Exactly....he made a mistake....even the best do this from time to time....when it comes to Barrett's mismanagement of Flanagan we are talking a number of mistakes in a very short space of time. I don't know much about Alex Furuson, apart from the fact he had a glamour club to manage and a blank cheque book at his disposal. I know even less about Phil Jones.....but I would guess he was not already dealing with major confidence issues after being released from a glamour club the previous season. Low confidence in athletes (or anyone) is a funny thing. Yes, people need support and a little belief to get through a crisis of confidence, but pumping the tyres up too much can have the exact opposite to the intended effect and ultimately only increase the pressure. I'm not saying that's the sole reason Flanagan has struggled. It clearly is not.....but it put him nehind the 8 ball from the start by placing unnecessary expectations on his shoulders.
Barrett is a relatively inexperienced coach. He's allowed to make mistakes. I'm not calling for his head. My only hope is he will learn from them and not repeat them in the future, because they have made our club look pretty bad, IMO. Hopefully now Gould is at the club, this sort of crap won't happen.
Cleary had well and truly cemented himself as the best half in the game before the start of this season. He proved that in 2020. There's a big difference between ytrying to build a young player's confidence and placing unnecessary pressure on his shoulders by comparing him to one of the game's best players. It wasn't the right approach. It wasn't a smart approach. I think his recent stunt of naming Flanagan and not playing him was even worse. Of course Barrett would have told him before the day. I'm not disputing that. It still sends a terrible message to the kid. How do yuou think he felt watching barrett front the media and talk about his belief in him, knowing full well his words weren't true? Did he really need the added media scrutiny if he wasn't playing? What was the purpose of this brilliant piece of misdirection? Do you really think it threw the Roosters off their game? Pfft. Of course not. They were going into the contest a bit off their game already, the only thing it achieved in all likelihood was to make Flanagan feel like kaka. Barrett needs to just focus on continuing to build and improive the team before he starts worrying about trying to throw opposition teams off with media misdirection....and he certainly shouldn't use that tactic at the expense of the self confidence of a player who is already lacking in that department.
I think he has really done a poor job of managing Flanagan and nothing you, or anyone else can say will change my mind on that.
Actually you had a very young player be transferred from Blackburn to United, who very much could have been overawed by the sheer size of United. Very few players cope well with the pressures of playing for United. Ferguson had no right to pump Jones' tires but in any case a manager backs his decision and says that he has faith in his recruits. Its a "well derrrrrrrrrrrr" statement, a nothing statement and you're overblowing that statement.
Here is Barretts statement word for word
“There is some similarity between Nathan Cleary and Kyle Flanagan,” he told Sky Sports Radio. “Kyle will have his hands on the ball a lot as did Nathan."
And how Flanagan responded to said backing
"Knowing that I am the long-term halfback here gives me a lot of confidence," Flanagan said. "I can really build my game here, I don't have to go out there and do the try assists and score tries straightaway. Talking to Baz and everyone at the club I really know that they want to build a team around me."
"I don't feel like I am under any pressure here at all. I just want to continue to build my game, keep getting better each week. Baz has been really been clear that I just have to do my role and play a seven-out-of-10 each week."
That hardly sounds like a player under pressure to perform. That sounds like a player who's happy he's got his coaches backing and that the expectations are realistic.
More importantly this comparison to Cleary you're harping on about, is a nothing comparison. If that line puts pressure on Flanagan HAHAHAHAHAHAH c'mon you can't be serious.
As for the rest of it, no, I would see it as Barrett giving Kyle more than enough to prove himself and lead the team. At the start of the season Kyle was head and shoulders above every other half at the club, the other halves were made to feel like shit and prove themselves.
Guess what happened? The other halves (without the same backing) proved themselves more than Kyle. Kyle was given chance after chance after chance and failed.
It's all on Kyle, end of!
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