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2020-21 Performances

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5.5 Season Average Rating
Appearances
26
Goals
5
Assists
2
Yellow cards
3
Status
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Just completed his second full season as a pro and first season in the PL.
We have too many pedantic fans that want everything to happen instantly, I am not against a loan, but to sell him after only one year would be silly.
 
As poor as he has been playing of late, we need the depth, whether we sign Sancho or not. Have to keep him imo.
 
Giggs thinks he has something more to offer... He was low risk signing anyway and probably never considered first squad player by Ole & staff.
 
Van Piorsing said:
Giggs thinks he has something more to offer... He was low risk signing anyway and probably never considered first squad player by Ole & staff.
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I like James and think he has something to offer coming off the bench. Giggs is biased because he plays for him in the Wales national team.
 
Marcus said:
I like James and think he has something to offer coming off the bench. Giggs is biased because he plays for him in the Wales national team.
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He can be a weapon against tired teams, he often won us some freekicks near the box. If we'll have stable starting 11 James will automatically become more effective.
 
I was thinking last night while out for a walk with the dog and it's only a thought, What if we played him as a striker in Smaller games. The thing with him is he has terrible Decision making when it comes to final ball and not a great crossover of a ball doesn't really beat anyone so The wing doesn't seem to suit him . What he does have is electric pace and we have seen that he can finish . So he could be possibly molded into CF that is feeds off balls put in behind the defence ,once all he is being asked to do is shoot . I think it is worth a shot , but as I say it's only a thought. We dont have enough cover to put him out on loan
 
SAFMUTD said:
Im going to post this just to end the myth about James being shit because he's being played out of position and how he's so much better as a left winger.

Last season stats:

Right Wing
20 games: 2 goals, 5 assists

Left Wing:
17 games: 2 goals, 0 assists

It turns out he's better on the right side actually.

You can check the stats here:

https://www.transfermarkt.com/daniel-james/leistungsdaten/spieler/319301/plus/0?saison=2019

Cheers.
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Stats mean absolutely nothing is this argument. It's blatantly clear to anyone with one iota of football know how that he is far far more comfortable on the left wing than on the right wing.
 
kirk buttercup said:
I was thinking last night while out for a walk with the dog and it's only a thought, What if we played him as a striker in Smaller games. The thing with him is he has terrible Decision making when it comes to final ball and not a great crossover of a ball doesn't really beat anyone so The wing doesn't seem to suit him . What he does have is electric pace and we have seen that he can finish . So he could be possibly molded into CF that is feeds off balls put in behind the defence ,once all he is being asked to do is shoot . I think it is worth a shot , but as I say it's only a thought. We dont have enough cover to put him out on loan
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I would say, generally winger has more time and space to do something. As a striker he would be useless if 2 big centre backs on him. Strikers also generally need much better football understanding in compare to wingers. Dont understand the obsession with trying to find new position for somebody so limited even in his natural position. I saw threads AWB as DM, McTominay as fullback, Dalot as right winger. Usually these changes are possible only if player posses many of needed attributes to succeed there, not just one or two. Same naivity as Ole has/had wit McT on defensive midfielder. Just because he has passion, run a lot and is big strong lad, it doesnt make him DM.
 
dablem_10 said:
I would say, generally winger has more time and space to do something. As a striker he would be useless if 2 big centre backs on him. Strikers also generally need much better football understanding in compare to wingers. Dont understand the obsession with trying to find new position for somebody so limited even in his natural position. I saw threads AWB as DM, McTominay as fullback, Dalot as right winger. Usually these changes are possible only if player posses many of needed attributes to succeed there, not just one or two. Same naivity as Ole has/had wit McT on defensive midfielder. Just because he has passion, run a lot and is big strong lad, it doesnt make him DM.
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tbh honest I disagree with alot there . And I said it was only a thought however I dont think Strikers need more understanding than wingers. Ryan Giggs , George Best and the list can go on and on Had great understanding of the game also Henry was an ok winger but a Very good striker. Putting two big Centre backs on him would only affect him if we play high balls into him, the idea would be he would be handful with his speed if we could manage to play clever balls just behind the defence . I dont have an obsession With finding new positions for players but he clearly isnt working in the positions he is being played ( albeit he is young and probably needs time ) But sometimes changing peoples positions can work e.g once again Henry .

