[Devil may care]

I thought Ole started him so we could press more but we didn't really do that, and once Spurs scored he was even less use as unless he has space to run in to he's not going to hurt teams, he's not particularly creative or inventive.

 

[Sean_RedDevil]

I couldn't believe he was allowed to play in the 2nd half.

 

[Mainoldo]

Some on here actually saw star potential in this guy after a couple of goals. A nothing player. You can see how limited he is and you could see it even during his purple patch earlier in the season.

Try tell fans that back in September.

 

[SirScholes]

I couldn't believe he was allowed to play in the 2nd half.

Agreed, needs to have a unprecedented improvement to justify being at the club.
Good kid that works hard. you can get away with graft over talent as a DM but not in his position, he kills our attacks even without the ball with headless movement

 

[TsuWave]

Some on here actually saw star potential in this guy after a couple of goals. A nothing player. You can see how limited he is and you could see it even during his purple patch earlier in the season.

Agreed. Seems like a nice kid, but he’s a bum when it comes to football.

 

[Robbie Boy]

Some on here actually saw star potential in this guy after a couple of goals. A nothing player. You can see how limited he is and you could see it even during his purple patch earlier in the season.

Tbf, some on here love to hugely overrate the performances of our players especially new signings. He did start off well with his early goals but I agree that his limitations - even during that decent start - were glaringly obvious.

I honestly don't even see him longterm as a squad player as I feel he's simply not good enough. I know some hate to admit it when it comes to our players, but the fact is, a-lot of players are nowhere near good enough to take us back to where we want to be and James is one of those. I never, ever saw it with him and even in the videos from his Swansea days, I remember being shocked we're signing him after watching them. He simply didn't look remotely impressive in them.

He seems like a good lad, he's quick and a good worker but unfortunately he needs a lot more attributes than those to play here. I also can't see him drastically improving either as he simply lacks basic technique and dribbling skills which are attributes than won't evolve to any discernable degree. I wouldn't be totally against him being here next season as purely a squad player after we hopefully drastically upgrade our RW options. Maybe he'll prove a useful foil late in some games with a tiring defence to open space and to start some cup games.

 

[Samid]

2227 league minutes. By far more than any other non-defender. Dire straits. Can't even blame him for it, he just isn't any better. Not his fault that his competition either sucks more than he does (Lingard, Pereira) or is an 18 year old in need of having his minutes managed. We desperately need Sancho.

The only use this lad has is the role he played on his debut. Give him 15 minutes against tired legs if we're defending a lead.

 

[Berbasbullet]

Is it just the fact that he’s useless in the right? Seems more effective on the left.

 

[Litch]

Not as effective when teams play deep but he's learning his game and didn't come here ready made and I think he's exceeded expectations for 20m.

 

[SambaBoy]

Looks like he lacks confidence at the minute. Maybe better coming on as a sub and giving Greenwood a chance.

 

[AltiUn]

Is it just the fact that he’s useless in the right? Seems more effective on the left.

Yeah, without being disrespectful to him, based on the evidence of this season he’s much better on the left. To his credit he is actually quite decent on the left, not so much on the right.

 

[sammsky1]

Agreed. Seems like a nice kid, but he’s a bum when it comes to football.

Young kid in his first season on PL at Manchester United.

As far as I’m concerned this year should have been a free bat for him. So long as it didn’t lose us games, he should be introduced gently and with kindness. But not his fault he is being used as a first XI player. Also now off the back of a 3 month lay off makes his season even more difficult.

Given his expected contribution I think he has done well. Think it will be after New Years when we see if he really has it, but he has time on his side.

Sancho will also need bedding in and that will take time. So two of them can rotate and winner keeps the slot until loss ofbform and swap. That can carry one until one emerges as top dog. Hopefully Sancho and then James plays no 2 or sold on at a profit. But I think best case is he becomes a competition move squad player and that’s fine.

 

[AshRK]

Honest question to people here who have written him off. What were your expectations from a 21 year old winger who was bought from a championship club and who has just played one full season of football? Like did you guys seriously expect him to play like ryan giggs.

The truth is he should never have played this much minutes and should never have been made a first choice this soon in his Manchester United career. With all due fairness he has done much better than 72.million pepe or 60 million pulisic. I do hope we buy sancho but let us stop being overly critical of the lad. He has not been lingard level bad for us.

