Either he will go to PSG or rot on the Madrid bench for yet another season.
James Rodriguez | joins Bayern Munich | 2 year loan
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Thanks, didn't realise that
Milan want him to
id get James and Morata to replace Ibra/Rooney. Two brilliant players who would add pace. James scores goals out of nothing too and takes free kicks, which we need.
James isn't fast.
I'm not sure I would want James the more I think about it. The rumoured fee is what, 60m? I'd rather add to that or use that to get someone like Ousmane Dembele.
Shame Real doesn't do a buy one get one free deal. Maybe a discount if buy both Morata and James?
Can't see that happening.
But that might not be a bad move for him.
Pogba will be out creative cog.
Even last season he created so much that our players wasted.
Get a CDM and unshackle Pogba and Herrera creatively, with Herrera still on b2b duties, and I think it will work.
Pogba is a far superior player to James and we should utilise him to his best abilities.
Even last season he created so much that our players wasted.
Get a CDM and unshackle Pogba and Herrera creatively, with Herrera still on b2b duties, and I think it will work.
Pogba is a far superior player to James and we should utilise him to his best abilities.
Well he isn't slow either. He is comfortably quicker than Mata for example.
How hard is it to understand or accept that players like Dembele or Alli are simply not on the market at the current time and we can not get them. 60m will not get you Dembele, simple as that, the player has shown no desire to move, the club has no desire to sell and 60m in the current market is small change in terms of money.
There are many players I'd prefer over James and Perisic but reality is that none of them are available. This isn't Fifa where if you just bid high enough any player will come. And in a world where Mbappe will be going for more than 100m you can rest assured 60m is by no means high enough anyway to get an elite talent like Dembele.
It is the same nonsense as people saying I'd prefer not to spend on Morata for 90m because that would get us Kane or I would prefer us not spending 70m on James and rather try to get Verratti for that price. I'am sorry but those players are not on the market, not interested in playing for us and they will cost alot more than what people are thinking.
Not as a n10. Pogab is a worldclass CM but he isn't a worldclass AM, James is better in that respect.
People wanting him to play close to the striker as a n10 are not using him to the best of his abilities, they are forcing him to be a player he isn't and his game suffers because of it. The Midfield 3 with Pogba, Herrera and a CDM behind them is a fallacy that will never result in fluid offensive football that will allow us to score more goals.
No need for him in our squad. He's a good player, but not a one who would improve dramatically our side.
His only position is #10, but he is not fast enough for counter-attacks, and I prefer Miki in that position. I like fast players who can make transition, and he's not one of them.
His only position is #10, but he is not fast enough for counter-attacks, and I prefer Miki in that position. I like fast players who can make transition, and he's not one of them.
Some people are wedded to the idea that Pogba is a number 10, must be shorn of all defensive responsibilities, and liberated to a sunlit upland in which he is free to create weekly vine videos from behind the centre-forward position.
It is not true, but no number of games effortlessly dictated from the centre of midfield will shake them from this belief. It's a received wisdom from the UK commentariat which will likely stalk him for the rest of his career, despite all evidence to the contrary.
He needs a proper dynamic defensive midfield partner. This is all. This is why the recruitment of such a player is more important than any other signing this summer.
I agree that he's not a #10 - I've never bought that - but I do think there's something to what people say. It's just that for me it's more about responsibilities than positioning. You don't want Pogba to be doing too many of the jobs that need to be done but that could be done by any decent midfielder. You want his focus to be on making decisive contributions rather than 'day-to-day' ones.
The problem for me is that in Herrera he already has pretty much the ultimate partner for that, because what Herrera really thrives at is doing all those run-of-the-mill midfield jobs for 90 minutes, but with that extra level of quality and intelligence that he can bring to bear. He's almost the opposite of Pogba in that sense, and they complement beautifully.
So what do you do? Buy someone more genuinely defensive than Herrera and risk making half of his skill set obsolete and forcing Pogba too far forward? Or don't buy a DM, keep playing a creative player like Mata or Miki ahead of the pair of them, and retain the problem that Herrera isn't defensive enough to be the most defensive CM against a top team, and that Pogba shares too much of the mundane workload?
Neither situation is a disaster - both players have more than enough quality to be brilliant despite slight imperfections in the set-up. None of our problems last season came from midfield - they were mostly higher up the pitch than that. But still, it feels like with our wealth we should be able to find a more perfect solution.
We don't need James
Pogba is naturally a two way player. There is nothing like 'mundane work load' for him because he relishes it. People forget that at Juve, he and Marchisio played Pirlos protectors on the wings of the diamond. The notion that he had 'utter freedom' and 'little work load' is do out of touch with reality. People have been fooled by him.lacking a proper pre season with us and re adjusting to EPL playing pace that he can't do both side of the game or operate in a proper midfield role rather than as only a 10. Like Xhaka next season he will prove many to be fools.
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Agree. But striker is more important. Pogba was fine last season. Goal scoring was out problem.
He belongs to a club like that. He's a fraud. He'll probably fail there too
Lets not forget this young man... While it is unlikely he is an option and an improvement on some of what we have.
