Watching Harvey Barnes is a bit of an ambivalent feeling as he gets into the right positions and has something to offer but he often frustrates fans and other players with his last touch, either a pass or a shot that often ends in error.
Harvey Barnes is still young, but at 22 you have to adapt to life when it happens and take your chances or you will not be part of a future as new recruits will be slotted in from one transfer window to another. Brendan Rodgers has given the youngster a lot of opportunities which have left out Kelechi Iheanacho and Dennis Praet together with Marc Albrigthon who all are excellent alternatives, even Demarai Gray has been down the pecking order behind Barnes.
Of course you blow chances but what we did see yesterday is a repetition of previous games, blowing chance after chance and not really taking the opportunities. Jamie Vardy might miss a few, but he gets them correct as well, so you can add up the numbers and see that most chances aren’t wasted.
Not to be too picky and not at this moment in time, with a team flowering as they are, but the finishing of Harvey Barnes either that last pass or the shot must be improved if you have the belief that you shall challenge for Champions League positions and be a countable team in the domestic cups.
The fact that Kelechi Iheanacho is improving and gives something else to the team, and playing with a diamond as Leicester did at Villa Park, Perez and Barnes will not be needed in the starting line-up and you have suddenly also a more cemented midfield with four steady players in Praet, Ndidi, Maddison and Tielemans forming that quartet. Kelechi brings something totally different to the table and he must be given trust from the performances he delivers.
Harvey Barnes scored 9 goals in 25 league games while at West Bromwich Albion, but has only scored 2 from 33 at Leicester, so is he really up to it and without Jamie Vardy “fixing a hole” all the time, you can’t really afford this type of wasted chances.
Brendan Rodgers, as all managers, are pragmatic in the way the field their team and when they get the response they look for, they just let players play, if they are not able to convert others will get their chances. So is it time to let Harvey Barnes get another move out on loan or even consider a sale as the need for more quality is there and certainly a number of names linked could easily see Barnes down the pecking order.
Being honest and looking at the situation, Barnes and Perez are the two taken of the most when they start, could it be that Harvey needs more belief from Rodgers to convert more of his chances on a regular basis and probably play three or four games without being taken off, some players needs that trust to get over that final hurdle and become the player everyone would like them to be, but honestly TCF believe that Harvey Barnes has got more opportunities than others and should have done better.
Harvey is playing up front and with only four assists and one goal scored it’s not enough to say he is the finished article. Brendan Rodgers says he has ambitions, then he cannot use the Leicester City team as a development set-up, and with other players knocking hard on the door to be playing week in and week out, Barnes might find himself on the bench or even being one that could be let go with many options to choose from either other players in a diamond or just playing Gray or Albrighton out wide, or considering a new and fresh face in January, look up the latest and fresh list of possible targets.
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