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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cheeky_backheel said:
Independent of who plays at #10, Jose will revert to his 4-3-3 whenever he deems necessary, dropping on of the 4 attacking players for a more defensive option. That is not a reflection of the player's ability but of the coach's mindset and approach to the game. You cannot use it as an excuse to not get a player.

Hazard, Sanchez, Countinho, and Silva are different type of players and lumping them together is bad enough, but bringing them into a conversation that they have no relevance to by incorrectly claiming they are similar to James is just disingenuous. Hazard and Sanchez in particular are best suited to playing on the flank where speed and acceleration are very important but you claim they are similar to James who plays more in the middle and relies more on movement to find space where there is none.

It should not be so difficult to stick to the facts and be objective in evaluating a player even if you dont like him
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Bullshit, he never dropped Sniejder and hardly ever shoved him to the wing in big games, he played as the #10 in the CL final for starters. You can use it as a reason not to buy a player, it's stupid to have a player who's only any use as a #10 who you then have to shoehorn in on the wing where he's mediocre when you play a good team, thus creating an imbalance and lack of attacking quality. If you must constantly bottle it every time you play a good team by throwing in more defensive players because you don't think you can enforce your attack on the opposition, then buy a player who can actually play both as a #10 and a winger.

Again bullshit, these are all creative, physically either small or slow players that need to be able to operate in tight spaces, trying to deny this makes zero sense.
 
Weren't people on here saying he was one of the best in the world not that long ago?
 
Devil may care said:
Bullshit, he never dropped Sniejder and hardly ever shoved him to the wing in big games, he played as the #10 in the CL final for starters. You can use it as a reason not to buy a player, it's stupid to have a player who's only any use as a #10 who you then have to shoehorn in on the wing where he's mediocre when you play a good team, thus creating an imbalance and lack of attacking quality. If you must constantly bottle it every time you play a good team by throwing in more defensive players because you don't think you can enforce your attack on the opposition, then buy a player who can actually play both as a #10 and a winger.

Again bullshit, these are all creative, physically either small or slow players that need to be able to operate in tight spaces, trying to deny this makes zero sense.
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Why do you always seems to misconstrue what is said. I will repeat and highlight for your clarification: " Independent of who plays at #10, Jose will revert to his 4-3-3 whenever he deems necessary, dropping one of the 4 attacking players for a more defensive option." I have not said that Sneijder or anybody was dropped in big games. For example, with la liga on the line in 2012, Mourinho played 4-2-3-1 with Ozil as #10 at the Nou camp and beat Barcelona 2-1. It is you that are speculating in which matches Mourinho will play 4-3-3 and that James will automatically be dropped or shunted wide

Playing 4-3-3 does not automatically means you shunt the #10 to the wings as you are claiming. You can play a 4-3-3 with an attack comprising the #10 behind two strikers, which was what Mourinho played as base with Porto, was his more defensive formation at Inter, and was used occasionally at Madrid.

Hazard: 5ft 8in/173cm 168lbs/74kg
Countinho: 5ft 7in/171cm 150lbs/72kg
David Silva: 5ft 8in/173cm 148lbs/67kg,
Sanchez: 5ft 7in/168cm 137lbs/62kg
James: 5ft 11in/180cm 172lbs/75kg
James is bigger and heavier than all the players you listed but you feel he is similarly small? James is better built for the EPL than those players

Hazard, Countinho and Sanchez play on the wings, they do not operate in tight spaces and have the pace to get away from a defender. James is not anything like those guys and will not be used in a similar role to them. It is you that are trying to shoehorn a player into a role he is less suited simply to justify your dislike.

David silva is the only one that spends more time in the middle, but he plays in a different system and despite his small size, has been one of the best midfielders in EPL since he arrived.
 
cheeky_backheel said:
Why do you always seems to misconstrue what is said. I will repeat and highlight for your clarification: " Independent of who plays at #10, Jose will revert to his 4-3-3 whenever he deems necessary, dropping one of the 4 attacking players for a more defensive option." I have not said that Sneijder or anybody was dropped in big games. For example, with la liga on the line in 2012, Mourinho played 4-2-3-1 with Ozil as #10 at the Nou camp and beat Barcelona 2-1. It is you that are speculating in which matches Mourinho will play 4-3-3 and that James will automatically be dropped or shunted wide

Playing 4-3-3 does not automatically means you shunt the #10 to the wings as you are claiming. You can play a 4-3-3 with an attack comprising the #10 behind two strikers, which was what Mourinho played as base with Porto, was his more defensive formation at Inter, and was used occasionally at Madrid.

