Nicolò Barella

[Besnik]

In these kind of intense matches, Barella gets exposed so much. Not the first time he pulls a 1/10 performance. Never in doubt regarding his footballing abilities, but the guy is just weak, not only physically but also mentally. And it takes a great character to overcomes these difficult moments.

Tonight's problem was collective though.

But like I said, it's quite worrying how he struggles in matches like this, and there is no real improvement at all.

 

[#NotForMe]

I think he needs to be benched for the next game, cool his head off and get some rest.

 

[RickyMaravilla'sRightFoot]

He needs a breather. Start Frattesi against Empoli if he’s able.

 

[wera]

Worse than Asllani, to a degree. He needs some time off.

 

[brehme1989]

Lol I love how our best players are always singled out as the worst on the pitch whenever they have to take their leading role and also assume the role of 1-2 other players that are underperforming or disrupting our play....

Your expectations need to be adjusted according to the situation, why is it so hard to see that we cannot have Barella be at the top of his game when he has to play for Asllani's bad positioning and lack of playmaking, Dumfries defying tactical positioning and Pavard's lack of awareness of our playing style, plus Arnautovic not being up to the standard tonight? How do you blame Barella for not playing great when he had to overcome all those issues first?

 

[wera]

He should be one of our leaders, not just being pissed off at everybody.

He shouldn't be losing his mind every time we aren't winning. With some other ref, his red would've stood. It looked bad at first, until they showed it again.

Otherwise, he looked a lot better in those few minutes after we scored.

 

[MarkE]

Yes, he hasn't been in good form lately but partnering with Dumfries in the right side is not helping the situation.

Barella creates chances when he can constantly make quick passes and do link ups, but this is almost nonexistent in our right flank at the moment and today there was also Asllani who seemed too reserved to do any kind of link ups with Mkhi or Barella.

He looked much better in the 2nd half when the game opened up and he had Augusto & Dimarco to get things going with.
(I'm pretty sure the lead-up to our goal was initiated from the left side with Barella and Augusto doing some link ups)

I think better surrounding partners who are comfortable on the ball will help Barella gain his form back sooner.

 

[#NotForMe]

Lol I love how our best players are always singled out as the worst on the pitch whenever they have to take their leading role and also assume the role of 1-2 other players that are underperforming or disrupting our play....

Your expectations need to be adjusted according to the situation, why is it so hard to see that we cannot have Barella be at the top of his game when he has to play for Asllani's bad positioning and lack of playmaking, Dumfries defying tactical positioning and Pavard's lack of awareness of our playing style, plus Arnautovic not being up to the standard tonight? How do you blame Barella for not playing great when he had to overcome all those issues first?

It is easy, you put a senior and a junior on a task, something went wrong, who you think is more responsible?
He should be leading Asllani, if you think Asllani is doing it wrong, point back at where he should be, not going crazy with them; that is the ridiculous part.
He was like playing some street ball. He should have helped stabilizing the team first, if the other players are as malfunctioning as you said.

He didn't keep his composure last night, I am not saying strip everything from him, just let him rest and collect himself on a easier Serie A game that other can deputy for him. I would say he got a bit better after the "red card".

I still very much like our players so far, just saying Bastoni, Barella all of them. There is no Correa or Gags in my books, but I am merely pointing out I do have more expectations from seniors than juniors, even the junior should put in more effort, which I don't think he is lacking off, probably a bit timid, and needs some good leadership.

The only thing I really hated about Asllani at that game was he was rushing the pressing at min 1, when you saw the Real So players were in stalled mode, don't know exactly what to do when we had 2 strikers screening waiting near the midfield, then we decided to press because of this kid and we played into their usual game, but again as the Captain, LM should probably chill him out; but who knows what Inzaghi told them to do.

 

[Besnik]

Lol I love how our best players are always singled out as the worst on the pitch whenever they have to take their leading role and also assume the role of 1-2 other players that are underperforming or disrupting our play....

Your expectations need to be adjusted according to the situation, why is it so hard to see that we cannot have Barella be at the top of his game when he has to play for Asllani's bad positioning and lack of playmaking, Dumfries defying tactical positioning and Pavard's lack of awareness of our playing style, plus Arnautovic not being up to the standard tonight? How do you blame Barella for not playing great when he had to overcome all those issues first?

