Just to reiterate a point I made elsewhere Barkhuizen is one of the most exciting players we have seen in a PNE shirt in a good while but I was just a bit disappointed with a lot of what I saw in the Sheff Wed match video. Not with Barkhuizen himself but with the way he was being played - a lot of the time he seemed to be out wide very close to the touchline which is not his best position because that can reduce him to be being not much more than a push-and-run type winger. He needs to be closer to the centre from where he can run at the centre of the opposition defence - as he did for that goal that Horgan eventually scored against Reading last season - or just get into scoring positions in and around the penalty area when the ball comes in. Perhaps I am reading too much into what I saw but when used in the right way Barkhuizen can be closed to unplayable at times. Maybe that is how he will be on Saturday.
Barkhuizen
Yes. I think there's a slight misconception that has arisen about Barkhuizen, that misconception being that he's a 'wide man'. In some ways it's easy to see how that view has taken hold; because of Barkhuizen's obvious versatility he tends to put in a useful performance no matter where on the pitch he's played. In Hugill and Maguire we also have two strikers who can't really play anywhere else so the debate about our options up-front tend to revolve around them. In the end though, Barkhuizen is a central striker - I'm sure that's where he'd also say he is best deployed if asked the question. With his pace, technique and eye for goal it seems a slight waste to employ him anywhere else. Nonetheless, I've seen him put in some very good performances from a wider position on the right - but they've been excellent largely because of the amount of times he's moved away from the right and into the centre, as per the Reading game! Which really backs up your point.
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I think Sheff Weds had a plan for TB on Saturday and stuck to it pretty well, with Reach working back a fair bit to cover him and the full back sitting quite deep so there wasn't really much space for him to sprint into behind. He had one decent chance at a run but took a poor touch. I don't think it was a North End tactical issue, more a case of him being a marked man, which will happen more often this season.
I had Barkhuizen down as our least effective player on Saturday but that was due to where he was asked to play. I agree, he's an exciting player when used correctly.
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Playing Barky out wide creates space in the middle for people bursting forward I would have thought. You cannot leave him unmarked. It was one of his quieter games on Saturday, but the threat of his pace keeps the full back occupied big time.
I agree he's wasted when he's too far out on the touchline but I actually don't think his best position is either central striker or winger, but one which straddles the two. A sort of old-fashioned inside right, playing well forward in the space between the opposition left back and their left sided central defender, giving him the option to go outside or inside.
Pretty similar to Theo Walcott in that regard, whose career has unfortunately been hampered by constantly trying to define him as one think or the other when he's actually neither - or perhaps a hybrid of both. Hopefully AN will be able to find the right role for Barkhuizen and get the best out of him.
Pretty similar to Theo Walcott in that regard, whose career has unfortunately been hampered by constantly trying to define him as one think or the other when he's actually neither - or perhaps a hybrid of both. Hopefully AN will be able to find the right role for Barkhuizen and get the best out of him.
Let's not forget that there's a team trying to score against us as well and the risk of a fairly narrow 4-3-3, or however we dress it up, is that it can lead to space which a fullback and someone like Reach can exploit.
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Barkhuizen has been a staggeringly impressive signing so far, considering where we got him from and how.
Huge credit to whoever pushed the deal forward. Looks every inch an exciting Championship player and a key contributor to the way in which pace has significantly enhanced the way we play.
Huge credit to whoever pushed the deal forward. Looks every inch an exciting Championship player and a key contributor to the way in which pace has significantly enhanced the way we play.
Yes - given SG's apparent liking for signing fairly established players you somehow don't think it was him eyed up Barkhuizen in the first place.
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I suspect ST had a lot to do with that as he will know Barky well from his time at the lashers.
Plus he scored goals at Morecambe.
As this was essentially a financially driven transaction to pay Morecambe wages I suspect PR was the main driver behind the signing.
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True but IMO ST will have alerted the club to the potential.
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This is absolutely what happened !!
Let's give some credit to A.N. While Barky was wide forward, Reach didn't venture forward as much as he would normally have done because of the threat, therefore, job done....perhaps. None of us knows. It really doesn't matter now anyway.........we won!!
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It will take time for AN to get to know every player and the best way to play them even with ST telling him, it's all about fitting the players into his idea and formation of play.
He had a quiet game but they had a strong left hand side in Pudil, a quality left back at this level, and Reach who tracks back a lot.
We'll come up against much weaker defences over the course of the season that's for sure.
We'll come up against much weaker defences over the course of the season that's for sure.