A system is called a system for a reason.
We will play different teams, but outside of the elite teams away from home (4/5 games) we'll play with pace and we'll play with width and all hands will need to be to the pumps or it wont work.
No way James fits that system.
What are you on about?
It takes money of the City variety to impose a system these days. And the acolytes of a prophet like Pep to implement it.
What we need and what we've got is a pragmatist.
Whether Rafael would've preferred James transferred out for different player, I'm sure, is a mute thought for him now.
Rafael has quickly found a realistic way to play with the players he's got. Surely a player like James just adds positively to what that collective is.
There's a lot of talk about James' passing and playing deep and rightly that doesn't make much sense given the rest.
But what James also has is a way of receiving the ball. His first touch exceptional, his second touch even more so - its what allows him the time and space to make those sublime passes.
What Rafael has done is put the emphasis on getting the ball at every opportunity to the man forward - ie the player on the ball is not to hesitate whether or not the player receiving the ball can cope with it, just play the best pass you can, its up to the receiver to deal with it. In doing this Rafael has instantly changed the mentality of the team.
People say that James goes hiding. Or is it that he is clever in knowing when and where he can receive the pass to the greatest effect for the players around. Was he hiding or were the players hesitating too long with the ball?
When James is showing forward of the ball the potential for something to happen is on.
The problem is that PL defences are good at suffocating and bullying the artist's creativity.
It'll be up Rafael the realist to sort that out.
It makes sense that he'll be used as a sub, probably in place of Iwobi. Probably with a reset in how the midfield covers.
But surely Rafael can see the realistic potential he has got in James.
James may be what sustains this team through the season by making it less predictable; something he didn't have at Newcastle.
