Barry Robson

[Scarlet Pimple]

Last night's game against Toronto F C was Barry's 3rd outing for the Vancover Whitecaps.

In this game I felt that he was just beginning to show his stuff and even starting to take command of the game's flow.

In general he is a calm customer and rarely is he dispossessed of the ball. He seems to have the calm ability to drag a player with him and then turn away form him to go in the oppoisite direction, seemingly losing him completely along the way.

I never saw him before this and so, having heard a lot about him, I was really interested in his performance.It seems he left Caley thistle in early 2008 and I was in Inverness in that year but the games I saw there at Tulloch were the first three at home for the 2012-2013 season, not at the end of the previous season.

I think what stands out is his calm confidence. It almost seems as if he is not bothered about anything but, not surprisingly, he does make some very accurate passes and some are long distance, far-seeing wonderful passes.

He also has a mean shot and is not afraid to have a go from distance. He certainly was a bit unlucky not to score last night.And one of his corners very nearly led to a goal, just evading the onrushing head of one of the Whitecap's forwards by inches.

At 34 , however, I can't help but wonder what the 'Caps really had in mind bringing him in--maturity? Yes. Steadying influence? Yes. About 3 years maybe left in him? Yes?

But, as Scotty correctly muses, this league is developing fast and is attracting some interesting talent from overseas--Beckham, Thierry Henry, et al, and is blooding some very athletic and up-and-coming raw, new talent from the USA and many other countries so it may soon be time for Barry to retire.

I think his main influence will be as a steadying, linking type of factor in this team. The team plays some excellent passing stuff but does seem to have difficulty in penetrating close to goal. The wings are rarely used to put the full backs under pressure and draw defending players out of the middle. So much so that I think a sea change will be required in coach Martin Rennie's views to open up opposing defences.

Like many "modern" coaches he seems to be a slave to the jingoistic formations of modern time and lacks the flair to foster opportunism --maybe this would be a bit risky but it sure would be a lot more exciting than just playing one lone striker up front all the time.

Martin Rennie is Scottish but from where, or what, his playing background may have been, I know nothing. Can anyone help here?

He speaks well in interviews and seems to be able to assess his team's performance, etc. accurately enough but I think that this team still has a ways to go to wow the fans.. The pace is fast enough but there is always that lag in time getting the ball forward and rushesup the park are never that exciting...and it's all down the middle.

I feel that the challenge is that the game is being overpowered by tactics and player positioning by numbers--if it is not a 4..3..3 then it's a " diamond formation with Willie Wombat as the spearhead".... etc. etc. Blah, blah but no reallty active wingers on sight.

No Willie Johnston playing for the former Whitecaps at the corner flag, taking a swig of beer from a bottle handed to him by a well-meaning a guy in the crowd, then taking the corner and....... SCORING!! WHEEEEEE!

Barry looks the calm part and once he gets more time to get fully up to to speed re fitness then it looks as if he could do very well here.

[Yngwie]

I never saw him before this and so, having heard a lot about him, I was really interested in his performance.It seems he left Caley thistle in early 2008

He went to Dundee Utd in 2003, a year before we first made it to the SPL.

[Yngwie]

Martin Rennie is Scottish but from where, or what, his playing background may have been, I know nothing. Can anyone help here?

According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Rennie he's from Thurso originally, played a bit at Junior level but has been more of a professional coach than a footballer.

[Alex MacLeod]

I never saw him before this and so, having heard a lot about him, I was really interested in his performance.It seems he left Caley thistle in early 2008 and I was in Inverness in that year but the games I saw there at Tulloch were the first three at home for the 2012-2013 season, not at the end of the previous season.

Are you related to the great Seer Johndo McKenzie? You were in Inverness in 2008 and managed to see the first three games of 2012-2013 season. Considering we haven't had the foresite to see those games yet can you tell us who will win and will we do well.

[CaleyD]

Barry Robson, Maturity and Calming Influence all in a single post....What have you been smoking, Scarlet???

[Scotty]

actually ..... and perhaps surprisingly enough, he did display some maturity and even a calming influence on proceedings. I guess the petulant Barry we have all seen - and who is likely still in there if you wind him up properly - has added those qualities to his game.

