What is Dan James good at?

He wasn't bought to be a starter, it's just we were so light up top that he surprised people with his pace and had that great little spell. This shouldn't a thread for slagging him off, he's definitely been very average since his great start but let's look at some positives:
  • He's 22. Whilst the caf has a Wenger like obsession with finding ever increasingly young players and even writes players off who are in their late twenties, he is a very young man with at the every least 3-4 years until his physical peak. There is huge room for improvement.
  • Pace. Speed is king in the PL - you could be the greatest technical wizard ever but for James' position there is no substitute for pace. His end product is pretty average but he has the basic skillset and you can't really learn that electric speed, again a lot will depend on the coaching/improvement we see in the next few years.
  • Attitude. It does seem like he's a workhorse and a real grafter - couple this with the pace and time to improve and I think he'll become a solid squad player for us. Unlike someone like lingard who is always bashed for his off the field activities and promoting his brand even when playing (probably why Ole hooked him last night, he really needs to stop that celebration) James seems a good egg.
In summary I don't think anyone is under the impression he will be first team starter for us long term but having good squad players is just as important because that's really been an issue for us recently. I see enough in his basic skillset to think he will be a valuable player for - the Phil Neville of the wings if you will (c) - and don't think he deserves the shit he gets on here with such regularity.
 
AshRK said:
Did we seriously need another James bashing thread?
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I see why you thought this it it’s not the intention
Web of Bissaka said:
Seriously watch back the games in the first half of this season.

Basically for a squad player
  • good in cutting in dangerously when he's playing LW.
  • goals, his shooting is quite good.
  • creating chances (he's our best chances creator before Bruno when Pogba is injured).
  • assists and crosses (remember the "passes to Rashford"? still inconsistent).
  • high acceleration to exploit spaces.
  • running on the ball at top speed.
  • running into the boxes and get pulled down (won us penalties but eventually he got the 'diver' label).
  • defensive workrate (not really good at defending)
  • off the ball movements especially when there are spaces beyond to run into.
  • team support in receiving passes.
  • counter-attack with speed, his runnings gave us options.
  • attacking-minded.
  • very direct.
  • great fitness.
Those are what he can bring to the team when he's in good form. When he's off form, he can still provide the work-rate, speed and threats to exploit spaces but generally useless since majority of our games are against low blocks and when we're up against high blocks, he's up against far better players to stop him.

There are a lot of limitations in his abilities. Too many and too obvious to be seen, no need to describe it but mostly his on-the-ball abilities lacking good skills/techniques <-- it's too basic and stiffy, plus his decision makings are often questionable but definitely not worse.

At best I'm confident he can only be a very good squad player for us. I think the only one thing he can improve on is just consistency. He is still too inconsistent but that's normal. Once he is consistent, he'll be that very good squad player.
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great post man, this is the kind of replies I was hoping for. Do you think perhaps a loan to a top Chsmpionship team or lower PL team could benefit him next season?
 
Running in a straight line from A - B, without the ball.

Should have gone into sprinting, not football...

Nah I'm being harsh. He's still young and there's always hope.
 
roonster09 said:
I thought he was good at exposing our "stars".
https://www.redcafe.net/threads/daniel-james-is-exposing-our-stars.450255/


Also I thought he was good at being our first choice LW and Rashford should fight for his position
https://www.redcafe.net/threads/where-will-rashford-play.450490/
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He had a very good start to the season man. But this bad form has lasted about 9 months now. Are we not allowed to ever change our mind? Or question things? Could it not be that his start was a purple patch & once teams found him out we saw his real level? Football fans are fickle you know this. I don’t love or hate any of our players. I just love the club. If James is good I praise him, if he’s bad I criticise him. I think that’s fair, no?
 
Schmeichel's Cartwheel said:
He had a very good start to the season man. But this bad form has lasted about 9 months now. Are we not allowed to ever change our mind? Or question things? Could it not be that his start was a purple patch & once teams found him out we saw his real level? Football fans are fickle you know this. I don’t love or hate any of our players. I just love the club.
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Or maybe we should wait before shitting on every player?

James had good start? Lets start a thread to shit on Pogba, Rashford and other "Stars"
James played well for one more months? Lets start thread to shit on Rashford and at the same time to take few shots at Ole if he doesn't bench or move Rashford to RW.
Rashford had few poor games? Lets start a thread to compare him with Welbeck and someone come up with Welbeck > Rashford.

Now James is not playing well? Lets start one more thread to shit on him.
 
I don't know that there's much more to be said about Dan James that hasn't been said. Bought as a player to develop who then ends up as a regular first-team player because of lack of options in the squad, has a great start raising expectations, then the goals dry up and ends up on the bench once Fernandes arrives, Greenwood emerges and Pogba comes back.

