delivery from some of the free kicks he won was halfway decent...

elwaclaret wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 17, 2020 9:40 pm

It is why I have not made a single disparaging comment about Barnes, but even I am starting to wonder when he lost interest in playing football and just wanting fouls instead. He needs to calm it down.

Not one.......

Firstly, we should learn to play different systems such that we see more of the ball (Dyche’s responsibility). Then we should try to add some quality to the team so we create more chances. If Barnes isn’t scoring then, time to get on his back. Can’t score when there is no service.

Won some good FK’s today. Delivery was poor.

Would not object to a new striker who is in form but think there’s very little chance of that given DYche’s comments at the end.

I like Barnes, but he really needs to stay on his feet more because he’s a much better player when he does, and also more of a threat when he’s on his feet because then he’ll have a chance to shoot at goal

elwaclaret wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 17, 2020 9:40 pm

It is why I have not made a single disparaging comment about Barnes, but even I am starting to wonder when he lost interest in playing football and just wanting fouls instead. He needs to calm it down.

It's always been a big part of his game. But currently he doesn't have the goals or maybe confidence alongside it, so it's all that's left.

Looks like he’d rather be in WWE than football at the minute.

I’m sure he’ll come good again but it’s a bit frustrating that he still gets the nod ahead of Vydra (and even Jay at the start of the season) when he’s been pretty much awful all season.

He played like George Weahs cousin tonight.

One explanation would be that Lowton & Brady played well so we have to have someone else to moan about.

Just put this on the new striker thread, seems more appropriate here though;

Lots of poor comments on the site about Barnes who is still coming back from a long injury.

I thought he did exactly what Dyche asked of him. He came on and must of won us at least 6 free kicks in the last 20mins. It was clear that we wanted to go for a set piece smash and grab.

A bit of quality on the free kicks and we would be talking about a classic away win.

Have we been invaded by BHA fans?

He needs the fans backing him on the pitch, he seems to thrive on our appreciation of his efforts, nothing better then the aye aye Ashley song. He'll come good.

He was on the pitch 9 minutes and lost us possession 4 times, the assistants flag saved him.from a fifth time, then I stopped counting, then he collapsed when given the ball after a poor clearance from.their keeper.

Sadly his limitations showed, he offered zero tonight, and cannot be starting unless there's no other option, after 451

Been a good player for us but he is clearly someone who we should be looking to ‘upgrade’ on should we want to move forward.

England squad? I will have some of what the op is on

Let's be honest, great servant tho he has been, he has been **** poor since his injury. Maybe he will come good but at present any minutes over Jay or vydra are unfathomable.

Local cricketer wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 17, 2020 10:08 pm

England squad? I will have some of what the op is on

See, short memories.

https://talksport.com/football/598009/s ... ey-barnes/

Actually think Barnes has looked sharp in the last 3 substitute appearances.

unfortunately the league is alive with in form, dangerous strikers, its been a while since he put the fear into opponents. remember how it looked great when he and wood were spearheading, like against west ham. But i like him a lot, really hope he finds his former form.

Been a great servant for the club and a great signing for Dyche - cannot deny that and he deserves a bit of respect from the fans.

Problem is that football doesn’t work in that way. He’s had lots of praise and support from the fans in the past but you can only go off the here and now. And right now he looks a shadow of the player he used to be.

He’s looked anything but sharp this season and tonight was as bad a 30 minutes I have ever seen him play. I thought Jay was really unlucky to come off so early...for me he was doing better than Wood but we did not need to make the change this early. As soon as we brought Barnes on we lost any momentum and he did nothing other than try and con the referee into giving free kicks...and the passage of play when Martinez made a poor clearance he could have a go at trying to chip the keeper - but he ended up doing I don’t know what and again tried to con the ref when he had lost the ball.

We are struggling up front at the moment - but Wood should have scored a couple of headers at least now and I think Jay is not far off scoring soon either.

I hope Barnes proves us all wrong - but at the moment it looks like a monumental leap from how he is playing.

Working his way back from an injury that has taken months to come through.

I don't know what it is with some Burnley fans but they have to have targets, have to find someone to have a go at instead of getting behind them. Hendrick gone now, as someone has said both Lowton and Brady doing well, so let's find a new target. I know - Ashley Barnes.

Try supporting him, try backing him, he's doing his best for us and will get back to where he was and start scoring again.

As an Ashley Barnes fan, I still have been saying since about 2016..... oh, we're still going with Barnes are we.

I think he's had his day with us, and the fact that we're still set up and playing (for the most part) the same way as we have since he came here, is the reason he still gets a look in.

I still remember his header at Barnsley which set it all off, thanks Ashley, but times time.

