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Ross Barkley did not have a good game against Sunderland.
Barkley spent most of his time posting up defenders like a basketball player from the 90s, but that strategy doesn't work very well if you're 40 yards from the goal. Ronald Koeman noticed this and yanked Barkley for Spaniard Gerard Deulofeu, who is wispy and aggressive and prefers to glide at/around defenders instead of trying to smash them into grit.
Deulofeu's style worked better against Sunderland because it allowed Everton to get the ball to Romelu Lukaku near the goal, so he could do the smashing into grit, and Lukaku's smashing occurs much closer to the goal. Basically, the problem with Barkley is he tries to smash people into grit too far from the goal, which produces a lot of low-percentage long-shots and midfield giveaways.
Barkley's halftime yanking, combined with his lack of England call-up during the last international break, have people jumping to silly conclusions.
Obviously, there's room for improvement here. But it's not as bad as it looks. Barkley is a great athlete with great touch and great vision. His problem right now is he hasn't really figured out how to use more than one of those things at a time, which is one of those things that comes with age/experience. He'll be fine, he's only 22, but to hear some folks in the media tell it his career is on its last legs. It isn't and he's not.
Here's a headline from The Telegraph, a newspaper that should really know better:
"England snub has drained Ross Barkley of self-belief but way he's going Everton could also cast him aside"
The Mirror is already referring to Barkley as an "England reject" even though he has the same number of England caps as his age (22) and was in the England squad for the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Euros.
This phenomenon isn't just limited to Barkley. It seems like the latest generation of English attacking mids has come under more scrutiny than previous generations. People seem to forget that the likes of Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard and (especially) Joe Cole were just as inconsistent and frustrating as Barkley and Raheem Sterling and Dele Alli and Jordon Ibe are now.
Ross Barkley and company just need time and games. Relax, everyone.
Contact The18 Staff Writer Sam Klomhaus at Klomhaus@The18.com or follow him on Twitter @SamKlomhaus
