Barnes happy to play up front

9:30am Monday 6th August 2012 in Albion By Brian Owen

Albion celebrate Ashley Barnes' goal Albion celebrate Ashley Barnes' goal

Ashley Barnes is ready to ease the pressure on his manager to sign a striker.

But Gus Poyet remains confident he will have a new target man on board for the start of the Championship season.

Barnes played as the only recognised striker and was involved in all the Seagulls’ goals as they beat Chelsea 3-1 in a friendly on Saturday.

The former Plymouth man was a centre-forward when Albion won League One in 2010-11 but played wider and deeper last season.

Now he is ready to fill that role in the new campaign if Poyet's efforts to bring someone in have not paid off.

He said: “Of course I enjoy playing there but the gaffer picks the team and he goes the way he wants.

“If he wants other strikers to come in that is fair enough. I am ready to fight for a place. But I’m quite lucky I can play in a few positions.”

Poyet is convinced he will get his man but said: “Other clubs want the same players and they can pay a bit more. I think we will have a striker for sure – somehow.

“The sooner the better because we ned to work with him.”

Poyet praised Barnes’ efforts in a win which saw Vicente quickly cancel out Frank Lampard’s opener and Andrew Crofts add a late third.

He added: “Ash was a little bit involved everywhere in terms of what we do and how we want the players to do it.

“With his goal, he cleared the ball from the box from their corner and somehow he got on the rebound at the other end.

“That is the willingness we want from players. That is how he plays. If he keeps doing that it will be difficult for the rest to get into the team.

“And on top of that he scored.”

Barnes took a hefty whack off substitute David Luiz in the final minutes but revealed he might face one more battle at home after swapping shirts with Gary Cahill.

He joked: “That will go up on the wall in the living room. I'm sure she won't be happy - but it will!”

Comments(20)

Carter_Cooldancer says...
9:40am Mon 6 Aug 12

I really do hope that Barnes proves the doubters wrong this season (I am one of them) but no matter how much I try and be optimistic about Barnes and CMS spearheading our attack and those two scoring the majority of goals needed for promotion, I just can't see it happening. It is so tough to get a strong, pacey, 20 goals per season target man for the budget Gus has.

I think we could see a few loanees cominng in and out until we find someone that gels with the team.

At least we have the Dagger who I think we'll get 15 goals for us this season.

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Conelli98 says...
10:04am Mon 6 Aug 12

As good as it is that 'Digger Barnes' wants to play the strikers role, he would be more beneficial to the team else where! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Gus don't sign the ginger one from Pompey! If we really want the best out of CMS go for McLean of Hull or maybe Boyd who have both been effectual with him at Peterborough. Big turn out tomorrow please for Kuipers who is one of the most genuine blokes ever to put on a Brighton shirt, all modern day footballers should be like this bloke. Deserves all he gets tomorrow. West Stand Upper A Block applaud you Michel!

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Yogi says...
10:58am Mon 6 Aug 12

Heskey not going to Blackpool!

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NorwegianSeagull says...
11:17am Mon 6 Aug 12

My guess is Barnes to end up top-scorer even if we bring in another striker. The guy might not be the best striker in the world, but he scores goals

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Rhodes Seagull says...
11:31am Mon 6 Aug 12

Yogi wrote:
Heskey not going to Blackpool!
NO NO NO NO and I'm not repeating myself NO NO NO NO

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klemaniac says...
11:31am Mon 6 Aug 12

Is this fellow Ned ( according to article above) the new striker as Poyet says he wants to work with him

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Conelli98 says...
12:36pm Mon 6 Aug 12

As I asked earlier, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE no Kitson and PLEASE don't even think about Emile,Gus!

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Hovite says...
12:51pm Mon 6 Aug 12

Conelli98 wrote:
As I asked earlier, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE no Kitson and PLEASE don't even think about Emile,Gus!
Well to suggest that McLean at 5ft 6in is a top option for us, I really don't see it myself.

Best leave it to the club to decide what's best I reckon.

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Sticky-mess says...
12:57pm Mon 6 Aug 12

I was really impressed with Barnes on Saturday he looked sharp, he chased a lot of balls and he stayed on his feet instead of falling over like he did the majority of last season and the chelsea players were very strong. His ball to Vicente was unexpected too I was there thinking he's gunna waste it but he did something not even ivanovic was expecting and put the ball in the right area for Vicente to score. I was a doubter all last season about him but if he plays like that he is much improved an I trust gus knows what he is doing. Barnes could be pretty useful this season

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Conelli98 says...
1:38pm Mon 6 Aug 12

Hovite wrote:
Conelli98 wrote:
As I asked earlier, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE no Kitson and PLEASE don't even think about Emile,Gus!
Well to suggest that McLean at 5ft 6in is a top option for us, I really don't see it myself.

Best leave it to the club to decide what's best I reckon.
Point taken Hovite on McLean (5ft 7)but would you want Kitson or Heskey? Is Ian Mellor still about for a game?

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Hovite says...
2:30pm Mon 6 Aug 12

5ft 7in with his boots on? ;o) If the club brings in Kitson or Heskey I would like to trust it is for good reasons and not a panic purchase, although Kitson had a chance to come here last season but didn't take it so I would rule like to rule him out on that basis.

Heskey on the other hand may shine in the Championship and is also a strong unselfish team player. We do need a physically strong player as an option up front strategically against the bigger teams. I would be fairly happy with him myself and would only judge him on how he performs with us rather than before.

Having said that, I don't even know if we are even looking at these players.