He doesn't get enough credit for the assists he's provided, but clearly, at the moment, he's all about speed and work rate, and, if his speed - his main asset - is to be of any use, he needs to make better decisions around the box. Either needs to score goals himself more often when he uses his speed to outrun players, or supply other players, which means those other players matching his pace - so, when we're counter-attacking in bursts.

Is that capability to learn and adapt there? I don't know at the moment, but I'm inclined to lay off him and allow him time to develop. He's 23 this year, so he hasn't got too long for a player relying on pace.

As far as a loan goes, maybe, but he's already come from a Championship club, so it would just be to give him regular playing time (depending how the loan club uses him), and you can argue that he had a decent run of regular matches earlier this season (in fact, probably overplayed).

He certainly doesn't deserve the unnecessary and casually dismissive comments he's getting, which are getting more and more like the abuse aimed at Lingard.
 
I haven’t bothered scrolling to see if it has already been said but his display against Man City (apart from the ball he should have squared) was very good and exactly what we needed in that game. He can do a job in a backs to the wall sort of game like that.
 
RRCE said:
. He’s quick and has plenty of hustle, but his decision making is extremely suspect and his final ball is very poor.
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https://www.premierleague.com/stats/top/players/goal_assist

He's joint 19th for assists along with Nicolas Pepe and Jack Grealish. (6 assists)

So he must be doing something.

He's quick, direct, wins penalties (from bad challenges! He gets fouled a LOT) and his delivery is fine. It's mainly our lack of "foxes in the box" that hurts us - although Martial is getting better at that, I'm sure James offered enough chances to get at least double figures in assists.

Schmeichel's Cartwheel said:
other than being fast & working hard, what does he bring to the table in terms of footballing ability?
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See above
 
He was electric at the start, especially at receiving the ball on the turn and getting away from his man. He was actually a good crosser too.

It's hard to tell if defenders have learned his one trick or hes lost the confidence to try it.
 
I think he deserves a bit of a benefit of the doubt. Hes still quite young and has shown good flashes for the first couple months of the season. I don't think he will ever be a legit starter for a title contending team but he can be a good squad player potentially. Apart from his pace he has a decent delivery and has very good decision making in the final third generally (recently been appalling). He usually knows when to make a cutback, cross it in, or play it back imo. Biggest issue is that he seems to be pretty limited when he has the ball and has to beat a man to find the next pass.
 
Expectations went a bit silly after a good start - he should always have been a bench option really but we started playing him every game... he has something and has definitely lost his confidence a fair bit. I do doubt he is good enough for us though, really.
 
Always reminds me of those head-less chicken cartoons. Those who run so fast in straight line and then bang into something
 
roonster09 said:
Or maybe we should wait before shitting on every player?

James had good start? Lets start a thread to shit on Pogba, Rashford and other "Stars"
James played well for one more months? Lets start thread to shit on Rashford and at the same time to take few shots at Ole if he doesn't bench or move Rashford to RW.
Rashford had few poor games? Lets start a thread to compare him with Welbeck and someone come up with Welbeck > Rashford.

Now James is not playing well? Lets start one more thread to shit on him.
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This is the exact point i tried to make a couple of posts ago but i got an immediate reply that its necessary to keep shitting on players in bad form...
 
Mick1 said:
Long term squad player, homegrown, young enough to improve, has tremendous pace coupled with a hard working attitude, on cheap wages, small transfer fee, can play a reserved role when needed and to give players a rest.
Also been played out of position for the whole season.
Personally think he s a tremendous find by the club. Not to forget Leeds, under Bielsa, wanted to sign him which speaks more than most might think.
We need to ease up on the kid. Can become a modern Park Ji Song for us. Tbf Park Ji Song was capable on the ball, but that aspect of his game was often sacrificed for a defensive role in the team, which is what I think James is capable of. 22 years old making a jump from the championship to the premier league ( Never mind Man United) will always take time to adapt.
Just look at Zaha
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Zaha is not a good example to compare James with. Zaha was performing like James at a younger age in the Championship. James only advantage is speed, where as Zaha was the superior dribbler which I would think is a better indicator for future success.

Just look at Ryan Sessegnon. Everyone thought he had a bad season last season, and he was very similar to Daniel James this season despite playing for a relegated side in Fulham, and being 19 years old. He only went for 14m more than James while being 2.5 years younger. Even if you don't think much of Sessegnon, he clearly was the smarter buy as he did more at Championship level, and is 2.5 years younger. I think James can become the better player as both are still young, and their future is up in the air, but to me Sessegnon has a better chance based on the evidence.
 
He played really well imo until several dirty teams decided to kick the sh*t out of him and he'd end up getting booked for "diving" which I think must have knocked his confidence.

Maybe that could be an indication that he isn't very mentally strong, but I think there is a good player with great potential in there.
 
He's just out of form and low on confidence. Stop being cnuts eh?
 
