James Rodriguez | joins Bayern Munich | 2 year loan

James Rodriguez - should we go for him?

  • Yes

    Votes: 404 34.6%
  • No

    Votes: 565 48.4%
  • I hate Silly Season

    Votes: 198 17.0%

  • Total voters
    1,167
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There's no way we'd sign both. If James comes then I expect we'd be looking for a left-sided wide forward (Sanchez or perhaps Mertens) or a left winger.
Is James good enough for us to consistently use a 4231? I don't think so but maybe others are seeing what I'm not. Ì think we're all aware that Griezmann is certainly good enough to do so!
 
There's no way we'd sign both. If James comes then I expect we'd be looking for a left-sided wide forward (Sanchez or perhaps Mertens) or a left winger.
Griezmann is a left footed forward and does and has played as a left sided forward though?
 
A pre contract for a player under contract elsewhere ? Would improve the squad but isn't needed at all especially if we sign Griezmann as expected if we get Champions League football, Rodriguez would be a complete luxury signing for a position we've already got 4 or 5 players that can play that position.
 
Absolutely shocking how many people have been traumatized by Di Maria and don't want him. I want to write a book about how good he is and that Mourinho will sort him out. But I'm just gonna let James feet speak for himself if he signs. He will be an instant fan-favorite within the first month; guaranteed. All its gonna take is one thunderbolt.

Were you posting on here when he signed for Real and did you say the same about that move?
 
and your opinion should be taken over Mourinho's?

Even if your assertion was true (which is not), cant you simply pair Pogba with solid DM or Pogba improves defensively. At Madrid, Makelele was the only ball winner in the midfield and they played with two overlapping fullbacks to boot.

I didn't say that, but surely it's easier for a manager to play what's suits your players, rather than buying in half a team to suit your favoured formation.


But by upgrading the DM we sort of take care of Pogba's defensive issues (even though these past few months he seems to have improved on that aspect). A better No.10 improves the quality of chances we create and a striker puts them away whilst Pogba, though being asked to be more disciplined, has the passing to open up teams. We will gain more going forward and lose a bit defensively but defense hasn't been our biggest problem this season - drawing against relegation fodder has been!

Sorry, but I have to disagree. Actually I could argue that a 433 is just as, if not, more attacking than a 4231, depending on how you play your centre midfielders.

According to squawka, Liverpool have created the most chances (459). This is a team who have been playing with a 433 since the start of the season, meaning they do not play with a no.10.

The other teams that have created the most chances in the league include Spurs, City, Chelsea and United - two of which don't play with any 10s, in Chelsea and City.

Even look at teams like Madrid and Barca. Both teams play a 433 and never struggle to create chances.

Our problem is not the formation, nor is it that we don't create chances, but the inability to put our chances away.

We have created 425 chances this season, yet we have only scored 51.

If you compare that to the other teams who have created a similar amount of chances, we've scored at least 20 goals less. To me, another 20 goals and we'd be at least in the top three, in my opinion.

What we need to think about next season is buying clinical players in our front line.

I mean, if for example we had Messi, Suarez and Neymar in our front line, whilst playing a 433, we'd be fine.

We'll obviously not be able to get players of that quality, but we need to be looking at players who are ruthless in front of goal.
 
Sounds like a brilliant idea.

Let's hand Madrid a huge wad of cash for a player they no longer want, who doesn't want to leave in the slightest, so Madrid can then spend the huge wad of cash on our GK or a better player.

What could go wrong there? Di Maria was a fantastic signing and really worth every penny, James will be the same, right?

This would be a pure Ed Woodward transfer, so I can definitely see it happening.
 
:lol: dafuq is this guy smoking?

Judging by other posts (i.a. one in Neymar thread) he's a big fan of South American players (or, at least, ones from Brazil and Colombia) and not much of a fan of Spanish papers.

Please don't sell us James.
 
Is this the guy that scored that one great goal in the world cup and that for some reason warranted some ridiculous price tag?

Correct me if I'm wrong, how has he performed for Real? I haven't seen much of him, but I remember scoffing at the fee at the time.
 
If he comes then that surely means Mata will be sold?

Rooney will leave and James will get 10.

Having competition for places isn't a bad thing and I fully expect Mata to stay and fight for a place the other attackers we have not sure about their mentality
 
Is this the guy that scored that one great goal in the world cup and that for some reason warranted some ridiculous price tag?

Correct me if I'm wrong, how has he performed for Real? I haven't seen much of him, but I remember scoffing at the fee at the time.

