A defence of Matty James

[Tiny earl]

14 minutes ago, Arriba Los Zorros said:

Look at your username, son! 

Whoosh! Over your head there's a surprise.

??

[Arriba Los Zorros]

26 minutes ago, Tiny earl said:

Whoosh! Over your head there's a surprise.

??

Haha you've been embarrassed, just quit while you're ahead

[Claridge]

Apart from being too slow, non creative, doesn’t score and not very good at tackling ,James is ok

[Dickov22]

On 25/02/2018 at 13:30, StanSP said:

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. 

The goal was Simpson’s fault I thought. Hospital pass to Ndidi who then thought his strength would be enough to hold off the Stoke player. 

[Dickov22]

10 hours ago, RowlattsFox said:

Silva was one of our better players at Man City in the first half before getting hooked, not played since.

He really wasn’t. Players were running past him with ease. Way too lightweight. Lost the ball for their first goal too on the edge of his own area. 

[Vardinio'sCat]

3 hours ago, MC Prussian said:

I don't see the point in a thread trying to defend a player who hasn't his own current thread slagging him off.

 

In other news, playing James yesterday wasn't the wisest idea. So Stoke were pretty much hiding behind the halfway line, occasionally moving forward (through Shaqiri mostly). Hardly any danger for Schmeichel.

Then why the need to "protect our back four" when you have pretty much nothing to fear and two thirds of the possession on your side?

Such a game was craving for some creative input coming through the middle - you just can't always rely on Mahrez which is fatal and Gray was a disappointment once more, so selfish and complicated.

 

James was at fault for Shaqiri's opener by moving to the sidelines and leaving his entire middle part of the pitch wide open, a very silly goal to give away. Also was easily put under pressure and gave the ball away on more than just one occasion, sometimes even in our own half!

There was one decent header towards the end, but what else? He was Andy King-esque.

 

You need to ask yourself - what does Matty James have that puts him ahead of Silva and Iborra in the pecking order?

 

Or you could turn that round...

 

How bad are Iborra and Silva in training that they cannot displace Matty James?

[MC Prussian]

3 minutes ago, Vardinio'sCat said:

 

Or you could turn that round...

 

How bad are Iborra and Silva in training that they cannot displace Matty James?

Or you could say that training performances mean jack shit.

[Vardinio'sCat]

4 hours ago, Arriba Los Zorros said:

who are you again?

 

I'm speculating here, but perhaps Tiny is a recent graduate of the world renowned Leicester charm school.

[Vardinio'sCat]

6 minutes ago, MC Prussian said:

Or you could say that training performances mean jack shit.

 

You could say that, but not in front of the manager, eh? 

 

I feel we've both been outshone on this thread by Tiny earl though, what a fabulous start he(?) has had on FT. We need to raise our game. 

Edited 26 February 2018 by Vardinio'sCat

[Wasyls Pec Deck]

Ndidi is a superior player, who himself is better when partnered with an experienced player - like a Silva, an Iborra etc. 

 

And it’s easy to not lose the ball when you pass it sideways. Reminds me of the nickname given to Barry Ferguson - Barry the crab...

[Tiny earl]

57 minutes ago, Vardinio'sCat said:

 

You could say that, but not in front of the manager, eh? 

 

I feel we've both been outshone on this thread by Tiny earl though, what a fabulous start he(?) has had on FT. We need to raise our game. 

Another one of babylons sycophants crawling out of the woodwork.Are you all in the same class?

?

[dayday]

I just get the feeling Puel doesn’t rate Iborra or Silva and will be looking to sign a box to box midfielder in the summer, Silva is the nearest we have to that type of player, maybe Puel doesn’t think he’s strong enough.

 

[Arriba Los Zorros]

10 hours ago, Tiny earl said:

Another one of babylons sycophants crawling out of the woodwork.Are you all in the same class?

?

Nope, just people who call out rude, argumentative assholes on opinion forums.

[Tiny earl]

2 hours ago, Arriba Los Zorros said:

Nope, just people who call out rude, argumentative assholes on opinion forums.

Aw,how sweet,he'll be so proud of you!

[ZeGuy]

8 minutes ago, Tiny earl said:

Aw,how sweet,he'll be so proud of you!

Let it go, it's becoming boring now.

[Guest Chocolate Teapot]

15 hours ago, Dickov22 said:

He really wasn’t. Players were running past him with ease. Way too lightweight. Lost the ball for their first goal too on the edge of his own area. 

Weirdly I agree with both of you, he wasn't the best defensively but was involved in pretty much all our good stuff going forward. 

 

What's frustrating me is we know how good Matty James is, and he's a decent steady midfielder - what we hear about Silva is that he's a class midfielder and we've seen glimpses of this with his passing and creativity.

