chip fireball wrote:
there's no way barker is becoming the new whipping boy. the fans were still singing his name at the end.
the thing with barker is that he is a lower league striker. he is like fortune west, he does exactly what you expect. he goes in where it hurts and he gives 110 per cent. but he wont turn a man, he wont beat a man for pace and a lot of his game tonight involved dropping deep for the ball with his back to goal, taking 3 touches and laying it off to our full back.
where he will get you goals at a lower level, as he showed in the last 2 games, is if you set him up in the box with only the keeper to beat.
i think most peoples gripe at the moment is that he seems to have a hold over wilson who insists on picking him for every game ( he has been dropped once i think this season, and we scored 5 away from home, draw your own conclusions ) and wont sub him when we desperately need something different up front.
there was one occassion this evening where joel got the ball just inside his own half with his back to goal. barker would have trapped it and passed it backwards. joel turned in one move and then raced into their half. barker couldnt keep up with him and the aussie ended up isolated on the edge of the box surrounded by red shirts and had to draw a foul.
some of us would simply like to see the brown/porter pairing given another try. i cant think of another manager in the game who would try a partnership once, see it get 5 goals and consign it to the rubbish bin.
i cant fault barker for effort because he gives everything, but i said it months ago, and i will say it again, our forward line is boring and it wont get us the goals we need to get promoted.
as it happens barker was far from being our worst player tonight. there were several worse such as nelson, antwi, humps, sweeney, robson, mcunnie, moore.
take your pick really.
Only issue I will take to that Chip is - I have long given up any hope of getting promoted, my fear - if things don't improve at home, is avoiding relegation (again!)