He's not that bad, he was a quality player at Porto and Monaco, Real hes mostly ridden the bench but shows some quality when he gets the chance.
He's the opposite of pace and power though.
 
Rashford, Lingard, Martial, Mikhi. You need to keep up. Ross Barkley wouldn't be too bad. Have you seen how well he's done this season?
Keep up so you can watch them lose the ball? I will take a slow quality player over an headless chicken

Quality > Pace!
 
He's not that bad, he was a quality player at Porto and Monaco, Real hes mostly ridden the bench but shows some quality when he gets the chance.
He's the opposite of pace and power though.
He wasnt on the bench in his first season at Madrid under Ancelotti, and was good enough (13 goals 13 assists) to be voted best midfielder in la liga for that season.

He is on the bench cos politics necessitate that some players start even when they are not performing as well.
 
Apparently someone in this thread said that James Rodriguez is the kind of player who can win you world cups.
 
He wasnt on the bench in his first season at Madrid under Ancelotti, and was good enough (13 goals 13 assists) to be voted best midfielder in la liga for that season.

He is on the bench cos politics necessitate that some players start even when they are not performing as well.

He is on the bench because he is not better than Bale (at 100%), Isco or Ronaldo in the more advanced positions. Not to mention he isn't as good as Kroos or Modric in the available CM positions. Then we could mention attitude, complaining to the press ect ect
 
Apparently someone in this thread said that James Rodriguez is the kind of player who can win you world cups.
Here you go:

Since he's Colombian and i'm Brazilian i watched him a lot, because i tend to follow more closely our players(south americans).
So i really need to say two things that will make some of you hate me:

1 - I honestly believe many here just can't recognize who are the best players..they watch the guys in the pitch and see an alternative reality.

2 - James is FAR SUPERIOR to Isco, or Mata, or Silva...far superior.
Miki with the right mind would be better.
James is a guy who could win you a world cup.
You need to give confidence to this kind of player.

Sometimes in Spain the fans and media act like those kids everybody beat in the school, they dont know how to talk with girls, low testosteronized, etc, then they see the Brazilians or Colombian players, laughing, joking, surrounded by women..and they think: "mmm, this Dani Alves lad is not a good professional, look his Instagram posts"...
"Mmm, look those videos with James dancing...is not a good professional".
 
He is on the bench because he is not better than Bale (at 100%), Isco or Ronaldo in the more advanced positions. Not to mention he isn't as good as Kroos or Modric in the available CM positions. Then we could mention attitude, complaining to the press ect ect
He is not a CM, so yes both Kroos and Modric are better than him in that role. Bale at 100% is an imaginary construct of the last decade and who is better would depend on the position in question. Isco is the player that is most similar in positioning to him, and each has their pros and cons, but overall I will pick James over Isco in a 4-2-3-1.

He is on the bench cos Benzema and even an injured Bale has to start thanks to Bezema's godfather being the manager and Perez liking to see his toys on the field. Both Benzema and Bale were at Madrid under Ancelotti, and James was starting enough games. You also have the spanish and castilla factors which affords some players more playing time than they are entitled to.

I have been following Madrid for decades and well aware of the various off the field factors that influence what happens on the field at Madrid. Its not always how well you can play else Morata and Isco wont be on the bench while Asensio and Vasquez are on the field.
 
Might get shot down for this but I Cannot understand the overwhelming love for griezmann on here. Always failed to impress me when I've seen him both for France and Madrid. Thought he was largely ordinary in the two legged semi final against real. When you are talking 90 mill, 300k a week I'd rather us go for verrati or dybala.

Wouldn't be massively disappointed if we signed Rodriguez providing the price is not upwards of 40 mill.
 
If Mourinho specifically wants a playmaking attacking midfield, then there are few better than James in the world, never mind that are available. However, if James is bought simply due to his availability and is played as a RW, then it could be a wasteful transfer. If Mourinho plans on playing his "preferred" 4231 formation, then if we were to buy a deep lying midfielder to partner with Pogba and James is brought in to play as a CAM, then this could be a very good transfer (at the right price).
 
He is not a CM, so yes both Kroos and Modric are better than him in that role. Bale at 100% is an imaginary construct of the last decade and who is better would depend on the position in question. Isco is the player that is most similar in positioning to him, and each has their pros and cons, but overall I will pick James over Isco in a 4-2-3-1.