Hazard: 5ft 8in/173cm 168lbs/74kg
Countinho: 5ft 7in/171cm 150lbs/72kg
David Silva: 5ft 8in/173cm 148lbs/67kg,
Sanchez: 5ft 7in/168cm 137lbs/62kg
James: 5ft 11in/180cm 172lbs/75kg
James is bigger and heavier than all the players you listed but you feel he is similarly small? James is better built for the EPL than those players

Hazard, Countinho and Sanchez play on the wings, they do not operate in tight spaces and have the pace to get away from a defender. James is not anything like those guys and will not be used in a similar role to them. It is you that are trying to shoehorn a player into a role he is less suited simply to justify your dislike.

David silva is the only one that spends more time in the middle, but he plays in a different system and despite his small size, has been one of the best midfielders in EPL since he arrived.
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Jose almost always opts for the cowardly option when it comes to big games, and that routinely means players moving to positions they aren't suited to, Ozil almost always moved wide so Pepe could be moved into the middle, likewise Oscar at Chelsea so Mikel or Ramirez could add an extra defensive player, I am not imaging this, he has done it routinely when the player who is operating as the #10 (or in Fabregas case CM) is slow, weak and not of a high workrate, so you can be sure James will also, especially when one of our CM's is not very good defensively, like you said in relation to Fabregas/Pogba. If you have a player of Sneijder's caliber rather than a luxury player you don't have to shuffle your team to compensate.

James is slow and weak, he's not as strong as either Hazard or Sanchez when it comes to upper body, and as I mentioned with several of the others, great dribbling and low center of gravity can offset the size or lack of physical strength.

Sanchez has played through the middle for the bulk of the season and Hazard and Coutinho float all over the place, to try to claim they are playing on the wings is bafflingly false, it's like saying Mata is playing on the wing for us when in the bulk of games he drifts central most of the time, and all face playing against tight marking, which requires agility and mobilty to combat, something James doesn't have. You say I dislike James, no, I dislike the idea of him in this United team because he's a bad fit with what we have.
 
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cheeky_backheel said:
Why do you always seems to misconstrue what is said. I will repeat and highlight for your clarification: " Independent of who plays at #10, Jose will revert to his 4-3-3 whenever he deems necessary, dropping one of the 4 attacking players for a more defensive option." I have not said that Sneijder or anybody was dropped in big games. For example, with la liga on the line in 2012, Mourinho played 4-2-3-1 with Ozil as #10 at the Nou camp and beat Barcelona 2-1. It is you that are speculating in which matches Mourinho will play 4-3-3 and that James will automatically be dropped or shunted wide

Playing 4-3-3 does not automatically means you shunt the #10 to the wings as you are claiming. You can play a 4-3-3 with an attack comprising the #10 behind two strikers, which was what Mourinho played as base with Porto, was his more defensive formation at Inter, and was used occasionally at Madrid.

Hazard: 5ft 8in/173cm 168lbs/74kg
Countinho: 5ft 7in/171cm 150lbs/72kg
David Silva: 5ft 8in/173cm 148lbs/67kg,
Sanchez: 5ft 7in/168cm 137lbs/62kg
James: 5ft 11in/180cm 172lbs/75kg
James is bigger and heavier than all the players you listed but you feel he is similarly small? James is better built for the EPL than those players

Hazard, Countinho and Sanchez play on the wings, they do not operate in tight spaces and have the pace to get away from a defender. James is not anything like those guys and will not be used in a similar role to them. It is you that are trying to shoehorn a player into a role he is less suited simply to justify your dislike.

David silva is the only one that spends more time in the middle, but he plays in a different system and despite his small size, has been one of the best midfielders in EPL since he arrived.
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Surely that can't be right.
 
ilovethisgameahahah said:
That's not James, though it does describe Griezmann to a tee. Guessing he said no and James is a second or third choice.
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I think James is very much in the mould of Sneijder and Deco. He's creative with the ball, excellent at set pieces, has good movement, top quality shooting from distance, and makes late runs into the box to score goals. He's even decent with his head.

The question mark is surely over his defensive work. But his work rate is pretty under rated on here. He's a solid enough unit too. Personally I think he's a terrific player, with great feet. Got to be one of the best #10's in world football. So what if he isn't quick? He's not slow either, and in his position, he brings more important qualities. If you've got him pulling the strings for players like Rashford, Martial, Lukaku, Griezmann, Mbappe (the sort of forwards we are looking at) - the team has bags of pace
 
AdNani said:
Id prefer we gave Mata a run at 10 if I'm honest.

Dier/Fabinho ---- Pogba
Mkhitaryan --- Mata --- Costa/Mahrez
Griezmann/Belotti

If you interchange Mata and James in that formation would you see any difference really?
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Mata is a fraction of the player James is. Not even close.
 
simonhch said:
I think James is very much in the mould of Sneijder and Deco. He's creative with the ball, excellent at set pieces, has good movement, top quality shooting from distance, and makes late runs into the box to score goals. He's even decent with his head.