It was just a thought and you may have a point that doesn't have enough attributes to succeed there either in which case he will be gone in the next season or two. Pity as I would like to see him stay here and do well but unfortunately I dont see him Being a winger for us for years to come.
 
YAMS49 said:
Stats mean absolutely nothing is this argument. It's blatantly clear to anyone with one iota of football know how that he is far far more comfortable on the left wing than on the right wing.
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That would be really weird then, being far more comfortable on one side but producing much more on the other side.

What its true is that the stats include his 2 month purple patch where he scored and assisted, all while playing on the right. Afterthat he was shit on either side.
 
SAFMUTD said:
That would be really weird then, being far more comfortable on one side but producing much more on the other side.

What its true is that the stats include his 2 month purple patch where he scored and assisted, all while playing on the right. Afterthat he was shit on either side.
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Stats, especially in small samples, are situational. Maybe the entire team played better on those occasions or maybe it was weaker opposition. It's very clear which side he is most comfortable on.
 
kirk buttercup said:
I was thinking last night while out for a walk with the dog and it's only a thought, What if we played him as a striker in Smaller games. The thing with him is he has terrible Decision making when it comes to final ball and not a great crossover of a ball doesn't really beat anyone so The wing doesn't seem to suit him . What he does have is electric pace and we have seen that he can finish . So he could be possibly molded into CF that is feeds off balls put in behind the defence ,once all he is being asked to do is shoot . I think it is worth a shot , but as I say it's only a thought. We dont have enough cover to put him out on loan
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I think you need to go for another round with your dog, this is an absurd idea :lol:
 
I think people need to go easy on him. I don’t think his drop in form is through lack of trying or wanting. He got thrown in a little at the beginning and gave some decent performances, it’s given a much bigger expectation of him. He’s just not ready to be a starter for us. He can’t do what he did at the start week in, week out. He can’t break down sides parking the bus. Not skilful enough. He can work on it though and improve.

he would suit coming on in games were opposition are tiring. Fresh legs and pace. Also useful against really open sides where we can catch them on the break. He’s not the kind of winger to take on 2/3/4 players . He can be useful in Cup games etc. He shouldn’t for a minute he seen as a starter for us in important high pressure games.
 
kirk buttercup said:
I was thinking last night while out for a walk with the dog and it's only a thought, What if we played him as a striker in Smaller games. The thing with him is he has terrible Decision making when it comes to final ball and not a great crossover of a ball doesn't really beat anyone so The wing doesn't seem to suit him . What he does have is electric pace and we have seen that he can finish . So he could be possibly molded into CF that is feeds off balls put in behind the defence ,once all he is being asked to do is shoot . I think it is worth a shot , but as I say it's only a thought. We dont have enough cover to put him out on loan
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The thing is he doesnt have electric pace. He has pace. And Greenwood, Martial and Rashford all clocked faster speeds than him last season. So even if we did just want someone up front with pace, we have better options

He's fast but when we signed him the talk was that he was going to be one of the fastest few players in the league. He isnt.
 
kouroux said:
I think you need to go for another round with your dog, this is an absurd idea :lol:
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yeah as I said it was just a thought. TBF plenty of players have changed position and become a better player it's hardly absurd to move some one from the Right or Left in a front 3 to central . And as I said in my original post try this out in easier games. Dont forget Igahlo leaves in January and we aren't exactly stacked.
 
kirk buttercup said:
yeah as I said it was just a thought. TBF plenty of players have changed position and become a better player it's hardly absurd to move some one from the Right or Left in a front 3 to central . And as I said in my original post try this out in easier games. Dont forget Igahlo leaves in January and we aren't exactly stacked.
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James is too small and weak to play as a CF. Easier games means teams parking the bus, James would be rendered useless basically as a striker in a configuration like this
 
kirk buttercup said:
I was thinking last night while out for a walk with the dog and it's only a thought, What if we played him as a striker in Smaller games. The thing with him is he has terrible Decision making when it comes to final ball and not a great crossover of a ball doesn't really beat anyone so The wing doesn't seem to suit him . What he does have is electric pace and we have seen that he can finish . So he could be possibly molded into CF that is feeds off balls put in behind the defence ,once all he is being asked to do is shoot . I think it is worth a shot , but as I say it's only a thought. We dont have enough cover to put him out on loan
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James has shown nothing that indicates he can finish. Bolt is fast too.

