Why ? his job is to use his speed to destroy the oppo's attacks, break up their rhythm ,win the ball and give it too someone in the team who can hurt the opposition. Take the engine out of the engine room and we are finished as a competitive outfit. Did anyone hear the criticism the arsenal fans were making when their 2 centre mids were arteta and Flamini last week. James is probably the 1st name on the team sheet every week and until the manager want's to commit footballing suicide it will probably stay like that.
I'm not sure what it is that people don't understand here.
I get that he's good at what he does. I get that somebody needs to do what he does. I think he needs to do more in order to be a top class midfielder.
Firstly, i'm not sure that he reads the game particularly well. See the goals conceded against Watford and City this season for examples of where he's sold himself or not seen the likeliest scenario. He also often goes haring out to harry someone and gets there too late, leaving a huge gap behind him. While it's great to be pressing up the pitch, sometimes he needs to be a better judge of when to do it. If he ironed these issues out, i'd be less bothered about the attacking side of his game, but as I don't think he's an exceptional defensive shield, I think it's important that he contributes
something in an attacking sense.
In the same way, we all know Lukaku scores, but we'd like to see him get a bit better at holding the ball up and doing the donkey work. We know Barkley can be fantastic at times, but it's important that he remembers to tuck in and do his defensive job at times too. There's nothing wrong with wanting a player to be more rounded.
