Aston Villa fans react to Gareth Barry's letter
As you would expect we have had a huge reaction to our exclusive letter from Gareth Barry in which he stated his reasons for leaving - here's the reaction from the fans (there are a few pages!):
Totosass: Nowt to do with the extra cash then Gaz?
Magicof82: Is there anyone else that thinks that the sale of Barry is a positive step forward??
What I noticed about Barry although he was an excellent footballer with great awarness and intelligence on the pitch he only ever had two gears slow and reverse, he was neither the type of midfielder that would create lots of goals unlocking defences or was he the tough tackling general he was more of midfielder that slots in the middle of the park and has 18 yards either side of the centre circle that he likes to control very similar to Carrick and dictates the tempo of the match he dosnt get alot of goals from open play just does the simple things well keeps things ticking over.
What I am thinking now is we will play a completely different style of football with a new centre piece in the team I am just praying for a player in the mould of Riquelme someone who can offer that something special in the middle of the park who will weigh in with a fair share of goals and create goals, a match winner I think Villa will benefit from not having Barry in the side next season providing we replace him with a creative midfielder.
TOBO: Barry's statement is trying to difuse the reaction he will receive next season. He is not man enough to admit he has gone for the money.
He will not be missed as long as we can sign an adequate replacement. In my opinion Arteta of Everton would do a much more effective job of carrying out the Carrick or Pirlo role which Barry performed at Villa. Arteta also has more goals to his game and Everton would probably be willing to sell at the right price - £12/£15m. I also think we should go for a double up and try to get Lescott to replace Laursen.
Talk to Bill Howell live at 12Pm today about the Gareth Barry departure - www.birminghammail.net/live
Rickmeister: I don't buy the "going stale" in his "comfort zone" rubbish. Plenty of players have been at clubs for a long time and manage to perform well. The bottom line for me is that he has gone because he thinks Citeh are more likely to get in the top 4 and win things than we are (which is very likely to be true), and with the added bonus of more money.
Mike728: Technically he is excellent, and his mental sharpness is good. However, I noticed last season, that more often than not, he struggled to get behind the ball when an attack broke down.
