Dan James

ivoralljack

ivoralljack

Grizzled Veteran
Staff member
Was hauled off at half time yesterday after getting a rare start in recent games. He played okay but United are looking for a lot more than that. At the moment he's little better than a wide link man and he's not making a difference in games or offering much of a threat. The honeymoon period at the beginning, when he scored a couple and made a few assists, is long gone. Premier League quality managers and defenders have worked him out and exposed him as something of a one trick pony - push the ball past his man and sprint. But he needs space to do that and he's rarely allowed it thus rendering him ineffective. He has little else to his game in terms of trickery and flair to beat a man and his end product has diminished drastically.

I can see United sending him out on loan if he doesn't markedly improve but, being honest, I just don't see what else he has to offer other than pace and decent work rate. Have a miserable feeling that his time with United is not going to end well and that he might well be sold as United seek to cut their losses. Really hope I'm wrong.
 
Yankee_Jack

Yankee_Jack

Key Player
He has speed but not the guile and timing of Montero, who was a one trick pony but what a trick. Montero needed to the double and triple teamed, James not so much. James is also handicapped because his team mates do not look for him and feed him properly
 
CroJack

CroJack

Key Player
Bad coaching and lack of support.

Manchester United is the wrong place for Dan to be. Ole is not a manager who improves his players and he plays Dan on the right wing, which is criminal imho. And despite losing his father and moving from U23 and some Championship football to a big club, the club in a big mess, and where expectations are huge, he managed to score three goals and add six assists to his goal tally. He also scored one goal for United in the Europa League. After the Covid lockdown he hasn't played much, and if he had played who says he wouldn't have scored three more goals and have had four more assists. We'll never know but 7 goals and 10 assists would be some respectable numbers for a young winger in his first season in the Premier League. Mo Salah scored two and had one assist in fifteen appearances for Chelsea in his first season in the PL.

Pablo Hernandez stats, when he has played for Valencia, Swansea and Leeds (under Monk), are not different to those of Dan James. But since Bielsa took over at Leeds Pablo has suddenly become a warrior, a machine, and a totally differnt player: 12 goals and 12 assists in his first season with Bielsa. And who knows how many key passes he has fed Bamford with, Bamford who fluffed most chances of all strikers in all English leagues in 2019/20 season.

Give Dan James to Bielsa and be ready to watch an incredible transformation of a player who lacks confidence and who is a laughing stock on the social media to a player who is full of confidence and who is both a goal and assist machine.
 
Yankee_Jack

Yankee_Jack

Key Player
Like Sinclair, James is a player that would have benefit immensely from somebody like Laudrup. Sinclair squandered himself as a practice only player at City. Unless he finds a gear, or expands his repertoire, James is heading in that direction also.
 
ivoralljack

ivoralljack

Grizzled Veteran
Staff member
Reading that United now want to sell Dan as they're not convinced he has what it takes to establish himself in their first team. Was hooked (again) in the 69th minute against Brighton having failed (again) miserably to make an impact. He was okay again but any top 6 club expect far more than 'okay'. He just doesn't impose his game on matches; doesn't excite or threaten like Greenwood for instance.

That said, it's been noticeable that team mates continually ignore the runs that he makes. I don't know why but it might be that they just don't have any confidence in him. Hope it works out but, as has been said, perhaps Bielsa would get a tune out of him. OGS certainly can't right now.
 
Yankee_Jack

Yankee_Jack

Key Player
It's been pretty obvious from Day 1 in matches that James is a square peg in a round hole club. After a brief honeymoon period, where he was almost all United had offensively, his team mates would either feed him late or never feed him at all .... rather than being the go to guy, his team mates seem reticent to give him the ball, instead preferring to do a 180 and switch the ball across the field. In goal celebrations, he was always the last player to be admitted into the huddle to celebrate and congratulate, and on his goals the celebration was decidedly lukewarm. There is a noticeable reticence to look for and feed James in ways he could be most damaging and he's never seem to have found cooperation and linkage with his full back ... I'd almost say the FB finds him an inconvenience and in the way preventing the FB from going forward.

On the other hand, he appears to lack imagination and vision on where the ball is going in the box when it's coming in from his opposite wing - he either doesn't make a move or is late and fails to connect on a cross. He walks when he should be jogging. He's on his heels to often when he should be on the balls of his feet ready and anticipating. I don't care how fast you are, if you're not ready to move, you can't.
 
ivoralljack

ivoralljack

Grizzled Veteran
Staff member
I noticed the huddle business early on as well. It was as though the others were reluctant to let him in and he had to gatecrash the party. His team mates definitely don't play to him and very often just ignore his runs. Has seemed a misfit/outsider for some time and I wonder why. Read some twitter stuff where the United supporters were giving him grief about his performances but, interestingly, there were a number of them who felt, like us, that his team mates aren't giving him a fair crack. Again, I wonder why.
 
CroJack

CroJack

Key Player
ivoralljack said:
I noticed the huddle business early on as well. It was as though the others were reluctant to let him in and he had to gatecrash the party. His team mates definitely don't play to him and very often just ignore his runs. Has seemed a misfit/outsider for some time and I wonder why. Read some twitter stuff where the United supporters were giving him grief about his performances but, interestingly, there were a number of them who felt, like us, that his team mates aren't giving him a fair crack. Again, I wonder why.
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Manchester United are the wrong club for him. He should have signed for Borussia Dortmund or Liverpool instead. He needs someone like Jurgen who knows how to support and develop young players. Or any club with a manager who can use his pace on the LEFT wing and improve his shooting. Also, Manchester United players are a bunch of p*****. There is a lot of jalousy over there, the vast majority of them are on £200.000+ a week, and when Dan is playing on the left wing either Martial or Rashford can't play. Ole has used him most on the right wing until Greenwood showed he was a bigger talent than Dan. Manchester United is a too big club for Dan who had played only 6 months of the Championship football before he signed for them. He has basically jumped from a small club's U23 into starting XI at one of the biggest clubs in world football.
 
Jackflash

Jackflash

Midfield General
Staff member
Yankee_Jack said:
He has speed but not the guile and timing of Montero, who was a one trick pony but what a trick. Montero needed to the double and triple teamed, James not so much. James is also handicapped because his team mates do not look for him and feed him properly
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Yes, Montero's game was totally different, never relied on pace, he would in fact slow his wide game down, taunting and tempting defenders out of the box, then having the confidence to beat them, and eliminating the possibility of offside by putting his cross in from the dead ball line..
 
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