Best example was when Mattocks got the equaliser in 90 minutes .... The player was taunting the crowd, and behind him, experienced MLSer Jay DeMerit was also giving the 'come-ahead' sign ... but Barry was telling him, "ok, enough, lets go"

Based on what I have seen so far, he looks like he is going to be a good and solid MLS player. He wont get the media coverage of other DPs like Beckham or Henry or even Frings, and he perhaps isnt in that bracket, but he will be solid I think. His touches and passes on Wednesday were pretty good and if one or two of his 30 yard efforts connect they will surely get a 'goal of the week' award or two ....

I wanted to come out of this game hating him for being an opposition player .... but I couldnt ! He has definitely matured, still has qualities I remember from the TCS, and I felt quite proud of the fact that he used to play for ICT.

[Scarlet Pimple]

Alex , you are too bl..dy quick on the uptake for a mere Pimple. I was only testing you and you did not disappoint me. Scarlet 's got egg on his face, Scarlet's got egg on his face...Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

As a peer seer, I predict that MacKenzies will continue to play a major part in the development of this site well into the future. Where is IHE when you need him Scarlet?

Caley D, be kind to Canadians. We try hard and sometimes we are WINNERS--like at the last Winter Olympics. Hoch! Hoch!

And Scotty--the man who always talks common sense.And pictures don't lie either do they Scotty.?

Just wqait until Tporonto is next in vancouver --it will be a different story.

Martin Rennie is a thoughtful man, doesn't rant and scream on the touchline. But not infrequently has a word in the ear of the touchline official and then seems to soft-soap him wit hand gestures of resignation and compliance. He's a wee smart one, this.

Thanks for the info, guys. Thurso, huh? ------------ Who would have thunk it...?

[dougal]

I never knew Canadians played football or should that be soccer!!!!

Other than ex pats I thought the locals just watched Ice Hockey

The fact that Barry Robson is one of the top players at 34 doesn't say a lot about the standard though if I'm honest

Fair play to Barry though if he's cashing it in at this very late stage of his career

Dougal

[Scotty]

Dougal ... Have you ever been to an MLS game in person ? Have you ever even watched a complete one on TV ? thought not. Another one who bases their opinions on the New York Cosmos of the 70s !

No-one called him a 'top' player. I used the term 'solid' and yes he will be. Have you actually seen him play recently - at Middlesborough I mean, not in this inferior MLS product - or are you basing your assumptions on 2003 or earlier ?

quite frankly, for anyone who is watching Scottish Football implode right now to have the stones to slag off the standard of any league as inferior is quite astonishing.

[Scarlet Pimple]

Yes! Dougal .

Surely your tongue was in your cheek when you posted such uninformed drivel. I respect ever body's rtight to express their opinion but this is total codswallop.

When Barry has been on the ball his experience shows and, as I said, he is rarely dispossessed and one always has the feeling that something good will happen .

How can you be honest when your knowledge of MLS soccer (at least you have used the correct North American term for football) is virtually non-existent.

Consider this : At Toronto the other night a mere 19,000 fans drifted in to support the team which is not ranked very high at the moment in the standings and in Vancouver the regular attendance is about the same. Wouldn't Caley thistle d=ie for numbers like that.

Like it or not, the North American sports are heavily backed with huge money and MONEY TALKS,PARDNER. Further,they don't half know how to promote the team and these efforts make the plinky plonky music at the Tulloch stadium pale into the shade .

Have a look doughty Dougal at the Vancouver Whitecaps website and see the variety of video and audio outlets and services tha they provide. You mark my words, within ten years the MLS will rule the world of soccer. http://www.whitecapsfc.com/

Then go to the Toronto F C website and check that one out.

