Harvey Barnes

[Jimburst]

Aye, Vardy was no slouch though.

[Erikse]

18 minutes ago, Pata said:

 

Please do explain why his xA numbers are 4-5x better than they were at Leicester during five seasons if his general play has always been so good.

 

 

 

 

When I saw him play for Leicester, I did not see a player who was all about goals and nothing else. Would be interesting to ask a Leicester fan about this. Whether his assists were justified or not. I don't believe xA stats tell the whole story at all.

[The College Dropout]

12 minutes ago, PRL said:

Sadly we all knew with Almiron there would be a reversion to mean from October 2022 and it’s likely the same with this data on Barnes. It’s the nature of football that players go through streaks and I think claiming all prior data on Barnes is null and void after the stop start and limited season he’s had here is set up to disappoint. 

Nah many people thought that was Almiron's level. And Almiron exceeded his Xg in that purple patch.

 

Likewise the sample data for Barnes is too small. Even if he keeps it up until the end of the season, we can't draw solid conclusions. But we will see a lot of his style.

 

His weight and technique when passing is impressive.

[Erikse]

2 minutes ago, Jimburst said:

Aye, Vardy was no slouch though.

 

Good thing Isak is also a good finisher then. If the argument is that his assists were due to having a good striker converting his passes at Leicester. Almiron has played alongside Wilson and Isak, both really good finishers. You don't see Almiron getting 10 assists in a season.

[Jimburst]

I'm not arguing either way tbh. Did Barnes play for them during their title winning season?

[Erikse]

2 hours ago, The College Dropout said:

Nah many people thought that was Almiron's level. And Almiron exceeded his Xg in that purple patch.

 

Likewise the sample data for Barnes is too small. Even if he keeps it up until the end of the season, we can't draw solid conclusions. But we will see a lot of his style.

 

His weight and technique when passing is impressive.

 

It was argued that his xA matched that of Almiron last summer. If you watch some of the assists that he provides here, you will notice that Almiron has barely made a single delivery like some of those Barnes made for Leicester in his entire Newcastle carreer. Does these chances give him a high xA? I'm seeing some good finishing, so maybe not. But the delivery and the vision for the assists in this video are impressive, regardless of how well they did to score. In this video I'm really not seeing a different player from his best games here so far.

 

 

Now, I know that this is just a compilation video. So I went to check their forum. There were frustrations in the last season about him being too predictable and allways cutting in to shoot. They were also saying that he used to be so good at going on the outside to cross with his left, and was frustrated that he didn't do this anymore. Other than that, from earlier seasons, it was the goals and assists that they really appreciated him for. Yes, he wasn't praised for his general play outside og g/a, but I was really struggling to find criticism of his delivery or service, outside of that last season. After that season of 10 assists, some were arguing that he must be one of the best crossers and finishers there is with his weaker foot, because his crosses and finishing were so impressive with his left (grain of salt, easy to overexaggerate your own players a bit). People were also saying that his pace alone just provides them with g/a consistenly. Some were saying last year that he will get loads of goals and assists with us, because we have a better team and can create space for him to use his pace. What they criticised him for the most for was during the years was his consistency. That he would go missing in games. And something about mentality, because apparently you could tell he would have a bad day at the office pretty early on. Funnily enough if you go far enough back, the thing that they complained about the most was his finishing. Apparently he improved massively on that.

 

 

Edited April 16 by Erikse

[TRC]

1 hour ago, Jimburst said:

I'm not arguing either way tbh. Did Barnes play for them during their title winning season?

Not to make you feel old, but that was 8 years ago and Barnes is only 26. He was in their youth system.

[STM]

The good news is that any wrinkles in Harvey Barnes game will be identified and worked on... by a coaching group who have done wonders with multiple players.

 

He's also now going to be playing in the most talented side he has ever played with in his career.

[Erikse]

7 minutes ago, STM said:

The good news is that any wrinkles in Harvey Barnes game will be identified and worked on... by a coaching group who have done wonders with multiple players.