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Conelli98 says...
3:35pm Mon 6 Aug 12

5ft 7 is with Haviannas, so could go to 5ft 7.5 with a long stud!!!

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SMF20 says...
4:31pm Mon 6 Aug 12

Hovite wrote:
5ft 7in with his boots on? ;o) If the club brings in Kitson or Heskey I would like to trust it is for good reasons and not a panic purchase, although Kitson had a chance to come here last season but didn't take it so I would rule like to rule him out on that basis.

Heskey on the other hand may shine in the Championship and is also a strong unselfish team player. We do need a physically strong player as an option up front strategically against the bigger teams. I would be fairly happy with him myself and would only judge him on how he performs with us rather than before.

Having said that, I don't even know if we are even looking at these players.
Heskey in my opinion would be a fantastic signing. He would do for us what Roberts did for Reading last season. By no means a long term player.. But good enough still to help us get out of this division? Definitely.

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ballantrrae says...
5:51pm Mon 6 Aug 12

Sticky-mess wrote:
I was really impressed with Barnes on Saturday he looked sharp, he chased a lot of balls and he stayed on his feet instead of falling over like he did the majority of last season and the chelsea players were very strong. His ball to Vicente was unexpected too I was there thinking he's gunna waste it but he did something not even ivanovic was expecting and put the ball in the right area for Vicente to score. I was a doubter all last season about him but if he plays like that he is much improved an I trust gus knows what he is doing. Barnes could be pretty useful this season
As this article says Barnes current form eases the danger of the club making a panic purchase.
I'm sure we could get 'a' striker in but the right type is not so easy.
I hope Poyet's confidence in having a new forward on board before the Championship season begins proves to be justified. Hopefully 11 days should provide sufficient time to do so. Sounds however that whoever it might end up being won't be signed in time for the Swindon game.
In spite of Barnes good form in preseason I am slightly concerned that apart from him we only have one other fit striker at present - Agdestein.
I noticed in the People yesterday that we were one of a number of clubs being linked with St Etienne's Sengalese midfielder N'Daw (?). Any thoughts Captain Haddock, Farside, Hovite, Tug509, Alan Skinner, Dr Baldhead ?

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Hovite says...
6:26pm Mon 6 Aug 12

I would have thought that any player with serious intentions of coming here would have been signed up before the Chelsea game. On that basis they have all missed the welcome boat because they should be taking advantage of our pre season which is now detrimental to the purpose. As long as we are watching players who are committed to us I will be happy, and it would mean Toby has a good chance to shine this season. Who knows what surprises our current team may bring without having some primadonna robbing the club. All is good but I don't thing there will be anymore signings now.

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gordongull says...
7:09pm Mon 6 Aug 12

Dave Kitson: 12 goals for Pompey in 72 appearances.

Emil Heskey: 15 goals in 111 appearances for Villa.

Why are column inches being wasted on these no-hopers?

With Kitson on board, we'd need to get used to playing with 10 men.
Loose cannon - wouldn't touch him with a barge pole!

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farside says...
8:49pm Mon 6 Aug 12

I think that Barnes playing "in the hole" behind a lone striker will score goals and if I had to sign someone to give CMS confidence I would bring Aaron McLean in a flash but he doesn't offer anything "different" in terms of playing style. Hosky or Barnes could play a two alongside CMS if we were prepared to sacrifice height and play a 4-4-2. I don't think that is Gus' intention though. I would imagine a tall forward able to occupy the middle third and hold the ball up or head it on and to get his head to crosses and (especially) corners is on his way. Mention of N'Daw sounds like an agent talking him up so Birmingham pay more. He was there on loan as a centre back and I'm sure that's where he is headed again. Be interesting to hear if we have made progress with Jeremy Balmy from Le Havre?

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crawleydownseagull says...
9:20pm Mon 6 Aug 12

Why all the negativity with Barnes? i know ive said it before but he scored 1 goal less than murrey in div 1 and played a lot of the games from the bench. 14 last year, considerably more than CMS, no excuses for cms, Barnes did it. He is improving all the time just like Bridcut and Kaz, they were both raw when they came to the club, Barnes is improving and our best goal scorer over the last 2 years, fact. Hesky yes, not a prolific goal scorer but will pull defenders all over, suck them in and allow room for others to score and lets face it we have a lot of players who can score. Trust in gus he has made 3 superb signings so far(plus the dagger), i for one would not be that concerned if we dont sign another striker, hoskins will be back and we have great attacking options. However my sources say its Hesky.........we will see.

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Conelli98 says...
9:35pm Mon 6 Aug 12

Leeds utd saying nothing about McCormack, we are not mentioning CMS...??? I believe that Barnard is also on Radar.

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sdhgfhfuyt says...
10:06pm Tue 7 Aug 12

SMF20 wrote:
Hovite wrote:
5ft 7in with his boots on? ;o) If the club brings in Kitson or Heskey I would like to trust it is for good reasons and not a panic purchase, although Kitson had a chance to come here last season but didn't take it so I would rule like to rule him out on that basis.

Heskey on the other hand may shine in the Championship and is also a strong unselfish team player. We do need a physically strong player as an option up front strategically against the bigger teams. I would be fairly happy with him myself and would only judge him on how he performs with us rather than before.

Having said that, I don't even know if we are even looking at these players.
Heskey in my opinion would be a fantastic signing. He would do for us what Roberts did for Reading last season. By no means a long term player.. But good enough still to help us get out of this division? Definitely.
would rather have Kanu

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