James against Fulham had zero options, nobody running on, we have one of the best passers of the ball in world football and give him nobody to pass to. James only got the ball himself when he came far to deep. It was just a very poor performance from the whole team, for whatever reason, and yet people are singling out James.
If he was in his prime with no fitness issues or if he influenced the game for 90 minutes with his sublime skills, does anybody seriously believe he would be playing for us? By the way, the most gifted player I ever saw playing for the Blues was Alex Young, he was hardly a 90 minute player, was often out injured on the hard pitches at the start and end of the season due to blisters and was not renowned for helping out his defence. Did the fans moan about his shortcomings? No they just marveled at the things he could do with a football that normal players couldn’t .A lot of today’s fans would have hated him, we’ve spent too long watching headless chickens running around and have become brainwashed into thinking all players have to do that.
If you have a talent like James you have to develop a style to accommodate him and as the team is too one paced with Iceland and him on the pitch together, then don’t play Iceland unless James is rested.