Daniel James Thread - Welsh Winger Mk2

It is maddening. He's the most reluctant winger to take on a defender as I've ever seen at a club of our stature.

 

All of this is utterly clouded by his horrid overuse last season, he’s meant to be a squad player who plays his part but we completely overplayed him in his first full season (he played in more games for us than for Swansea). He’s looked much better in his recent appearances, not just in his goal contribution but also in his tactical contribution. I get that hating players is a thing though.

Dan James over the last 365 days:-


Mason Greenwood


Marcus Rashford


Antony Martial

 

He should not be a starter, no. But he certainly isn't a terrible footballer who is useless in most situations. His USP for us right now is his work rate, but he can really capitalise on the fact that he's the only one of our RW options who focuses on getting his fundamentals right for the team effort rather than going by individual instinct and attempting to steamroller the opposition primarily through talent.

If we want to be successful there are many boxes we must tick. One of them is having effective role players who are confident and match fit, ready to be called upon when needed.

Dan James fits that category and this should be recognised.

— UtdArena (@UtdArena) February 19, 2021

1364949418684932096 is not a valid tweet id

Dan James was engaged in 18 offensive and defensive duels yesterday which was joint-1st with Bruno Fernandes. However, James won more duels (9) than any other United player in addition to scoring and assisting [somewhat].

Role players are a vital part of a squad. pic.twitter.com/IKsaqXypnw

— UtdArena (@UtdArena) February 19, 2021

A good example is Dan James vs Leeds. His value (16.4) was good but was bettered by Fred (18.8) and Fernandes (22.2). However, Dan's PV per 50 was an astouding 41.1. This rise of 151% demonstrates the point: he wasn't involved much but when he was, he brought in a lot of value. pic.twitter.com/fd1MP2jrWV

— UtdArena (@UtdArena) January 2, 2021

 

Exactly. We can't have a squad of all Bruno level players and we need guys like Dan James to fill in for games like today's.

 

Dan James is a terrible footballer. He's a less effective dribbler than Aaron Wan-Bissaka, he's the worst crosser in the team. He does not belong in a Manchester United squad. Wingers aren't here for their defensive contribution.

Tahith Chong can do anything Dan James can do, but he can also cross and dribble.

Let me say this again. Dan James is a ********ing disaster and if we had any standards, he'd struggle to get a game with the U23s, much less be a regular bench option for our first xi.

There's a reason his best performances come in blowouts. In close games, he just runs towards a defender, stops and then plays a safe pass. Or worse, he gets space and then crosses to nobody because he's the least accurate crosser in the team. Dan James is a winger who is completely dependent on having time and space to shoot or cross and when he does it is invariably inaccurate.

 

Lol.

 

It is true though, he's a terrible footballer.

 

Needed to ask @johno something but I suspect now is not a good time. I'll hit you up later bruh

 

Sure, and Chong is better than him with his 0G & 2A to James' 5G & 1A in about 100 more minutes, getting bumped from not playing in BuLi to coming off the bench in Jupiler League 1A. And his defensive numbers don't show any impact compared to our other wingers except when somebody actually checks, at which point we don't want defensive contribution from a winger even though he keeps getting game time because his defensive contribution is valued so highly, at which point he's only useful in blowouts when of course we need his defensive contribution the most.

 

Chong is better than him. Even a cursory glance at the metrics show that. Chong was playing for Werder Bremen, a team so bad at attacking that in the gungho BuLi they've managed 24 goals from 21 matches. Chong couldn't post goals & assist numbers at that club.

Look at their per 90 numbers, it is embarassing, worse when you consider that James has played with elite attacking players and on a very high scoring team, his contribution has been terrible.

 

Some more stuff from Molde's Performance Analyst for those with clear heads

1365285907906125825 is not a valid tweet id

 

Yeah, I've got no issues with Dan James' defensive contributions in general, but he's not a defensive match winner. His defensive contributions aren't enough to warrant a place in our team because his attacking contributions are terrible. An attacker who needs 3 matches to complete 2 takeons cannot play on the wing for Manchester United. Especially not if he completes 8% of his crosses. Aaron Wan-Bissaka, the best defensive fullback on the planet, is getting shit for not contributing going forward when he's a much better crosser and dribbler than Dan James.

A winger who can't cross, can't dribble and can't shoot?

 

Can't shoot but has scored 4 goals in 6 games at RW this season, 5 total in 8.4 90s.

Can't dribble but has more more progressive passes and carries per 90 than Rashford, Greenwood and Martial. And Chong, who is way off on both.

If Chong comes back and he can prove to be of any use to us, then that's a very pleasant surprise. But calling Dan James a terrible footballer who is useless in most situations, whilst he's literally out there showing us he's actually a good squad player who has use in certain situations...

 

My guy, running with the ball is not the same as beating a man. You know that. He's had a stretch of a year without a goal or an assist. That's his level, not the one or two swingers that managed to go in. He mostly plays against crap opposition or in situations where we are playing on the counter. It isn't hard to get good progressive numbers in those situations.

Last season he played 2200 minutes and totaled 3.6 xG. He has what, 6 or 7 goals for United in 2 seasons and he's scuffed 2 of them and put the other through the keeper's legs. He's not good at football.

If he's been useful 5 times out of 41 appearances then no. That's not him showing he's useful. That's the opposite of that.

I'm not sure what use pointing to progressive carries is when you are comparing him to Martial, Greenwood and Rashford. It is misleading to bring that up because most of his progressive carries came against Leeds who a) got smashed, b) were wide open and inviting that and c) offered season best posession value numbers for AWB, McTomminay, Lindelof and Martial (if not also Rashford and Bruno at that time).


I'm tired of going back and forth on this, but in the interest of fairness I can say this. Dan James is a good footballer and he does have a place and a role. That place should be off the bench for a mid table team. He's like an Iwobi level contributor and he isn't a starter for Everton, he shouldn't be starting for United.

In the main, my frustration with him is that he's a less talented attacker than Antonio Valencia. We've only just got rid of run fast kick hard and here we go again. Another one.

 

Like I said:



Eesh.

 

If I had time, I'd make a list of Premiership players who have both a higher take on completion percentage and total, but I don't have that kind of time. The list would be 75% of the league.

 

Well thank you at least for your first act of good judgement in here.

 

Gave him some credit today. The little boy ran his short legs off today. Was he great? No. But you can’t say he didn’t leave everything on the field.

 

He is a good squad player.

 

Need a little more smarts to match the energy.

 

He definitely has smarts - he's the player who holds the width when players like Rash or Greenwood haven't been, he's the one not chasing the ball blindly / when it's the wrong decision as Bruno tends to do - it's technical ability that limits him. If anything it forces him to make better, simpler decisions for the team. That's why measuring his performance based on dribbles completed isn't of value when he contributes so much in terms of us gaining territory.

Januzaj was a much more skilful player with better vision, but he had zero team intelligence and bad decision making.

Adnan Januzaj
55 apps: 5 goals, 3 assists 0.25 G+A per 90

Dan James
58 apps: 8 goals, 7 assists 0.37 G+A per 90#MUFC

— Pauly Kwestel (@pkwestel) February 19, 2021

 

I'm glad we signed Amad, 100%. He's going to be great. Pellistri I really don't think will make it here. The incompetence is in not signing Sancho - it can be spun as some great victory if we manage to pick him up for £20-40m less this summer, but if we don't sign him at all then we've royally ********ed it.