Matty James

[woddyuk]

Set pieces not upto his usual standard but James ran his ass off today, got back to cover when others stood watching,on more than one occasion.

[muzzy1981]

Some harsh comments. He's had some good games, notably Sunderland and Liverpool. Like others he's probably finding the step up tough, but he has the potential to be a solid prem player. This season feels a bit like the one before promotion, to much reliance on players without exp which puts too much pressure on them. Starting to winder why we didn't sign more better quality experienced players in the summer

[deep blue]

I think we need to accept there isn't one player playing consistently well at the moment, and stop picking on any individuals.

 

Some people's opinions on players seem to swing dramatically but I can think of very few players who I've learnt something about so far this season. I know what they're capable of and I know what they're like when they're under-performing.

 

Players cannot reach their potential the way things are at the moment. Some of them aren't good enough and some of them are much better than this. Some of them are always lacking and others are just inconsistent. Some have potential to improve and some are just poor players at this level.

 

It's not a time to scapegoat players, not even the ones who are constantly poor match after match. There is obviously a bigger problem than one player playing badly. Even when some of these poor players were playing earlier in the season, they were being carried by the rest of the team.

Some great comments on this thread, but this post is spot on. The team will play collectively much better when confidence is restored, but that will only start to happen when we get a win ... Catch 22.

For what it's worth, an independent watcher today was impressed with James, and I agree on the whole. I think, though, that too much is expected of him having to support a less fit colleague in a 2-man central midfield.

I can see 2 big failings in the team so far. We don't have the strength/knowhow to win the tackles we should, thus conceding possession too easily. And, when defending, there are situations where we stand off the attacker when he has the ball and we should be pressing him harder (esp the 2nd goal today, where our 2 defenders stood off their left winger when they should easily have been able to take the ball off him).

[dmayne7]

James is class or rather, has the potential to be. Today, however, he was garbage. King should be back in the team in my opinion.

[Buzzell]

Poor game from James today. Time to rest him and give Drinkwater or King a run out.

[Thracian]

Short answer especially for Babs... "No".  

[Thracian]

But he's been no worse than others and better than some.

[Steve_Guppy_Left_Foot]

What you really have to look at is what's available to us that's actually better than what we're playing. For every thread on let's drop player x (basically every single player that starts every game, normally multiple threads), James is one of the few who is struggling but we do actually have players not just capable of being better but that have performed better in multiple games this season, King and Hammond. For all the Schlupp threads that turn in to drop Schlupp threads, who do you bring in? Albrighton, the guy who has looked like a lost puppy every time he's stepped on to the pitch? Drop Wes? Because Liam Moore was a rock tonight in his place, Kasper? Who had by far his best game of the season tonight and if it was up to most on here he wouldn't of been on the pitch and we'd of lost by a lot more than 1 goal. King and Hammond have performed better than James this season and there's no reason they won't do so again if selected ahead of him, needs to happen. You can see it in his face and body language, the lads confidence is absolutely shot at the minute and it's coming across in how he's playing.

[Callabinho]

Next game we should try a 4-5-1, James and Drinkwater together and Cambiasso ahead of him with two wide players, last season James and Drinky were our best pairing, give it another go?

[lee7]

Yesterday he was awful. His deliveries were of the same quality as Sunday league players! Especially the free kick he floated out of play from the edge of the box. That should have been whipped in with pace hoping anyone gets a touch on it.

[Babylon]

Short answer especially for Babs... "No".  

Cheers Much more readable.

[Bettsj2]

With only Cambiasso next to him he's having to do too much work. They need another body in there.

Either switch to 4-2-3-1 which is the formation that gave us such a blistering start or a 4-5-1 so the midfield at least has the numbers to cope.

If we go 4-4-2 against Man City we'll be embarrassed.

[StanSP]

I've just realised why we can't defend from set-pieces. James takes them in training and because they're so bad, we never get any good practice at defending.

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

Struggled recently but we all know the potential is there. Agree with Betts in that I don't think it benefits James playing in a two, either - I love Esteban and think he's still showing his class but a three man midfield would be better suited to accommodate him (and at the moment, we have to do so because he looks infinitely sharper than any other central midfielder we have). Agree with posters saying it might be worthwhile playing Cambiasso a little further up the pitch with two able runners behind him, probably two from Drinkwater / James / King.

 

I thought James was pretty awful yesterday but his terrible set pieces are skewing people's opinions of him, somewhat. He's definitely a talent, he's just finding the transition a little more difficult than I think we all would've hoped, likewise Drinkwater.

[DennisNedry]

He was basically our only CM in the second half so got overrun.

 

As much as I love Cambiasso, he hasn't got the legs to play a full 90 minutes anymore. Should have brought King or Drinkwater on.

[Dickov22]

I think James has been decent and perhaps our best player overall in the last five games or so. Granted he didn't have his best game yesterday, but he's doing ok. We need to remember he's in a side that are on a terrible run and who are all clearly lacking confidence. James certainly isn't the problem here.

