Bluetintedspecs
Player Valuation: £6m
There's been some clueless rubbish from the anti-James brigade in this thread lately.
People making wild assumptions about his character based on hearsay and articles in the media. A media that's infested with RS sycophants only too happy to stick the boot into anything Everton related. Take the story about James forgetting who we were playing next, but then remembering once he'd thought about it, although that wasn't included in many articles, as it didn't suit the agenda. Even as a lifelong fan, I've done the same, and this is a player who was told he wasn't in the manager's plans and needed to move on. Why the intense media scrutiny about something so trivial? If Mo Salah had said the same thing, would he have got the same negative media coverage?
As for the fans, people love to be outraged by the most ridiculous things. Would you prefer players to pretend, like the many players who kiss the badge in a fake display of loyalty, or the 18 months of BS Ancelotti spouted about how he loved it here and was going to be here long term?
None of us know what James is thinking or what's really going on behind the scenes with him or Benitez, but there's been a bit of a character assassination on here of late, with little or no evidence to support it. James has been made the scapegoat for a massively underwhleming transfer window. Fans needing to vent have found their target.
I don't care what's said in the sports media or on social media. In an era of 24/7 news, the media are hungry for stories, so if there isn't much in the way of real news, they sensationalise the most insignificant of news or just make stuff up.
I prefer to base my judgement of players on what I see on the pitch. In that respect, James offers us something no one else in the squad can. Yes, he has no pace (although he has very quick feet when in possession), but he has a very quick brain and sees and executes passes no one else can. Problems occur if you surround him with other players who have no pace AND zero movement, as well as playing in a team that relies on defending very deep.
Players like Sheedy and Barry had no pace, but they were brilliant for us. You have to have players in the team who compliment each other, so when we see James, Gomes and Sigurdsson all in the starting 11, we know it won't work. If you have James in the team, he needs pace around him.
His form deteriorated as the season wore on, but the same can be said for the whole squad, apart from one or two exceptions. The whole squad seemed to lack fitness and that could have been a factor in our static midfield, too. Maybe there was some truth to the rumours about Ancelotti's lax training methods.
We all knew he was injury prone before he signed, so we can't have been surprised he only played 26 games last season (same number as Allan, by the way, but his injury record doesn't get the same scrutiny). Of those 26 games, he scored 6 goals and got 4 assists (I think), but quite a few other goals came from a brilliant crossfield pass from James to the assister and there were so many times where he put a gilt-edged chance on a plate for a team mate, who then made a mess of it, such as the injury time chance for Sigurdsson at Burnley and countless missed chances by Richy.
As an example of his class, look at this photo for his assist at Anfield. Who else in our squad could take out seven players by controlling the ball in mid-air, spotting the pass and then playing it within two seconds? That goal gave the team belief and something to hang on to. Otherwise, I think we'd have only got a draw, at best. He was also involved in both our goals in the Goodison derby.
Evertonians have always appreciated footballers who have flair. As a kid, I loved Duncan McKenzie. Older fans would say Alex Young.
Hopefully, Benitez now includes James in his plans this season. I'd love to see him light up a packed Goodison. Let's just enjoy what he does on the pitch while he's here.
People making wild assumptions about his character based on hearsay and articles in the media. A media that's infested with RS sycophants only too happy to stick the boot into anything Everton related. Take the story about James forgetting who we were playing next, but then remembering once he'd thought about it, although that wasn't included in many articles, as it didn't suit the agenda. Even as a lifelong fan, I've done the same, and this is a player who was told he wasn't in the manager's plans and needed to move on. Why the intense media scrutiny about something so trivial? If Mo Salah had said the same thing, would he have got the same negative media coverage?
As for the fans, people love to be outraged by the most ridiculous things. Would you prefer players to pretend, like the many players who kiss the badge in a fake display of loyalty, or the 18 months of BS Ancelotti spouted about how he loved it here and was going to be here long term?
None of us know what James is thinking or what's really going on behind the scenes with him or Benitez, but there's been a bit of a character assassination on here of late, with little or no evidence to support it. James has been made the scapegoat for a massively underwhleming transfer window. Fans needing to vent have found their target.
I don't care what's said in the sports media or on social media. In an era of 24/7 news, the media are hungry for stories, so if there isn't much in the way of real news, they sensationalise the most insignificant of news or just make stuff up.
I prefer to base my judgement of players on what I see on the pitch. In that respect, James offers us something no one else in the squad can. Yes, he has no pace (although he has very quick feet when in possession), but he has a very quick brain and sees and executes passes no one else can. Problems occur if you surround him with other players who have no pace AND zero movement, as well as playing in a team that relies on defending very deep.
Players like Sheedy and Barry had no pace, but they were brilliant for us. You have to have players in the team who compliment each other, so when we see James, Gomes and Sigurdsson all in the starting 11, we know it won't work. If you have James in the team, he needs pace around him.
His form deteriorated as the season wore on, but the same can be said for the whole squad, apart from one or two exceptions. The whole squad seemed to lack fitness and that could have been a factor in our static midfield, too. Maybe there was some truth to the rumours about Ancelotti's lax training methods.
We all knew he was injury prone before he signed, so we can't have been surprised he only played 26 games last season (same number as Allan, by the way, but his injury record doesn't get the same scrutiny). Of those 26 games, he scored 6 goals and got 4 assists (I think), but quite a few other goals came from a brilliant crossfield pass from James to the assister and there were so many times where he put a gilt-edged chance on a plate for a team mate, who then made a mess of it, such as the injury time chance for Sigurdsson at Burnley and countless missed chances by Richy.
As an example of his class, look at this photo for his assist at Anfield. Who else in our squad could take out seven players by controlling the ball in mid-air, spotting the pass and then playing it within two seconds? That goal gave the team belief and something to hang on to. Otherwise, I think we'd have only got a draw, at best. He was also involved in both our goals in the Goodison derby.
Evertonians have always appreciated footballers who have flair. As a kid, I loved Duncan McKenzie. Older fans would say Alex Young.
Hopefully, Benitez now includes James in his plans this season. I'd love to see him light up a packed Goodison. Let's just enjoy what he does on the pitch while he's here.
