Barkley ‘born to play football’

Everton 3 Aston Villa 0

At the end of a week in which the form, fitness and desire of young England internationals was high on the news agenda, Ross Barkley produced the type of performance that illustrated why he is one of the Premier League’s most exciting young talents of any nationality.

Back from a knee injury he suffered on the eve of the season, Barkley returned for a one-hour run-out that stamped his, and Everton’s, authority on proceedings and ensured Roberto Martinez’s side ended their faltering start to the campaign in emphatic style.

The Everton manager conceded afterwards that he could comfortably have allowed the 20-year-old midfielder to remain on the field when he brought him off after 65 minutes, so strong and fit did Barkley appear, an interesting observation given that, as recently as Thursday, Martinez believed there would be no hope of the player starting.

“It’s hard to explain, it was impossible for him to start today, but it’s just the way he drives with the ball and trains so hard, he’s just a natural,” said an admiring Martinez. “He just loves playing football. The big strength he has is he doesn’t look at football as having expectations, he just goes in there with a raw love, he just wants to play. He is a kid who enjoys playing football. And I think the bigger the game the more you get from him. Last season you saw that, in the biggest game he would get on the ball and be very effective, I just think he was born for that. He was born to play football.”

Analysis of Barkley’s performance, naturally, led to comparisons with another brilliant young Merseysider, Liverpool’s Raheem Sterling, who unwittingly found himself at the centre of a debate last week after declaring himself too fatigued to play for England. Of course, in Sterling’s defence, this was Barkley’s first appearance since playing for England against Costa Rica in June and a lack of match fitness, not tiredness, is the only concern about his current health. But Martinez also pointed out that Barkley’s rare combination of physical, brute force and technical skill make him the photo-fit footballer for the modern Premier League game.

“Ross is such a powerful footballer and then the technical ability he has makes him the perfect player for this league,” said Martinez. “You get moments when you are going to suffer, moments when you are in form, but he is someone who always wants to perform, and when he’s fit he can play against anyone. He has a powerful mind too, yes. He gets the simplicity from enjoying the game. He has nothing else, just the pure joy of playing.

“He is unique, a unique player. My feeling with Ross is you are not going to find another like for like, the way he is in that role is unique. You don’t see another player like him in any other team because you don’t get that balance of physicality and technical ability, so he is diamond. I think we need to be careful though, with Ross and Sterling. With young players to play for England there needs to be a process to learn what is expected. Look at Baines and Jagielka, they took it to a different level when they got the knowledge. It is understandable that the young players go through those experiences before they can win games for England.”

For Villa, and best-selling author turned assistant manager Roy Keane, this was the fifth consecutive game against last season’s top five clubs and, as had three of the previous four games, it ended in defeat without a goal being scored. Leighton Baines crossed for Phil Jagielka and Seamus Coleman to score the first and third goals, either side of a Romelu Lukaku shot which Brad Guzan allowed to squirm through his body and over the line.

“We are still above Everton and they are classified as a top six-seven team,” said Villa manager Paul Lambert. “The start has been really good but we have had a run of games where it has been gruelling. But that is the first time we didn’t play well enough to win a football game.”

EVERTON: Howard 7, Coleman 8, Alcaraz 6, Jagielka 7, Baines 9, Osman 6, Naismith 8 (Eto’o, 86), McCarthy 7, Barry 6, Barkley 8 (Pienaar, 65, 6), Lukaku 7 (Gibson, 90).

ASTON VILLA: Guzan 5, Hutton 5, Vlaar 6, Baker 6 (Clark, 25, 6), Cissokho 5, N’Zogbia 5 (Weimann 63, 6), Cleverley 8, Westwood 6, Richardson 7, Agbonlahor 7, Benteke 6 (Cole, 81).

Referee: A Taylor 7.