What is Dan James good at?

[Judas]

What I find baffling is how little he or his team mates play to his strengths now? Often he set off on runs yesterday but wasn't picked out, and often when he got the ball he wouldn't just look to hit it past a man and run. Its odd, it feels like he's got slower, or simply doesn't want to use his pace, which is clearly his main attribute.

The move was a gamble that hasn't paid off, I just don't think he's the required level.

 

[Inigo Montoya]

It isn't. But compared to Dan James he was an all time great.

Maybe we should build a statue of him.

I'd have Coppell,Kanchelskis,Beckham were great wingers, I'd even have Willie Morgan ahead of Valencia.

 

[VorZakone]

When you say "poor footballing IQ", what exactly do you mean? Because I am absolutely certain almost everyone who uses the term on here uses it because they don't know anywhere near enough about football to exactly what he's doing wrong, or exactly what he should be doing better. So they use the term as a synonym for "not playing well" while pretending they actually know what they are on about.

I honestly feel like the words IQ/intelligence should be banned on the football portion of redcafe. At best it's used as the synonym I mentioned earlier, and at worst.....well, I'm not going to go there.

He's simply not a smart enough footballer for Man Utd. Or do you disagree?

He doesn't have the required level of decision-making.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Maybe we should build a statue of him.

I'd have Coppell,Kanchelskis,Beckham were great wingers, I'd even have Willie Morgan ahead of Valencia.

You're missing the point which has more to do with Dan James.

Was your cat defending Valencia's crosses or something?

 

[Schmeichel's Cartwheel]

He's more talented than Valencia but due to his decision making and the pressure getting to him he is nowhere near Valencias contribution to this club. The competition is getting tougher (Greenwood, Cavani, Rashford, Martial and even Ighalo who we haven't used) and I'm afraid he is a one bad game away from getting totally sidelined. All in all a potential squad player if he uses his head right.

No, he really really isn’t. He isn’t even half the player Valencia was, who was technically limited himself.

 

[Inigo Montoya]

What I find baffling is how little he or his team mates play to his strengths now? Often he set off on runs yesterday but wasn't picked out, and often when he got the ball he wouldn't just look to hit it past a man and run. Its odd, it feels like he's got slower, or simply doesn't want to use his pace, which is clearly his main attribute.

The move was a gamble that hasn't paid off, I just don't think he's the required level.

This was apparent when he was clear on the left and that twat Shaw constantly ignored the run and cut infield.

Not saying he's great or anything but Chelsea doubled up on him and Rashford a lot. Shows how good Rashy is to escape the marking on a couple of occasions to get a shot off.

 

[Inigo Montoya]

You're missing the point which has more to do with Dan James.

Was your cat defending Valencia's crosses or something?

What crosses. I saw hit hit the first defender about 100 times. I hardly recall a cross of note, one or two banging goals though. Can you dig out a Youtube vid please?

 

[amolbhatia50k]

When you say "poor footballing IQ", what exactly do you mean? Because I am absolutely certain almost everyone who uses the term on here uses it because they don't know anywhere near enough about football to exactly what he's doing wrong, or exactly what he should be doing better. So they use the term as a synonym for "not playing well" while pretending they actually know what they are on about.

I honestly feel like the words IQ/intelligence should be banned on the football portion of redcafe. At best it's used as the synonym I mentioned earlier, and at worst.....well, I'm not going to go there.

Not really. Some players are more intelligent on the pitch than others. As with any walk of life

 

[amolbhatia50k]

What crosses. I saw hit hit the first defender about 100 times. I hardly recall a cross of note, one or two banging goals though. Can you dig out a Youtube vid please?

Yes, that was the joke.

Anyhoo Valencia was a good player and you seem to have an irrational hate for him.

 

[Odin]

When you say "poor footballing IQ", what exactly do you mean? Because I am absolutely certain almost everyone who uses the term on here uses it because they don't know anywhere near enough about football to exactly what he's doing wrong, or exactly what he should be doing better. So they use the term as a synonym for "not playing well" while pretending they actually know what they are on about.

I honestly feel like the words IQ/intelligence should be banned on the football portion of redcafe. At best it's used as the synonym I mentioned earlier, and at worst.....well, I'm not going to go there.

Nicely put! Just because a young talent hasn't bloomed yet and is shot of confidence, there is no need to insult the man. Split-second decision-making relies very little on "IQ" and a lot on endless repetiton to increase your attention to details in order to be able to develop flexible responses employing the "reptile brain". You may say he should be further developed. On the other hand, if he had this thing working well for him for a long time, retraining a strong pattern may take a proportionally long period of time.

