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Rafa explains Keane and Barry debacle


Torvald Utne
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What cave have you been in?

Our perfomances dipped as it was Pako, the sports science nut case, who took the training wasn't it?

 

Except we went on to have our best season under rafa after he left.

 

Plus pako didn't take training, he was a fitness coach, so he was in charge of the players fitness, rafa always over saw training himself.

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Guest TK-421

Since arriving at Manchester City from Aston Villa in the summer of 2009 Gareth Barry has been a mainstay for the Blues, both under Mark Hughes (the man who signed him) and latterly Roberto Mancini.

 

Despite the riches lavished on the City side, particularly in the midfield where he has seen the likes of Yaya Toure, David Silva and Samir Nasri subsequently arrive at the club, Barry has held down his place despite the belief that with each new signing he would be the odd man out.

 

Never one who has enjoyed the best of reputations, Barry has at times been a maligned figure at City, seemingly unable to endear himself to certain sections of the crowd. The common perception of Barry in some quarters is that he is someone who plays on the periphery and imposed nothing in the way of influence in games.

 

This was particularly the case in the 2010/11 season, where City’s central trio of Barry, Nigel de Jong and Yaya Toure were all tagged as being defensive minded midfielders; spoilers who were charged with restricting opponents and little else, particularly in terms of offensive output. And with the addition of Nasri and Sergio Aguero for the 2011/12 season this was even moreso – that was if he even managed to get onto the pitch.

 

Through 15 games of the season though Barry has more than just held on to his place: not only maintaining his numbers from a defensive standpoint but increasing by some margin his numbers from an attacking perspective as City set off at a tremendous pace.

 

Firstly though, looking at his numbers from a defensive standpoint, Barry has continued his form from the 2010/11 season. With the 2011/12 season only part way through, I have listed both his current totals (through fifteen games upto and including the Chelsea game) and the pace he is on target for if he maintains his current rate:

 

 

As illustrated, it is shown that Barry is on pace to play an almost identical number of minutes as he did last season – which provides for an even better comparison of his numbers. There is overall very little difference in the key areas such as Interceptions, Clearances, Tackles and Ground 50/50’s.

 

With Nigel de Jong playing very little this season (through a combination of injury and a tactical change from Mancini leaving him on the fringes) it can be argued that it is to be expected that Barry will continue to shoulder a similar (or increased) amount of defensive responsibility so these numbers are not a huge surprise.

 

What is telling with Barry’s season so far though is his offensive contribution. Not an area he is adjudged to excel in, Barry’s figures are very impressive and show a marked increase on those from 2010/11. Whilst it is true that City have opened up their game this season, this has not been with the same personnel as last season as Mancini has added some key components to the attack yet Barry has been influential in City’s attacking play as the following numbers show:

 

 

Barry’s passing numbers show a big jump on last season: projected big increases in terms of overall passing but more importantly showing a projected rise of just under 50% final third passing and a staggering 100% increase in passing in the opposition half – both achieved whilst also registering higher pass completion percentages (almost 4% and 5% respectively). He is also on pace to add another 100 final third entries to his 2010/11 total.

 

So we know that Barry has had a greater presence from an attacking perspective than he did in 2010/11 but what impact has he had? In terms of Goals and Assists there is little or no difference, although this has hardly damaged the side given they are averaging over three goals per game. This has not stopped Barry attempting shots on goal however, and he has already almost matched last years numbers.

 

In terms of key offensive indicators his numbers stand out when comparing both Through balls and Chances created, more than doubling last years numbers already in the latter whilst on pace to increase by 50% the number of chances he is creating – evidencing his involvement in all facets of City’s offensive play.

 

Barry also backs up these numbers with the statistic that he is often the player in City’s side who covers most ground in games and the numbers we have seen from the past two seasons show not only the value of Barry on this City side, but if anything that his influence and importance to the all-round play of the team is something that is actually increasing.

 

The increasing importance of Gareth Barry | Premier League Stats

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I think the point is, he's the mainstay defencive midfielder at a world class club with a world class midfield and it seems Rafa was right about him from the start.