 

[yan man utd]

I’m not defending his performance but this was a match that was there for the taking - especially possession wise. I agree his delivery was poor on one or two occasions but it was a big mistake to start without Pogba and let’s face it we could have had a natural DM in Matic.
James often found himself receiving the ball in awkward situations. He needs service and I don’t think we started with the right team -none of our front 3 looked good. We only looked good when Pogba came on.
Elementary error to not start with him. Play your best players. Attack/ possession is the best form of defence...

 

[SadlerMUFC]

I kind of feel for James today. He never should have been starting. Everyone knew Mourinho was going to park the bus, so as soon as he does that, James' speed means nothing. Mata should have started and same goes for Pogba. Once we have the lead, then James could come on for the final 20 and he then would have had an impact on the game...

 

[francobaresi]

Let's take off the red tinted glasses lads, this kid is not good enough

 

[SinNombre]

People need to stop calling him a young kid.

Like he is, compared to us old farts and life in general, but he is not a young kid in footballing ages. He will turn 23 in November.

I cannot think of too many attacking players who have gone from his level of mediocrity to a United quality player as they approach their mid-20s. Would really appreciate some names which meet this criteria from those who think he will develop into a starting level player for a team with title winning ambitions.

The only name that comes to mind was Drogba who was a beast physically and needed to get the coaching to be able to use it effectively.

 

[Silas]

Honest question to people here who have written him off. What were your expectations from a 21 year old winger who was bought from a championship club and who has just played one full season of football? Like did you guys seriously expect him to play like ryan giggs.

The truth is he should never have played this much minutes and should never have been made a first choice this soon in his Manchester United career. With all due fairness he has done much better than 72.million pepe or 60 million pulisic. I do hope we buy sancho but let us stop being overly critical of the lad. He has not been lingard level bad for us.

I'd expect a winger to be able to dribble.

 

[shahzy]

Just reinforces we need to get Sancho pronto. Him and Greenwood need to be the proper right forwards. With Dan James an alternative off the bench for depth

 

[kundalini]

Dan James joined United having played one season in the Championship. He had 2815 mins for Swansea in all competitions last season. He currently has 2808 mins for United in all competitions.

He's a young player who has played too much, lost confidence since the new year, discovered that opposing teams recognise his strengths and weaknesses, so needs time to adjust and improve.

I was surprised that he stayed on as long as he did against Spurs, as he seemed to be struggling to make an impact.

 

[Water Melon]

The lad has a tunnel vision. A speed merchant at the moment. Can not dribble, can not pass, his shots are just like his sprints too - just straight and at full power. Should be a sub that comes in against tired legs. Needs hundreds of hours of extra training in dribbling, crossing, passing and shooting.

 

[MyDevil]

I couldn't believe he was allowed to play in the 2nd half.

Yup. Will amaze me if he starts the next match.

 

[Top]

Is it just the fact that he is useless

Yes.

 

[Adnan]

Think James struggles because he's actually quite poor technically, he has a great shot and good pace but his ability to run with the ball under perfect control is poor. Really and truly he should stay on the left because at least he's got the option of inverting play and could just Juan Mata his way through a game in wide positions. He's left hung out to dry on the right, that's why some fans option for a Havertz over a Sancho is quite perplexing.

I'm not advocating Havertz over Sancho on the right, but Havertz over James is a gigantic upgrade due to the German players fantastic out-put/technical ability.

 

[RedRonaldo]

We badly need to sign Sancho. We need quality not liability. Just give Dortmund 100m cash.

 

[tenpoless]

When We signed him We all knew He wasn't excellent technically. So this will be up to him and the coaching staffs to figure it out. At least make him put proper crosses in. His delivery has been rather bad.

 

[Le Red]

Today's performance was bad, really bad, but come on, it's the first match since Covid-19 and even his grandma could tell that he would be a liability in a match against a Mourinho side.
What nobody ever seems to mention is that, whenever it feels he's gonna have a good game, the opponents go full rugby on him with the blessing of the referees. In the game against Burnley he took one of the worst beatings I recall in recent years, and the haters in here justify that by calling him a diver, or not strong enough, as if you could stand on two feet after being plunged at full speed by the biggest players in the league.
Before any judgment, the supporters should try to defend him for once. And that goes for our players well, they play with their mouths sewn.

