A defence of Matty James

[fleckneymike]

18 hours ago, Babylon said:

Unwavering defence? I've not picked him in any of my recent team predictions, I've said he's not been good enough for a couple of games. The stats were to show we did offer something in attack, again you're just completely ignoring the conversation to just have a go.

 

Clearly not of sufficient standard to play in the premier league? He was of sufficient standard to help the team lead at the emirates before he went off, to beat Brighton, beat Hudderfield, beat Watford, draw with Chelsea, Swansea, Stoke and Bournemouth all of which we dominated. We've not lost to a single team who finished outside last seasons top 7 with him in the team. Is he of sufficient standard for us to crack the top 7/8 on a regular basis, no he's probably not.  To suggest he can't play premier league football at any level is laughable.

 

Yes it does, if Iborra and Silva get injured if James isn't there it means playnig Choudray, a lad not good enough to enough play for Burton Albion.

 

And I'm free to tell you to **** off out of my conversation. I'll make this simple. You're on ignore.

I’d certainly agree that we’ve drawn games because of his presence in the team. 

 

[Grebfromgrebland]

People are forgetting that James is quite possibly the best midfielder in the premier league right now.

 

Even if we had Kevin de bruyne and David Silva they'd be on the bench here.

 

Just ask Puel.

[Babylon]

4 hours ago, fleckneymike said:

I’d certainly agree that we’ve drawn games because of his presence in the team. 

 

It's his fault 51 shots in the last three home games haven't resulted in a goal? Players missing one on ones, free headers etc?

[st albans fox]

4 minutes ago, Babylon said:

It's his fault 51 shots in the last three home games haven't resulted in a goal? Players missing one on ones, free headers etc?

From memory, three are his fault .................. 

 

And babs, you should see what chicago is saying about you now you aren’t reading his posts .................

[Charl91]

I still firmly believe that James is an upgrade on King, even if he's not (yet) good enough to be a first team starter.

 

 

Edited 10 March 2018 by Charl91

[Jimmy]

6 hours ago, Charl91 said:

I still firmly believe that James is an upgrade on King, even if he's not (yet) good enough to be a first team starter.

 

 

he's 26 not a kid that has lots of room for improvement, he's a decent squad player but shouldn't be starting games

[Fox92]

We are far better with Iborra in the team - a player that actually goes forward and isn't constantly looking back.

[Bazly]

Did anyone actually miss James not playing yesterday against WBA? Lets hope he is rested for the remainder of the season unless needed to cover for injured players,

[weller54]

1 minute ago, Bazly said:

Did anyone actually miss James not playing yesterday against WBA? Lets hope he is rested for the remainder of the season unless needed to cover for injured players,

Yes.. West Brom did! 

[Fox92]

11 minutes ago, Bazly said:

Did anyone actually miss James not playing yesterday against WBA? Lets hope he is rested for the remainder of the season unless needed to cover for injured players,

No. Ndidi and Iborra are way ahead.

[daddylonglegs]

What do people think was the final straw for Puel? James seems to have been completely swept aside in the last month.

[themightyfin]

7 minutes ago, daddylonglegs said:

What do people think was the final straw for Puel? James seems to have been completely swept aside in the last month.

Being injured for a good part of the month doesn’t help.

[Babylon]

4 minutes ago, daddylonglegs said:

What do people think was the final straw for Puel? James seems to have been completely swept aside in the last month.

He's injured.

 

Before that he got dropped as he wasn't offering enough during his last two games, simple as that.

 

He did little wrong, we should have won those games despite him not being great. The shit show on Saturday shows it's not all about him despite some trying to make it the case.

[daddylonglegs]

8 minutes ago, themightyfin said:

Being injured for a good part of the month doesn’t help.

didn't realise this. Was he dropped before he got injured?

[baldeagle]

Needs to be let go to another club . The bloke has only made 97 appearances for us in 6 years of being here . If you want to be consistent in the league then you need players who can play constantly without breaking down every 5 minutes . No good going into a season thinking well we might have him fit we might not . 

[Arriba Los Zorros]

Didn't realise he was injured again. That's not a good sign, his body just doesn't seem up to the intensity of the Premier League 

[The whole world smiles]

Some of you lot are just nobheads.

 

Why does there always have to be a scapegoat someone to be singled out and have all the woes of the team blamed on them?

 

Matty James is not the most talented midfielder at the club but he is a good solid footballer you need solid, hard working footballers to knit the talented players in the team together.

 

Man United won the treble with Nicky Butt. Chelsea won the champions league with John Obi Mikel, Man City the premier leauge with James Milner, man united won the champions league  with Ji Sung Park and we won the premier league with Andy King. I could go on and on.

 

If you cannot see that Matty James is a good solid squad player for a mid table team like us you are either a. Thick as pigs**t or b. Not acknowledging the truth because you are stubborn and don't want to lose an argument. 

[Wymsey]

[daddylonglegs]

10 hours ago, The whole world smiles said:

Some of you lot are just nobheads.

 

Why does there always have to be a scapegoat someone to be singled out and have all the woes of the team blamed on them?

 

Matty James is not the most talented midfielder at the club but he is a good solid footballer you need solid, hard working footballers to knit the talented players in the team together.

 

Man United won the treble with Nicky Butt. Chelsea won the champions league with John Obi Mikel, Man City the premier leauge with James Milner, man united won the champions league  with Ji Sung Park and we won the premier league with Andy King. I could go on and on.