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Not offensively e.g. creating or scoring. Many feel we should have Pogba as our playmaker/10 and buy players to free him, but it has been pointed out that there are specialist players who are better at scoring and creating than he is and can play at 10. Pogba looks good in a midfield 2, dicating from deep. why not Pogba in a 2 with James as the 10. James always scores more and creates more in less minutes. even this season where he barely played 1000 minutes in the league, managed 8 league goals and 6 assists.
Because a midfield 2 simply won't work in the big games.
A system with a 10 is completely unnecessary unless you are getting a very special player for it. James is not.
Real don't have a 10 and still create aplenty. If James was adaptable and could thrive on the wing , it would be a worthwhile investment. Another 10 that will need to be shoehorned into the wing is a waste of money.
We are better off getting a creative winger. Creativity does not need to come from the 10. It can even come from deeper in midfield especially from a b2b that links the midfield to our attack.
If Ronaldo acually wants to go Morata and Hamez will get more game time, in theory anyhow, and will not want to leave or see the need to leave Madrid at all.
Without Bale, Isco plays as a #10 for Madrid and Dybala plays as a #10 for Juve.
I can see Asensio being ahead of both.
Morata still has to contend with Benzema who Zidane likes a lot.
It's likely to be another season benchwarming for both. Madrid have been trying to get rid of James since last Summer. I can see Morata leaving though.
And you have not even mentioned Mbappe. But when he goes to the well and Asensio is already playing one of them is coming on
I dont mind him as long he is miles away from us.
I don't think Mbappe is happening this Summer.
Both are better served leaving Madrid .
hmmmm I thought James spent a sizable portion of his career on the wing whilst in Portugal? But I do get what you mean.
I believe James has demonstrated that he is a very special talent throughout his career to be fair. even from his under 20 days.
EDIT: maybe a Real fan can answer, but didn't Ancelotti use James on the RW during their 22 game winning run and cm as part of a 4-3-3 also? That yielded 13 goals and 13 assists in 29 league games. Sounds perfectly versatile to me.
Two fold answer:
1. We need an out and out winger that can stretch play. Wing is not James best position, and signing a player for huge fees just to play him out of his best position is not the greatest idea imo.
2. I think James is a good player, but not top top tier. Certainly not enough for us to change formations and part with the rumoured fees for him. I dont think any of our current 10's are good enough for us to continue with that formation either.
Imo, what is best, will be a midfield 3 with a CDM and Pogba and Herrera. From Mourinho's comments(Like the ones after the Europa league final), Herrera is one of those players that very important to how his team plays, and I cant see him sacrificing him for someone like James for example as some seem to think.
I was thinking Herrera and Pogba as the midfield 2 sitting and James in front at 10. wouldn't need a formation change. hell James has played in a midfield 3 for Real when they had their best run.
This sounds totally reasonable.
As you know we could play Pogba as a 10 but he really is a CM and fast becoming one of the best in the world. He is not a Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, Hazard, Griezmann type player. He is a Scholes (latterly) that pulls the strings and wins back ball. He is not fast and and like Scholes not a guy that will surge on the counter. He is a player that releases others. He needs pace and skill ahead of him. Thats why he looked so destructive for France the other day with Mbappe, Dembele and Lemar blitzing forwards. Like almost everybody he needs the right system and players around him. He is not a Cristiano that can do it himself if needs be, but he can become the best CM in the world.
If we signed James, Dembele and Morata PLUS a very fiery CDM it could be a very good fit for Pogba. He needs wingers. He needs speed. He needs skill.
We need a proper CDM.
Herrera is a box to box.
And I remember that run you talk about. Wasn't that the season when Real had a huge slump and Barca won the treble?
That was a horribly unbalanced side imo, and Real improved by getting rid of James for a proper CDM in Casemiro in the subsequent seasons.
Their midfield is something I really like.
A proper CDM to do the dirty work and Kroos and Modric to dictate the midfield. That's the perfect template for me.
I want us to play with flying fullbacks who can defend, a water carrier who recycles possession well, a AM double 8 pair, one direct winger, one wide play maker and a complete lead forward. Real have shown you don't really need a true 10 in midfield.
it was caused by to Modric's injuries, not unbalance.With Modrics injury, Reals run came to an end. Real fans on here have confirmed this. That was their best team with no out and out DMC and they were killing it until his injury. Juve don't have an out and out dmc. Khedira is box to box, Pjanic a playmaker.
Real did go on a good run at the time admittedly, but I wouldn't say that was their best team per se and that was proof that James was part of that.
He had a good 6 months but then got injured too.
Real improved the following season when Zidane started Casemiro instead after James has largely struggled under Rafa, with rumours at the time that he(Rafa) wanted to play Casemiro (especially in that classic mauling ) but had to select the big name signings.
Looking back at it all, James hasnt really had 1 full season that he has excelled and Real team have gone from strength with him largely a peripheral figure.
Maybe we don't want you,
Why? He's far better than Rooney, Lingard, Mata, and Martial who all played lots of minutes for us last season.
Better than Rashford and Mkhi as well (but closer and Rashford is obviously a future player)
Let me know when you have found your equivalent of Marcelo, CR7, Kroos and Modric.
oh BTW Isco was playing as a #10
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