Or people could just think he has been poor all season, be honest about it on this board, and not see why their opinion should be criticised. Do you really think comments on this forum affect how Ashley Barnes plays? Its a football discussion board, not a cheerleading troupe for Christ's sake

Tonight, he had a job to do and he did it - the Ashley Barnes way. We needed to break up their play and spend some time in their half. He helped to do both. I wasn't sure about Ash when he first came, fouling, play-acting with a poor first touch. Then, he came into his own and started scoring for fun with some memorable goals.

What BFC needs now is a play-maker, someone to find the strikers with that telling pass. Defour anyone?

ClaretTony wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 17, 2020 10:41 pm

Working his way back from an injury that has taken months to come through.

I don't know what it is with some Burnley fans but they have to have targets, have to find someone to have a go at instead of getting behind them. Hendrick gone now, as someone has said both Lowton and Brady doing well, so let's find a new target. I know - Ashley Barnes.

Try supporting him, try backing him, he's doing his best for us and will get back to where he was and start scoring again.

I don't think it is Tony. Personally I'd just prefer to watch Jay or vydra then someone who can't trap a bag of cement at the minute, and I think we'd win more games by doing so.

ClaretTony wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 17, 2020 10:41 pm

Working his way back from an injury that has taken months to come through.

I don't know what it is with some Burnley fans but they have to have targets, have to find someone to have a go at instead of getting behind them. Hendrick gone now, as someone has said both Lowton and Brady doing well, so let's find a new target. I know - Ashley Barnes.

Try supporting him, try backing him, he's doing his best for us and will get back to where he was and start scoring again.

there isn't a team on the planet that don't have an element within their fanbase that single out certain players for the demise of form. its been a constant recently with Dwight, and Brady, and others. Things will begin to change slowly, a win here or there, a match winning goal, and all will be well in the Burnley universe. It will improve, and soon.

Ray Deakin and Graham Branch always spring to mind when I think of Burnley fans needing to single someone out. They both got dogs abuse but thankfully came out the other side. Hope Ash can get back to his best form. I actually thought he had a positive impact when he came on against Arsenal but thought he was poor tonight. But all the forwards were feeding off scraps tonight.

He fluffed it when we had our best chance but I thought he did okay overall when he came on. Better than Wood imo.
It was the kind of game where the ref was giving everything and Barnes got his fair share of decisions when he came on.

I don't think there's a huge difference between all of our strikers, no one particularly stands out. Perhaps that's part of our problem, we're just lacking quality.

Get behind the lads for heavens sake- how many times have these players and management team proved you all wrong?

Imagine what some support could do?

MACCA wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 17, 2020 10:00 pm

He was on the pitch 9 minutes and lost us possession 4 times, the assistants flag saved him.from a fifth time, then I stopped counting, then he collapsed when given the ball after a poor clearance from.their keeper.

Sadly his limitations showed, he offered zero tonight, and cannot be starting unless there's no other option, after 451

And won us about 5 free set plays.

Burnleyareback2 wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 17, 2020 10:51 pm

Get behind the lads for heavens sake- how many times have these players and management team proved you all wrong?

Imagine what some support could do?

Yes, the boos will be ringing in their ears.

RalphCoatesComb wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 17, 2020 10:47 pm

Tonight, he had a job to do and he did it - the Ashley Barnes way. We needed to break up their play and spend some time in their half. He helped to do both. I wasn't sure about Ash when he first came, fouling, play-acting with a poor first touch. Then, he came into his own and started scoring for fun with some memorable goals.

What BFC needs now is a play-maker, someone to find the strikers with that telling pass. Defour anyone?

Not that simple really though is it. You couldn't just drop a playmaker into a midfield 2. Unless he was an all action Bryan Robson type. To accommodate a creative force we would really have to drop one of the strikers and play a different system.

Stevie Morgan wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 17, 2020 10:52 pm

Yes, the boos will be ringing in their ears.

Clearly finding someone to moan about every week is down to Covid?

welsbyswife wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 17, 2020 10:49 pm

But all the forwards were feeding off scraps tonight.

As is the case in about 75% of our matches in this league.

And that's why when Wood gets a sitter, we can't have him missing it.

True. But find me a striker with a 100% conversion rate and he would not be playing for us.

I put a serious question on the MDT. Had Wood had a touch second half? This was just prior to him being hooked. In the time they were on the field together Ash must have been involved 10 times minimum. Now some of them were fouls and possibly our guys were aiming for him over Wood but he still influenced the match.

Fretters wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 17, 2020 10:21 pm

See, short memories.

https://talksport.com/football/598009/s ... ey-barnes/

Has spijed hacked your account

Chris boden is as reasonable and balanced as they come and even he said Barnes looked well off the pace.

This is the number one reason I have fallen out with football.

Plastic fans that think we are Barcelona.

Our players give 100%, they are not messi FFS, because we are Burnley not Barcelona.

