From Colombia With Love - The James Rodriguez Welcome Thread!

Wouldn't say he wasn't "good", for starters, he would already be better than Benzema. He has the exact attributes to continue 3 more years as a #9. He's arguably the best header and has the best positioning for any attacking player in the modern game. Think he would need a few games just to get used to it - plus keep in mind if its Bale and Hazard (for example) are playing next to him, they can still shift between positions. Its not like Benzema and Morata are classical #9 who wait in the box

 

I am also not convinced as ronaldo as #9.but the best front 3 we make at this moment is ronaldo-bale-james.bale is useless on the wings.his crosses are terrible.why not use him as the target man and play him upfront alongside ronaldo.given how injury prone he is it will cut him some extra running and use his pace in forward runs rather than defending and tracking back.bale is a good finisher and he has played CF before too didn't he in his totenham days.he should not be the third man in attack.james should be the player for that position who link with the midfield and exploit the spaces in between the lines.
james should be guaranteed a starting spot.he is the player sorely missed throughout the first half of the season.
and to be very honest he made that midfield 3 look good against napoli.play lucas there or bale as the third man they just stay wide all the time and we become disjointed.

 

Bale is terrible at crosses? He's probably our best crosser.

 

I think James is easily our best crosser

 

Both wrong, Kroos is bar far our best crosser, no matter how you look at it either visually or statistically.

 

We were talking to chiku who was talking about crosses from the wings/wing players. Kroos doesn't play on the wings.

 

James is the best crosser no doubt.
Anyway this notion of playing James as 9 does not fly by me. He is best suited to play behind a 9 or on the wing as a playmaker .

 

I was saying generally keeping in mind bale's base position in zidane's system that is RWF.given how isolated he becomes , he has to cross most of the time.his left foot crosses are good but only when played on the left side.right foot crosses are terrible for obvious reason.
if we are talking only about crosses then lucas is the player that comes to mind first.but he is very predictable.either a cross or a cutback.but bale is capable of much more.i think he is a waste on the wings.

 

He's aliiivvee!

 

nice to see james in a free role and deliver!

 

I still think James is the most talented player on the team after Modric and Ronaldo. Both Modric and Ronaldo ain't young anymore. His problem is maintaining his fitness and/or getting playing time(getting playing time to maintain his fitness).

 

His problem is he is slow.

If he were a faster player with quicker feet hw wouldn't be so limited to what he could be used to accomplish.

 

speed/pace is one thing but not everything.. and i don't think that will deter james to accomplish more.
every footballer has their own weakness for james maybe pace but he makes up in all other department.

 

Not all other departments. He has no right foot which would have cost us a goal yesterday.

 

james had 2 or 3 right foot goal under the white shirt.. that goal you mentioned actually almost went in just hit the bar... two-footed footballer is rare anyway.

 

in this forum alway james' limitations are discussed,what he brings to the team is always overlooked.pace is the least requirement in this league.the slowest of players have succeeded here.tell me how different james is from kroos as a player?

 

He's not different from that perspective, but Kroos plays deeper which usually gives him more time on the ball. It's not a direct comparison.

I'm not saying James can't work out for us. That would be a ridiculous statement because the best football this team has played was 4-4-2 with James and Isco as wide AM's.

 

I really wish we cpuld keep James, Isco, Asensio beyond the BBC era. I'd like to see what those guys can do on a consistent basis in a system that's not married to the 433

 

.... He also doesn't have the best stamina.

JamesStans Nobody is saying he isn't a fantastic player. We're just pointing why he isn't more useful in this Madrid side. We are built around pace in our attack (especially from out wide), which is precisely what he lacks big time.

 

i can't fathom some people here itemizing james weaknesses after a very good game from him.
i will stop from here.. i pity you because you are hopeless!

 

I agree. If hes employed in the right way on the pitch, his lack of speed doesn't matter. Hes not the fastest player in the world but hes not slow either.

 

He stays he is gonna be here next season. Unless the club forces him out, we will have James.

Player we might lose is Isco at this point.

 

exactly my point.not comparing directly because of different position but both are same player.both are natural #10.instinctive passers,great vision.both arrived in the same year too.carlo tried to replace kroos with alonso and the result was 2 defeat in 4 matches.though kroos has improved tremendously from defensive point of view but zidane still does the same mistake,played him at single pivot against las palmas and guess the result?
james short accuracy and conversion rate is highest in our squad.that is too good to ignore.defensively he is not as good as kroos,just fine.play him as a #10 and he can be the most consistent performer in the team.

 

you said it correctly.but asensio can wait he is just 20.james and isco should be at their prime considering their age.people will kill me for saying this but zidane's stubbornness to play 4-3-3 all the time is hurting both their career and the team too.asensio can rotate with isco and james too if a better system is implemented.