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Leon Barnett....

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Good luxk to the guy. Always feel he has tried to do his best for Norwich and has sometimes taken an unfair amount of criticism.

 

There has been times when he has taken stick when all he''s been trying to do is cover the mistakes of his defensive partner but people don''t always see the bigger picture.

 

I''m sure he''ll be a very handy addition to the Cardiff squad.

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"There has been times when he has taken stick when all he''s been trying to do is cover the mistakes of his defensive partner"

Some examples?

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A good defender, but too error-prone and over-committed sometimes. As for covering other defender''s mistakes - all defenders do that, it''s their jobs to cover each other, but unfortunately errors in defence are noticed the most. If he could head the ball on target in the opposing box he''d be twice the player

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"Leon Barnett is a much better player than most on here give him credit for"

Not really, he is a mistake a game type of player. Without the mistake a game he''d be Ledley King, but you could say the same for dozens of Championship defenders who either don''t seem to make that mistake a game in the Championship or get away with many more of those mistakes by virtue of the opposition team not being as strong.

Ritchie De Laet was also a mistake a game centre back. Leon Barnett would do a great job for a Championship team but he would cost us a lot of points over the course of the season if we we were playing him week in week out at this level.

I rated him as better than Elliott Ward and Daniel Ayala though, I''ll give him that, and think that Lambert was a bit harsh to banish him after his tricky start last season. Unless something happened behind the scenes that we never got to hear about.

The interesting thing is that it looks like Hughton is going to sign at least one centre back in the summer, possibly two, still needs a left back - possibly Garrido, and it looks like once again a large proportion of his budget is going on the defence when it is as clear as day that we need attacking players.

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An excellent player at Championship level, just at this level the rough edges of his game like his distrubution and positioning become more apparent where i always felt his raw abilities like being quick and strong could get him out of trouble in the Championship. One of those frustrating players imo who is too good for the Championship but not good enough for the premier. Agree with the comment about heading, if only he could head on target he''s be on 5/6 goals a season.

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Sorry but de Laet was worse than Barnett. We know Barnett came to us to play games so who can blame him if he and the club want to move on?

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[quote user="singupcarrowroad"]Not really, he is a mistake a game type of player. Without the mistake a game he''d be Ledley King,  [/quote]

Why Ledley King?

 

King was a good footballing centreback. Leon Barnett has his strengths but use of the ball isn''t particularly one of them.

 

Unless of course there''s another reason you likened him to Ledley King.

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"Unless of course there''s another reason you likened him to Ledley King."

pinkun rule no. 9;

When discussing players from a BME background there is always someone who will play the ''Waycis'' card before the first page of posts.

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"Why Ledley King?"

Because Leon Barnett reminds me of Ledley King.

"King was a good footballing centreback"

He was extremely calm under pressure and so was never sloppy with his distribution, but he hardly sprayed 70 yard balls to the feet of the left winger six times a game.

"Leon Barnett has his strengths but use of the ball isn''t particularly one of them"

I thought he was decent with the ball, apart from when he gave it away, often this was his ''mistake a game''.

"Unless of course there''s another reason you likened him to Ledley King"

Might have something to do with my BNP membership card and the giant swastika that I have tattooed on my forehead. Or it could be a simple case of you making the colour connection whilst I''m completely colour blind. Takes one to think that they know one.

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[quote user="singupcarrowroad"]"Why Ledley King?" Because Leon Barnett reminds me of Ledley King. "King was a good footballing centreback" He was extremely calm under pressure and so was never sloppy with his distribution, but he hardly sprayed 70 yard balls to the feet of the left winger six times a game. "Leon Barnett has his strengths but use of the ball isn''t particularly one of them" I thought he was decent with the ball, apart from when he gave it away, often this was his ''mistake a game''. "Unless of course there''s another reason you likened him to Ledley King" Might have something to do with my BNP membership card and the giant swastika that I have tattooed on my forehead. Or it could be a simple case of you making the colour connection whilst I''m completely colour blind. Takes one to think that they know one.[/quote]

So you have to be knocking 70 yard passes to be a good footballing centrehalf? Ryan Bennett sometimes hits a good long diagonal ball but you couldn''t exactly call him a good footballing defender.