He should go into sprinting because he is useless on the football field but then again without with all due respect he's just 22 and can improve a lot. The guy just runs past the wing-back and puts a cross in every time and it kills me to see it blocked every time. Why don't people learn from their mistakes? Why wouldn't he stop look up and then do something where a cross can actually go into the box. Our whole team sucks at crossing the ball and apart from Pogba, i guess our team sucks at diagonally switching sides as well. I watch City and i love the way they keep the ball and move it so quickly between players instead of going back, they move inwards and from one end to another and someone somewhere finds a gap and it ends up as a chance. I hope we play like that. We definitely need to learn to keep the ball. Forget all the quick football, counter attacking style and all that. Football has changed a lot and teams have learned how to keep possession and play around opposition players. We need to learn to do that and only then will we ever succeed. Our team needs to be drilled to play in patterns and ask that bloody Maguire to play long balls to the wingers or piercing passes to the midfielders. He must always always play to the LB and that's the only thing he does which is very one dimensional for a highly rated all round CB. Lindelof and Bailly are much better CBs in terms of playing out from the back. Our wing-backs also just go wide and get back to the defense without beating any players. We just play stagnant boring football and it still kills me to watch us play although i see a huge improvement up front 4. Pogba has made a few mistakes as well but he needs to be played alongside Bruno and not behind him. Ole still has a lot of work to do. Sorry i got away from the topic but thoughts flowing :P
 
To be fair I think his positioning is quite good even looking the game last night. His biggest challenge will be can he get his decision making right as thats what lets him down - Had afew moments last night where the right final ball would have got him plaudits only to fluff it. If he can work on his passing as well he has potential to be useful but at the moment hes well down the squad list
 
Such short memories. Every game he played well in towards the beginning of the season was a complete fluke obviously. :rolleyes:
 
Running and more running. Oh,and did I mention he can run !

But seriously he's a decent player just bereft of form and confidence.
 
WolfInSharp'sClothing said:
He's like one of those younger, more feminine guys in prison. The alphas like to keep them around, as they can always find a use for them or jobs for them to perform.

I suspect James plays a similar role within the United dressing room.
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If I had a mobile phone, a tube of toothpaste, a bar of soap and 20 woodbine rammed up my backside I think my game might suffer too.
 
Red_toad said:
Yes the children need multiple threads for figures of hate. Jesse scoring twice has made them change focus. Is never ending.
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Jesse scoring two goals has now got him on the verge of replacing Bruno ffs :lol:. So yes it’s dan James then to take a bashing now
 
roonster09 said:
Or maybe we should wait before shitting on every player?

James had good start? Lets start a thread to shit on Pogba, Rashford and other "Stars"
James played well for one more months? Lets start thread to shit on Rashford and at the same time to take few shots at Ole if he doesn't bench or move Rashford to RW.
Rashford had few poor games? Lets start a thread to compare him with Welbeck and someone come up with Welbeck > Rashford.

Now James is not playing well? Lets start one more thread to shit on him.
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United forum in a nutshell that
 
Mick1 said:
At James's age, Park was in the K-league
Physical attributes can absolutely help you in reaching a good level as an footballer. James's pace is borderline unrivaled, making it as useful a weapon when utilized correctly as something like a very tall target man ( a la Fellaini ).very useful squad player
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You seriously think he is a 'tremendous find'? Hernandez was a tremendous find. James isn't even a very good signing. He's a decent signing, and I'm really stretching that because he's one of the poorer goalscorers we have had ever. Obertan-class. There is room for improvement...
 
Very quick, strikes the ball well, works hard, decent but inconsistent dribbler.

As a backup player I think he is fine, plays far too big of a role early in the season due to us not having a right winger. Left a bit of a sour taste but not really his fault that we had such a gaping hole in that position.
 
Let's wait and see. Pace is everything. With a bit of development he could be an absolute asset for us.
 
WIld thought and please don't murder me on it!

But didn't everyone say the same about Adama Traore when he first was in PL at Aston Villa? Elite level on coaching can work miracles if a player such Daniel James works hard and has insane physical attributes to base on.
 
My opinion of every player is based on skill needed for position on which he plays.
For Man Utd attacker/winger i expect that he has at least very good (because he plays for Man Utd not Fulham or Palace) technique and ball control (and many other things of course but these are primary skills). If player has that i can wait him year or two because based on that he can upgrade other skills. That is why i liked and wanted to give time to Depay or Zaha for example.

Daniel James is bellow average football player at the moment. Average skill, bellow average technique, bellow average ball control and non existent dribble skill.
He can be useful in some rare games but that is it.

I would give him another year but only on loan.
 
Class of 63 said:
I've said it before and i'll say it again we should give him a few games in pre-season, or with the 23s next season as a central Striker and see how he gets on.

Jamie Vardy M2, the nicer version.
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Could be a shout, but I feel like at least 50% of Vardy’s success is down to him being a shit house.
 
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