[DWelbz19]

Its perfectly fair to compare Martial to those guys, maybe even Cavani and I have no doubt Calvin Lewin would score a ton of goals for us but how many games have Greenwood and James started as the main striker for us this season? Two for Greenwood, none for James? Then you need to look at minutes played, again not comparable for either Greenwood or James and probably.

You simply cant compare James with players who play in far more regularly in much different positions.

I wasn’t specifically comparing the players, it was more that a collective of 4 attackers for a club like Manchester United have 14 goals between them. That’s simply unacceptable.

Unless you think those are acceptable returns? 23 appearances (15 starts) and 1 goal for a player of Greenwood’s quality is simply unacceptable. Irrespective of whether he’s starting upfront or out wide. You can take James out of the equation a bit if you want, as I don’t really expect anything of him anyway.

It’s more just to raise a very serious point — our attackers have simply not been to the standard required. Not even close to it.

We'd still be in the title race and likely in the CL as well if our forwards scored more.

Definitely in the CL. I reckon we’d be comprehensively second in that reality. Like a few wins ahead of Leicester but a one or two behind City too.

 

[Jaxa]

Mad how so many of our attackers are just all collectively nowhere near the level this season. Cavani, Martial, Greenwood, and James have a total of 14 league goals. 14 between 4 players! The same amount as Patrick Bamford and Dominic Calvert Lewin.

What's more mind blowing is that we are still somehow 2nd in the league with shocking stats like these from our attackers, they really have let us down this season, all of them. I think Rashford - Greenwood - Martial were the highest scoring trio in europe last season as well which is even more mental to see how much they have dropped off

 

[Schmeichel's Cartwheel]

Took his goal very well.

 

[Falcow]

I wasn’t specifically comparing the players, it was more that a collective of 4 attackers for a club like Manchester United have 14 goals between them. That’s simply unacceptable.

Unless you think those are acceptable returns? 23 appearances (15 starts) and 1 goal for a player of Greenwood’s quality is simply unacceptable. Irrespective of whether he’s starting upfront or out wide. You can take James out of the equation a bit if you want, as I don’t really expect anything of him anyway.

It’s more just to raise a very serious point — our attackers have simply not been to the standard required. Not even close to it.

Definitely in the CL. I reckon we’d be comprehensively second in that reality. Like a few wins ahead of Leicester but a one or two behind City too.

No cant disagree with that and agree we would be lot closer to City if say Martial had scored as many this season as he did last.

I think we all expected more of Greenwood this season but at least he seems to be getting there now.

Definitely unfair on James however, not sure exactly but I would think he has only started 7 or 8 league games for us this season on the right and never up front unlike the other players mentioned. He has 3 goals which is probably as good as anyone else in the squad in terms of goals to appearances.

 

[TMDaines]

Has he more goals this season than Martial ?

Amazingly Daniel James is now level with Martial for the season for club and country. James has 7 goals in 1910 minutes for United and Wales; Martial has 7 goals in 2832 minutes for United and France. Dan James' are all from open play; Martial's tally includes the sympathy penalty in the RB Leipzig match.

 

[markhughes]

Not sure we could have reasonably asked or expected more of Dan James, it’s been a huge step up for him and he clearly gives his best which is all you can ask of a player.

He is a useful option for us, for me he is best suited to games where we don’t have the ball too much and he has a little space to work with on the counter. His decision making needs to improve but if he can get that right then we have a player.

Not sure I understand the flack this lad gets at times, get behind him and support him.

 

[Raveneye]

Usain Bolt with a goal in him when he's in the right condition. Ole hasn't had to overplay James this season or pretend like he's more than a useful squad player. If you're a pace merchant but with that kind of pace, you're going to be scary sometimes.

 

[Snuffkin]

Amazingly Daniel James is now level with Martial for the season for club and country. James has 7 goals in 1910 minutes for United and Wales; Martial has 7 goals in 2832 minutes for United and France. Dan James' are all from open play; Martial's tally includes the sympathy penalty in the RB Leipzig match.

very interesting

 

[edcunited1878]

He's a defensive work horse. He works well in matches where we get space to attack with speed, or when defending we need somebody to cover lots of ground. he does that plenty.

Ask him to break down a parked bus though and he'll be there for a week.

Same can be said about McTominay, but it's okay that he's starting way more matches than James? James is totally fine as a squad player. Cheap, has his uses, and is different that the others. Nobody is saying James should be a first choice player. You need squad players, to make up the squad and give something different.

 

[Adam-Utd]

Same can be said about McTominay, but it's okay that he's starting way more matches than James? James is totally fine as a squad player. Cheap, has his uses, and is different that the others. Nobody is saying James should be a first choice player. You need squad players, to make up the squad and give something different.

These days you often have work horses in midfield, and creative players in wide positions.

When you look at the best teams in the world over the last few years real madrid with BBC, Barca with MSN, Liverpool with their front 3, Bayern with Lewandowski, Gnabry and Coman etc.