Stop taking ideas from your dog.:lol:
 
Again we are discussing James here as a starter... He was never bought as one but our lack of reinforcements leaves us again short in numbers and quality. He should never have been a starter to begin with and still shouldn't. Still see him as a player coming on with 20 minutes to go running at teams chasing the win where he has space to run into and balls to chase.
 
thepolice123 said:
James has shown nothing that indicates he can finish. Bolt is fast too.

Stop taking ideas from your dog.:lol:
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my dog didnt like the idea either . :lol:

Once again I will reiterate that we are fairly low in options in the front 3 and he obviously isnt setting it on fire on either wing , so In games like say F.A cup or similar could he do a job ? probably not and you are all probably right . but I dont see any point in keeping him as he is clearly not a good enough winger .
 
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He needs to go to Leeds United asap to play under Marcelo Bielsa for his own good.
 
arthurka said:
Again we are discussing James here as a starter... He was never bought as one but our lack of reinforcements leaves us again short in numbers and quality. He should never have been a starter to begin with and still shouldn't. Still see him as a player coming on with 20 minutes to go running at teams chasing the win where he has space to run into and balls to chase.
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Again we are discussing squad players like we are only expecting them to make a few sub appearances, these players should be expected to perform to a high level and good enough to challenge our first team.
 
-Supreme- said:
Again we are discussing squad players like we are only expecting them to make a few sub appearances, these players should be expected to perform to a high level and good enough to challenge our first team.
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He was bought in last year as a player who had played handful of games in the championship. Just saying. Anyone expecting him to light shit on fire right off the bat is a bit delusional to be frank. Utd took a chance on a kid who they hoped could develop into a useful squad member.
 
arthurka said:
He was bought in last year as a player who had played handful of games in the championship. Just saying. Anyone expecting him to light shit on fire right off the bat is a bit delusional to be frank. Utd to a chance on a kid who they hold could develop into a useful squad member.
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James isn't a youth team player who has just been promoted, he turns 23 in November and we have spent 20m for him so the expectations to perform should be higher than making 20 mins sub appearances, especially when we don't have good quality squad depth in the positions he operates in.

Edit to add, I will give him the benefit of the doubt as he's been played in a position he's obviously not comfortable in, we need to see him on the left and I'd put Mata or even Lingard on the right instead of him.
 
-Supreme- said:
James isn't a youth team player who has just been promoted, he turns 23 in November and we have spent 20m for him so the expectations to perform should be higher than making 20 mins sub appearances, especially when we don't have good quality squad depth in the positions he operates in.
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That doesn't change the fact he played something like 33 games in 3 seasons in the championship before we bought him.
He was bought for 15m and most in here thought it was a risk worth taking but no one thought he would be a player starting on his first season and playing some 35 games. Plus he seems much better on the left.
 
Hopefully he still makes it but we shouldn't rely on former player recommendations solely. Our scouting department really needs to be good and powerful enough to veto such transfers.
 
SAFMUTD said:
Im going to post this just to end the myth about James being shit because he's being played out of position and how he's so much better as a left winger.

Last season stats:

Right Wing
20 games: 2 goals, 5 assists

Left Wing:
17 games: 2 goals, 0 assists

It turns out he's better on the right side actually.

You can check the stats here:

https://www.transfermarkt.com/daniel-james/leistungsdaten/spieler/319301/plus/0?saison=2019

Cheers.
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Two problems and a context.

Problems
1. Those stats didn't take into consideration the overall performances, only Goals and Assist stats, which connects with his form this season. We can see clearly in games how he play and perform when he's on the left wing compare to his right wing. A goal/assist doesn't always tell the form of the players nor how good is their performances.

