United Hobbit
Full Member
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2019
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What worries me is he seems to be going backwards. I've obviously commented on this thread before as it shows I have so I was probably among those getting excited by him
I think the important things is WHY is he going backwards? Obviously I can only speculate but is it:
-Lack of coaching? Are the coaches sitting down with him after the games and showing him where he went wrong and could do things differently? For example when he shoots show him players he could have passed to instead, which could potentially lead to him getting an assist? If he's not being shown where he went wrong, he can't learn. I'd like to think we do this with the whole team, especially the young players like Williams/ Greenwood etc. While they are obviously a lot better than James they will still make mistakes and need to be shown them so they can learn from them. I watched that documentary on City on Amazon a few years ago and Pep has full on meetings with the team dissecting the performance. Obviously we may do this, I often say I'd love such a document to be made about us i think it would be very interesting
-Lack of confidence? Someone made a very interesting point up thread about how him getting clattered so often in the early season has possibly dented his confidence. I hadn't thought of that and they may be right. Also I think the more he's trying and things not coming off for him the more he's over trying and it goes even worse for him. Obviously Rashy is several levels above him but you could very faintly see it with him after lockdown where he was almost trying too hard. However Rashy was contributing to the team in other ways, James needs to get the basics right then work on the more complex things- look at helping the team in other ways such as tracking back and winning the ball. Help the team in other ways and try and help his confidence a bit. He could almost do with a couple of games in the reserves to try and get going again, take the spotlight off him a bit or coming into an easy game where there's no pressure on him and he can quietly try and find some form. Unfortunately for him there are no reserve games at present, nor do we have any easy no pressure games until the LASK one. At this stage of the season we can't afford passengers. Also don't forget the sad situation with his dad- could this be affecting him in some way? I know it was nearly a year ago but it could be a contributing factor
-Being played out of position. Know there's a bit of debate on here about what his strongest position is but the generic consensus is he is better on the left. Obviously we are not dropping Rashy. It would be great if we had games where he could come in to enable Rashy to have a rest and play in a well structured team with Pogba/ Bruno/ Martial etc. Again as per above we can't afford to do that at present and his form/ confidence aren't there to even include him in a strong team as if it goes wrong for him, the confidence continues to drop.
-Attitude? There was a lot of hype over him when he first came did he perhaps think "I've made it" and take his foot off the gas? He comes across as not being this type of player but again its a possible consideration
-Fatigue? Little worrying he seems to have dropped off more after lockdown but he's had to play a lot of games this season due to lack of squad depth. As its such a step up, he also has the mental fatigue of a huge learning curve plus the increased physical fatigue of the PL. However why has he dropped off more since lockdown?
- Simply not good enough. There would be nothing wrong with this as long as he is handled correctly eg moved on if true, but I'd possibly give him a little more time. It will be knowing when to cut our losses but we also don't want to be doing that too early. Look into the other possible issues above then go down this route.
I think depending on what's happening will determine the best route with him.
- I sincerely hope he's already being coached and given feedback so he can learn from it
-If its confidence, depending on if we can sign someone like Sancho he needs to be taken out the spotlight for a bit. Either a spell in the reserves or only coming on in "easy" games where we are comfortably winning/ playing in the early cup games.
-if I was to loan him I'd do half a season then assess. Ideally to one of the lower PL clubs that play similar style to us if any would take him. If he looks to be improving bring him back for halt the season and use him sensibly and see where we stand. If it looks to be an ability issue, sell. If he shows he can be a strong squad player, keep as currently the drop between first team and the bench is huge. We need this to be less. Ighalo for me is a good example of a good squad player. He can be trusted to come in and do a job if he is chosen. There is no point having squad players if they can't do a job. Yes we can't have a bench full of Sanchos like City do but they at least need to be able to do a job when chosen or there is no point having them
-I think the Lask game will be good for him as there is absolutely no pressure. He can play his preferred position of left wing too. However it also won't be as we will heavily rotate so he will be "stuck with" similarly out of form/ lower ability players. I'd like to see some of the young players used as well.
