I remember Pinto talking about Sanchez and the key for him was his sheer athleticism at his position. Lerma has similar traits in terms of lungs for days, speed, and power (3 cm difference in height) and the description in the post I was responding to reminded me of the way Pinto spoke about Sanchez - even if they play different roles tactically.
Agreed. When he is on form, James should absolutely play. It's good that we can field a strong side regardless!
that word he also used for pepe portocarrero and juan carlos escobar.....and nilson cortes that guy used in an horrible way our nt
We should prepare tactics to play without James but when he's fit the guy still offers a ton for the team and although he really needs to be on the ball a lot to be at his best he can play very complimentary and getting on the ball to simply create for others. I think though the situation may be that its hard to fit in Cuadrado and James, for James to be at his best we probably want more direct players who are going to make runs off the ball and Cuadrado hasn't been that player for a while. Either way I still think they both offer a lot and James when fit I'm sure will still do great things for us, but hopefully as well we develop alternate strategies that don't leave us neutered offensively without him.
The irony is that the two weeks that made James a global sensation and in which he played the best of his life, he was playing as a second striker or false 9 because Falcao was injured. I can't remember him lining up like that since for Colombia.
He's played some games there but it hasn't been that often, crazy to think when he first came on the scene he was playing as a wide forward but I think as he's aged he's gone deeper and deeper and his game has evolved a lot. I actually think although he's lost some athleticism his game management and ability to play as a deeper midfielder has gotten really good, with Bayern he ran the show with Thiago against Real in the UCL really well. James is an enigma of a player, he's gotten more into a deeper midfielder as he's gotten older but his finishing is absolutely at elite levels throughout his career (still is) to the point that it's one of the best in world football combined with constant chance creation. That type of ability is hard to keep out of a team, we just need to figure out a set up that he doesn't need to do everything and a team that knows its job well enough and players who are assertive enough to function without using him as creative crutch to constantly lean on.
I remember Guerrero was the second coming of Batistuta like 2 years ago. What happened? his age finally started to kick in?
I mean he's a 40 year centre forward... they should be grateful he's not just hanging out with yerry and james in the hospital 24/7 they got that italian guy lapalala or whatever his name is, play him and let the old man rest
Got a 10 month injury last year and now his body is pretty much done. He was on course for his best season in Brazil and got the injury early on in the season. He was aging like a fine wine, but all good things have to come to an end. He carried us for years really. The squad was capable of winning without him but it was a tad more difficult. I much prefer Lapadula now or Santiago Ormeño. It's time to move on.