General rule -- our new players perform so well highly motivated when they first joined, then their performances get worse quickly later on as the months pass by. Even Bruno is affected by this.


2. Transfermarkt doesn't consider change of positions in game. They only put one position which doesn't tell the whole story. In some games, Ole change his positions midway. It's not a strict positioning system.


Context of positions.
Ole play him mainly as RW anyway whenever both Rashford and Martial are fit, and this coincide with his early season form and high motivations, he'll get the most G and A. Once Rashford is injured, he started to play more on the LW coinciding with his drop of form starting midway through the season. Early season, he's that good whether it's on the left or right, but I felt he still is much better on the left. Not just me, other fans too notice this -- James is far better on the left than what the stat may imply.

Early season *top form*
+ majority of games -- RW
+ some games (Martial injured, Rashford CF) -- LW

Mid season *losing form*
+majority of games (Rashford injured) -- LW

Late season *rubbish form*
+majority -- RW

When his form is generally worse, he still perform better on LW than RW. I mean, just okay LW performances compare to his rubbish RW performances.
 
Valencia's Left Foot said:
As poor as he has been playing of late, we need the depth, whether we sign Sancho or not. Have to keep him imo.
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But you can have depth on different way. We have 5 very good midfielders. There is no rule to play with 4231. Diamond 442, 451, 352....
Imagine midfield; Matic, Fred- Pogba, Bruno, VDB with Martial on top. Like Milan did with Gattuso, Pirlo, Seedorf, Rui Costa and Kaka with Crespo on top.
 
He plays well every time I see him for Wales so I think we just can’t get the best out of him. I imagine he’d do really well if he went to Leeds.
 
flappyjay said:
Martial and Rashford drop considerably when switched to right yet we expect James to somehow perform well when moved to the right.
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That’s the united way. Buy a player and move him out of his best position. Every damn time.
 
I actually think he'd be decent in Bielsa's setup to be fair. He'd be better utilised as a 'system' player.
 
Andycoleno9 said:
But you can have depth on different way. We have 5 very good midfielders. There is no rule to play with 4231. Diamond 442, 451, 352....
Imagine midfield; Matic, Fred- Pogba, Bruno, VDB with Martial on top. Like Milan did with Gattuso, Pirlo, Seedorf, Rui Costa and Kaka with Crespo on top.
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If we had great attacking full backs then it could work.., but with our current options I can only see all those midfielders getting in each other’s way and being very easy to defend against
 
Honestly I think people are way too harsh on James. He's no world beater, but ended up being our only actual winger. He started well and scored some good goals and a few assists.
Then teams started either double marking him or kicking the shit out him knowing that morons like Michael Oliver and Jon Moss will book him for diving.
I mean, look at the shit Liverpool got away with last season.
 
Been thrown in the deep end way to early when he's not even learnt to swim. Lack of transfers and injuries amounted to him starting games when any other season, he would have been finding his feet coming off the bench. I believe he still has something to offer and would sooner see a loan move than him being sold.
 
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Too many people scapegoated James to have a go at the manager. Only bought because Giggs told him, inexperienced manager etc etc.

He was always a bit of a punt, and a player who despite being 23 has played very few games. He’s rarely been able to play in his best position on the left.

Deserves more time, and is work in progress. Could potentially do with a loan, however we have very few numbers in attacking positions.
 
People speak as if he’s 16 or something. How can people be trying to convince others that we can have a player in a Manchester United squad who we have no expectations of? One who cost about £20m at that, but it is unreasonable to expect good performances, because somehow, that’s ‘not what he was signed for’.
 
He was a cheap punt which hasnt really worked out. As someone else has said hes 23 in 6 weeks time, not a youth prospect and if Leeds offered £20 mill I would hope the club would take it and put it towards another transfer. Utd only bought him because of the Giggs old boy link. For himself it would be better to move on and be a first team player at a lesser pressurised club, than sit on the bench waiting for minutes here. We will probably buy a RW/RS and he will be further behind being picked.
 
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