All their attack goes through the front 3, most have attacking fullbacks too that are covered by midfielders.

While James has his moments clearly his attacking output isn't up to the required level so it adds extra emphasis on the left and CAM to create more.

 

[youngrell]

Listened to the Utd Podcast with him today.

Came across very level headed, is very aware of what he needs to work on and sounds like he's been doing just that behind the scenes. Hopefully his work ethic means there's plenty of improvement left in him.

 

[edcunited1878]

These days you often have work horses in midfield, and creative players in wide positions.

When you look at the best teams in the world over the last few years real madrid with BBC, Barca with MSN, Liverpool with their front 3, Bayern with Lewandowski, Gnabry and Coman etc.

All their attack goes through the front 3, most have attacking fullbacks too that are covered by midfielders.

While James has his moments clearly his attacking output isn't up to the required level so it adds extra emphasis on the left and CAM to create more.

Now you're sounding like James is an adequate squad player, thus he is United material. James is not United starting XI, first-choice quality....everybody knows that, but that doesn't mean he cannot start throughout the season. He's a good squad player.

And those teams you mentioned, only Liverpool had a traditionally non-creative or balanced central midfield because they bypassed their central midfield going forward.

Real Madrid have had Casemiro, Modric, and Kroos. Barca had Busquets, Rakitic, Xavi, and Iniesta. Only did Bayern deploy a central midfield duo of the likes of Thiago/Kimmich and Goretzka.

All those teams had a very good balance of on ball technique, ability to create, ball retention, and ball retrieval from central midfield. When you have a right side of AWB, McTominay, and James, the onus isn't just on James. It's the entire right side.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

Did someone give Brandon Williams a Dan James mask yesterday? Was charging around like a mad man.

 

[RonaldoVII]

Ball ran under his foot and gave away a couple of needless fouls at the end. Standard Dan James performance. He'll probably start on Thursday.

 

[Gandalf]

Ball ran under his foot and gave away a couple of needless fouls at the end. Standard Dan James performance. He'll probably start on Thursday.

He also put in several really good tackles when we were rather hanging on at the end, stuck his head into a dangerous area to tee up Mason for a great chance but yes lets carp on about one incident of poor ball control when every player in the squad has them regularly. Not the best player in the squad but there are a few with a lot more minutes this season who are not half as good.

 

[Brophs]

Credit where it's due, I thought he worked hard and did some good stuff tonight. He's not a top player at this level but he's a game lad and he's willing to stick to a tactical plan.

 

[#07]

I really like Dan James but his performances have me constantly questioning whether he's a Man Utd player. I've never known a player as fast as he is be so reluctant to run at defenders. Its always safe with him. He's much happier seeing someone else take responsibility than trying to make the difference himself. He's a trier but on night's like this he comes across as a guy who'd be more at ease playing under less pressure. Knock out ties in Europe just might be too much of a mental tax on him.

 

[Swedish_Plumber]

Credit where it's due, I thought he worked hard and did some good stuff tonight. He's not a top player at this level but he's a game lad and he's willing to stick to a tactical plan.

Working hard with no real output shouldn’t be considered good enough. I like his effort, but when he’s not giving you anything going forward then where do we draw the line?

 

[Trophy Room]

He's just not good enough.

 

[Andre Kagawa]

Absolutely pointless.

 

[Devil may care]

I thought he was solid, he's never going to be super creative but his awareness was decent tonight.

 

[Van Piorsing]

Unintentionally injured Granada player by getting himself fouled... Some decent spark of energy in the 2nd half.

 

[Shimo]

Really want to root for him and he really tries and gives it his all but, the intelligence / quality just isn't ther. For a player that is supposed to be a winger, not a wide forward anything like that, he doesn't have it in him to take on a player outside of once in a while when defender gets out of position and he gets to use his pace. When on the ball, his decision making is so poor and it can't be blamed on the fact he is young. At this point he's been here for a decent amount of time but, there isn't any sign of improvement.

Seeing him on the pitch, outside of James work ethic, it really makes me wonder what would be the harm in giving Amad a go, the drop off in quality really can't be that bad.

 

[TsuWave]

Credit where it's due, I thought he worked hard and did some good stuff tonight. He's not a top player at this level but he's a game lad and he's willing to stick to a tactical plan.

Unintentionally injured Granada player by getting himself fouled... Some decent spark of energy in the 2nd half.

 

[Bwuk]

Seeing him on the pitch, outside of James work ethic, it really makes me wonder what would be the harm in giving Amad a go, the drop off in quality really can't be that bad.

I agree with this.

I like James but he's not at the level we need, especially against sides like Granada who just sit back.

 

[Jeppers7]

When was playing for Man United a personality contest...and what do we base it on?

Dan James seems like a decent bloke apparently. Based on appearance. Normal haircut, normal boots, normal demeanour. This is what matters.

or we could stick to judging players based on football and see that he isn’t very good, except against teams that leave him loads of space.

