A defence of Matty James

[DennisNedry]

I've heard and seen a bit of criticism levied at James after the game yesterday.

 

Now, I can fully understand the argument that James & Ndidi are too similar, too defensive or not creative enough to be paired in CM. In fact, I can agree with this argument, especially at Home against the likes of stoke, and would have liked to have seen Silva start.

 

However, having been selected, I thought James was our best performer. Not that that's saying much, as nobody really played that well. But I recall him winning back possession numerous times and he rarely misplaced a pass. But for an inch he would have won us the game with that header. I know he's not a creative player, but then what did Ndidi or Gray create? Nothing. I think Ndidi is a great talent, but that seems to make him a no-go for criticism from some on here. To say he was better than James yesterday is disingenuous. 

 

In essence, lay off Matty. It's not his fault Puel is picking him, and he's playing pretty well, especially considering he's not long came back from a terrible injury.

[HighPeakFox]

An entirely fair comment.

[Fox92]

It's not Ndidi's job to create.

 

James rarely misplaced a pass because he rarely tried to unlock Stoke's defence. 

 

I blame the manager for selecting him, of course. We need someone who will pick the ball up, try a creative pass and score goals. Only Mahrez can do that (out of the starting 11 yesterday).

Edited 25 February 2018 by Fox92

[StanSP]

I don't think anyone said that Ndidi was better than James yesterday, either.

 

The former was at fault for the goal to start with by losing the ball anyway. Regardless, I don't think Ndidi's main job is to be the creative one in midfield. 

 

Fair comment anyway. He wasn't great. He wasn't shit. He was just normal but you need something more in a game like yesterday. I still would have taken him off for Silva yesterday when we started to take control in the 2nd half. 

[Brainy]

It's not enough of an excuse to start but when did we last have two centre mids with the CV that Iborra and Silva bring with them? For a club of our stature it is crazy that we have these two on the bench over somebody like James. I don't dislike the guy at all but he doesn't really bring the excitement that Silva inparticular would bring.

 

I get that new signings don't usually walk straight into a new side but we are ridiculous for this. We could sign Messi and we'd put him on the bench to start with until he proved himself

Edited 25 February 2018 by Walkers

[ozleicester]

would not be up to Premier league standard

[inckley fox]

I understand Puel's decision, even if it sometimes feels like there are better alternatives out there and even if I can't help wondering why he's so reluctant to tweak things that aren't working.

 

But I suspect people are reading too much into James' inclusion. He is more effective physically than Silva, by far, and even if he's less of a 'front foot' player I haven't seen enough pace or mobility in Silva, and especially not in Iborra, to suggest they should be ahead of James for their dynamism. 

 

Personally, I suspect the three man central unit in a 3-5-2 may have a future if we're still stretched in centre mid. We tried it out and didn't really give it the chance to fail, and if we're entertaining the idea of Albrighton at RB, or even Chilwell at LB, I'd sooner see three in the centre of defence behind them. I noticed that the attacking mids were often far too deep yesterday, often while defenders were in relatively advanced positions.

 

The problem is where to involve Mahrez, whether he's the 'one' in a 3-4-1-2 or a 3-5-1-1, neither of which necessarily suits him. Maybe it's the time for him to fit in around us, rather than vice versa.

 

Or maybe we could just pick a 4-4-2, as opposed to having three wingers chuck in endless crosses with a diminutive striker as the only guy going after them. And stop trying to play all of our football in our own half before either going backwards, punting it or losing it before we get the chance to play any football in their half, largely because all of our attacking players are poorly set up by the time we reach the half-way.

 

Some of the stuff we're playing right now doesn't seem to be respectful of the DNA of some of our players. So I'd go easy on James, and on most of the others whom we know to be capable, and who are clearly working their socks off. And I'd go easy on Puel (dodgy match-day management aside). He's had to assess his options and deal with the Mahrez business - but at some point the more intricate game went from being an extra dimension to our play, to being an obstruction to it.

[Rogstanley]

32 minutes ago, Walkers said:

It's not enough of an excuse to start but when did we last have two centre mids with the CV that Iborra and Silva bring with them? For a club of our stature it is crazy that we have these two on the bench over somebody like James. I don't dislike the guy at all but he doesn't really bring the excitement that Silva inparticular would bring.

 

I get that new signings don't usually walk straight into a new side but we are ridiculous for this. We could sign Messi and we'd put him on the bench to start with until he proved himself

It could be that Silva isn't actually very good.

 

I've not seen enough of him to say, but Puel sees him in training every day.

[HankMarvin]

46 minutes ago, DennisNedry said:

I've heard and seen a bit of criticism levied at James after the game yesterday.

 

Now, I can fully understand the argument that James & Ndidi are too similar, too defensive or not creative enough to be paired in CM. In fact, I can agree with this argument, especially at Home against the likes of stoke, and would have liked to have seen Silva start.

 

However, having been selected, I thought James was our best performer. Not that that's saying much, as nobody really played that well. But I recall him winning back possession numerous times and he rarely misplaced a pass. But for an inch he would have won us the game with that header. I know he's not a creative player, but then what did Ndidi or Gray create? Nothing. I think Ndidi is a great talent, but that seems to make him a no-go for criticism from some on here. To say he was better than James yesterday is disingenuous. 

 

In essence, lay off Matty. It's not his fault Puel is picking him, and he's playing pretty well, especially considering he's not long came back from a terrible injury.