The question mark is surely over his defensive work. But his work rate is pretty under rated on here. He's a solid enough unit too. Personally I think he's a terrific player, with great feet. Got to be one of the best #10's in world football. So what if he isn't quick? He's not slow either, and in his position, he brings more important qualities. If you've got him pulling the strings for players like Rashford, Martial, Lukaku, Griezmann, Mbappe (the sort of forwards we are looking at) - the team has bags of pace
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James may be in the same mould as Sneijder and Deco as in the position they play but Sneijder and Deco were far far superior players. Sneijder was a magician with both feet and Deco was no slouch either when he played for Porto and Barca. Paying 50-60M for James is just not worth it when that kind of money needs to be spent for a striker and midfielder (CM) and James doesn't play either of those. I rather have him go to Chelsea.
 
We shouldn't be looking at buying a #10 regardless of whether he's good enough or not. We should build a 4-3-3 side simply because Pogba doesn't seem to thrive in a midfield two. Even if we were to buy a #10, that player would be dropped or pushed wide in big games to make place for a CDM and paying a lot of money for James only use him in wrong positions would be madness in my eyes.
 
AdNani said:
Id prefer we gave Mata a run at 10 if I'm honest.

Dier/Fabinho ---- Pogba
Mkhitaryan --- Mata --- Costa/Mahrez
Griezmann/Belotti

If you interchange Mata and James in that formation would you see any difference really?
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They are both completely different players. Mata has intelligent movement and key passes, can take good position inside the box but he can't provide solutions or shots from outside the box and can't cut quickly on the near angle to receive the cross with one touch as James do. James will provide everything Mata does and more of it IMO.
 
I'm still not convinced this is going to work out but I think that's because of all the dud transfer activity over the last few years. At least Jose is more hit than miss in the transfer market and seems to be trying to build something. If LVG was making this signing I'd have very little faith in it working out but James is a pretty good player and still quite young. With a quality striker up top and james behind I think we'd have to be a stronger team (on paper anyway!)
 
Devil may care said:
Jose almost always opts for the cowardly option when it comes to big games, and that routinely means players moving to positions they aren't suited to, Ozil almost always moved wide so Pepe could be moved into the middle, likewise Oscar at Chelsea so Mikel or Ramirez could add an extra defensive player, I am not imaging this, he has done it routinely when the player who is operating as the #10 (or in Fabregas case CM) is slow, weak and not of a high workrate, so you can be sure James will also, especially when one of our CM's is not very good defensively, like you said in relation to Fabregas/Pogba. If you have a player of Sneijder's caliber rather than a luxury player you don't have to shuffle your team to compensate.
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Again with the misinformation, cos the need for being defensive against barcelona happened only in his first season. In his second season, Mourinho played 4-2-3-1 against Barcelona in 5 of 6 matches, starting CR+Ozil+Di Maria+Benzema in 3 of those games, CR+Ozil+Callejon+Benzema once, kaka+CR+ozil+Higuain once and CR+Benzema+Benzema+Altintop in the spanish supercup game which he played 4-3-3/3-4-3.
James is slow and weak, he's not as strong as either Hazard or Sanchez when it comes to upper body, and as I mentioned with several of the others, great dribbling and low center of gravity can offset the size or lack of physical strength.
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He is much bigger but weaker and where is your proof of this?
Sanchez has played through the middle for the bulk of the season and Hazard and Coutinho float all over the place, to try to claim they are playing on the wings is bafflingly false, it's like saying Mata is playing on the wing for us when in the bulk of games he drifts central most of the time, and all face playing against tight marking, which requires agility and mobilty to combat, something James doesn't have. You say I dislike James, no, I dislike the idea of him in this United team because he's a bad fit with what we have.
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Player drift in games but heat maps will show where they spend most of their time. Those players are more often than not coming in from the flank on their stronger foot which is different from what is expected of James. Since none of those players play in the role expected of James so they are really of little or no relevance to the current discussion and your reference to them is simply distractionary.

Whether James is a bad fit or not is not for you to decide, and while you are entitled to your opinion, it doesnt account for much if anything. Be it James or someone else, the team will have a #10 and if you dont like it, well poor you. when you are appointed manager of United, you can setup the team as you deem fit.
 
cheeky_backheel said:
Whether James is a bad fit or not is not for you to decide, and while you are entitled to your opinion, it doesnt account for much if anything. Be it James or someone else, the team will have a #10 and if you dont like it, well poor you. when you are appointed manager of United, you can setup the team as you deem fit.
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LvG thought that as well, that he could do it his way, and he got canned because it was garbage to watch. So I'll stand by my opinion and watch a guy who spent £89M on a player, play him out of position because he can't change his system, IF that happens.
 