 

If you cannot see that Matty James is a good solid squad player for a mid table team like us you are either a. Thick as pigs**t or b. Not acknowledging the truth because you are stubborn and don't want to lose an argument. 

A) Because FoxesTalk

 

B) Matt James is fine. He'd probably get into the 1st 11 regularly for a team in the bottom 6/8. But he's not good enough to be in the 8th best team in the league and for me it's as simple as that. It's not a case of being, as you eloquently put it 'thick as pig shit', it's a case of understanding that if the ambition of this club is to compete in Europe, we need a better backup than him. 

[Babylon]

52 minutes ago, daddylonglegs said:

But he's not good enough to be in the 8th best team in the league and for me it's as simple as that.

We were 8th in the league with him playing regularly, and we've not lost to anyone outside last seasons top 7 with him playing.

[RumbleFox]

Seems obvious he is a decent footballer.  Would he be in my starting 11 if everyone was fit?  Probably not.  Is he good enough as a PL 4th choice midfielder for a team outside the big 6?  Definitely.  Seems weird to me that some people cannot separate the statements "He is not a terrible footballer and I am happy with him as a squad player" and "I love him, he is amazing and want to bum him and he should play every game"?  Why do people always think beliefs need to be extremes?  To argue we is world class would be foolish but to argue he is terrible just makes you look very weird too.  I am happy to keep him on talent as a back up midfielder.  Obviously his injury record is a worry and if he cannot regain full match fitness for a long amount of time the sad truth is we might have to move him on but I wish him the best either here or elsewhere.  X

Edited 4 April 2018 by RumbleFox

[daddylonglegs]

4 minutes ago, Babylon said:

We were 8th in the league with him playing regularly, and we've not lost to anyone outside last seasons top 7 with him playing.

'Playing regularly' - He's played 13 times all year, including not playing between the end of September and middle of December. 

 

'Outside last seasons top 7' very conveniently includes one of the worst Everton sides for years. 

 

You've got a serious agenda if you think he's good enough to start for us, but also if you think he's completely useless. He's fine. He's just not good enough for us if our ambitions are Europe. 

[Babylon]

2 minutes ago, daddylonglegs said:

'Playing regularly' - He's played 13 times all year, including not playing between the end of September and middle of December. 

 

He's played not far off what Iborra has.

 

2 minutes ago, daddylonglegs said:

'Outside last seasons top 7' very conveniently includes one of the worst Everton sides for years.

That'll be the Everton in 9th.... Everton finished 11th in 14/15 and 15/16.

 

6 minutes ago, daddylonglegs said:

You've got a serious agenda if you think he's good enough to start for us, but also if you think he's completely useless. He's fine. He's just not good enough for us if our ambitions are Europe. 

Were we losing every game he played? Nope. He's good enough to play in the midtable team we were and are with him playing.

 

Is James good enough to crack the top 6, nope. But then again I don't think Iborra or most of our team are good enough for that. Could we have finished 7th with him in the team, yeah I think we could have. Which is Europe.

 

Is Iborra better, yeah I think he is, but James is well worth a squad place and any of our troubles of late had little to do with him. A shambles of a performances against Brighton shows that. We should have been 2-0 down against West Brom AND Brighton.

[baldeagle]

12 hours ago, The whole world smiles said:

Some of you lot are just nobheads.

 

Why does there always have to be a scapegoat someone to be singled out and have all the woes of the team blamed on them?

 

Matty James is not the most talented midfielder at the club but he is a good solid footballer you need solid, hard working footballers to knit the talented players in the team together.

 

Man United won the treble with Nicky Butt. Chelsea won the champions league with John Obi Mikel, Man City the premier leauge with James Milner, man united won the champions league  with Ji Sung Park and we won the premier league with Andy King. I could go on and on.

 

If you cannot see that Matty James is a good solid squad player for a mid table team like us you are either a. Thick as pigs**t or b. Not acknowledging the truth because you are stubborn and don't want to lose an argument. 

Nicky Butt and the others wasn’t or aren’t always injured . Matty James WOULD  be a good squad player if he could stay fit .But that’s the problem he isn’t a good squad player and hasn’t  been for a while  as he’s hardly in the squad as he is constantly injured . I do actually rate him but he’s never fit so in my eyes hes taking up a squad position  that someone else could fill who could stay fit . This weekend is a prime example Ndidi is banned James is not fit so we only really have the option of playing Silva and putting a youth player on the bench or vice versus 

Edited 4 April 2018 by baldeagle

[The whole world smiles]

1 hour ago, daddylonglegs said:

A) Because FoxesTalk

 

B) Matt James is fine. He'd probably get into the 1st 11 regularly for a team in the bottom 6/8. But he's not good enough to be in the 8th best team in the league and for me it's as simple as that. It's not a case of being, as you eloquently put it 'thick as pig shit', it's a case of understanding that if the ambition of this club is to compete in Europe, we need a better backup than him. 

Do you not think that having a player who would start for 6-8 premier league sides is exactly what we need for a 3rd/4th choice centre midfielder? for me its a question of Balance if we had 4 players as good as good as Wilfred Ndidi then we would have 3/4 deeply unhappy players upsetting the balance of the squad and also there would be constant transfer speculation.

 

Apart from the injuries (which are becoming a serious concern) James is a perfect squad player, he's english, been here years, well liked in the squad, fantastic attitude and like you say good enough ability wise to start for a lot of premier league clubs.