2020/21 James Rodriguez

[Cameron Manning]

He's not a luxury as the moment he goes out of the team we would score less and still concede the same. If you're familiar with football you'll find that is not how you win more matches.

Yes I’m very familiar with football, and I doubt we concede the same, he’s losing the ball too easily and putting the opposition on the attack more, we can’t score much less than we are doing at the moment, Dominic would be the biggest loss at the moment in that direction.

 

[Cameron Manning]

It's pretty simple as far as I see. It's not James' job to track back with runners and protect the back 4. It is the job of Doucoure and Allan and they are failing miserably. There are never in the right position defensively and you could drive a bus between the lines of our defensive set up.

If the midfield does it's job then James will do his job better too.

The only criticism of James is failing to arrive in the box enough. It's nothing to do with defensive work. It's like blaming Pickford for not playing enough defence splitting through balls.

Allan and Doucoure will be fine when we get that player in midfield to go with them, they are being outnumbered every week two against three.

 

[UptheTofees]

Yes I’m very familiar with football, and I doubt we concede the same, he’s losing the ball too easily and putting the opposition on the attack more, we can’t score much less than we are doing at the moment, Dominic would be the biggest loss at the moment in that direction.

We gave up 2 against freaking Newcastle and scored 0

Yes, we would continue leaking goals and would definitely score less.

That much is not debatable.

 

[Cameron Manning]

Oh come the hell on now lol

Our fans, mate. Absolute drama queens.

One or two players play like queens, have you seen James and his attempted tackles, come on mate, mindbyou it gives you a laugh

 

[luuk_deventer]

Ok so lets look at some stats, rather tha opinions or perceptions.

Tackles won per game this season;
James: 1.4
Salah: 0.6
Vardy: 0.5

Interceptions:
James: 0.9
Salah: 0
Vardy: 0

The reality is, that James is tackling back 2-3 times more than Vardy/Salah and is intercepting the ball infinitely more. Combined he's about 4-5 times the amount of tackles and intercepts than the above two players.

This is a little misleading. It's also unfortunate to have chosen Vardy and Salah who are possibly two of the best in the game at pressing the opposition.

It is worth looking at the following statistic.

Dribbled Past Per Game (DRB)

Vardy: 0.2
Salah: 0.1
James: 2.2

James is getting dribbled past 10 x more, per game, than Vardy is. And 20 x more, per game, than Salah is.

That is the main issue, I believe. It is not really about how good he is at the interceptions or how good he is at winning tackles. By definition, he participates in fewer tackles than either of these two. There are very few who play James position for us in the Premier League, it is quite unique. Two who are in similar roles are Mount (0.9 DRB pg) and Maddison (0.5 DRB pg) is still quite a bit lower.

It is a false comparison really, but I see where you are coming from.

 

[Toffe3m4n]

This is a little misleading. It's also unfortunate to have chosen Vardy and Salah who are possibly two of the best in the game at pressing the opposition.

It is worth looking at the following statistic.

Dribbled Past Per Game

Vardy: 0.2
Salah: 0.1
James: 2.2

James is getting dribbled past 10 x more, per game, than Vardy is. And 20 x more, per game, than Salah is.

That is the main issue, I believe. Not really the interceptions or how good he is at winning tackles. By definition, he participates in fewer tackles than either of these two. There are very few who play James position for us in the Premier League, it is quite unique. Two who are in similar roles are Mount (0.9 DRB pg) and Maddison (0.5 DRG pg) is still quite a bit lower.

It is a false comparison really, but I see where you are coming from.

Isn't that skewed by the fact that Liverpool and (usually) Leicester play a higher press from the front? which we don't do. Certainly James isn't being tasked with pressuring opposing defenders in their own half so it's hardly surprising that he's 'bypassed' far more as there's no real onus on him.

 

[luuk_deventer]

Isn't that skewed by the fact that Liverpool and (usually) Leicester play a higher press from the front? which we don't do. Certainly James isn't being tasked with pressuring opposing defenders in their own half.

Maybe you are right, this is why I feel it is not really a fair and adequate comparison for James, who is a quality player.

Vardy and Salah are so good at closing the spaces, they play in different positions and in a different way and, I think, would be involved in more tackles than James. I don't know, maybe James is simply better at winning the 50/50 tackle and coming away with the ball. I don't know if that is a good way to measure him though.

That is why this statistic was interesting, in my opinion. I thought i'd look to show how many times James is dribbled past by the opposition in comparison to the few other similar players in his position. I do not think that this means James is lazy, it just means that the team needs to adjust to get the best from him.

 

[UptheTofees]

Yes I’m very familiar with football, and I doubt we concede the same, he’s losing the ball too easily and putting the opposition on the attack more, we can’t score much less than we are doing at the moment, Dominic would be the biggest loss at the moment in that direction.

We gave up 2 against freaking Newcastle and scored 0

Yes, we would continue leaking goals and would definitely score less.