 

Shame we had Dirk Kuyt out wide then.

 

People do notice the difference dont they, a team with almost unlimited amount of talent going forward with Barry in midfield and a Rafa team including Kuyt and some other attacking cloggers with Barry in midfield?

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"Attacking Cloggers"

Torres

Gerrard

Keane

Yossi

Riera

Kuyt (15 Goals, 10 Assists that season)

 

Midfield

Alonso

Mascherano

Barry

Lucas

 

Considering we had to rely on Lucas for a lot of games whilst he was still very inexperienced (costing us points), Barry would have been a good buy. He would also have aided our attack.

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I think the point is, he's the mainstay defencive midfielder at a world class club with a world class midfield and it seems Rafa was right about him from the start.

 

Rafa was right in what way? I am not saying either him or you are wrong but how has Rafa been proven right? I am not seeing it.

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Pity Arsenal didn't want to pay £15M quid for Alonso really. Or if only Rick Parry had known that all we needed to win the title was to buy Barry before Keane. Then we could have offloaded Alonso on the cheap and got number 19 before the Mancs. Hindsight eh?

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Pity Arsenal didn't want to pay £15M quid for Alonso really. Or if only Rick Parry had known that all we needed to win the title was to buy Barry before Keane. Then we could have offloaded Alonso on the cheap and got number 19 before the Mancs. Hindsight eh?

 

White liquid in a bottle, no use crying over it.

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Guest TK-421
Pity Arsenal didn't want to pay £15M quid for Alonso really. Or if only Rick Parry had known that all we needed to win the title was to buy Barry before Keane. Then we could have offloaded Alonso on the cheap and got number 19 before the Mancs. Hindsight eh?

 

It wasn't hindsight, it was foresight. Rafa knew Barry was the type of player who would help him win the league.

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He doesn't say wing.

Thats where he wanted him though as he said he wanted him on the left side feeding Keane.

 

He said something about he could play left back and still control a game and also as a winger cause he could beat players and cross.

 

That was what he intended to do with him and not as a defensive midfielder like he is used at city.

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It wasn't hindsight, it was foresight. Rafa knew Barry was the type of player who would help him win the league.

 

In what way has Barry won the league for City, he has done as much as Josemi did for our CL win?

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Link, please?

I can help you on that one.

 

The last line of this points to him using him as a left back or as winger as that is what he had just spoke about and then the last line saying that was the idea.

Would Liverpool have won the league last season if Barry had signed? It is a question that Benítez must have mulled over a thousand times. He gives a deep sigh, so heavy that it is audible when the tape is played back.

“You never know,” he said slowly. “Football is a funny game. The plan was for Barry to play on the left and feed the ball to Robbie Keane, who would play up front with Fernando Torres. This blueprint had to be scrapped. The collateral damage was Keane, who signed from Tottenham Hotspur before the Barry deal had been done.

 

“When we wanted to sign Barry, we were sure we were signing a good player with a very good mentality and the quality to play in the Premier League. The priority was Barry, then Keane.”

 

Against a chaotic backdrop of politicking and finger-pointing at Anfield, Benítez’s priorities were ignored. Keane was the collateral damage but there were wider disappointments for the manager.

“We were looking to the future because we knew we needed three or four English players in the squad [for the Champions League],” Benítez said. “We knew there were rule changes and we needed English players and we were trying to get there early.

 

“The only way to do that was to sell [foreign] players and bring money in to sign English players. But the main thing about Barry is that he can play in three positions. To sign Barry would have been a very good addition for the team.”

 

Those who believed Benítez to be innately negative were surprised this season when he signed Glen Johnson as an attacking full back, but the manager has been looking for positive contributions from his defence for a long time. Here, too, he saw Barry as an option. “If you wanted to be more offensive, you could use Barry as a left full back and he would still be controlling the game because he’s good with the ball,” Benítez said. “He could play as a winger. Not a winger just to beat players but one with good delivery, good crosses, good possession.

 

“That was the idea. Everything was perfect. Good player, good mentality and English.”

 

Tony Evans with Rafa - LFChistory.net

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