And Lucas Vasquez subs in for Isco with the game tied at 73'. Needing to attack and he goes with the player who is constantly the worst Real Madrid player for years now and the player who's played over James constantly under Zidane. Nothing really else to be said, Zidane constantly makes it clear he doesn't rate James.
RM is in 1st place in Liga, they just won silverware (SuperCopa), are in last 16 of CL ---this is all without even mentioning all his past accolades. This is not on Zidane. James and his agent just need to move on.
Oh by no means do I fault Zidane, and it was the same the other years where he won a bunch of trophies and he didn't use James then either. The whole point is that it's made abundantly clear to James over and over again that Zidane doesn't want him, and it's on James to leave. Do I think Lucas is half the player of James? Yes, but it's irrelevant, there is no justice in football, James is the stubborn one, Zidane has all the power and James has been a fool.
Lukas fits into Zidane system better than James. Same with the other role players that thrived these past few years. Between James’ inability to stay fit for long periods of time and what he offers on the field, Zidane simply doesn’t want to risk building a team around James or rely on James to be one of the vital “spokes of the wheel.” Somewhat similar to Ospina at Napoli/arsenal - the lucrative paycheck is what likely keeps him content rather than being key player for a team. I’m sure one day James will have his autobiography and there will be a chapter or two about the behind the scenes happenings at Real. Given James history, what club team would want to take on James and his salary? Man city? If James gets 10-12 games in (70+ min) between now and May I will be thrilled.
Not when you need a goal and you're playing a system with Isco playing as a 10, which is the perfect spot for James. Lucas is really bad, has always been but he defends better and can hug the touchline. Any time Zidane has wanted to play with a player of the profile of James he plays Isco, and will force Isco wide as well but not with James. James is a very good player who Zidane doesn't like in any system for some reason, Zidane is and has won with Madrid so you can't knock him but he's won despite his insistence to not use James not because of it. James has the 5th most followers on Instagram after Ronaldo, Messi and Neymar. He is a good enough player to earn his paycheck and was really good at Bayern when he was with the right coach. He's still very good but yeah he's injury prone, but the revenue and added promotion he brings to the club he easily makes up for it with stuff like Jersey sales, so if he wants to move the suiters will definitely be there imo.
i don't disagree with your analysis, but i don't know what to tell you. it's a sad situation. just gotta hope James makes the most out of any opportunities given going forward and when the opportunity for a business decision comes up, he will make the best decision for himself.
James is in the squad for tomorrow and there aren't any real rumors of him moving. It's mind blowing, qualifiers start up in a couple months and this guy is gonna play two games between now and then, we should consider starting Quintero if he's healthy and playing.
If you think James has little to no activity than I understand. But JFQ is right now is in the same boat. He hasn't been able to come back from injury in close to a year. Neither are really 'starting' material at the moment.
You realize Quintero has 3 games worth of minutes under his belt since March 2019? As much as I would like him to be an option, i wouldn’t hold my breath unless there is a drastic change in match fitness over the next month.
Yeah its a hypothetical. If Quintero between now and summer can get back to his best and is playing games at club level hopefully CQ over that time will consider giving Quintero the minutes. James when healthy has always been a starter for us and for good reason, but to some degree it's enabling his club situation and its crazy he can keep making the same mistake. If he thought he wasn't a guaranteed starter anymore I'd bet he'd get his shit together at club level ASAP.
I hope JuanFer gets healthy and minutes between now and March but none of us know how Queiroz feels about him. He may view him as nothing but a bencher for all we know... ...or worse, not even want to call him up. I think we have seen the way he wants to setup things if James is not in form. If I had to guess it will be Diaz-Zapata-Muriel as a front line or Roger if he gets playing time somewhere like the rumored Boca. Then the options after those guys are probably Mendoza and Sinisterra
As for James if I had to guess he will probably get playing time in three maybe four matches before qualifiers assuming he is healthy. Today in the Copa del Rey, maybe a game at the start of February and a couple of Liga matches like Levante before they play Manchester City in the Champions and maybe Eibar before the other CL match against the same team.
I wonder what motivates James to stay in Madrid. Does he honestly believe he can win a starting spot by playing well? At this point all we can do is hope he gets as much mins as possible - which means some mins here and there, except in important matches, there is no hope. The most likely scenario is James arrives in march with no minutes and manages to get injured in the first WCQ match.
The paycheck and the hope he can be a core player to the team are the top two motivators. While it is a night and day comparison, I am sure many of us here have played on teams in youth sports or HS or even college and fought the good fight to be part of the starting lineup and were in a scenario where you knew you were a better fit than others who were getting more playing time than you bc the coach felt different. I imagine any futboler (especially South American) dream is to play for Real Madrid. The fact that he is there is already an accomplishment and right or wrong, he may just want to fight the good fight to prove he’s worthy of a recurring role. Also keep in mind, he played 45 games as an integral member in his first year there, so he likely has the idea (likely delusional in 2020) that he can recreate that kind of year again? For me, Bayern was the perfect situation because he was integral for a top tier team and consistently getting playing time in all competitions.