[benpicko]

The funny thing is, the fans wanted a return to 4-4-2 after Burnley.....

 

 

That is why i would never trust their decision on sacking a manager.

 

But he's stuck with it and not changed for a few matches so is that the manager's fault or the fans' for posting that they want it back on a message board

[RGFox]

Set pieces he needs to stay clear off but in general play he isn't too bad. Willing to have the ball in tight spaces, and looks to drive us forward but he needs better quality in front of him.

Drinkwater in a more advanced role against City for me, with James and Cambiasso behind.

Agree with this, James' dead play delivery has been awful.

[Nick]

I thought Matty was poor yesterday and against Liverpool going forward.

 

He got a number of opportunities which were executed on a par with Schlupp's shooting ability.

 

His deadball delivery was also lacking.

[Arriba Los Zorros]

James is not a poor player by any stretch of the imagination. He is good on the ball and a decent CM. Unfortunatley the team is rotten currently. Hammond or King or even Drinky would not play better than Matty and we would have another thread complaining about who replaces him saying 'Get James back in, he was poor but can't be any worse than XXXXXXXXXX'

[Silverdaz]

I do agree with col that 4-4-2 is not the way to go. We're so ****ing exposed it's incredible that he hasn't changed it at all.

He has changed it to a 4-3-3 but then people say this has stifled our creativity

[NotTheMarketLeader]

Has James' recent performances warranted a starting place in the team? The fact that almost every member of our squad has been poor for a while has not escaped me but James' recent performances have been very poor.

Set Pieces - Is James really our best option on dead ball situations? Why is Cambiasso not taking them? He did very well against Stoke. This is a massive oversight by the management for me.

Chances on goal - Why do all our chances fall to him? Don't get me wrong, I'm pleased that he is putting himself in the right positions to have a pop but his execution on the whole is not good enough. Drinkwater for example was dispatching these all last year.

I would prefer to give someone else an opportunity now. Cambiasso has the xfactor pass and can score a goal.

I like Matty but he's had a run in the team and his performances haven't been improving.

Im a big fan of Jaymo, but I've never seen him play as poorly as he did yesterday. I think the fact that pretty everyone around him is playing shit has been a big burden that seems to have got the better of him this week. In the Villa game I thought Cambiasso was pretty good first half, the problem he and James have when the two lightweights Mahrez and Schlupp would not assist when Villa had the ball. So it ended up effectively james and Cambiasso up against their midfield three or four and that can't be allowed to happen at this level. No team can carry passengers and that what's been happening for two months. NP should have changed things to enable us to get hold of the ball in midfield to help out. He's just too slow to make changes during games when clearly change is needed. Drinky not getting a look in for weeks on end, when he and james worked so well together is one of many situations where one can question the manager's performance. He has to help his players out during games, in terms of substitutions or change in tactics. He tends to do neither, and when game after game after game it continues, it is no surprise that matters do not work out as you would like.

Getting back to your point, now even our better players like MJ are playing badly. The trap door beckons now I'm afraid - so early in the season - I submit, down to bad practice from the manager. I do like him but he has cocked it up big time.

[marbelladave]

It is not James or any individual, it's a team issue.

 

When you have a team that lacks quality and experience at the highest level, you need to make up for it.

 

You need a game plan that the players 'buy into' and understand so that all the hard work that the players put in is actually effective. We did that quite nicely in the first few games but it all fell apart after ManU.

 

 

We were very, very lucky in that game but the first half was poor, the changes made in the team had disrupted our organisation and in the games since we have failed to get it back. The tinkering in the next few games broke our concentration and confidence and as we know, NFP does not do well in any respects when we go on a bad run. 

 

For me the pivotal game was Burnley, we did not play that well but were within seconds of a win, the loss of points caused a reaction in the team and the management that drove them to try and 'fix' the problems, sadly by trying to play more defensively and doing even worse.

 

Even now, with our supposedly more attacking 4-4-2, the defensive duties imposed on our wide players cut down our options and just lead to hoofing it forward, at this level it is never going to work.

 

We nearly bounced back after the awful Palace game game, but didn't, a string of 'winnable' games pissed away in the funk that engulfed the team and the management after the Burnley fiasco.

[Fox Ulike]

I thought Matty was poor yesterday and against Liverpool going forward.

 

He got a number of opportunities which were executed on a par with Schlupp's shooting ability.

 

His deadball delivery was also lacking.

 

He's not an attacking player. He doesn't score goals. He doesn't create goals. It really baffles me why we're asking him to play a lot of the game as in a more advanced role than he's played for us in previous seasons.

 

He's brilliant as the defensive/covering midfielder who just sits and helps out the defence.

[Buzzell]

One thing for sure, whether he's dropped or not, is that he needs to stop taking the set pieces. His delivery from free kicks and corners is terrible.