Ross Barkley, for the last three years, has been the most divisive Everton player. You either see it or you don’t with Ross. This shows as there seems to be an even split in the Gwladys between the two vices.
There’s no denying that he’s giving everything for the club, he’s a supporter at the end of the day. However, his relaxed style may lead to some people thinking he’s lazy and doesn’t always give 100%. His conservative style frustrates a lot of us, as he has the ability to win games on his own but rarely finds the chance to unleash that bit of magic. In a similar vein to Lukaku however, he can take a hold of a game single-handedly and make even the most experienced of defenders look like children.
A lot of people will say that we play the ball faster and sharper without relying on Ross as an outlet, but then if Ross is gone, we haven’t actually got an outlet. That’s the thing, we have nobody else like him, so it’s beneficial to all of us if Ross is on his game, as he offers something that the likes of Deulofeu cannot.
It’s performances like Monday night (against Sunderland) especially. We were disgraceful in the first half, and Ross was the main cause of our problems as he lost simple balls constantly and when he won the rare 50-50, he proceeded to lose the ball with his next touch. It was definitely not what we needed to see from Ross.
In the second half, as the attacking midfielder was dragged off, Gérard Deulofeu brought life to the dynamic front four as he occupied yet another new role under Ronald Koeman. He played slightly deeper and was the source of our fast breaks yesterday, which Sunderland definitely couldn’t handle as Lukaku thrashed home three times in 11 minutes.
Anyway, on a positive note, it shows we have a lot of options to explore regarding the attacking side of our team, with about 5 combinations being tried and tested already, with more to come I’m sure.
We saw this again against Norwich, on a day where he should have ran the show, he was backstage somewhere. He was absolutely appalling.
He has completely lost the faith of the Gwladys – including myself, who would have defended him to kingdom come just three weeks ago – as there is a collective sigh in somewhat anticipation and somewhat irritation whenever he finds himself leading an attack.
We just know he’ll find a way to make a meal of things. Whether it be taking around 60 touches on the edge of the box, or taking too long and then deciding on doing the wrong thing. He’s going to become a run of the mill squad player at this point if he doesn’t change his ways. Going the way of the Rodwell, probably.
So, in this free-flowing attack, where does Barkley fit in? Well, he probably doesn’t.
So that begs the question really of what system can we incorporate a sluggish Ross Barkley in, and is it actually worth it? At the moment, Ross is struggling to find his identity as a footballer as he is in limbo between powerful box-to-box midfielder and second striker. He excels at neither.
Ross, as Koeman said, needs to properly prove himself again, from scratch and to stop blaming others for his lack of opportunity. He needs to prove to Allardyce that he has to be in the team over the likes of Henderson, which probably shouldn’t be an issue.
Barkley needs to rediscover himself, desperately, if he wants to stay a part of the ruthless Koeman’s plans.
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