Should Barkley be played Deeper?

Ross Barkley has enjoyed a great start to this season, scoring a screamer against Watford, getting an assist and a goal against Southampton, as well as transforming an Everton team 2-0 down at half time against Barnsley.

A notable point of analysis may actually be the role in which he played at Oakwell on Wednesday night. After a poor first-half the Blues were on the brink of being knocked out of the League Cup before the Wavertree-born midfielder was brought on. The team had been begging for creativity and Barkley certainly brought that, originally sitting deep next to Muhamed Bešić and made deep runs forward.

Although more accustomed to playing further up the pitch, the Englishman took to the role as though he had been playing it his whole career. Not only did he bring control in the middle of the park. he would receive the ball from the defence, turn his man and explode forward always looking for a pass to the wings or through the middle.

This is also not Barkley’s first time performing well in this position. Last season Everton played Queens Park Rangers in one of their congested Christmas time fixtures and many won’t forget Ross’ wonder goal (albeit with a minuscule deflection). The Blues won 3-1.

When McCarthy came on against Barnsley, Barkley pushed forward back into his more natural position of attacking midfield and duly set up Romelu Lukaku to seal the win 5-3.

With Gareth Barry dividing opinion amongst fans, Ross Barkley sitting deeper could be a welcome sight for most Evertonians, who could only have been impressed with the midfielders performance in the cup.

There could also be even more benefits to this new system too. When Roberto Martinez stated that he has been in search of a new ‘no.10’ many expressed their opinion, in which Barkley can fill that role and recruitment would only push him back out the team. With Ross potentially sitting deep this could allow for a new signing such as a Yarmolenko or a Bernard to sit in that role and bring a wealth of creativity to the team.

With the positives then come the negatives. Barkley is an attack-minded player and is great in the final third. Sitting deep may not allow for him to go forward as much as he would like, due to the midfield then being left exposed for a counter attack.

This is still an untested system but it would not surprise me to see Martinez explore this matter further into the cup and potentially in the Premier League.

Where would you play Ross? Let us know on Twitter at @ReadEverton