In my opinion, he's already as good as Rodwell.

Agree with every word, Andre. The problem is we always want results yesterday and there is precious little time to develop in the modern game. If we can afford to leave him there for the whole season I believe it would be far more effective than a few months.

Great analysis...another challenge when he returns is to keep him away from big money clubs. They are lurking.

"Everton cannot afford to carry players."

But aren't we carrying Neville? Do you mean we cannot afford to carry two players?

I am a bit surprised about the comment about carrying Jelavic yesterday.

From the 50 minutes or so of highlights I saw on Football First I thought he put in plenty of effort but things just weren't falling to him. Interested to hear other peoples opinion on this.

I have commented before that Fellaini's advanced role changes the overall dynamics of the team, and that may not suit all team members even if the overall effect is positive. In the same way, I also think that Mirallas and Pienaar occasionally end up wanting to take up the same space which lessens Pienaar's influence. It is difficult to suggest changes when we are generally performing so well, but I do believe that some fine-tuning is required to get the most out of each player and the team as a whole.

When we have found the right formula (which may just take some time) then I think we will have a midfield structure into which Ross Barkley can be given 25 - 30 minute cameos each week, to both improve him and take the strain off some of the older pairs of legs which otherwise will be suffering greatly come spring next year.

A dominant attacking midfielder alongside Gibson would make a great difference. I think even Osman next to Gibson would be good enough for the time being, but hopefully Barkley will develop ond be that player.

To be fair to Jella, he has been in cracking form since day one, he is due a down period, its just a shame we don't have adequate cover in that position to give him a break/competition for a starting place

Si, Jelavic was a passenger in the game on Saturday. He is not really a creator compared to say Suarez (if people suspend the hatred and think about the footballer for a moment, Suarez creates a lot of chances - but isn't the finisher Jelavic is).

Jelavic can give the impression he's not interested, but you have to leave him on as he just needs a sniff of a chance and it's a goal. There was a question mark over whether he could score as prolifically in the Premier League as he was in Scotland and Austria. He answered those doubts in his first weeks.

As much as I would like to agree with you and say keep him down there to continue his improvement, I really don't think we can afford to. With very little cover in the middle at the moment I think it would be very worth it to give him some game time in his position, even if it is for for 30 minutes a game. He is on show in the championship. Some of the stuff I've seen him do for the owls is amazing and the better he gets down there, the more likely he is going to get a big money offer from a bigger club and we won't be able to hold him. If we show him now that we are willing to play him at a young age, there is a greater chance that he will want to stay on with the club for years to come.

Andre James, very good piece.

Curing the switching off part seems to be the key to this lad hopefully Dave Jones will sort him.

Good piece. I'm not sure we necessarily need an attacking player who will put his foot on the ball as I think we already have that in Osman. His link up play from midfield to attack has been a feature of our good play recently and Barkley would have to be playing pretty phenomenally for me to deserve replacing Ossie.

I think you hit the nail on the head when you say not many players hit their stride in central midfield till their early or even mid 20s. It's a position that requires huge discipline and understanding. Pacy young wingers or strikers have less responsibility but, at 18, Ross is still very young to be considered as starter in central midfield for a high flying Premier League team.

He's starting games, being given responsibility and learning the rounded necessities of his position. Barring injuries, I say let him stay there for the season to develop; fingers crossed he comes back matured, fit and ready to push Osman for his place next season.

It will be a lot easier for the lad to come into this team than the last time he played.

I personally believe it was a good move to send him out on loan. With a good run of games under his belt, he will only get better. There is no substitute for playing competitive matches.

"Barkley Hoots for the Owl's"

Well just proves Dave Jones was no Twit to Woo him.

I thank you...

Barkley may well turn into a great player but he his not there yet. I would leave him at Sheff Wed for the rest off the season.

Si, Jelavić had a stinker on Saturday. If we had another striker, I would've taken him off at half-time. He will come good again but was woeful against Fulham.

Kevin, the owl jokes are the best.

I agree with the consensus that Barkley should spend the season at Wednesday. He'll come back with a full load of confidence, a bagful of goals and hopefully the professionalism to eliminate his "off" switch.

But I'll also dispute that Jelavic was carried at the Cottage. He's gone off the boil and his touch is suddenly heavy and uncertain, but that's a slump we see frequently even in top strikers (Fernando Torres!), and Jeli has a history of blowing hot and cold from time to time. His work rate remains unrelenting -- he continues to make every run and get into the right positions every time, with no sign of switching off. He'll sort it out and get back on the goals.

Mike Powell (#270) - can you define what he did wrong (or didn't do)?

