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Reece James

nonotnowjim said:
I can't get behind the talk around a move to cdm.

We have few true world class players for their positions. But Reece on form, is top 3 RWBs in the world. Seems mad to take one of the best in the world in their respective position and play them somewhere else. 
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100%

I don't like playing defenders in other positions, I remember the same conversation about moving David Luiz in midfield, and it didn't work. Only this time Reece is actually an excellent wingback, keep him where he is and buy actual midfielders that are you know... MIDFIELDERS. 

 
dermott said:
Agreed in terms of RWB. We'll have to wait and see whether Pochettino favours WBs. 
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He favors high attacking full backs. It's going to be interesting given the whole inverted fullback/CB phenomenon we are currently seeing. Always thought James would thrive in a RCM/RW role which could be done even whilst at RB. 

 
dkw said:
It's as daft as those who were desperate to see him play CB last few seasons. He's one of the best wing backs in the game, how about we just play him there.
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Outside CB in a back three isn't that far off being fullback, Azpi was probably at his best offensively in that position.

 
axman2526 said:
Would require a 4-3-3 system rather than Pochettino 4-2-3-1 system I feel.

Kepa

Gusto

Silva

Colwill

Chilwell

James

Caicedo 

Enzo

Jackson

Nkunku

Sterling
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I think the big question is what do you want Reece to do? If you say he will play mostly between the line offensively.  Is James better than Nkunku/conor/carney in this role? 

If you say I want Reece to sit deeper and let gusto push up. Surely you want  Reece to go up more than gusto. 

If you say I want Reece to stay as rw, why bother with 433, it is basically 343, and why bother with gusto surely chalo/Fofana is better as RCB. 

 
The only thing that worries me with Reece is his injuries. Tremendous player, I just hope we can keep him fit. He's one of the best players we have right now. Anyone know if he has had the surgery?

 
No reports of surgery. Surgeons at the time decided against surgery on the knee that kept him out of the WC.

 
enigma said:
The only thing that worries me with Reece is his injuries. Tremendous player, I just hope we can keep him fit. He's one of the best players we have right now. Anyone know if he has had the surgery?
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This all day. I did a breakdown in another thread about our injury issues. Over the past two seasons, James has missed more games to injury than Pulisic. That’s pretty scary honestly 

 
Reece's Dad was on a podcast yesterday called "The Beautiful Game" - it's worth a listen. Close to 2 hours of him talking about Reece and Lauren's careers to this point. Some really interesting stuff about the Wigan loan in there, and Reece's ambition to be captain.

 
Reece seems to be saying and doing all the right things to be the next captain. The tweet against Arsenal and his dad constantly saying he wants to work for the captaincy. Looks to be leading the pack in a lot of the new training pics too.

Not 100% convinced he's got the personality for it but suppose we wouldn't know until we try it. I always like a John Terry-esque vocal captain, Reece strikes me as more a Kante type captain. Give him the added pressure and see if he steps up to the challenge imo. Or Silva captain and Reece vice-captain until he retires. 

 
Argo said:
The video introducing himself to Kouli last summer alone shows he's worthy of being the club captain.

There's more to that role than shouting and throwing your weight about.
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So you say there's more to the role than we see weak in week out but summarise he's good enough based off a 12 second video of him meeting a player?

 
RIP Mourinho said:
So you say there's more to the role than we see weak in week out but summarise he's good enough based off a 12 second video of him meeting a player?
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One of the "more to the role" things is mentality.

For example, someone who says "ready to win trophies" to a new signing is a clear better candidate than someone who says "we score goals in training" to defend a relegation.

 
RIP Mourinho said:
So you say there's more to the role than we see weak in week out but summarise he's good enough based off a 12 second video of him meeting a player?
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For me it's everything about Reece. 

Off the pitch he's humble, he does a tonne of quiet charity work, in short he's a role model. He represents our brand well. His social media work is exactly what you want, no drama, no controversy, no noise. 

On the pitch, all I see is someone who is passionate, will be first to square up against an opponent but stays calm. 

I don't know what others don't see in him. The only drawback is that I want my captain playing 30+ league games a season. 

 
Argo said:
One of the "more to the role" things is mentality.

For example, someone who says "ready to win trophies" to a new signing is a clear better candidate than someone who says "we score goals in training" to defend a relegation.
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I said this to my Sunday league team before we finished 6th out of 8 teams last season. Just don't see how that alone says he's captain material. I've said above i'd make him vice-captain and see how he does when Silva isn't there to organise the team. He'll either rise to the occasion and flourish or he'll be more of a Kante/Azpi type leader which imo isn't enough.

Not really sure what relevance the comment about Rice while away with England has to do either? He's an Arsenal player and not in the running to be Chelsea captain as far as I'm aware so seems strange to bring up here.

 
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What is the job of captain at a premier league club? What was it that Terry added that we haven't really had since? Reece isn't much of a talker on the field but maybe the captains job is off the field. On the field I feel the tone is mostly set by the drive from the midfield or possibly from a central back, or in Harry Kane's case from up front. Somehow, even on TV the character comes through. I don't recall many wide players as captain.

I do think Reece comes across as one of the stronger characters in the team. Maybe he is the wide player thats the exception in terms of captaincy.

 
He’s our best player. I think a year under Sliva would help him. Though I don’t think Sliva speaks English does he? Or very basic..

 
For the record, he speaks Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian, and is learning English. There is more to captaincy than being fluent in a language.

 
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