 

[Ronaldo's ego]

He’s great at impersonating a footballer.

 

[InfiniteBoredom]

What crosses. I saw hit hit the first defender about 100 times. I hardly recall a cross of note, one or two banging goals though. Can you dig out a Youtube vid please?

He was genuinely good for a couple of years.

 

[Inigo Montoya]

Yes, that was the joke.

Anyhoo Valencia was a good player and you seem to have an irrational hate for him.

I never mentioned the word,'hate'. Never hated any Utd player in my time of watching. Hated 'performances,' but not made it personal.

I also never said he was not 'good' just not the great player some make him out to be. Like I said earlier if you bothered to read. He was a good servant and gave 100%. The irrational hatred seems to be reserved for quite a few of our players of late. Fans aren't happy and are making it personal. If you want to see hate, go on Twitter post match.
It'll make these posters on here seem like the opinion of judges of the US Supreme Court

 

[Sparky Rhiwabon]

He was good when he first got here and always seems to do well for Wales, so I think we’re not getting the best out of him, which must be due to coaching and or systems / instructions.

 

[Inigo Montoya]

He was genuinely good for a couple of years.

Never said he wasn't. Willie Morgan scored 25 goals too

Anyway, time to bow out of this debate. Too much hate

 

[Inigo Montoya]

He was good when he first got here and always seems to do well for Wales, so I think we’re not getting the best out of him, which must be due to coaching and or systems / instructions.

Thank you.

Giggs gets the best out of him by a country mile

 

[Ekeke]

You would think running with the ball would be his strength. But actually hes had weak results from it so far this season. Greenwood for example has had much more success. Unfortunately right now James is a pace merchant, but no faster than our usual front 3 of Rashford, Martial and Greenwood. So when he plays instead of them he can replace their pace but everything else they bring is missing. He is 2 years younger than Martial I guess, but I'd certainly take Martial of 2 years ago over James. So I don't think he'll be getting there... For a lesser team just having pace and taking players on a bit and winning a throw in or something might be worth having in the team. For us thats not good enough end product.

 

[Inigo Montoya]

You would think running with the ball would be his strength. But actually hes had weak results from it so far this season. Greenwood for example has had much more success. Unfortunately right now James is a pace merchant, but no faster than our usual front 3 of Rashford, Martial and Greenwood. So when he plays instead of them he can replace their pace but everything else they bring is missing. He is 2 years younger than Martial I guess, but I'd certainly take Martial of 2 years ago over James. So I don't think he'll be getting there... For a lesser team just having pace and taking players on a bit and winning a throw in or something might be worth having in the team. For us thats not good enough end product.

Physically Marital is an absolute unit! Anyone who's seen them both live knows that Martial could run through a brick wall. James isn't really very strong in the physical sense

 

[Bestietom]

He was genuinely good for a couple of years.

Never the same player after horrific injury. Couldn't even kick with the foot.

 

[IrishRedDevil]

What I find baffling is how little he or his team mates play to his strengths now? Often he set off on runs yesterday but wasn't picked out

They know he’s rubbish and it’s a waste of time to give him the ball, as it will result in a loss of possession.

 

[Fredo]

Yesterday he played like a player with 0 confidence at all, I dont know why OGS cannot see this. On the offensive side, didnt offer much, it's just he seems not to know what to do in the final third, like 0 confidence to shoot/pass, yesterday he went straigh to the defenders, I feel sorry for him he just has no confidence atm, defensively he was flying at the chelsea players with no purpose..

 

[InfiniteBoredom]

Never the same player after horrific injury. Couldn't even kick with the foot.

The injury was against Rangers in CL groupstage 10/11. He won our player of the season in 11/12.

It could be that the effect of the injury was felt much later, but I personally think it was mostly mental. The pressure of the no.7 shirt got to him and he never regained that confident on the pitch even after the change back. Turn back Tony really was only a thing since 12/13.

 

[arnie_ni]

He's more talented than Valencia but due to his decision making and the pressure getting to him he is nowhere near Valencias contribution to this club. The competition is getting tougher (Greenwood, Cavani, Rashford, Martial and even Ighalo who we haven't used) and I'm afraid he is a one bad game away from getting totally sidelined. All in all a potential squad player if he uses his head right.

I hated valencia in the end, but he was a far better player. He was one of the best players we had for a couple of years before his confidence totally went to shit and he couldnt beat the first defender with a cross.

Thats a massive disservice to him.