He is on the bench cos Benzema and even an injured Bale has to start thanks to Bezema's godfather being the manager and Perez liking to see his toys on the field. Both Benzema and Bale were at Madrid under Ancelotti, and James was starting enough games. You also have the spanish and castilla factors which affords some players more playing time than they are entitled to.

I have been following Madrid for decades and well aware of the various off the field factors that influence what happens on the field at Madrid. Its not always how well you can play else Morata and Isco wont be on the bench while Asensio and Vasquez are on the field.

I know the conspiracy theories good and well and yes they have some basis to them except you are cherry picking.

Morata got quite a few chances at starts early in the season and performed horribly but continued to perform well off the bench, ergo stays on the bench. Benzema although performing horribly in La Liga this season has been brilliant in the UCL, so much so he was our top scorer till Ronaldo went super saiyan against Bayern Munich and you can't deny he performed hugely over the two legs in the SF against Atletico Madrid.

As for Isco anyone with two eyes can see he has been outperforming James for a while now. James for all his talent lacks pace and tactical discipline. great player, but not in the system we employ or the one that Zidane likes. All credit to him he has been playing well at CM (Kroos' position) for the much famed B-Team of late but it was never going to be enough to get him a top position. If we played with a traditional number 10 you may have a point. Even when we changed to the 442 diamond against Atletico in the UCL, Isco was not a traditional number 10, he basically played as an auxiliary midfielder filling in the gaps as needed, a role James could not play.

Yes Bale and Ronaldo bring in the marketing money and need to play, but you forget one aspect of that, James is one of the most marketable players on the team, he has huge deals with Adidas, so if it was all x's and o's he would be playing and Zidane wouldn't be resting Ronaldo as much as he has. The days of players having to play because they are Spanish or bankable are gone under Zidane, he plays who he wants. James cost 80me and was Perez's jewel signing after the WC, yet has played only 1000 minutes this season. You want to know why? Because he wasn't good enough. He really has never been good enough or our system hasn't been good enough for him, you take your pick.

Bale, Ronaldo, Isco, Benzema have all contributed to Real Madrid winning trophies, James has yet to do so. That is the real difference.
 


Yep, so much of quality.


?
I don't even want to buy the guy,
But showing some random video in isolation to prove what? If I played Pogba's video vs Liverpool this season we're all to assume he's a talentless dud as well? :confused:
 
I voted no.

However that completely depends on the price tag and how determined he is to prove himself. Jose has worked with him and knows him well, is very good in the transfer market overall and all his signings last year were a hit. If he thinks James is worth signing, I'm okay with it.

If Madrid ask for more than 45-50 million, tell them to go to hell.
 
I know the conspiracy theories good and well and yes they have some basis to them except you are cherry picking.

Morata got quite a few chances at starts early in the season and performed horribly but continued to perform well off the bench, ergo stays on the bench. Benzema although performing horribly in La Liga this season has been brilliant in the UCL, so much so he was our top scorer till Ronaldo went super saiyan against Bayern Munich and you can't deny he performed hugely over the two legs in the SF against Atletico Madrid.
Even a stopped clock is right twice a day. Benzema has 5 goals 11 starts in the CL while Morata has 3 goals in 1 start and 11 subs. Morata has been the better striker this season.
As for Isco anyone with two eyes can see he has been outperforming James for a while now. James for all his talent lacks pace and tactical discipline. great player, but not in the system we employ or the one that Zidane likes. All credit to him he has been playing well at CM (Kroos' position) for the much famed B-Team of late but it was never going to be enough to get him a top position. If we played with a traditional number 10 you may have a point. Even when we changed to the 442 diamond against Atletico in the UCL, Isco was not a traditional number 10, he basically played as an auxiliary midfielder filling in the gaps as needed, a role James could not play.

Yes Bale and Ronaldo bring in the marketing money and need to play, but you forget one aspect of that, James is one of the most marketable players on the team, he has huge deals with Adidas, so if it was all x's and o's he would be playing and Zidane wouldn't be resting Ronaldo as much as he has. The days of players having to play because they are Spanish or bankable are gone under Zidane, he plays who he wants. James cost 80me and was Perez's jewel signing after the WC, yet has played only 1000 minutes this season. You want to know why? Because he wasn't good enough. He really has never been good enough or our system hasn't been good enough for him, you take your pick.
The formation is necessitated by having to start all those star players Benzema, CR, Bale, Kroos, Modric. Once you add the needed DM in Casemiro, you are forced into a 4-3-3.

