The Colombian Prodigal Son Returns - The James Rodríguez Thread

He makes some calls that leaves most people scratching their heads.. and he did start James and Isco in a game already so there’s that

 

Next time James gets injured @fierro will tell us it’s because Zidane paid a witch to put a curse on him.
This James nonsense is getting out of hands lol.

 

Yeah i for one feel that Zidane doesn't rate James for some reason and I agree that he hasn't given him the best and fair opportunity to succeed

But he is not putting him out there hoping to fail just so he can be proven right. He is not sabotaging his own team out of pride. That's taking it too far

 

I think its far too early to make any judgements on how Zidane views Bale and James. I feel that if he is actually freezing them out, why integrate them into the team at the start of the season in the first place. We can definitely use both players, they have looked good for us so far, and I think we can actually use a player like James in this team beyond this season.

That being said, I think its pretty clear Zidane has sort of a strong opinion on the profile of each player he wants in his midfield. DM needs to be strong defensively and conservative positionally (Casemiro), RCM needs to be vertical and hardworking (Modric, Valverde), and LCM needs to be a good distributor (Kroos). This explains the rumors of him rejecting the likes of Eriksen, us being linked with VDB and Pogba, and why players like Ceballos and James had trouble breaking into our midfield three.

Zidane has used Isco as part of the front three, so am not sure why James doesnt get a run as a RW like he did under Carlo. Having options like Bale and James for our RW, which is arguably our weakest spot in the first 11, would allow us to play in different ways depending on the opposition. If we need pace on the break or an extra header in the box, play Bale. If we need to break down a bunkered defense, James' creativity and delivery from the right would help for sure, and LV for when we need to close down the right side defensively. This also allows us to ease in Rodrygo instead of this fast tracking him to stardom business which I am uneasy with.

 

This

 

You know the team is doing well when everyone is looking for controversy in the tiniest of corners..

 

You didn’t see them as starters material, doesn’t mean Zidane didn’t, especially Fede, a player he’s given a lot of minutes to last season.

 

James trained normally with his teammates in Miami.. “not ready to train”, sure Zidane you are not fooling anyone with that.

FÚTBOL | James Rodríguez se entrena con normalidad con la selección de Colombia https://t.co/2L7CO8BRxe

— Tiempo de Juego (@tjcope) November 12, 2019

 

But if Zidane wanted to ostracise anyone from training wouldn't he have done it with Mariano? If they are not training that is on them not Zidane

 

They asked him specifically if it was on them and he said that they are not ready.. something is missing was his answer..

 

Agree with all of this, the team is stronger if he uses all his players, he is only hurting himself and the team if he doesn’t , doesn’t make sense to me.

 

He asked UEFA yesterday that they should allow the teams to bring the entire squad to the games and not just 18 players.. I guess that would solve his squad selection problem lol

 

But i don't think it is Zidane banning them from training. James was playing regularly up until recently so was Bale until his mysterious injury. Guys like Mariano have been in the matchday squad like once or twice and they are always training.

Zidane has said before that sometimes his Spanish is misunderstood. But I am confident it is not him blocking them. He would've done that in the summer when he said loud and clear that Bale wasn't in his plan but he didn't and Bale was training normally while negotiating with the Chinese team. Then he was supposed to play but apparently he wasn't in the right state of mind so went out to play golf instead lol. Zidane is not in the wrong here

 

He got a knee injury in training and wont play tomorrow against Peru.. worse than Bale at this point.

James Rodríguez sufre lesión de rodilla y se pierde el amistoso ante Perúhttps://t.co/AWbAendg2V pic.twitter.com/VJT5oi4F9X

— Win Sports (@WinSportsTV) November 15, 2019

 

This guy is always injured man. Wtf

 

Was he maybe rushed to train? Maybe our medical staff was onto something.

 

Yep probably or he is just weak physically and needs a lot of time to recover 100%.

Zidane jinxed him lol.. he said “we’ll see if he plays with Colombia” and then laughed..

 

This is why you don’t rush people back to training too fast. Didn’t stop the conspiracy theories though.

 

Wowwww ZZ may have been right along that he wasn't fit then if he goes to Colombia and immediately gets hurt. Tough luck. I still think he would have been a good solution to have on the bench.

 

James is a great player and can contribute to this team. When healthy ZZ has used him. He’s important to the team.

 

Except the timeline doesn't add up. Did he get injured feeding the baby? Pull a muscle doing a diaper change?

He started against Mallorca and played a few days later against Galatasaray 10/22. Classico gets cancelled.

Baby is born on 10/28 and he misses the game on 10/30, but no "official" reason is given for his absence with most speculate he "could" have played but "chose" to stay home with the baby. Fair enough.

Betis game rolls around 11/2 and he's not called up again and no reason is given for his exclusion.

On 11/6 I report on bigsoccer.com that he trained alone and Zidane is unable to confirm his status, saying he is unable to talk about it; later that day in Columbia, Carlos Quiroz confirms James is fit for national team duty.

11/8 Zidane pivots to they are not ready yet but with sarcastic laugh about playing for national team.

Not once can anyone show an injury, apparently serious enough to keep him out for almost a month?

 

James Rodriguez injured his knee during Colombia training. There is fear of it being a serious injury to his cruciate ligament. [Cadena Ser]

— Real Madrid Info ³⁵ (@RMadridInfo) November 15, 2019

Other early estimates have him missing 3-4 weeks.

 

does it really matter? I mean I don't wish him being injured, but its not like he is a fundamental or key player in our squad. He's a CDR player at best.