No it’s not 

go look at the stats 

apart from passing accuracy ( on 19 less passes) and a header 

ndidi out performed James 

 

[Bunyip]

1 hour ago, HighPeakFox said:

An entirely fair comment.

Yes, that shies away from reality.

[st albans fox]

Not saying much but James was named mom in one of the corporate lounges .........

 

maybe none of the other players would come upstairs! 

[suffolk fox]

13 minutes ago, st albans fox said:

Not saying much but James was named mom in one of the corporate lounges .........

 

maybe none of the other players would come upstairs! 

One would suggest that corporate lounge hah had too much of the fizzy stuff mom

[Guest Col city fan]

Two points for me:

1. People need to stop talking about the injury now. Horrendous though it was, it was ages ago. James should be well over it

2. He is and always has been, a basic Premiership midfielder. He struggled immensely alongside Cambiasso in the Pearson Prem season and just looks very average this season. He neither creates nor scores, nor is he a stopper like Kante or Nididi.

I think we can and should do better.

[ARTY_FOX]

When playing teams that are going to sit deep it shouldn't be James, it needs to be someone who will create. When we're against a team that will look to dominate possession like Chelsea. It has to be James. 

[StanSP]

6 minutes ago, Col city fan said:

Two points for me:

1. People need to stop talking about the injury now. Horrendous though it was, it was ages ago. James should be well over it

2. He is and always has been, a basic Premiership midfielder. He struggled immensely alongside Cambiasso in the Pearson Prem season and just looks very average this season. He neither creates nor scores, nor is he a stopper like Kante or Nididi.

I think we can and should do better.

when you go through an injury like he did, and even on more than one occasion, i don't think a player ever gets fully over it. I know he would have had some amazing treatment but his knee will always be susceptible to injury again. Ligaments very rarely fully recover when they're totally fvcked like his was. There's probably also a mentality thing as well (I don't think James has this problem). 

[kingfox]

Finally someone with a bit of common sense.

 

James for me is in the side because he keeps the ball better than the likes of Iborra, it's as simple as that.

 

You can bang on about him not creating enough, but yesterday I think he was the only player to actually play through Vardy with a forward pass. He started quite a few moves yesterday by winning a header or making a pass, not his fault that the players in front of him then fvcked up every attacking move.

 

If that header had gone in I'm sure many wouldn't of been bashing him like they have, first half he did alright, second half he had a spell where he wasn't contesting any second balls; however that was the case for the whole side. 

 

Its alright saying the likes of James, Morgan and Chilwell aren't good enough anymore but our main players haven't been cutting it either, it's not certain players to blame it's the whole bloody team.

[Colourmy]

1 hour ago, DennisNedry said:

I've heard and seen a bit of criticism levied at James after the game yesterday.

 

Now, I can fully understand the argument that James & Ndidi are too similar, too defensive or not creative enough to be paired in CM. In fact, I can agree with this argument, especially at Home against the likes of stoke, and would have liked to have seen Silva start.

 

However, having been selected, I thought James was our best performer. Not that that's saying much, as nobody really played that well. But I recall him winning back possession numerous times and he rarely misplaced a pass. But for an inch he would have won us the game with that header. I know he's not a creative player, but then what did Ndidi or Gray create? Nothing. I think Ndidi is a great talent, but that seems to make him a no-go for criticism from some on here. To say he was better than James yesterday is disingenuous. 

 

In essence, lay off Matty. It's not his fault Puel is picking him, and he's playing pretty well, especially considering he's not long came back from a terrible injury.

2

Okay Finnegan, I thought it was about time you told others what to do and how to behave again!

[Hammo]

My heart sank when I saw James had again been selected ahead of Silva. I don't think James will ever be Premier League material as he's just too slow and unimaginative but.........

 

......I agree, he was one of our better performers yesterday - or, perhaps more accurately, one of our least bad.

[weller54]

1 hour ago, HighPeakFox said:

An entirely fair comment.

.....but he's still nowhere good enough! 

[Mark 'expert' Lawrenson]

We were Premier League Champions not long ago, we’ve signed numerous players to replace Kante and Drinkwater and yet here we are still with Matty James a regular starter, we should and could of done so much better, our recruitment since winning the league has been abysmal bar the odd exception.

[Foxxed]

1 hour ago, Fox92 said:

It's not Ndidi's job to create.

 

James rarely misplaced a pass because he rarely tried to unlock Stoke's defence. 

 

I blame the manager for selecting him, of course. We need someone who will pick the ball up, try a creative pass and score goals. Only Mahrez can do that (out of the starting 11 yesterday).

Exactly. Against a team we're trying to break down he's rubbish. Against teams that are attacking us he's not bad.

 

[KingsX]

2 hours ago, DennisNedry said:

I've heard and seen a bit of criticism levied at James.

 

 

[HighPeakFox]

16 minutes ago, weller54 said:

.....but he's still nowhere good enough! 

That's a different matter altogether.

[NorthfieldsFox]

A Ballanced opinion on a forum with too many imbalanced views 

Edited 25 February 2018 by NorthfieldsFox

[Sir Shep]

I didn’t watch the game yesterday so it’d be unfair for me to be too harsh on James other than to say I don’t think he has ever offered much in previous matches. If Puel insists on not playing ibora and Silva then I’d hope that central midfield is one of the areas he’ll look at in the summer, along with both full back areas.