Bale was out injured for over 2 months last season and has been out for 4 months this season. Benzema has always been an average goal scorer and himself admitted his relationship with Zidane (being like his godfather) while his starting spot under Mourinho was shielded by Perez. Neither Benzema nor Bale have done enough this season to have a system tailored to them, but that is what we have at Madrid

To accommodate the star players we use a formation that has left many quality players on the bench and/or played out of position. Asensio and Vasquez have not shown the quality that warrants the amount of minutes they have been getting but the formation allows them to take advantage - lucky for them. Take that squad out of the context of Madrid and give to another coach and we would see a different starting 11 and formation that would produce a stronger side.

Zidane is not some tactical genius and his success at Madrid has more to do with the squad at his disposal and fortune than some tactical ingenuity.

Bale, Ronaldo, Isco, Benzema have all contributed to Real Madrid winning trophies, James has yet to do so. That is the real difference.
How do you measure said contributions and which trophies has Benzema contributed to? Apart from the CL win, Madrid has not won anything of note since James joined and I will credit CR7 and Ramos for that CL win. Benzema score only 4 goals while Bale scored zero.
 
?
I don't even want to buy the guy,
But showing some random video in isolation to prove what? If I played Pogba's video vs Liverpool this season we're all to assume he's a talentless dud as well? :confused:
Why Liverpool? Just pick any game from this season :D

I am not a fan of James as I don't think he would solve any problems but if he is a replacement for Rooney and costs no more than £30m, I think it's worth a shot.
 
I voted no.

However that completely depends on the price tag and how determined he is to prove himself. Jose has worked with him and knows him well, is very good in the transfer market overall and all his signings last year were a hit. If he thinks James is worth signing, I'm okay with it.

If Madrid ask for more than 45-50 million, tell them to go to hell.

Jose was gone from Real when he signed.
 
This signing would almost certainly rule out Griezmann and Morata with De Gea going the other way, and Pogba would become half of what he can be as his defensive duties will be high with such a lazy player at #10.

So we'd play the bulk of games like this:



Then when we play any of the top 6 or a tough European game one of our best players this season will get wheeled out to add some workrate to midfield and we'll have to accomodate the slow #10 with a WF spot which will mean Valencia will have to stay pretty much in our half as he's not going to get any help from a player like James.



Of course we could avoid this by just buying Griezmann or Bernardo instead and playing a 4-3-3 as our base formation.
 
I think this transfer sheds light on a bunch of other transfers in the chain.

Rodriguez Real -> Utd
De Gea -> Real
Rooney Utd -> Everton
Lukaku Everton -> Chelsea
Costa Chelsea -> China
Belotti Torino -> Utd

I could add a few more but think these are now highly probable.
 
This signing would almost certainly rule out Griezmann and Morata with De Gea going the other way, and Pogba would become half of what he can be as his defensive duties will be high with such a lazy player at #10.

So we'd play the bulk of games like this:



Then when we play any of the top 6 or a tough European game one of our best players this season will get wheeled out to add some workrate to midfield and we'll have to accomodate the slow #10 with a WF spot which will mean Valencia will have to stay pretty much in our half as he's not going to get any help from a player like James.



Of course we could avoid this by just buying Griezmann or Bernardo instead and playing a 4-3-3 as our base formation.
By all accounts Jose wants to play 4-2-3-1. James can play inside left with Griezmann as 10. Anyway there are 1m more similar reports of Griezmann agreeing to a move so I can't understand people picking and choosing what to believe
 
Might get shot down for this but I Cannot understand the overwhelming love for griezmann on here. Always failed to impress me when I've seen him both for France and Madrid. Thought he was largely ordinary in the two legged semi final against real. When you are talking 90 mill, 300k a week I'd rather us go for verrati or dybala.

Wouldn't be massively disappointed if we signed Rodriguez providing the price is not upwards of 40 mill.
PSG will never sell Veratti. Even Real Madrod tried and failed miserably to sign him.

Dybala has already mentioned how isn't impressed by the premier league and doesn't have any intention to play in it. He'll likely go to Spain.
 
This signing would almost certainly rule out Griezmann and Morata with De Gea going the other way, and Pogba would become half of what he can be as his defensive duties will be high with such a lazy player at #10.

So we'd play the bulk of games like this:



Then when we play any of the top 6 or a tough European game one of our best players this season will get wheeled out to add some workrate to midfield and we'll have to accomodate the slow #10 with a WF spot which will mean Valencia will have to stay pretty much in our half as he's not going to get any help from a player like James.



