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2021/22 James Rodriguez

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LouReedwalkonthewildside said:
The funny thing if that happened would be a few lads on here giving Benitez all the praise for it.
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If he gets James playing to anything like his ability, he'll deserve every plaudit that comes his way.

Benitez can't lose in this situation. As a manager, he is entitled to fail on his own terms. If he doesn't fancy James, he won't play him. He'd sooner fail on the back of his own decisions. If he does play him and James performs with any regularity, Benitez will be praised for getting the most out of his asset. James, a gifted player who I love, has put himself in this position. No other club wants/affords him. It's up to him to put pressure on Benitez to play him. He can only do that by impressing with his attitude and in training. But his unreliability, partly beyond his control, partly within it, and penchant for social media publicity has given Benitez the whip hand. The Colombian has snookered himself. Let's see if he cares enough to work his way back into the reckoning for a place at the World Cup next year.
 
Nymzee said:
You know you need to describe your very personal inside jokes.
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Oh, sorry Nymzee...things have been happening fast in this thread tonight and I apologise for assuming that everyone can keep up with the pace of news releases. And some wires were crossed between this and the Rondon thread so it did get a little confusing for your average punter. But long story short, James is with us until after the Burnley game whenupon he gets on a ship (too lazy to fly someone has said) and takes up a lucrative TV contract in Israel...some Miami Vice style show.
 
Rob17896 said:
Not knowing who we play on Saturday could not be more disrespectful to your team mates. It is clear he cares about the salary full stop. I dont expect him to be Alan Ball but you do have a right to some basic level of interest. Of course we should use him if he stays on the payroll. I just hope he is gone.
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He literally said straight after that it was Leeds. But yeah, it was a stupid thing to say.

So what?

He's on a lot of money, is staying here until at least January and has been training since leaving isolation. So use him.
 
Drico said:
If he gets James playing to anything like his ability, he'll deserve every plaudit that comes his way.

Benitez can't lose in this situation. As a manager, he is entitled to fail on his own terms. If he doesn't fancy James, he won't play him. He'd sooner fail on the back of his own decisions. If he does play him and James performs with any regularity, Benitez will be praised for getting the most out of his asset. James, a gifted player who I love, has put himself in this position. No other club wants/affords him. It's up to him to put pressure on Benitez to play him. He can only do that by impressing with his attitude and in training. But his unreliability, partly beyond his control, partly within it, and penchant for social media publicity has given Benitez the whip hand. The Colombian has snookered himself. Let's see if he cares enough to work his way back into the reckoning for a place at the World Cup next year.
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We know the ability James has because we've seen it first hand, so if Benitez played him then it would hardly be a case of a manager making a already top quality boss player become a bosser player.
 

deipnosophist said:
@LouReedwalkonthewildside : I have been on the Sivasspor website...they are evidently keeping Kone's transfer under their collar as no announcement on that site has been made....yet.
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Supposedly we're haggling over the transfer fee mate. his club want the £20k transfer fee we've offered up front but because of FFP we've offered the £20k over 4 years.
 
He will be motivated and will do his best, simply because he will want the best deal possible (next club)
 

LouReedwalkonthewildside said:
We know the ability James has because we've seen it first hand, so if Benitez played him then it would hardly be a case of a manager making a already top quality boss player become a bosser player.
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He has great attacking quality, but comes with a significant defensive downside. I tend to believe that life is too short to endure honest cloggers all my life, so would build the team around a gem like James, but I can imagine how frustrating it is for a manager depending on James to keep him in a job. If you indulge him, you lower the bar for other, less gifted players (which is 95% of footballers) to slack. And he's not reliable enough to indulge. His calf going twang is about the only reliable thing about James - other than his presence on social media.

Benitez has to weigh up the pros and cons of including or excluding such a player. If he decides to include him - and James contributes regularly and reliably - Benitez will deserve every credit for taking that punt and for it coming off. However, he may, plausibly and credibly, decide that the downsides outweigh the handful of glorious James moments over a season and prefer to focus his efforts elsewhere. Either way, he will be judged. All will depend on how the team performs. If Benitez improves on last season largely without James, few will look back. If he regresses without him, he'll provide ammo to his critics. However, given James's less than immaculate reliability, there will be enough mitigating factors to placate many moderate fans. My ideal would be that James knuckles down, gets focused and off social media, and plays his way into a Benitez team that improves on last season. But the manager is entitled to do what he thinks best for the team. It's his head on the block in the end.
 

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