It seems Barkley has a long way to go before he can earn the trust of his new manager but this is a good start.
Everton manager Ronald Koeman have praised the way Ross Barkley responded to being dropped for The Toffees impressive draw with Manchester City last weekend, according to the club’s official Twitter account.
The England international remained an unused sub at the Etihad as an inspired performance from goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg, headlined by two penalty saves, restricted Pep Guardiola’s league leaders to a single point.
However, this is not the first time that Barkley, an almost ever present under previous incumbent Roberto Martinez, has been removed from the starting XI this season after Koeman (below) claimed that the 22-year-old must raise his game “in all aspects”, according to The Guardian.
And the straight-talking Dutchman has praised the dynamic midfielder for the way he was responded to his restricted role at Goodison Park and suggested that he may have done enough to earn back his starting place away at Burnley on Saturday.
The opening weeks of the new campaign have extended a testing period for Barkley after he failed to feature in any of England’s games at their disastrous Euro 2016 campaign despite enjoying the most consistent season of his Everton career in 2015/16.
However, despite possessing natural physical attributes that have earned comparisons with a young Wayne Rooney (below) or Paul Gascoigne, Barkley’s erratic decision making and often selfish choices on the pitch have not gone down well with a manager who prides the collective over the individual.
Whereas Martinez (below) attempted to build the Evertonian’s confidence with relentless and often over-ambitious praise, famously claiming that he could become England’s greatest ever footballer in 2014 as reported by The Mirror, it remains to be seen whether Koeman’s stick-over-carrot approach can push him onto the next stage of his development.
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