That much is not debatable.

 

[ihcakoma]

There was a moment in the first half near the center of the pitch on the right hand side where he gave a short pass to Iwobi who was bombing down the wing. After doing so he just started trotting slowly forward. It really bothered me...
Before people start saying he is a world class playmaker blah blah... I acknowledge his skill etc and love what he can do with a ball.
But i also acknowledge that he contributes nothing defensively.
If he is not going to burst a gut to keep up with the play as someone bombs down the wing in a breakaway situation then i do have a problem.
if he doesn't do that the 3 on 3 (or 4 on 4 etc) become a 2 on 3 and becomes much easier to defend.
He is world class player WITH the ball but the same as Carlo is not immune to abuse for his team selections, James should be accountable for his lack of effort without the balls especially if that is in the attacking 3rd.

 

[catcherintherye]

This is a little misleading. It's also unfortunate to have chosen Vardy and Salah who are possibly two of the best in the game at pressing the opposition.

It is worth looking at the following statistic.

Dribbled Past Per Game (DRB)

Vardy: 0.2
Salah: 0.1
James: 2.2

James is getting dribbled past 10 x more, per game, than Vardy is. And 20 x more, per game, than Salah is.

That is the main issue, I believe. It is not really about how good he is at the interceptions or how good he is at winning tackles. By definition, he participates in fewer tackles than either of these two. There are very few who play James position for us in the Premier League, it is quite unique. Two who are in similar roles are Mount (0.9 DRB pg) and Maddison (0.5 DRB pg) is still quite a bit lower.

It is a false comparison really, but I see where you are coming from.

Well that is really on account of neither Vardy nor Salah really tracking back.

I mean what it shows is people dribble past him more, but he also makes more tackles and intercepts. So he's getting into position better, although his success rate is similar.

I would agree they are odd examples to compare too. But if you compare him to say Grealish, KDB etc his tackle and intercept rate is similar than those players, and in most cases a fair bit better. Mount and Madisson play deeper and more centrally so will likely have a better tackle rate, and probably get dribbiled past less given that position.

He is contributing defensively, in keeping with what we might expect a player of his to do. There is no issue there statistically speaking.

 

[TmoMoney0721]

I think it might be time to go to a formation in which james plays as the actual number 10, not just drifting in off the right into the number 10 role.

 

[TheBigIguana]

Yes I’m very familiar with football, and I doubt we concede the same, he’s losing the ball too easily and putting the opposition on the attack more, we can’t score much less than we are doing at the moment, Dominic would be the biggest loss at the moment in that direction.

The funny thing is I doubt you can even produce a chance the other teams have created from him giving it away much less a goal. You know this is the James thread and not Allan or Doucoure right?

 

[TheBigIguana]

God forbid he got hurt, but if he did we'd see the same lot in other threads crying about how poor we are with the ball pretty much right away. People are amazing man. Just hell bent on not having nice things because they aren't complete perfection. You'd literally complain about Messi.

 

[Axlswhk]

Well that is really on account of neither Vardy nor Salah really tracking back.

I mean what it shows is people dribble past him more, but he also makes more tackles and intercepts. So he's getting into position better, although his success rate is similar.

I would agree they are odd examples to compare too. But if you compare him to say Grealish, KDB etc his tackle and intercept rate is similar than those players, and in most cases a fair bit better. Mount and Madisson play deeper and more centrally so will likely have a better tackle rate, and probably get dribbiled past less given that position.

He is contributing defensively, in keeping with what we might expect a player of his to do. There is no issue there statistically speaking.

that depends on where you want him to play.

for a winger, I would expect him to mirror the effort of richarlison but we all know he can’t so not sure why you say he is doing what is expected of him.

play him in a free role with little or no defensive responsibility and I’d agree with you he is doing exceptional well with 1 tackle per game.

 

[dannyboy]

There was a moment in the first half near the center of the pitch on the right hand side where he gave a short pass to Iwobi who was bombing down the wing. After doing so he just started trotting slowly forward. It really bothered me...
Before people start saying he is a world class playmaker blah blah... I acknowledge his skill etc and love what he can do with a ball.
But i also acknowledge that he contributes nothing defensively.
If he is not going to burst a gut to keep up with the play as someone bombs down the wing in a breakaway situation then i do have a problem.
if he doesn't do that the 3 on 3 (or 4 on 4 etc) become a 2 on 3 and becomes much easier to defend.
He is world class player WITH the ball but the same as Carlo is not immune to abuse for his team selections, James should be accountable for his lack of effort without the balls especially if that is in the attacking 3rd.

The problem for us and James is the days of being able to carry a player like him are far gone. Maybe you could get away with it if you were Liverpool or City but we just aren´t good enough for him to not put in the graft.

His fitness levels should be getting worked upon massively down at the training ground. The thing is, if he gets an extra sharpness to his game it will also help receive more of the ball and get him half a yard for more goal scoring opportunities.