 

Again, I don''t see distribution and use of the ball as being one of the better aspects of Barnett''s game. That was more Elliot Ward''s department. Barnett was at his best just winning the ball.

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When Leon Barnett was at Luton he was switched into center midfield many times, just like Ledley King, and comparisons were drawn in the media and online by Luton fans (some evidence still exists) between a very young Barnett and a Ledley King who - at the time - was being used in both centre defence and centre midfield by Spurs at the peak of his career.

Leon Barnett played centre midfield a fair bit in the 2006/07 season for Luton and won their player of the year, they were in the Championship that season. His assured performances in both centre defence and centre midfield, and even left back, were enough to tempt West Brom into paying £2.5m rising to £3m for him.

Unfortunately he may have looked like Ledley King in the Championship but has never really looked like Ledley King in the Premier League, probably due to his ''mistake a game'' tendency, Ledley King was a ''no mistakes in any game ever'' kind of man. Hence why I made the conclusion that Barnett would be a quality player in the Championship but isn''t quite cut out for the Premier League. Perhaps he could be a mid-table Championship teams poor man''s Ledley King.

I hope that my much more thorough explanation absolves me fully from your passive aggressive suggestion that I may possess borderline-racist tendencies?

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Barnett is a good player and could easily be a big success in the Prem - he is one of those defenders though that needs a leader next to him. When playing alongside Bassong he has looked as good as he ever has and makes far fewer mistakes than people seem to think. His main downfall is he looks a little ''ungainly'' which always makes people a little uneasy. I would prefer him in defence to Ryan Bennett.

 

He''ll do wonders for Cardiff, the same he did for Norwich and West Brom in the Championship before then. A third promotion on the cards for Leon I think.

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With a year left on his contract this puts him in the shop window. You would assume Hughton is looking to offload him in the summer if we stay up.A decent Championship defender though. Never looked comfortable in the Premier League unfortunately, where the ability to read the game plays a big part. On this basis alone I would put Russell Martin ahead of him at centre back.

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[quote user="singupcarrowroad"]I hope that my much more thorough explanation absolves me fully from your passive aggressive suggestion that I may possess borderline-racist tendencies?[/quote]

I was only pulling your chain but credit to you for the more thorough explanation.

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I personally think that in order for Leon Barnett to become successful in the Premier League he needs to go and play two years of solid football in the Championship before coming up with a promoted team.

His biggest problem is that he has never played regularly in the Premier League in the six years since leaving Luton. Ryan Bennett has much the same problem, he doesn''t play enough football.

We persevered with Turner for a good six or seven straight games before he looked like a player capable of playing in this league, both Barnett and Bennett have never had more than a couple of games in a row in this league since arriving.

I''d like to see Bennett go out on loan between August and January and come back and given a chance in our team next season, because I think you may be underrating him Bethnal when his problem is exactly the same as the one that effects Barnett.

A settled defence is the best defence, and for most of this season our settled defence is Garrido, Turner, Bassong, Martin. Neither Bennett or Bennett have had a real opportunity to really bed in and show us what they can do.

Barnett isn''t out of contract in the summer though, he has one more year, and perhaps there is every chance that he will return and get a chance when his month is up at Cardiff.... perhaps that''s the whole point.

This thread is reading like an obituary.... he has left for a month and has 15 months left on his Norwich deal.

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"I was only pulling your chain but credit to you for the more thorough explanation"

Fair enough buddy. As for Elliott Ward, he could play the ball but he couldn''t defend to save his life. I''d take Barnett over Ward any day of the week to be honest, a clear level up.

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Leon B has not got a footballing brain as evidenced by Chelsea''s third goal when instead of rushing back to cover the Chelsea player Hazard I think on the left he charged for the centre of defence where we had sufficient cover including Holt and Hazard stroked home Mata''s ball. This wasx the last time LB played as a first choice CB and only played in an emergency.