Of course we could avoid this by just buying Griezmann or Bernardo instead and playing a 4-3-3 as our base formation.
It would likely be James that get dropped not Mkhi. At Madrid, it was Ozil that got dropped not Di maria who had higher work rate and was better defensively. He could also drop the CF or Rashford depending on the players and tactics.

Getting Griezman creates more problems that it solves as he would require more creative players around him than we currently have. It would be difficult to play him along with Rashford and another CF and might require changing our formation to even accommodate him.

Bernado Silva is a different kind of player, as he is more suited to the flank than the middle. Mkhi is good enough to play on the flank next season and it is uncertain how well the light weight silva would adapt to the more physical EPL and less space against lower teams. If Silva comes, it would likely be at the expense of Mkhi. For the likely price tag and needed reinforcement, think its too early to gamble of Silva
 
It would likely be James that get dropped not Mkhi. At Madrid, it was Ozil that got dropped not Di maria who had higher work rate and was better defensively. He could also drop the CF or Rashford depending on the players and tactics.

Getting Griezman creates more problems that it solves as he would require more creative players around him than we currently have. It would be difficult to play him along with Rashford and another CF and might require changing our formation to even accommodate him.

Bernado Silva is a different kind of player, as he is more suited to the flank than the middle. Mkhi is good enough to play on the flank next season and it is uncertain how well the light weight silva would adapt to the more physical EPL and less space against lower teams. If Silva comes, it would likely be at the expense of Mkhi. For the likely price tag and needed reinforcement, think its too early to gamble of Silva

James isn't getting dropped, just like Ibra and Pogba never get dropped, he's a whiny diva and if he's getting dropped every time we play a big game it would cause problems, he's not a team guy and it's part of his issue at Madrid, he wants to be a main man.

Griezmann and Rashford playing off a #9 that can hold the ball up with Pogba and Herrera in behind as #8's would be fine, not ideal but certainly better than signing James who's a bad fit tactically and mentally.

Silva has a low center of gravity and fights for every ball, I'd be far more worried how a slowish and lazy player like James managed with the pace and intensity of the PL, and Id' rather force Mkhi, who's done practically nothing this season, to compete with Silva as a creator on the RW than push Herrera to the bench and Pogba deeper into midfield for the sake of a luxury player like James.

By all accounts Jose wants to play 4-2-3-1. James can play inside left with Griezmann as 10. Anyway there are 1m more similar reports of Griezmann agreeing to a move so I can't understand people picking and choosing what to believe

I wasn't saying I believe either, I was just giving my view on why I think signging James is an awful idea.
 
He'd be another expensive disaster here.

As others have said fairly confident this is bollocks thankfully.
Since he's Colombian and i'm Brazilian i watched him a lot, because i tend to follow more closely our players(south americans).
So i really need to say two things that will make some of you hate me:

1 - I honestly believe many here just can't recognize who are the best players..they watch the guys in the pitch and see an alternative reality.

2 - James is FAR SUPERIOR to Isco, or Mata, or Silva...far superior.
Miki with the right mind would be better.
James is a guy who could win you a world cup.
You need to give confidence to this kind of player.

Sometimes in Spain the fans and media act like those kids everybody beat in the school, they dont know how to talk with girls, low testosteronized, etc, then they see the Brazilians or Colombian players, laughing, joking, surrounded by women..and they think: "mmm, this Dani Alves lad is not a good professional, look his Instagram posts"...
"Mmm, look those videos with James dancing...is not a good professional".

"Far superior"
 
Since he's Colombian and i'm Brazilian i watched him a lot, because i tend to follow more closely our players(south americans).
So i really need to say two things that will make some of you hate me:

1 - I honestly believe many here just can't recognize who are the best players..they watch the guys in the pitch and see an alternative reality.

2 - James is FAR SUPERIOR to Isco, or Mata, or Silva...far superior.
Miki with the right mind would be better.
James is a guy who could win you a world cup.
You need to give confidence to this kind of player.

Sometimes in Spain the fans and media act like those kids everybody beat in the school, they dont know how to talk with girls, low testosteronized, etc, then they see the Brazilians or Colombian players, laughing, joking, surrounded by women..and they think: "mmm, this Dani Alves lad is not a good professional, look his Instagram posts"...
"Mmm, look those videos with James dancing...is not a good professional".

I somehow would love a book full of long Fontaine-essays like this :D Sort of like a football essay bible. Book of Fontaine 7:1
 
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