What leading role? He is far from a leader and will probably never be. Since you started pointing fingers on players, then let's put things into prespective; first of all, Barella has a best midfielder of the league needs to step up his game, especially in these kind of matches where the team struggles to deliver, so he has to get himself into pedal and make difference, is that weird to expect from someone of his level?

But this is not the first match, and probably won't be the last one where he fades away. I have kept saying that in a physical match where it takes a lot of aggressivity, determination and kind of "dirty" play, then Barella goes almost inexistent or commits way too may mistakes.

Dumfries was never tactically THAT good. He was always getting exposed here and there, but as a group we were compact and helped each other in case of vulnerability, something which didn't happen last night. So it was basically a chain of errors within group... but yeah, let's put the blame on Asllani while creating weird narratives which have ZERO sense to what reality is.

Pavard was more than fine last night, which lack of awareness are you referring to? The guy looked like has played in this team for many years. Regarding Arnautovic, yeah he was very poor, but what about Lautaro or even Mkhi who contributed almost nothing compared to what he does in usual.

You guys are just being too dramatic for nothing. It's just one bad game. We can put the blame on heavy rotation, maybe underestimating opponent and envinronment, usually opening matches of season are always tricky and so on.

 

[crzdcolombian]

I wouldn’t bench him but if a epl team comes with a crazy offer for him maybe hear them out and give Fratessi the chance to step up.

Benching Barella just lowers your most expensive assets price

 

[Besnik]

Barella is part of the core in this team. He shouldn't be sold, same goes for Bastoni, Dimarco, Lautaro and now Frattesi as well. But he must get his shit together though.

My opinion regarding his weak character has nothing to do with last night's performance. He's been always like this, so I think he has to reflect on himself and work on that weakness because there is no complaints regarding his footballing abilities. But once he's stuck in that bubble that requires a great character to move on, even these footballing abilities are somewhat useless because he's just another player then.

 

[Dave54]

Come on guys, it's one game. Hakan was missing, things did not go well as it was planned. But I agree, he got to limit his drama on the field.

 

[Glass box]

Yes, he hasn't been in good form lately but partnering with Dumfries in the right side is not helping the situation.

Barella creates chances when he can constantly make quick passes and do link ups, but this is almost nonexistent in our right flank at the moment and today there was also Asllani who seemed too reserved to do any kind of link ups with Mkhi or Barella.

He looked much better in the 2nd half when the game opened up and he had Augusto & Dimarco to get things going with.
(I'm pretty sure the lead-up to our goal was initiated from the left side with Barella and Augusto doing some link ups)

I think better surrounding partners who are comfortable on the ball will help Barella gain his form back sooner.

Last season Dumfries was much worse than this one (so far he is actually very good overall) but Barella had a great season. So I don't think Dumfries is the problem, sometimes Barella is having a bad game and that's that.

 

[ath]

How can this guy play 90 fucking minutes, he was so useless tonight. Once again.

 

[IM21]

wake up you fuck.... hope your price stays at least 50M.

 

[CoolMan44]

Most disappointing player for me this season. Hasn't had a single standout game so far. He's also usually contributing with goals and assist but has 0 so far.

 

[Fapuccino]

Horrible game after game. Needs time off. Put whoever on. Fratesi, it doesn't matter. He's way off.

 

[Universe]

Ironically I thought he played well in the first half, and I've been one of Barella's most vocal critics.

He kind of lost his way (and his head) in the second half though, no question about that.

 

[#NotForMe]

Yea I agree he was actually the best among all the midfielders today.
There was a long pass to Mihki that was beautiful too, too bad it didn't turn into a better end product.

I think he was actually more calm and himself after the "bench".

 

[Choppin Onions]

Yea I agree he was actually the best among all the midfielders today.
There was a long pass to Mihki that was beautiful too, too bad it didn't turn into a better end product.

I think he was actually more calm and himself after the "bench".

He might have been more calm but we need to him to start asserting himself out there. Him and Lautaro are the best players in the squad and while El Toro has been good, Nico has been off more or less since the beginning.

We’re not winning anything or going anywhere with a below par Barella.