-id like to see him told to work on the other parts of his game more and see if we can improve the basics to try and give him a better skill set, then look at the more technical stuff. If he can't improve the basics we know we are probably at a loss. At the start of the season he looked like he could get a lot of assists and at times it was the other players wasting the chances he had created. I'd like to see more of that from him rather than trying to shoot when he should pass. Getting assists will help his confidence more than shooting and missing
Like I say it may simply be he isn't good enough but I think we could at least try and get him back to how he was doing at the start of the season as on that form he will be a very useful squad player. It would be great if we could improve him like Wolves have done with Traore but that again goes back to the coaching. He could also do with a bit more muscle. Not huge so he doesn't blunt his speed but enough that he's not pushed off the ball/ taken out quite as easily
I think the important things is WHY is he going backwards? Obviously I can only speculate but is it:
-Lack of coaching? Are the coaches sitting down with him after the games and showing him where he went wrong and could do things differently? For example when he shoots show him players he could have passed to instead, which could potentially lead to him getting an assist? If he's not being shown where he went wrong, he can't learn. I'd like to think we do this with the whole team, especially the young players like Williams/ Greenwood etc. While they are obviously a lot better than James they will still make mistakes and need to be shown them so they can learn from them. I watched that documentary on City on Amazon a few years ago and Pep has full on meetings with the team dissecting the performance. Obviously we may do this, I often say I'd love such a document to be made about us i think it would be very interesting
-Lack of confidence? Someone made a very interesting point up thread about how him getting clattered so often in the early season has possibly dented his confidence. I hadn't thought of that and they may be right. Also I think the more he's trying and things not coming off for him the more he's over trying and it goes even worse for him. Obviously Rashy is several levels above him but you could very faintly see it with him after lockdown where he was almost trying too hard. However Rashy was contributing to the team in other ways, James needs to get the basics right then work on the more complex things- look at helping the team in other ways such as tracking back and winning the ball. Help the team in other ways and try and help his confidence a bit. He could almost do with a couple of games in the reserves to try and get going again, take the spotlight off him a bit or coming into an easy game where there's no pressure on him and he can quietly try and find some form. Unfortunately for him there are no reserve games at present, nor do we have any easy no pressure games until the LASK one. At this stage of the season we can't afford passengers. Also don't forget the sad situation with his dad- could this be affecting him in some way? I know it was nearly a year ago but it could be a contributing factor
-Being played out of position. Know there's a bit of debate on here about what his strongest position is but the generic consensus is he is better on the left. Obviously we are not dropping Rashy. It would be great if we had games where he could come in to enable Rashy to have a rest and play in a well structured team with Pogba/ Bruno/ Martial etc. Again as per above we can't afford to do that at present and his form/ confidence aren't there to even include him in a strong team as if it goes wrong for him, the confidence continues to drop.
-Attitude? There was a lot of hype over him when he first came did he perhaps think "I've made it" and take his foot off the gas? He comes across as not being this type of player but again its a possible consideration
-Fatigue? Little worrying he seems to have dropped off more after lockdown but he's had to play a lot of games this season due to lack of squad depth. As its such a step up, he also has the mental fatigue of a huge learning curve plus the increased physical fatigue of the PL. However why has he dropped off more since lockdown?
- Simply not good enough. There would be nothing wrong with this as long as he is handled correctly eg moved on if true, but I'd possibly give him a little more time. It will be knowing when to cut our losses but we also don't want to be doing that too early. Look into the other possible issues above then go down this route.
I think depending on what's happening will determine the best route with him.
- I sincerely hope he's already being coached and given feedback so he can learn from it
-If its confidence, depending on if we can sign someone like Sancho he needs to be taken out the spotlight for a bit. Either a spell in the reserves or only coming on in "easy" games where we are comfortably winning/ playing in the early cup games.
-if I was to loan him I'd do half a season then assess. Ideally to one of the lower PL clubs that play similar style to us if any would take him. If he looks to be improving bring him back for halt the season and use him sensibly and see where we stand. If it looks to be an ability issue, sell. If he shows he can be a strong squad player, keep as currently the drop between first team and the bench is huge. We need this to be less. Ighalo for me is a good example of a good squad player. He can be trusted to come in and do a job if he is chosen. There is no point having squad players if they can't do a job. Yes we can't have a bench full of Sanchos like City do but they at least need to be able to do a job when chosen or there is no point having them
-I think the Lask game will be good for him as there is absolutely no pressure. He can play his preferred position of left wing too. However it also won't be as we will heavily rotate so he will be "stuck with" similarly out of form/ lower ability players. I'd like to see some of the young players used as well.
-id like to see him told to work on the other parts of his game more and see if we can improve the basics to try and give him a better skill set, then look at the more technical stuff. If he can't improve the basics we know we are probably at a loss. At the start of the season he looked like he could get a lot of assists and at times it was the other players wasting the chances he had created. I'd like to see more of that from him rather than trying to shoot when he should pass. Getting assists will help his confidence more than shooting and missing
Like I say it may simply be he isn't good enough but I think we could at least try and get him back to how he was doing at the start of the season as on that form he will be a very useful squad player. It would be great if we could improve him like Wolves have done with Traore but that again goes back to the coaching. He could also do with a bit more muscle. Not huge so he doesn't blunt his speed but enough that he's not pushed off the ball/ taken out quite as easily