 

How when we're chasing a game and need a midfielder to pick a pass he wasn't brought on I will never know.

 

I think Puel thinks James gives us more control, but passing sideways, but then he says we're too slow with the ball. I simply cannot get my head around it.

Edited 27 February 2018 by Abrasive fox

[NotTheMarketLeader]

On 25/02/2018 at 16:33, Babylon said:

Can you honestly say Iborra has been good enough? It's been a long time since he's actually put in any sort of decent performance. He's looked no better than James in the cup gams against lower league opposition and it's been an age since I remember a decent prem showing. 

This I agree with he’s looked very classy in a few games, and then awful

[SheppyFox]

I love the bloke, wish everyone would stop being nasty bullies.

[NotTheMarketLeader]

15 hours ago, Dickov22 said:

He really wasn’t. Players were running past him with ease. Way too lightweight. Lost the ball for their first goal too on the edge of his own area. 

As much as I want to see more of him, I thought he was poor there.

[Strokes]

17 minutes ago, Gerbold said:

I doubt Matty James is overly concerned about what we posters on this forum think about him.

However, the crescendo of spite and bile leveled at many of the team, week-in - week-out, leaves one dispirited, and confused as to what actually being a supporter of LCFC signifies. To me it means allotting praise for those who've played well and positive criticism of those whose performances have been less than expected.

It's very difficult to analyse objectively what has gone on in 90 minutes of constant interplay - especially when one favours certain players. One below par performance shouldn't make a player the target for sustained negativity. He has to be judged in the context of a series of games and by what the intention of the manager might be in continuing to employ him.

I don't see James and N'Didi in contention for a position. I don't see N'Didi necessarily as a 'creative' player. He is a tough and determined foiler of attacks with, as yet, underdeveloped 'transitioning' skills. I've seen evidence of his shooting and passing potential but also his penchant for random mistakes.

I think what most people are puzzled over is not James per se, but why Silva and Iborra are being passed over for selection. We're aware that Puel might veer towards being a cautious manager, so that James, as I see him, a 'holding' player, might suit Puel's current strategy. We're aware too that the Mahrez situation has probably put paid to any chance of a top six place and automatic Europa League qualification so Puel might be using this time to explore possibilities and permutations.

We also don't know how difficult Silva and Iborra are finding the transition to the toughest, most unforgiving league on the globe. Nor do we know how well they're acclimatizing to this current tough British winter - coming from the Iberian peninsula as they both have.

James has, thankfully, through no doubt a huge effort, made it back and made it into Premier football. If he was no longer 'up to it' Puel would not have considered him as a pick. There's little sentiment in this league so he's included on merit - I doubt any other factor, sentiment or whatever, has influenced his selection.

Finally and pedantically - those who have said that N'Didi played better than James against Stoke are unlikely to have been "disingenuous". Mistaken or biased or even stupid, but not deliberately being dishonest to achieve some ulterior motive.

I have to disagree on the last point, I definitely think there are some that disingenuously portray N’didi to have played better than others, when they know he hasn’t, It’s not even close to the first time it’s been done and I don’t believe for one second they don’t see how often he loses possession in his poor matches. For some unknown reason he is beyond criticism for some. It’s very weird.

[Babylon]

19 hours ago, notnow john said:

Has nobody warned him about Bab's attack dogs?

Also known as, people with common sense.

[Dickov22]

2 hours ago, Abrasive fox said:

Weirdly I agree with both of you, he wasn't the best defensively but was involved in pretty much all our good stuff going forward. 

 

What's frustrating me is we know how good Matty James is, and he's a decent steady midfielder - what we hear about Silva is that he's a class midfielder and we've seen glimpses of this with his passing and creativity.

 

How when we're chasing a game and need a midfielder to pick a pass he wasn't brought on I will never know.

 

I think Puel thinks James gives us more control, but passing sideways, but then he says we're too slow with the ball. I simply cannot get my head around it.

 

Agree with all of that. I think we need to find a way to fit Silva in because he’s clearly got good technical ability and finds little pockets of space really well. The problem for him is that he is really really lightweight and actually a bit careless in possession. That’s why I don’t think Puel trusts him. Puel is a fairly cautious manager. 

[Manwell Pablo]

I don't think he's particularly bad, I don't think many people do. It's nice to see him in and among the squad

 

It's just quite puzzling how he's pipping the Former captain of Sevilla and a European cup winner to a start. . Unless it's all some sort of grand plan to prioritise the FA cup. Been impressed with them both during their varying time spells here. 

[HighPeakFox]

You know that someone has already lost the argument when they nebulously cite 'attack dogs', like anybody here has that much malign influence over other posters.

[HankMarvin]

Kinda ironic everyone was upset about the 14 second delay, but as a registered player his barely got a sniff