[dougal]

Ok I admit the whitecaps website looks professional and well set out but that's what the yanks/Canadians etc are good at I.e advertising a product with all the razzmatazz etc making it look a lot better than it actually is

Your comment regarding the MLS being the top league in the world in ten years is ludicrous in my opinion, the yanks have tried it before and spectacularly failed. American Football and Ice Hockey will always be the most popular games in a yanks head

For you to say they will have a better league than in Spain,Italy,Germany,England,Brazil or Argentina I can only think you are on the fishing trip and you've hooked me

Whether you like it or not us Europeans see the MLS as it is where pros at the ends of their careers go to make a quick buck before they retire

Heres a list of has beens who were quality players but were all well past their best when they arrived in America

Pele

George Best

Richard Gough

David Beckham

le petite merde aka Mo Johnston is he still there somewhere?

I'm sure if I googled it there would be a lot more to back up my point

Dougal

[Scotty]

Ok I admit the whitecaps website looks professional and well set out but that's what the yanks/Canadians etc are good at I.e advertising a product with all the razzmatazz etc making it look a lot better than it actually is

not a huge amount of razzamatazz in MLS ... the MLS management are developing the league more slowly, a lesson they learned from the failures of the past. They may know how to do PR and such like but thats a bad thing ???

Your comment regarding the MLS being the top league in the world in ten years is ludicrous in my opinion, the yanks have tried it before and spectacularly failed. American Football and Ice Hockey will always be the most popular games in a yanks head. For you to say they will have a better league than in Spain,Italy,Germany,England,Brazil or Argentina I can only think you are on the fishing trip and you've hooked me

I would agree in principle with that. I think Scarlet is just being overly optimistic. However MLS 2.0 is setup differently to the previous incarnation that included the Cosmos, Beckenbauer, Best etc. Every team coming in must have a youth academy, every team has to spend (the vast majority of) transfer profits on ground improvements or youth, every team has to work within a salary budget, and every rule like this is designed to develop the league from the ground up and unlike the SFA/SFL/SPL to use the lessons learned from past mistakes to make things stronger and better this time around. I think you also mix-up 'best' with 'richest' ... it only takes one of those leagues to have a financial crisis and all the 'best' players will leave very quickly.

Whether you like it or not us Europeans see the MLS as it is where pros at the ends of their careers go to make a quick buck before they retire

... then you are ignorant and have not bothered to back up opinion with fact based on the current league, choosing instead to remember the 70s.

Yes there are still a few like that but the number of youth players coming through in Canada/USA and players coming from Latin America or South America with the express intention of reaching the big money of Europe when they get older make it a far different place. Have a gander at this article ... http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/05/sports/soccer/mls-seen-as-steppingstone-to-europe-for-promising-young-players.html?_r=1 or consider some of the players who came over to Europe on loan at the end of their MLS season last year: Brek Shea (Arsenal), Teal Bunbury (Bolton), Landon Donovan (Everton), Kyle Beckerman (Kaiserslauten), Bill Hamid (WBA), Sean Johnston (Man Utd), Stefan Frei (Liverpool), Omar Salgado (Fulham) ... and those are pretty much off the top of my head

Heres a list of has beens who were quality players but were all well past their best when they arrived in America

Pele

George Best

Richard Gough

David Beckham

le petite merde aka Mo Johnston is he still there somewhere?

Pele/Best were way before the current MLS and therefore irrelevant. Richard Gough too was barely in the "new" MLS making appearances in 1997 and 1998. 'new' MLS was formed in 1993 but is widely regarded as not starting proper development until around 2002 when interest surged after USA reached the QF of the World Cup. In those 10 years it HAS made huge changes and gone through a lot of development.

I have seen Beckham play in person several times - have you? - and although he may no longer play to the same level as he did before, he has still got it ... again, this can be evidenced by the fact that he went back to Milan on loan two seasons in a row at the end of the MLS season !!

Mo Johnston not involved in MLS since September 2010

I'm sure if I googled it there would be a lot more to back up my point. Dougal

indeed. you do seem to have an inane ability to selectively choose where to comment and how to comment and conveniently ignore the valid points or questions made to you .... like the ones in my earlier post. I am sure you could equally drag up google postings to back up any point

[+bughtmaster]

Dougal perhaps you should stick to what you know best .........you have been well gunned down there.

Incidentally what do you know best?

[Scarlet Pimple]

Interesting article here by the Vancouver Sun re Barry and his attitude.

http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/Barry+Grouch+worthy+Oscar/6999431/story.html