Zidane said they have 5 or 6 days before NT games and will see if they are ready to play or not. Guess it's a physical issue since he mentioned the days to recover. "tendrá cinco o seis días y se verá si están preparados para jugar o no." https://us.marca.com/claro/futbol/real-madrid/2019/11/08/5dc5ac6846163fb9088b45c7.html
Why not, what’s the point of keeping him if we aren’t using him, let’s make some money off him if the fee is decent , I’d love James to stay and play, I think he adds immensely to our attacking options but I see no point in just keeping him to watch him train and that’s it, personally, I still believe he will get mins though
Because we don’t want to sell a good player to our direct rival. I’m all for selling him if the price is right but preferably outside of Spain, we’re Real Madrid not James FC, we have to make sure a deal works for us before jumping on and not simply give in because X player wants it.
If James was willing to lower his wage, he would be out of the club long time ago. Let's be realistic here, at his age he is fighting for the last big contract. Unfortunately not that many club can afford his wage. It does not appear Real is eager to give him an extension either. It's increasing likely that they will let the contract to run out and he walks free.
He's not a good player according to zidane and as long as he is the coach there's no point keeping James
So who would be making this decision , definitely not the coach, if he doesn’t want to play him, clearly he doesn’t think much of him and really should not fear him, direct rival or not, so the club is happy to pay him to just hang about and train then, because they fear AM with James, good luck to them with that line of thinking , once we were Madrid and feared no one, I like James a lot and would love him in our team, but he’s not Cristiano or Messi
Perez, JAS etc.. will make the decision, whether Zidane rates the player or not doesn't matter, he's very good and thats a fact and because we shouldn't hand him over to our direct rival. You don't have to be at CR and Messi;s level to be good enough to strengthen a team.
Isnt this going to make other players reluctant to join because the club is totally okay with sabotaging their careers if it doesn't work out. Reminds me of PSG. James has never shown up as out of shape as Hazard nor as he put in such a long stretch of sub par performances. And yet he's the one being ostracized (due to a manager's bizare personal vendetta for reasons unknown to anyone). No wonder Mbappe had reservations about joining the club and went elsewhere and alot of other guys are gonna have second thoughts and walk away. Player's shouldn't have an exit strategy before joining a club but we're basically now putting them in a position where they have to consider it.
I just don't understand why Zidane can't put his feelings aside for the greater good. Ostracizing James doesn't make any sense if we're trying to fight for each trophy. He may not have wanted him to stay with the squad but he is here so why not make sure he is integrating him. We're going to be hitting a stretch of games where CDR, CL, and La Liga games will be every 3-4 days. We'll need everyone we can get to play.
Kroos-Casemiro-Valverde is our best Middlefield. Modric is by far the best 4th option. The other 2 subs should usually go to Jovic and Rodrygo/Vinicius. That leaves James pretty much nowhere in the vast majority of games.
Yes they may be our best midfield but Casemiro is on track to play over 3000 minutes and he has barely had a break since the season started including international games. Modric is aging and also plays during international break. Kroos plays international break as well as RM games. Fede has stolen that starting spot and also plays international football. How can Zidane not sneak James in a start every few games esp when the midfield is pretty thin considering a 34 yr old to be is our only option besides James/Isco.
I think we'll have less control of the game then when playing CVK (Casemiro, Valverde, Kroos) but we'll create a shitload of chances. I'd prefer to see this vs teams that are already decided on parking the bus.
Yeah but then you would be putting James in position to succeed and that's the opposite of how Zidane has used him, which is mostly in situations where he would struggle (w/out a 2nd work horse in a 3 man midfield). Like Kroos, he will excel if he can focus on his strengths by playing with a players who do the running and defending for him. James should be competing with Kroos and Hazard for minutes, not Valverde and Modric.
Hopefully he gets to play with some freedom in the copa del rey matches. With both Cas and Valverde or in one of the top three positions as a 10 *If he’s not transferred in Jan
Those are the matches they will be "rested" for and James will be given an insane work load and defensive responsibilities Zidane knows he's not suited for or capable of. He'll be set up for failure, them blamed for not performing. Sabotage.
Which would be absurd if he plays Lucas, Jovic and one of Vini/Rodrygo/Brahim up front and leave James to play workhorse in mid with Isco and Modric but yeah that is the most likely scenario.
We played terrible against bottom of the table teams before. If the squad is not balanced we always look terrible out there.. for example playing James and Isco together in midfield is a recipe for failure.
If James and Isco can not handle playing against the weak sides in cdr, then they don’t deserve to be here.