 

[Member 117152]

Young kid in his first season on PL at Manchester United.

As far as I’m concerned this year should have been a free bat for him. So long as it didn’t lose us games, he should be introduced gently and with kindness. But not his fault he is being used as a first XI player. Also now off the back of a 3 month lay off makes his season even more difficult.

Given his expected contribution I think he has done well. Think it will be after New Years when we see if he really has it, but he has time on his side.

Sancho will also need bedding in and that will take time. So two of them can rotate and winner keeps the slot until loss ofbform and swap. That can carry one until one emerges as top dog. Hopefully Sancho and then James plays no 2 or sold on at a profit. But I think best case is he becomes a competition move squad player and that’s fine.

Somehow I don’t think Sancho will need much bedding in and there certainly won’t be any competition for his place in the team.

He’s a possible future ballon D’Or winner. Dortmund’s best player and they are about as good as us on average.

 

[Freak]

This is why we need Sancho.

 

[Mainoldo]

Honest question to people here who have written him off. What were your expectations from a 21 year old winger who was bought from a championship club and who has just played one full season of football? Like did you guys seriously expect him to play like ryan giggs.

The truth is he should never have played this much minutes and should never have been made a first choice this soon in his Manchester United career. With all due fairness he has done much better than 72.million pepe or 60 million pulisic. I do hope we buy sancho but let us stop being overly critical of the lad. He has not been lingard level bad for us.

Well he’s 23 this year so he’s impressed me on how he’s aged so fast. I don’t What minutes he should have played he’s not a 17 year old lad we are developing. How about we just brought a winger ready to play considering we knew we didn’t have a right winger. It was a friendship signing ‘again’.

 

[Sultan]

Might as well play Usain Bolt if we're playing James just for his pace. I think he's got consistently worse as the season had progressed even prior to the season being halted. Bissaka on that side hardly helps his cause. He's at best an impact sub when opposition tires.

 

[11101]

Might as well play Usain Bolt if we're playing James just for his pace. I think he's got consistently worse as the season had progressed even prior to the season being halted. Bissaka on that side hardly helps his cause. He's at best an impact sub when opposition tires.

When he first arrived he was receiving the ball with his back to goal and clipping it around players to use his pace on the turn. I wish he would go back to playing that way. I dont know if it's the constant fouls that have scared him out of it but all he does now is square up to defenders and try to run past them. It's far too obvious and easy to defend against.

 

[Adam-Utd]

What's happened to his speed? he doesn't even look that lightning fast anymore either.

 

[Godfather]

Not looked good at all sadly

 

[Fosu-Mens]

What's happened to his speed? he doesn't even look that lightning fast anymore either.

Not any space to run in.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

People need to stop calling him a young kid.

Like he is, compared to us old farts and life in general, but he is not a young kid in footballing ages. He will turn 23 in November.

I cannot think of too many attacking players who have gone from his level of mediocrity to a United quality player as they approach their mid-20s. Would really appreciate some names which meet this criteria from those who think he will develop into a starting level player for a team with title winning ambitions.

The only name that comes to mind was Drogba who was a beast physically and needed to get the coaching to be able to use it effectively.

Yeah he's no 18 year old child. And he has to do a lot more otherwise he's falling into the trap of being one of the Lingard esque players in the squad who run around lots doing very little.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

What's happened to his speed? he doesn't even look that lightning fast anymore either.

The problem is he doesn't know how to use his pace very well because he has little upper body strength. My guess is that's why he rarely looks that fast. As he's afraid of gettinf or does indeed get brushed off the ball easily. Hence you rarely see him take on a defender from standstill position. They'd just maneuver him off the ball.

 

[KeanoMagicHat]

He's just not that good, quite a limited player. I think he is more than fine as rotation/back-up but not good enough to play every single week like he is doing. Ideally you'd pick the games he plays and use his pace for a specific tactical plan. Greenwood has much more variation in his play.

 

[Dirty Schwein]

The Welsh Walcott. Hopefully he can turn it around once we get a proper right winger that James can learn from.

He should be starting in the bench.

 

[Cutch]

Had an absolute mare last night. Needs to stop playing on the right for the sake of his career.