Vasilis Barkas

He’s had a couple of good games, and a couple of ropey ones. An underwhelming start, but I’m not surprised.

Look at what he’s playing behind. It can’t be good when the defence is changing every game, with no combination looking remotely solid. The midfield getting cut through with ease.

The guy needs a bit of consistency in front of him.

 

some of the takes on him in recent days have been mental. calls for the Dundee/hibs reject to come back in ffs. Barkas has barely put a foot wrong since he's come in behind an unsettled defence.

an excellent ball from taverner and duffy playing every * onside is to blame for Saturdays first.

 

You could argue that he should have made the save on the first goal, but in real time it was quite difficult to judge where the ball was going. Probably still should have saved it but not going to get too upset with him.

He's been a bit unlucky as a lot of the goals he has conceded have been good finishes. When you're at Celtic you don't face that many shots in the league, so it must be a bit discouraging to concede like that and not have many chances to make up for it.

He's the least of our worries right now as far as I'm concerned.

 

He's a down grade to foster he doesn't give me the confidence that the big man gave you but we need to go what we have got .

 

Need to get a settled 3/5 in front of him.

 

Prefer bain and defence know him also more commanding as he speaks English, both very similar tbh but bain shades it for me .

 

Feel for him a bit, doesn't deserve a huge amount of grief.

For me though, needs to be more of a presence. Yes, he can catch crosses, but he doesn't appear to be that vocal and demanding of his defence. Hopefully that comes. Just a wee thing for me that's all

 

Although changing would damage his confidence , wots left of it .

 

Hasn't been half as bad as made out. Not concerned by him.

 

Deffo a bit nervous with what's infront of him..

Still think he'll be a very good keeper here..

As mentioned needs a settled, confident defence infront of him..

 

Fighting a losing battle as the outcry is "he isnt forster, can we go back for forstr" when he isn't a * option!

Barkas has done little wrong.
He hasnt done anything to the grand scale of what we came to expect from Forster or Boruc, but the guys in the door with approx 10 games in him, with THAT backline in front of him. What we expecting?

Kilmarnock 1 - 1 Celtic
Conceded a penalty - Julien pulls the player down. Keeper goes the right way but its a shot with power and in to the side netting.

Two clean sheets versus Reykjavik and United.

Celtic 1 - 2 Ferencvaros
We all know WHY we lost this game, it had * all to do with the keeper and everything to do with no strikers on the pitch.
Alas, first goal is Brown and Taylor both not closing the man down at all. The shot is a brilliant shot, kept somewhat low, but wicked dip on it and across the goal and in to the far net. Keeper had no chance. Sure SOME keepers may get lucky on that, but you can not blame a keeper for that effort.
Second goal, long ball over us all and Elhamed gets caught out, he sticks to him and bad communication between the new keeper and elhamed causes the keeper to not come out quick enough. Elhamed has stuck close to the striker and does as well as he can. Partial blame goes to both here, but more so to Elhamed.

Clean sheets against Motherwell and Ross County follow.

St Mirren 1 - 2 Celtic
A win, but still a conceded goal here.
Cross comes in from the corner, a header flicks it on to an awkward drop where Christie losses the man he is meant to be marking while standing in front of the keeper. Some quick communication issues may be at play, but I think at the point of the ball dropping to the St Mirren player, both keeper and Christie need to take a look at themselves.
A theme already with two goals so far - communication. No surprise since the lad is just in the door and speaks Greek.

Celtic 3 - 2 Livingston
Another win, but two more goals shipped.
1st one is a penalty given against a trailing arm for handball. Barkas goes the right way, but like earlier, it is a strong kick. No fault on the keeper here.
Second goal is * poor defending down our left side - something we are very aware of these days. The balls never dealt with at all and the lad takes a screamer from 25-30 yards out. Brilliant shot and not many keepers would stop it either. Arguments can be made that you'd want to see him get a strong back hand on it to tip it over, but it is dipping again last second and really, another goal you just need to say fair play to. The fault was in the defending on the left side and not shutting them down in the middle when the ball is falling.