 

[Matriac]

Thought he looked decent all things considered. First half was tough for all our players, in the second they gave us some more space which let him run more.
He took the ball towards goal, drew defenders in creating space and assisted Bruno on our biggest chance outside of the goal(s).

With the way Granada was playing last night with their shithouse tactics kicking at our heels and coming in late to tackles (like every time Bruno tried anything fancy) I'm glad we had James playing over Amad, as I fear Amad would have gotten bullied a lot more.

 

[youngrell]

Thought last night was one of his poorer recent showings.

However, I wish Greenwood and Rashford (and Martial when playing) had even half of his energy and movement around the box when we are looking to cross or play a ball in behind. He's constantly looking to get into a positive position with runs across the face of goal etc even thought he's probably the last player out of the 4 that you'd want to be aiming at due to his size.

 

[Sylar]

I liked the run and pass that set up Bruno (though Bruno was offside)
When he was on the left I'm surprised he didn't try cut in and shoot

You can see why Ole likes him due to his hard work and pressing. Hopefully he can show that bit more quality like he did when he first signed

5 goals and an assist in 22 appearances is decent. A goal contribution every 4 games or less

 

[Crashoutcassius]

I saw a YouTube video yest 'what it's like to warm the bench behind Dan james' with a load of seven years olds making him the new Jesse lingard meme. I wish people could learn from their mistakes, everyone lamented how lingard was bullied including journalists that are the most at fault. It's clear to me now that James will take his place

Edit: I wasn't sure where to post this so posted here, nothing to do with this thread. The only real place this occurs is the match day thread. With lingard it started there and bled into the performance thread over time, but was just a reflection of what was happening on bigger platforms

 

[Marwood]

Thought he looked decent all things considered. First half was tough for all our players, in the second they gave us some more space which let him run more.
He took the ball towards goal, drew defenders in creating space and assisted Bruno on our biggest chance outside of the goal(s).

With the way Granada was playing last night with their shithouse tactics kicking at our heels and coming in late to tackles (like every time Bruno tried anything fancy) I'm glad we had James playing over Amad, as I fear Amad would have gotten bullied a lot more.

It was tough for the players because of how they played rather than Granada making it difficult.

To have one asset, pace, and not try to run past anybody is going to make your game difficult. Which is what happened in the first half.

I don't think he's good enough ultimately but in the short term he needs to find that confidence and aggressive running he had in the first six months.

Most of the time it won't come off but just trying makes a big difference. Wins freekicks, pens, puts them on the back foot.

All that's gone from his game at the moment as he's playing way too safe. Even the foul he drew the other night came from a bad first touch rather than him going for it.

 

[Adisa]

We are one of the biggest clubs in the world and should always be among the best teams.
Saying James is not good enough for us is not a slight on him. Only very few should be good enough and Dan James is not one of them.
Hopefully he can improve and become a decent player but I have serious doubts.

 

[Dante]

He was never bought to be a first choice winger. He's a squad player, and a very decent one at that.

I guess there are two types of squad players you can find:

• the type who do the same things as you first choice option, but are a bit weaker in every area
• the type who do different things from you first choice option, but have a handful of top class qualities that make them useful weapons in a particular tactic

Somebody like Telles fits into the first category. He's a decent deputy for Shaw, but not as good and that's about it.

But somebody like James fits into the second category. His pace, stamina and pressing make him a useful card in any manger's deck. Maybe not top class for every game in a season, but good enough to help the team in certain specific circumstances. I think having these kinds of alternatives is important when it comes to building a competitive squad.

 

[Devil may care]

Is he injured?

 

[King7Eric]

Is he injured?

Tweaked his knee in the last game.

 

[Devil may care]

Tweaked his knee in the last game.

I remember he took a hit against Granada and looked hurt, so that's not surprising, is he just set to miss this week?

 

[King7Eric]

I remember he took a hit against Granada and looked hurt, so that's not surprising, is he just set to miss this week?

Don't know mate. I had just seen a tweet from Luckhurst after the lineups were announced stating he isn't playing today due to that injury.

 

[Devil may care]

He's looking very confident and he's a bit calmer these days.

 

[Jeppers7]

He was never bought to be a first choice winger. He's a squad player, and a very decent one at that.

I guess there are two types of squad players you can find:

• the type who do the same things as you first choice option, but are a bit weaker in every area
• the type who do different things from you first choice option, but have a handful of top class qualities that make them useful weapons in a particular tactic

Somebody like Telles fits into the first category. He's a decent deputy for Shaw, but not as good and that's about it.

But somebody like James fits into the second category. His pace, stamina and pressing make him a useful card in any manger's deck. Maybe not top class for every game in a season, but good enough to help the team in certain specific circumstances. I think having these kinds of alternatives is important when it comes to building a competitive squad.

He’s bang average

 

[Kazi]

Woat