You lot need to get a grip on reality.

Lowbankclaret wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 17, 2020 11:02 pm

This is the number one reason I have fallen out with football.

Plastic fans that think we are Barcelona.

Our players give 100%, they are not messi FFS, because we are Burnley not Barcelona.

You lot need to get a grip on reality.

Ridiculous statement. Its about having an opinion on who should be in the team, be subbed on etc.

welsbyswife wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 17, 2020 10:56 pm

True. But find me a striker with a 100% conversion rate and he would not be playing for us.

It's not about 100% conversion rates, I'm just giving a reason why Barnes and Wood come in for stick (it's not all their fault).

When we create so few chances we have to have our forwards scoring sitters. Or what happens is our odd goal wins (like in our more successful seasons in this league) don't happen, and we end up where we are at the moment.

Thought Barnes did ok tonight. Fluffed a decent chance to create something from a Villa mistake but otherwise did his job. He totally messed the game up, killed Villa’s momentum and gave us some relief, and a few half chances from set pieces.

It’s not glamorous, and I wish we were in a position to offer more than that, but unfortunately Villa have a lot more attacking talent than we do.

We’re in a bit of a pickle because our biggest goal threat is hopelessly out of form, Jay isn’t getting chances, Barnes is returning from an injury and Vydra doesn’t offer the same goal threat. I’m hoping that something clicks sooner rather than later, although the addition of some creativity behind the strikers would help enormously.

It's all the same point really. In the last few years we have been excellent at converting those crucial chances. Wood and Barnes, or even J Rod, aren't quite as sharp at the moment for whatever reason. But getting on their backs isn't going to help. I think that's the point of the OP.

For those banging on about service you need to realise that part of forward play is creating chances for themselves and others and having the pace, movement, skill etc to help get in positions and be a part of interplay that leads to the them getting a scoring opportunity is a key attribute of any good striker

Che Adams and Danny Ings have more assists this season than our whole team have goals so the simplistic notion that midfielders create and strikers score is for people who obviously dont have a clue about playing the game

Certainly a lot of polarity on this subject. I don’t see having an opinion about how Barnes plays is wrong in any event. I personally (as stated previously) think he just needs to stay on his feet more and I personally think he’d be more effective. He’s not the only one who I think has become a little easy to go down, we saw former player of the season Ashley Westwood do it and it cost us points.

Having a strong jaw used to be our belief but when we have players who drop too easily when our manager often berates other teams players for doing so I find it a little hypocritical.

That all said, we have improved lately, and the results are coming, we’ve finally beaten Arsenal too, signs are more positive. Performances will come

If you think about tonight's game, Villa had around 5 or 6 chances where they really should have got a shot on target. They were really wasteful. I'm sure if Barnes or Wood had that number of efforts in a game they would have done better than Villa players did. In comparison Wood had one header against Arsenal and one tonight that would class as real chances. Unrealistic to expect him to bag every chance. He could have done better but he's not a machine.

Genuinely think if we can get the takeover sorted soon it will give whole new lease of life to the club and team. The rancour in the boardroom and issues with dyche/garlick spilled out onto pitch earlier this season imo (as well as injuries) and we are still recovering.

Devils_Advocate wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 17, 2020 11:14 pm

For those banging on about service you need to realise that part of forward play is creating chances for themselves and others and having the pace, movement, skill etc to help get in positions and be a part of interplay that leads to the them getting a scoring opportunity is a key attribute of any good striker

Che Adams and Danny Ings have more assists this season than our whole team have goals so the simplistic notion that midfielders create and strikers score is for people who obviously dont have a clue about playing the game

That's fine but we don't have those type of players. Wood and Barnes have their strengths and limitations. Pace, movement and skill are not their strong points. There's no point criticising them for not having those attributes. We have to play with what we have.

welsbyswife wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 17, 2020 11:23 pm

That's fine but we don't have those type of players. Wood and Barnes have their strengths and limitations. Pace, movement and skill are not their strong points. There's no point criticising them for not having those attributes. We have to play with what we have.

I know and by the same token Dyche doesnt set up the midfield to have the freedom to just push forward to try and create chances

Im not having a go at the strikers but just pointing out the idea that it is not their fault they arent scoring because they are not getting the right service completely overlooks the part they play alongside the midfield in the team as a whole in creating scoring opportunities

If you put Son and Kane into our team our midfield would look much more creative and likewise if you stuck De Bruyne and Fernandes into our midfield im sure our strikers would get more goals

Stevie Morgan wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 17, 2020 11:05 pm

Ridiculous statement. Its about having an opinion on who should be in the team, be subbed on etc.

No it’s not it’s about Ashley Barnes, as the title says.

If he was a better footballer he would not be playing for Burnley, FACT.

in fact that goes for all our players..