Matty James/Andy King

[champions 08/09]

Amazed how many people don't rate James, he was instrumental in both the great escape and championship winning seasons. He did Cambiasso's running for him which allowed Cambiasso to be the legend we all remember. At the end of that season if you'd have asked who was the better midfielder, Drinkwater or James, the majority would have said James, so why can he not improve under Ranieri in the same way Drimkwater has? Ranieri has certainly said in the past that he rates James, and he and Drinkwater naturally improve each others games as they have been playing together for years. 

[Fox92]

16 minutes ago, Manwell Pablo said:

Think we should just give James a break and let him get on with getting fit he's not ready to compete for a starting place yet anyway so I don't know why people are discussing whether he is good enough. 

 

At the end of the day neither he nor King are going to be commanding a starting place anytime soon, it may be disappointing that we have not bought another CM in I certainly would have liked it, but it is what it is, they've both proven their capable of having a decent impact on a Premeir League game even if they probably are a bit short of the level required to take on the top teams, we have Club Brugge and FC Coppenhagen in our group, both opponents to be respected but you wouldn't find them in the top half if you put them in the PL.

 

Hopefully we get ourselves through the Autumn and be in a decent position in the league come Xmas and out of the CL group, then it is a problem we can re address.

I agree. But when people start threads about James - we seem to have a lot - of course there's going to be both sides of the argument too.

[foxy boxing]

james was really good for us before he picked up his serious injury and should be given a chance to show his fitness and quality and king has never let the club down and has improved a lot over the years

[sylofox]

So by some thinking on here we have not seen James in our title winning team so he is crap. So we must have just spent 30m on a pile of shite because we have not seen him play in our team.

[Babylon]

1 minute ago, sylofox said:

So by some thinking on here we have not seen James in our title winning team so he is crap. So we must have just spent 30m on a pile of shite because we have not seen him play in our team.

You can swap James for Amartey and Mendy also.

[Gubbins]

There is definitely some overestimating of James here, I seem to recall him being not much more than a superior version of Andy King with no real stand out qualities. Even so views on his past ability is just opinion really. The key problem is surely that he has barely played for 16 months despite, if I remember, starting training again in December or January. Generally players who make a successful comeback from an acl injury do so in around 9 months. Much like Tunchev at this point he's unlikely to come back the same player.

[4ever and ever]

10 hours ago, Miquel The Work Geordie said:

 

A regular starter for a team that couldn't buy a win.

 

Like I said, I love him, very handy player but our rise has been unprecedented. We  aren't anywhere near the level we were at the last time he played a competitive game for us. It's very likely he'll not be able to adapt to the level we're at any time soon - sorry if that doesn't fit in with your way of thinking.

 

Loan would've done him (and us) good.

The same team that won 5 out of the 6 games before he got injured?

[TheSomersetFox]

King can't really do the job of the tackler/ball winner. If he played next to Kante (like we saw against Everton, where he was brilliant and scored), or plays next to Amartey/Mendy (not totally sure what sort of player Mendy is yet tbf), then i reckon we'd see much better performances from him. We started last season like a house on fire with the King/Drinkwater partnership tbh but we still leaked goals so...fvck knows really. Point is that King is probably better suited stepping in for Drinky rather than whoever plays next to Drinky

 

[smudgerfox]

I am disappointed we didn't get Silva or another option but I'm glad the club didn't just go and sign anyone who we might get and might fit the same bill. We need players who buy into the team/squad ethic, we absolutely don't need players who don't respect it (as many wouldn't). James was quietly establishing himself until his last injury - if he can recover he can be a real force, but that is a big "if." I'd love to see him establish himself again and in a way our failure to get Silva gives him that chance. I also share the reservations about King - though I find it hard to be so critical of a player who has served our club so well. One player I wouldn't mind seeing paired with Drinkwater is Schlupp. He's a good tackler, plays it simple and can burst forward from the back if required. I think he'd do well in that role, 

[Arriba Los Zorros]

22 minutes ago, Goober said:

King can't really do the job of the tackler/ball winner. If he played next to Kante (like we saw against Everton, where he was brilliant and scored), or plays next to Amartey/Mendy (not totally sure what sort of player Mendy is yet tbf), then i reckon we'd see much better performances from him. We started last season like a house on fire with the King/Drinkwater partnership tbh but we still leaked goals so...fvck knows really. Point is that King is probably better suited stepping in for Drinky rather than whoever plays next to Drinky

 

 

2 minutes ago, smudgerfox said:

I am disappointed we didn't get Silva or another option but I'm glad the club didn't just go and sign anyone who we might get and might fit the same bill. We need players who buy into the team/squad ethic, we absolutely don't need players who don't respect it (as many wouldn't). James was quietly establishing himself until his last injury - if he can recover he can be a real force, but that is a big "if." I'd love to see him establish himself again and in a way our failure to get Silva gives him that chance. I also share the reservations about King - though I find it hard to be so critical of a player who has served our club so well. One player I wouldn't mind seeing paired with Drinkwater is Schlupp. He's a good tackler, plays it simple and can burst forward from the back if required. I think he'd do well in that role, 

I think the point here is that we have DM covered with Amartey and Mendy. It's Drinkwater's role - ie box to box, main creative force where we are weak and where we looked to sign Silva to play. As Goober said, I also think King can play this role with someone playing deeper and Matty James is also up to it if he can regain his fitness.

[ALC Fox]

I'd be happy putting James in against Chelsea in the cup. King as well for that matter. If we go out it's no big deal. Fewer games and all that. Europe and the league has to be the focus bearing in mind we've never been in the Champions League before and never defended a top tier title.

 

If we ever became lucky enough to consistently challenge near the top, and even if we fall away to become a mid to bottom half Prem side, then I'd be all for taking the League Cup seriously again. But for this season, Europe and Prem all the way.

[Babylon]

42 minutes ago, Gubbins said:

There is definitely some overestimating of James here, I seem to recall him being not much more than a superior version of Andy King with no real stand out qualities.

I'd say there is some underestimating of him... I've added king to the graphic just for comparison.

 

 

[Gerard]

12 hours ago, Larry_LCFC said:

We shouldn't be having to settle with James and King in the clubs biggest season imo. Both good players who I'm sure will play a part, but James is abit of a gamble at this level and King is not the quality that we should be taking into the CL. We have failed massively in the transfer market in the midfield which is incredibly frustrating.

 

It's not a disaster at all.

 

We have Drinkwater who is absolutely top drawer, he wouldn't look out of place in any team.

 

Of the others we've just spent £13m on Mendy who said he wanted to break into the French squad. Although I've failed to see any evidence of that he must have some faith in his ability to think he can compete with the current crop of French midfielders.

Amartey has looked a bit overwhelmed since he got here but was immense on Saturday, maybe he's just begun to find his feet at this level and we'll have a real player on our hands, he's only 21 remember, we'll have lads in the development squad older than him.

King and James have performed at this level.

 

Whilst it would have been great to get a top notch partner for Drinkwater and Silva would have been a great player for us but maybe he was too similar to Drinkwater? The club tried to get someone in but couldn't get a deal that suited us. In four months time we can try again and until then it will be beneficial to throw Mendy, Amartey or James in at the deep end and see what they've got at this level. We already know King can come in and be Mr Dependable.

[Gerard]

2 hours ago, Izzet is God said:

IMO both Kingy and James are not good enough if we are aspiring to be a top 6 club as many of other people view us on here...so I'm looking at long term.

 

If we make it out the group of CL and get a draw against (for example) Man City, Atl. Madrid or Dortmund who would you rather have starting in those positions if Drinky and Mendy are injured...

 

I wouldn't turn to King and James but apart from Amartey they are the options as they are our CMs....

 

We're Leicester City, we can only keep 14-16 top players happy. The rest of the squad need to be made up with young developing players or older players who are happy to be mainly reserve players who can come in and do a job when required. People like Wasilewski, King, etc are needed to fill that role within the squad. They basically play the lesser games or cover for the first team but know that is their role.