It seemed to me that he was still trying, still making runs and trying to get into the right areas and I can remember occasions when he was only the break of a ball away from good opportunities, or when others chose to back themselves rather than looking to play him in.

I know he missed some good opportunities but he has done that ever since he joined us. What I am getting at, is does he deserve to be criticised or are we just looking at the consequences of others players improved confidence and a team set-up to play to others strengths rather than mainly his?

Si, I don't think he was 'carried' at all.

I agree with what you saw, he was still doing all the same things but instead of unerring finishing he missed a couple of chances. It happens to everyone and I 'm not sure why anyone thought Jelavic would be any different.

I'm not sure that i've ever seen him look 'uninterested' as somebody called him but the fact is he's not an overly outstanding all round footballer so when he's not scoring his impact can appear minimal.

I realise this is from an older game but thought people might want to see Barkley against ipswich http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkLM53q9Hxk

Just on the cover for injuries perspective. If we suffer a crisis in midfield we can recall him.

Quote from Sheff Wed Manager Dave Jones

"The boy still has academy status, so there's no timescale required on it, so we're lucky in one sense, but then Everton could call him back at a moment's notice if they get any injuries,"

I don't see how we not getting the best of this, he is now starting to settle and this will give him more confidence than the reserves. He will return a better player and if we need him back, we can get him back.

I like Barkley and he is a talented player who is doing well on loan but you could argue that his goals and recent upturn in performances have come against the worst teams in the division (Ipswich and Peterborough) and much sterner tests await.

He looks more confident though and that will stand him in good stead as he does seem to get better the more he plays.

Sean, by all accounts his performances have generally been very good. Criticism has been levelled at Sheff Wed's defence early in the season during the games they lost.

Even when they were losing the Sheff Wed fans were raving about him.

Great to see him doing so well. Can't see where he fits into the first XI at the moment but when the injuries come in attacking mid area definitely worth bringing back. Would suggest keeping him at Wednesday until Jan then bringing back for the second half of the season

Leave him where he is for the season. And Dave Jones ........no babying him. He got it coming, give it to him.

Andre, great post.

Nail on the head stuff there mate.

He's young and developing his skills, we can't expect too much but playing each week in the engine room of what is a hard Championship, possibly the toughest when you look at the teams in it, can only strengthen his game.

He won the Owls player of the month by a landslide, according to an Owls website

Just on Jelavic, he has taken up great positions this season waiting for Mirallas to pull it back or square it, but Kev has taken on the shot on instead. It hasn't quite clicked yet, with Mirallas linking well with Fellaini, but not Jelavic. That's not to say it will not come with time.

Think Jelavic is getting a hard time off some. He poached one in the Villa game, he looked sharp in the Newcastle game before he injured himself, he then bagged two in the southampton game, one more in the Wigan game (would have been two had the WIgan player not tripped him for what should have been a nailed on pen). He played badly against QPR but should arguably have got another pen and we did have ten men for a large chunk. He was in the position for Coleman's pull back against Liverpool before he was crunched borderline illegaly by Skrtel and Jones just as he pulled the trigger. In the Fulham match I don't think anything that good really dropped to him. As Ian says Mirallas has been taking on shots (not a bad thing) when Jelavic has been screaming for a squared ball that last season he was getting off Pienaar and Baines every time. He's getting into the goal scoring positions its just not coming off for him at the moment like it did last season.

For all our good play there has been a tendency to hit overhigh crosses rather than go for pullbacks which Mirallas finally did against Fulham to yield the first goal. I don't think the service has been as good as last year (ironic consideirng the number of chances we're making) and Jelavic does thrive on this. We've only really put him through one on one once and he slotted agianst Southampton. He may be in a tad of bad form but there's no need for all this he was a flash in the pan one season wonder talk. Everyone can see the quality of movement, the quality of finish and the footballing brain is there, you don't lose that overnight. Would not surprise me at all if he bagged a hattrick against Sunderland. He's still the one man in our team that you would want a chance to drop to, unfortunately none of them really dropped for him against Fulham.

Just for info – link to Soccer AM "showboat" featuring Ross Barkley
skip to 1:12.... enjoy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=352zlMODrqI

The lad still needs a lot of work and motivation. Sheff Wed are a poor team and it's not hard for him to shine. Having said that, I don't think he figures in Moyes's mindset of his starting eleven just yet.

Trying to shift Moyes's faves of Osman, Neville, Pienaar, Naismith, Gibson, etc will be hard for Barkley to do this season. I saw him in 2 games against Leeds and Boro and he looked very average.