A run of 4 clean sheets against Riga, Hibs, Sarajevo and St Johnstone before finally getting to this latest weekend

Celtic 0 - 2 Rangers
Duffy takes most of the blame here, plays them all onside in one of the most basic moments of defending in modern football. The ball drops and Goldson gets a decent header on to it after bullying the * out of the man marking him - Ely.
Barkas needs to get a bigger hand on to that and parry it away, but the fault is firmly on Duffy for this one. Keeper can learn from that and should do better, but not blaming him for that goal.
Second goal, Duffy at fault again, but less harsh this time. He gets a block in, but the second effort he stupidly opens his legs high in a last gasp effort. Welsh inexperience catches him out not to help out more and Barkas is caught flat footed.
For this game, I'd give Barkas 25% of the blame over the course of the 2 goals. Duffy gets 50% and 25% gets split to Welsh inexperience and the general defending overall.

So on that, he has conceded 8 goals over 13 games with 8 clean sheets. Conceded in 5 games with a 2 of the 8 being penalties, of the other 6 I will lay blame at him for his part in the hun goals, but lessons learned. The rest have very much not been his fault. 2 of the other 4 have been brilliant strikes as well.


For a guy fresh in the door and struggling with the language (so I saw someone mention earlier) I will stand by him and what I have previously said;
He has done enough to justify his purchase, but not enough to justify the £5million fee. Had he saved one of the world class saves, or if he had managed to stop the two hun goals, it would have shown great reflexes and convinced us all more.
But as it stands, he has not actually done anything wrong.

He needs that backline to be a flat four and settled in my opinion. He also needs a bit more confidence in communicating with the backline, that will equally come if we get it settled.
Plenty signs showing the positives for me.

 

Forster had an ability to make saves keepers shouldn't. this is all barkas has been judged on so far by many.
this will make it extremely difficult for some people to give barkas a fair shot at taking over from forster unless he starts making those saves too and honestly I don't see that happening.
Forsters save at home to lazio is enough for many to completely forget his inability to come off his line for a cross, his pathetic ability with the ball at his feet and being as slow as week in the jail at getting the ball moving on the counter (with anything that isn't a 5 yard throw to a centre half).

Barkas has shown himself to be an all rounder , no major weakness but nothing spectacular when tested on goal. Unless he starts showing that wow factor and making saves he has no right too, all his good contributions will be ignored and forster will be missed by many

 

Absolutely spot on bud.

For me, we have a 26 year old international who is stepping out of his native land to a different style of football. It will take him a bit of time to settle, but so far he hasn't done anything wrong, equally not wowed us as you say.
But I believe in our GK coaches to be able to coach a 26 year old in to doing a bit more and when his confidence builds, the wow factor may come in to it.
But bottom line, so long as he is doing the job, thats what matters and so far he has. 2 goals out of 8 conceded is about all that could remotely be contributed to his fault, the rest are 2 pens, 2 worldlies and 2 major defensive * ups outwith him.

 

Why does a keeper need to get used to anything , a keepers job is the same no matter what team or league they play in !! Keep the ball out the net!!! Bain has never let us down so should be given a chance for me bain saves ther fernevaros and also rangers 1st goal

 

He doesny look up to much.

 

Everyone needs to give the f*ck over about Forster, guy didn’t want to be here and now he’s rotting in the Southampton reserves, you make your own bed, you * well lay in it. Fair enough Barkas has had a few questionable games, but he’s also showed some signs of being a very astute and cultured keeper. What’s more, as many others have pointed out, would you not be * it with some of the brain farts the defence have displayed this season if you had that in front of you?

 

“Never let us down” seriously? Jesus wept...

 

I was shot down when I suggested we go for David Marshall back when we were looking for a keeper. He's looked very good in recent games for Scotland with clean sheets and penalty saves, I stand by what I said. However we have Barkas now so im 100% behind him, but he isnt filling me with confidence.