 

[Lee565]

The guy is so bad and out of his depth that I would even prefer lingard starting ahead of him.

 

[Schmeichel's Cartwheel]

The guy is so bad and out of his depth that I would even prefer lingard starting ahead of him.

Lingard has far more talent than James, and Lingard himself isn’t good enough. That says it all.

 

[Bestietom]

The injury was against Rangers in CL groupstage 10/11. He won our player of the season in 11/12.

It could be that the effect of the injury was felt much later, but I personally think it was mostly mental. The pressure of the no.7 shirt got to him and he never regained that confident on the pitch even after the change back. Turn back Tony really was only a thing since 12/13.

The number on your back shouldn't have any influence or pressure when you play football.

 

[Nou_Camp99]

Thank you.

Giggs gets the best out of him by a country mile

No offence but Wales arent playing the creme de la creme in their nations league games.

The PL is a step up than playing against International minnows.

Also Giggs isn't any better of a coach than Ole for me.

 

[InfiniteBoredom]

The number on your back shouldn't have any influence or pressure when you play football.

Evidently it did for him, as he asked for his number back after 1 season and left the 7 vacant.

 

[Idxomer]

I would say he was pretty confident yesterday as on more than one occasion he thought he could get through Recce James just based on strength.

 

[cyril C]

I would say he was pretty confident yesterday as on more than one occasion he thought he could get through Recce James just based on strength.

Just Recce James? I thought our James tend to run into at least 2 defenders.

 

[Bestietom]

Evidently it did for him, as he asked for his number back after 1 season and left the 7 vacant.

Some players are superstitious. Maybe it was this reason.

 

[MooseTheMooche]

I’d say he is infuriating as a player. Offers absolutely nothing apart from running, and even in that department he isn’t a world beater. He makes poor decisions, is only one-footed, and has no skill to beat a defender as a winger. What’s funny is that whenever there is some footage of lads training, or preparing for a season, the only thing he does are useless sprints just to showcase his running ability. It may well be a confidence issue, but let’s not kid ourselves that this guy would be tearing it up on the right wing had it not been for his current lack of confidence

 

[InfiniteBoredom]

Some players are superstitious. Maybe it was this reason.

Could be, I’m not really interested in this debate either way and we are detracting way too much from this thread. My point at the end of the day is Valencia had his best form for us for 18 months after his injury so it’s not a clear cut case of ‘injury did him in’. We can do naught but speculate about the true reason for his decline.

 

[RemisMoses]

He was brilliant the first 6 months or so, after moving to a massive club just after his dad died.. Ole obviously trusts him to be more disciplined than Greenwood in that position.. Greenwood’s only thought is to get in the box and he doesn’t track back.. I think people should give Dan James a break tbh. I think he’ll be a fine squad player.

 

[Rolaholic]

What I find baffling is how little he or his team mates play to his strengths now? Often he set off on runs yesterday but wasn't picked out, and often when he got the ball he wouldn't just look to hit it past a man and run. Its odd, it feels like he's got slower, or simply doesn't want to use his pace, which is clearly his main attribute.

The move was a gamble that hasn't paid off, I just don't think he's the required level.

Don't know what else you expected with the MF we started with.

He did make some threatening runs at times but we were lacking the personnel to get him the ball accurately at the time

 

[kouroux]

Valencia at his best, was a very good winger for us. How his career ended at Utd made many fans how well he was playing for a period

 

[el3mel]

It's a little bit weird how some are acting like once he plays on the left instead of the right all his problems will be solved?

Good kid but just out of his depth on such level. Loan him for 2 years or so to another PL club and reevaluate his state after it.

 

[POF]

I'm not saying that I don't want Grealish or he is a bad player, or whatever, but Grealish would've most likely cut inside too.

I wasn't talking about that particular incident. More the fact that United have one striker unavailable and they're down to picking Dan James for a huge game against a top 4 rival. Grealish rather than James would have made that a very different game.

On that incident, you have to play to your strengths. James is a speed merchant and that was literally the ideal situation to use his main asset as a player. He chose not to.

 

[POF]

It's a little bit weird how some are acting like once he plays on the left instead of the right all his problems will be solved?

Good kid but just out of his depth on such level. Loan him for 2 years or so to another PL club and reevaluate his state after it.

The way he's playing now, I would only play him on the right. Hug the touchline, aim to get to the byline and cross it.

He hasn't got the intelligence, instincts or confidence at the moment to play in a role where he has decisions to make. If he plays, simplify his game, get wide right, run fast and cross it.

 

[Houdini]

He is good at running.