Reece James

So for you it's purely down to age and no consideration of the wide range of different injuries he has suffered, or the amount of games missed? As I said previously I don't completely buy the argument or the hope that as he gets older he will become more robust. If anything it's likely to be the reverse.

I wouldn't sell either because I don't think you should be selling your top performing players regardless of whether they're 23 or 29/30 hence my stance on Kante.
For me age has a lot to say yes. Kante was past his prime, James have likely not entered his yet.

Bar the Champions League run I never thought Kante had that much impact on our last three-four seasons going back to Sarri. Some fantastic performances yes but always injury ridden and us depending on him and therefore never addressing the midfield which hurt us. Tuchel trusted him to stay fit last season for example after a specialized program for him the entire summer and it was a major backfire.

 
My take on Poch's words, was that he is not coming back until he is right. I don't think he wants to push it.

 
No one is saying put him up for sale, but if he continues getting injured and missing large chunks of games the club’s hands will be forced. Fingers crossed we don’t have to cross that road, but if hypothetically we miss out on Europe next season and the club needs to strengthen he might be a prime candidate if they want to further strengthen the team.

You can’t have your highest earner missing 40%+ of games. 

I'd rather he wasn't rushed back in any way, get this sorted as we now have a decent player we can hopefully rely on to cover. 

As for selling him, absolutely not a chance on hell, he's one of the best players in his position,  we sell him and he gets himself sorted we would hugely regret it. We don't need to sell, so don't.
Is this based on 2 seasons ago? The fullback role is getting phased out of modern football, so I am not sure that counts for much. Hypothetically if he was up for the sale today, the only offers on the table might be from Utd & maybe Bayern. Everyone else has moved on from that role.

 
No one is saying put him up for sale, but if he continues getting injured and missing large chunks of games the club’s hands will be forced. Fingers crossed we don’t have to cross that road, but if hypothetically we miss out on Europe next season and the club needs to strengthen he might be a prime candidate if they want to further strengthen the team.

You can’t have your highest earner missing 40%+ of games. 

Is this based on 2 seasons ago? The fullback role is getting phased out of modern football, so I am not sure that counts for much. Hypothetically if he was up for the sale today, the only offers on the table might be from Utd & maybe Bayern. Everyone else has moved on from that role.
No, it's based on him being one of the best wing backs in would football, not a full back.

 
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For me age has a lot to say yes. Kante was past his prime, James have likely not entered his yet.

Bar the Champions League run I never thought Kante had that much impact on our last three-four seasons going back to Sarri. Some fantastic performances yes but always injury ridden and us depending on him and therefore never addressing the midfield which hurt us. Tuchel trusted him to stay fit last season for example after a specialized program for him the entire summer and it was a major backfire.
If any player is unable to play regularly it will be hard to make an impact on the ENTIRE season. That's just common sense. Be it Kante at 30 or James at 23.

What doesn't change, if they are one of your most gifted players, (in Kante's case a bonafide world class player), is the impact they will make when they can play. And Kante proved that time and time and time again. It has nothing at all to do with age.

 
This may sound harsh, but the reality is that he needs to lose between 1 and 2 stone or he is going to continue with injuries. Otherwise we need to consider our options. A good quality right back that is available all the time is better than a world class one available only half the time. 

 
Is this based on 2 seasons ago? The fullback role is getting phased out of modern football, so I am not sure that counts for much. Hypothetically if he was up for the sale today, the only offers on the table might be from Utd & maybe Bayern. Everyone else has moved on from that role.
He can very much play the 'inverted' role, he was doing just that under Tuchel in the Autumn of 21 before it became a (massive) thing and even under Lampard he often drifted into the centre areas at times (case in point his Brighton goal or assist to Tammy vs Villa).

Forget 'can' play it, if it weren't for the injuries he'd probably be known as the player who started it.

 
Out for a month. 

- West Ham

- Luton

- Wimbledon (League Cup)

- Forest

- Bournemouth

- Villa

- League Cup R3
Actually you are wrong. There is an international break from September 2nd to the 15th . So if its a month he should be back for Bournemouth 

 
This may sound harsh, but the reality is that he needs to lose between 1 and 2 stone or he is going to continue with injuries. 
Not going to be easy to shift 1-2 stone when you already look like this :

NINTCHDBPICT000753940815.jpg


 
Maybe he could adapt his game to his body.

Obviously the modern full-back requirement is to make constant runs forward as much as the match allows but I wouldn't have any problems if he were to play more defensively and to focus less on sprinting forward, Ivanovic was a monster defensively and nobody cared how he crossed the ball.

 
I don't think it's that, there have been plenty of big players that never had these issues. Adama Traore is huge but he doesn't get that many injuries. You also have smaller players that pick up injuries too, like Kante. Wilshere's career was ruined because of injuries and he wasn't a big player. 

I don't think James can easily lose that muscle either, most of it is just his natural build. Look at his sister, she is exactly the same.
Does his sister get the same amount of injuries? Just curious lol. 

Am sure he could lose 5-10kg and work on his hip mobility and hamstrings etc? 

Is it his diet thats the problem? 

Too many uncertainties but the good news is gusto is a solid RB and is getting his experience. Disasi can also play RB. 

Also, I feel we should start subbing on reece james instead of starting that might make a difference in his performance and injuries

 
Not going to be easy to shift 1-2 stone when you already look like this :

I don't think it has anything at all to do with his weight. 

Gazza never looked slim and svelte at any point in his playing career. Same for modern day players like Michail Antonio and Adama Traore. 

 
This is definitely something we need to have a very serious conversation about. 

I'm very very far from an expert but what's the remedy here? I've heard that he's been due for surgery for a long time, would it be worth just keeping him out for 6+ months so he can come back in better shape? Maybe that's a very cartoon version of looking at it but as I said I don't have a f**king monkeys about it. 

I can't see us selling James, because if it ever gets to that point no top club would want to touch him anyway just due to his injury record, so he's going to remain our player regardless. But I can't even remember the last time this kid did 90 minutes. Something else just struck me also, he's been injured for all the major England tournaments, it's just normal. As people are saying, we could be looking at a Jack Wilshere situation here. 

 
This is definitely something we need to have a very serious conversation about. 

I'm very very far from an expert but what's the remedy here? I've heard that he's been due for surgery for a long time, would it be worth just keeping him out for 6+ months so he can come back in better shape? Maybe that's a very cartoon version of looking at it but as I said I don't have a f**king monkeys about it. 

I can't see us selling James, because if it ever gets to that point no top club would want to touch him anyway just due to his injury record, so he's going to remain our player regardless. But I can't even remember the last time this kid did 90 minutes. Something else just struck me also, he's been injured for all the major England tournaments, it's just normal. As people are saying, we could be looking at a Jack Wilshere situation here. 
He has been examined by specialists several times. They haven't deemed surgery necessary. Or, perhaps, they've said surgery won't fix the problem, whatever it is. 

 
I also think our medical department are culpable in this situation.  This isn't the first time a player has been cleared by them and then gets injured on his return. We all know he was removed against Liverpool due to fatigue but may be he should have been given extra rest.

The same thing happened to kante last season and then he had to have surgery. It also happened to chalobah who injured his hamstring in pre season,  was supposedly cleared to resume training and then broke down the same day as James.

 
He has been examined by specialists several times. They haven't deemed surgery necessary. Or, perhaps, they've said surgery won't fix the problem, whatever it is. 
The knee problem, the ankle problem or the hamstring problem?

 
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