{"id":32702,"date":"2015-03-21T23:38:36","date_gmt":"2015-03-22T03:38:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=32702"},"modified":"2015-03-22T09:26:38","modified_gmt":"2015-03-22T13:26:38","slug":"barnes-answers-the-bell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=32702","title":{"rendered":"Barnes Answers the Bell"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>

Photo credit: Chris Aduama\/aduamaphotography.com<\/p><\/div>\n

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. \u2013 It may have been nearly three years since Darrius Barnes saw his name penciled in at center back, but you couldn\u2019t tell it by the way he played in Saturday\u2019s 0-0 draw to the Impact. <\/p>\n

Barnes collected a team-high five interceptions, cleared six balls out of harm\u2019s way and completed 82.9 percent of his passes in his first start in the center since Sept. 2012, helping the Revolution get their first point of 2015.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love being in the middle,\u201d Barnes said, \u201cand being the aggressor a little bit, and I felt very comfortable being there.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not hard to figure out why Barnes, who filled in for a suspended Jose Goncalves, was happy to return to reprise his former role. He entered the league as a center back, and during his rookie year, played every minute of every Revolution match at the spot in 2009. <\/p>\n

However, as his pro career progressed, he saw more time on the wings as coach Jay Heaps began to use Barnes as a jack-of-all-trades back. While Barnes could have protested \u2013 especially after he effectively lost the starting center back\u2019s spot once Jose Goncalves arrived \u2013 he kept his head down and continued to contribute wherever he was needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cDarrius is the kind of player that helps a coach sleep at night,\u201d Heaps said, \u201cbecause you can put him anywhere, and you know he\u2019s going to be up for the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no question Barnes was ready to go for Saturday\u2019s contest. With the chance to show that he could still be counted upon to man a spot in the middle of the backline, Barnes was all business on the training ground leading up to the Revolution home opener.<\/p>\n

\u201c(We were) just focusing on our shape, and just making sure we were connected on the backline,\u201d Barnes said about working with his fellow defenders during training. \u201cWe knew if we didn\u2019t give anything away, we\u2019d have a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barnes certainly did his part to give the Revolution a chance. He helped his teammates build out of the back with greater frequency against Montreal after they struggled to do so in Seattle and New York City.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a position I feel comfortable with,\u201d Barnes said. \u201cIt\u2019s a position I played all my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Barnes won\u2019t be back in the middle when Goncalves returns next week, Heaps knows he can count on his versatile defender if the occasion calls for it.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe brings it every day in training,\u201d Heaps said, \u201cand he brought it today in the game. There\u2019s a lot of minutes out there for Darrius, and whenever he gets them, he does well. \u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Darrius Barnes didn’t miss a beat in his first start at CB since 2012. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32703,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3],"tags":[146,891,888,892],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Barnes-25.png?fit=600%2C415","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32702"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32702"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32702\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32716,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32702\/revisions\/32716"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}