 

He's also now going to be playing in the most talented side he has ever played with in his career.

 

They also mentioned the manager, yes. They had more faith in Howe getting the best out of him than Rodgers to say the least.

 

As allways, the opinions were a bit split. Some were waving him goodbye, and others were disappointed at not getting more for him. We knew they had to sell though, so it's hard to get like £50m for him then.

 

 

Edited April 16 by Erikse

[Kanji]

All I know is from what I've seen, I did not expect him to be as involved in every aspect of our play based on how he played at Leicester. I thought his creative and cute passing were top v Tottenham (the little flick pass to Anderon for his chance in the 2nd half was awesome). If that is a truer representation of the player going forward then that may be down to his role with us and his coaching he's now getting. 

[cubaricho]

First xG and now xA? Y'all can't be serious?  

[Cf]

14 hours ago, cubaricho said:

First xG and now xA? Y'all can't be serious?  

 

It makes sense

 

Arguably in some ways xA is a more useful metric than xG. A top quality striker can outperform xG by being good.

 

WIth assists though you're at the mercy of who you are assisting. You'll have a much higher assist number if it's Isak you're creating the chance for vs Gayle for instance.

 

it's just a way to measure the amount and quality of chances created. As with any other stat it's not the be all and end all. 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Assists is a weird stat in football because the numbers are so low. A bit of luck either way can easily give you 30% more assists on a season or whatever. 
 

I’m pretty sure analysts don’t put too much value on the actual assists number. 

[Erikse]

1 hour ago, Cf said:

 

It makes sense

 

Arguably in some ways xA is a more useful metric than xG. A top quality striker can outperform xG by being good.

 

WIth assists though you're at the mercy of who you are assisting. You'll have a much higher assist number if it's Isak you're creating the chance for vs Gayle for instance.

 

it's just a way to measure the amount and quality of chances created. As with any other stat it's not the be all and end all. 

 

What xA number you are getting also depends on chemistry with teammates, tactics, how opponents set ut against you, your teammates movements, how they are setting you up, and so on. Again several Leicester fans seemed to be under the impression that Harvey Barnes would have even more impressive numbers with us, in terms of both assists and goals. I think he was just an underrated player, and we are starting to see that. I don't think that he has transformed in a couple of months of training with a new team after a long term injury. It took Gordon way longer than that, and Gordon was younger.

 

 

Edited April 17 by Erikse

[Adam]

Less xA xG bollocks, lets just enjoy this all over again. 
 

 

[Checko]

23 minutes ago, Adam said:

Less xA xG bollocks, lets just enjoy this all over again. 
 

 

Wonder what Gordon's xA was there.

[Yorkie]

What a fucking beauty of a strike that was. Whistles past the goalie.

[80]

Really weak performance tonight. They had his number from the first whistle. Was hoping he'd pull it around with a crack from outside the box, but it never came. Glad Eddie took the initiative and withdrew him. Tonight was definitely not his night.

[Ronaldo]

Don’t think he’s an away player tbh. Certainly not for where we want to be.

[Tiotes Witch Doctor]

Either scores worldies or does fuck all, no in-between.

[aussiemag]

We aren’t playing to his strengths. Needs to receive the ball with support players around him for a 1-2. Also he’s probs it better as an impact player until

He has a pre-season. 

[Whitley mag]

Decent squad player but doesn’t take us to next level, if only we’d been able to get Cole Palmer instead.

[The Prophet]

10 hours ago, Tiotes Witch Doctor said:

Either scores worldies or does fuck all, no in-between.

 

Apart from the games where he's been lively, but hasn't scored.

 

 

Edited April 25 by The Prophet

[Coffee_Johnny]

24 minutes ago, Whitley mag said:

Decent squad player but doesn’t take us to next level, if only we’d been able to get Cole Palmer instead.

Imagine him and Gordon in same side… with Isak in the middle of them. Terrifying with right tactics. 

[joeyt]

That underhit pass to Gordon in the first half when we had them 3 on 2 was so frustrating