If we stay up will leave maybe to stay as Championship player.

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[quote user="singupcarrowroad"]"I was only pulling your chain but credit to you for the more thorough explanation" Fair enough buddy. As for Elliott Ward, he could play the ball but he couldn''t defend to save his life. I''d take Barnett over Ward any day of the week to be honest, a clear level up.[/quote]

But, just so you know, David Luiz would also have been an example of a centrehalf playing in midfield.

 

;-)

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[quote user="singupcarrowroad"]

This thread is reading like an obituary.... he has left for a month and has 15 months left on his Norwich deal.[/quote]Exactly, it''s more likely that CH has realised that we will not be needing Leon Barnett for the remainder of the season but will want to make an informed decision on his future during the summer. This will be difficult as he''s lacking in Premiership game time so CH has found him the next best thing, loaned him out to a top of the Championship team and his performances for Cardiff between now and May will then help CH make the decision whether to keep him or whether to sell him in the summer while he''s still got some decent value by virtue of having the full years contract left.

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"But, just so you know, David Luiz would also have been an example of a centrehalf playing in midfield"

Yes but he has stupid hair and plays in a team full of tosspots, I didn''t want to offend Leon Barnett ;)

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I''d rather keep Leon Barnett and loan out Ryan Bennett.  If he''s a Premier League defender then I''m the next Chancellor of the Exchequer.

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Leon is quality player in my opinion , he looked solid and good on the ball when partnering Bassong earlier in the season and benefitted from a run in the team .. I think he is one of the unlucky players who gets stick from Norwich ''fans'' looking for a scapegoat for games lost or poor goals given away . Ryan Bennett is by far one the worst players I''ve ever seen in a City shirt & should never have been signed .. yet he gets no stick from fickle City fans ? Leon is a good professional who deserves better from Norwich  and wish him good luck with his loan at Cardiff ..

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Most of the speculation about how Hughton should spend his , hopefully, soon to be acquired zillions in the Summer has centred around strikers, with some posters insisting that there is a great a need for mid-field re-enforcements as well.

It is a tribute to the way the manger has built up our defence that few now speculate about defensive signings with the exception of LB strengthening should Garrido not stay or Tierney move on.

It now seems widely accepted that Leon Barnett might well be sold and there are remainining doubts about Ayala''s continued value to our Club.

Central defence is now a strong position for our team. The two stalwarts should be ever presents for a long time to come if they remain free of injury and avoid suspension and young Bennett, an expensive purchase by Lambert made with an eye to the future, should realistically be able to step up should this happen, although some here prefer Barnett above him In any case, there is always R. Martin, who is probably most people''s first choice for this role, but this depends upon the availability of Whittaker.

"Is this position already taken care of for next season?" I ask myself.

"Probably yes," I reply.

I suppose it depends on the just how "ready" Bennett is, if indeed he ever will be, and "probably" is therefore not enough.

Like many, I have always liked the idea of Curtis Davies in the yellow, and I believe Hughton does as well (and he should know.) This player has popped up a lot in speculation, but apparently Birmingham have wanted too much for him. I''d settle for him in the Summer if a deal is possible and feel that such a signing would cement this position to the point of being "sorted." Hughton and some on here may have other ideas.

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Never say never.   Going out on loan covers all bases.   He could find a team that would want to buy him,. or he could make himself match fit and ready to slot back into a role at Norwich.   The fact there are so many going out on loans, short and long term is a testament to the quality of the players in that other clubs want them to play for them.     As others have said Barnett has done nothing wrong and did look good when partnering Bassong early in the season.   We have plenty of good central defenders on the books and they have all looked more secure when playing with Bassong.  I would be happy to see him again in the first team alongside Bassong if needed and think its ill advised to write off our  players, just because they aren''t in the first team.  However, that said, if he does well for Cardiff and they or anyone else want to buy him, he would attract a good fee as a result.Its a win win situation.

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