Devil may care said:
LvG thought that as well, that he could do it his way, and he got canned because it was garbage to watch. So I'll stand by my opinion and watch a guy who spent £89M on a player, play him out of position because he can't change his system, IF that happens.
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Well it his job on the line not yours.

Mourinho is not LvG. He has assembled some of the best teams of the last 2 decades and history says that your prediction of gloom and doom will not come to pass.
 
cheeky_backheel said:
Well it his job on the line not yours.

Mourinho is not LvG. He has assembled some of the best teams of the last 2 decades and history says that your prediction of gloom and doom will not come to pass.
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History is irrelevant, football is a game of what have you done for me lately, and I don't give a shit about his job, only United, I'll be a fan long after he's gone, be that in a year or 5.
 
Devil may care said:
LvG thought that as well, that he could do it his way, and he got canned because it was garbage to watch. So I'll stand by my opinion and watch a guy who spent £89M on a player, play him out of position because he can't change his system, IF that happens.
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Only a moron would have a player like Pogba and try to shackle him with defensive duties while sacrificing his offensive gifts.

A moron and Didier Deschamp
 
He is a good player, but is not worth the 60 million transfer fee.

I would rather Barkley for 30 million
 
K2K said:
Only a moron would have a player like Pogba and try to shackle him with defensive duties while sacrificing his offensive gifts.

A moron and Didier Deschamp
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Agreed, if he wanted to use 4-2-3-1 then why not spend £50M less on a standard CM, buying Pogba and asking him to play in a role he's never exclled in would be like Real Madrid buying Bale for a then world record and deploying him as a target man striker.
 
Real Madrid midfielder James Rodriguez is being tipped to announce his signing for Manchester United THIS WEEK.

Colombian media sources reported last week that James had agreed a pre-contract with United some time ago.

And Radio Caracol says the deal will be made public at the end of this week at the conclusion of the LaLiga campaign.

Real do not want to communicate the sale until after the Champions League final on June 3 in Cardiff, however the player is eager to come clean and prepare for the next stage in his career.

Driving the deal has been agent Jorge Mendes, who has worked closely with both James and United manager Jose Mourinho to get the transfer done.

The planned timing of the announcement suggests the need for United to qualify for the Champions League wasn't a demand from James.
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Devil may care said:
History is irrelevant, football is a game of what have you done for me lately, and I don't give a shit about his job, only United, I'll be a fan long after he's gone, be that in a year or 5.
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Its good that you know that you are only a fan and not the manager.
 
Here's hoping that he isn't plan B because Griezmann isn't coming here. That's the most worrying part of this is for me.
 
cheeky_backheel said:
I am not the one claiming to know better than one of the best managers in football.
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That wasn't applicable to the question, but ok, and yeah, I do think I know better than him if he does this because he has zero reason to think this is a good fit for Pogba, every evidence is to the contrary, but he wouldn't be the first manager to arrogantly think they can make a player into something they aren't, they don't usually pay world record fees to test their theory though.
 
If we plan on playing with a number 10, there are few better in world football. You feckers are hard to please, christ. I can understand reservations about playing Pogba in a 2 man midfield, but purchasing Griezmann would put Pogba in a 2 as well. So, why the reservations on James? Griezmann is better, yes, but James has world class talent.
 
Devil may care said:
That wasn't applicable to the question, but ok, and yeah, I do think I know better than him if he does this because he has zero reason to think this is a good fit for Pogba, every evidence is to the contrary, but he wouldn't be the first manager to arrogantly think they can make a player into something they aren't, they don't usually pay world record fees to test their theory though.
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He did not pay a record fee. Those in charge of the club are the ones that trusted his judgement and decided to do so.
 
DarkXaero said:
Here's hoping that he isn't plan B because Griezmann isn't coming here. That's the most worrying part of this is for me.
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Why would that be worrying? If greizmann doesn't come there's nothing anyone else can do right? We can't hold a gun on greizmann and make him come
 
jungledrums said:
If we plan on playing with a number 10, there are few better in world football. You feckers are hard to please, christ. I can understand reservations about playing Pogba in a 2 man midfield, but purchasing Griezmann would put Pogba in a 2 as well. So, why the reservations on James? Griezmann is better, yes, but James has world class talent.
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I don't think buying Griezmann will lead to a 2 man mf, he can start on the wing and then drift inside while attacking, we already play this way with valencia providing the width and mata/mkhi drift inside, only thing necessary to this formation would be good attacking fb's, we clearly are interested in semedo/aurier and hopefully shaw comes through or will be replaced by someone better.
 
If he's coming here, hopefully he pans out.

He's very talented and better than all of our attackers bar Ibra IMO, but I question the fit.

It leads to Pogba not being the most attacking midfielder.
 
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