[Finnegan]

How anyone can watch Drinkwater and Amartey against Swansea, with our record midfield signing waiting in the wings, and panic about us in the middle of the park is beyond my comprehension.

 

Oh no, we didn't spend 35m on a player to be back up incase Drinkwater gets injured, how will we cope?

 

**** me.

[Aleksz]

I can't be bothered to scroll through 3 pages of people being ignorant towards James's ability and how he played before his injury.

 

But alongside those stats screenshots that prove he's a perfectly able player, it's worth pointing out that James is also the youngest of himself, Drinky and King.

 

Give the lad some time (in both patience and match fitness), because he has plenty of time. He's only just hit the age in which Drinky suddenly became a one of our best players.

[ALC Fox]

James needs to get fit so may have benefitted from a loan, much like Wilshere could and Ramsey 100% did.

 

But I'd love it if he played a part this season. He's one of the major reasons we're even in this division. For him to play for us while we're reigning champions would be awesome.

[Koke]

Players tend to get better whilst they're out injured. Happened a lot with Joe Cole back in the day. Fans start to over rate injured players. James is a decent player but he has a lot of catching up to do. Drinkwater is a class above him.

[Koke]

4 hours ago, Goober said:

King can't really do the job of the tackler/ball winner. If he played next to Kante (like we saw against Everton, where he was brilliant and scored), or plays next to Amartey/Mendy (not totally sure what sort of player Mendy is yet tbf), then i reckon we'd see much better performances from him. We started last season like a house on fire with the King/Drinkwater partnership tbh but we still leaked goals so...fvck knows really. Point is that King is probably better suited stepping in for Drinky rather than whoever plays next to Drinky

 

 

King and Kante played together away at Liverpool on Boxing Day and we were dreadful and deservedly lost. King is a decent deputy for a few games but I wouldn't wanna rely on him for 1/3 of the season if Drinkwater gets injured.

[TheSomersetFox]

25 minutes ago, Koke said:

 

King and Kante played together away at Liverpool on Boxing Day and we were dreadful and deservedly lost. King is a decent deputy for a few games but I wouldn't wanna rely on him for 1/3 of the season if Drinkwater gets injured.

Yeah fair play, although the whole team was poor that day and Liverpool really got in our faces and outplayed us. agree with you there though. King just doesn't have the dynamism that Drinky/Kante or even Amartey seems to have to be consistently good enough in a 2 man midfield, for the level we want to be competing at atleast. 

[AS78UK]

James deserves his chance to prove he has what it takes to succeed at this level period. 

[Gazza M]

For me Andy King is best in behind the front man/men with those late runs in to the box. I still believe he could do that today. He is not the man for the more defensive role in cm, he never has been.

For me Matty James must hit the ground running in the league cup and see if he can still compete. I don't believe that he can however. For me we should be back in for CM in Jan.

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

Finnegan says everything in my mind but more articulately and mainly not drunk. 

 

Cheers mate.

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

10 hours ago, Aleksz said:

I can't be bothered to scroll through 3 pages of people being ignorant towards James's ability and how he played before his injury.

 

Before you do read through those three huge, massive, time consuming pages - can you do a course to benefit you getting over yourself?

[sylofox]

16 hours ago, st albans fox said:

 

He isn't a technically gifted type sylo. He needs to be at the top of his fitness. His injury was 16 months ago. The signs don't look great at the moment.  I felt that both he and DD could make an impression on the England squad. Infact, Woy was there against soton when he got injured. watching their full backs but also having a look at Matty. 

 

whatever the the reason for not being able to recover that fitness we don't know - but by now he should be there and he clearly isn't. 

Huge difference between fit and match fit. But people still want to write of one of the main reasons we stayed up.let him get fit let him have games in this squad then write him off. But please let him kick a ball.

 

I will stand here and you can all say told you so. But I will also say I fvcking told you.