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Reece James

Not a fan of wanting to move him into midfield. He still has plenty of learning and looks decent at full back with his ability to get forward and deliver quality into the box.

Personally think that is his natural position but will see. We're lucky to have him

 
He's starting to stop overlapping because of fears of being caught out od position. It leaves him in no man's land in attack and defense which can be a bad habit if it keeps up

 
What i've noticed when he plays further up the pitch, he takes the ball facing Dave, tight to the line, with the opposing player tight to him, he cant use his power and pace, all he does is lay it back, watched this numerous times yesterday.

 
Hasn't been getting many crosses in last few games, and those he has have been from deeper. He seems to have stopped bombing forward as much, probably after he was so exposed in that Bayern game.

 
He needs a natural winger to be operating in front of him hence why he tends to perform so well playing behind CHO, for the last few games we've played with makeshift wingers in Barkley & Mount and therefore Reece is given the responsibility of offering us width, this makes our play predictable and easy to defend against. Having another attacking threat out wide would keep defenders guessing and offer time for Reece and whoever the player out wide is, with Mount & Barkley they like to come in and play Centrally which elevates our threat Centrally but makes defending easier out wide.

 
3 at the back probably isn't helping his cause. Not having a good enough wide attacker ahead of him is likely another reason. This is why we need Pulisic or Hudson-Odoi back, because right now we are relying on Willian and Pedro, and both are nowhere near good enough to combine with Reece.

Relying on James to do all the attacking is never going to work. The defence in general is shaky at the moment. The midfield is lacking with Kante missing. Our attack has been staggered due to who isn't available. This is why I can't wait to see Ziycech in his side. A high quality, creative, natural left footer will immediately open up attacking opportunities at RW. 

 
Imran_CFC said:
He needs a natural winger to be operating in front of him hence why he tends to perform so well playing behind CHO, for the last few games we've played with makeshift wingers in Barkley & Mount and therefore Reece is given the responsibility of offering us width, this makes our play predictable and easy to defend against. Having another attacking threat out wide would keep defenders guessing and offer time for Reece and whoever the player out wide is, with Mount & Barkley they like to come in and play Centrally which elevates our threat Centrally but makes defending easier out wide.
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I don't think Mount & Barkley are playing as wingers but attacking midfielders to break using Giroud's knock-downs. The wide backs are meant to provide the width.

Notice our first goal came from Giroud connecting with James's cross hitting the crossbar for Alonso to convert from the rebound.

Pedro made some clever runs on Saturday and notice when we were playing using the interplay with wide players, neither CHO or Willian had runners to open up space or just didn't find them.

The thing I have noticed the last two matches is our older players are playing more effectively than our younger players, the only exception is James. The worrying thing for me is nearly all those old players we are expecting to move on in the summer.

 
Strider6003 said:
I don't think Mount & Barkley are playing as wingers but attacking midfielders to break using Giroud's knock-downs. The wide backs are meant to provide the width.

Notice our first goal came from Giroud connecting with James's cross hitting the crossbar for Alonso to convert from the rebound.

Pedro made some clever runs on Saturday and notice when we were playing using the interplay with wide players, neither CHO or Willian had runners to open up space or just didn't find them.

The thing I have noticed the last two matches is our older players are playing more effectively than our younger players, the only exception is James. The worrying thing for me is nearly all those old players we are expecting to move on in the summer.
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The point was more towards Reece being the main threat out wide which I think is making Reece's job very difficult as it's a new role for him and in addition he doesnt have much support out wide, with CHO he always has that option to lay it to CHO or overlap, Mount and Barkley dont offer him that like you stated they are looking to mainly play off Giroud.

 
Imran_CFC said:
The point was more towards Reece being the main threat out wide which I think is making Reece's job very difficult as it's a new role for him and in addition he doesnt have much support out wide, with CHO he always has that option to lay it to CHO or overlap, Mount and Barkley dont offer him that like you stated they are looking to mainly play off Giroud.
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I actually thought James played well on Saturday.

There is a wider point around Azpi playing in the RBC position and whether he needs to move up and support James.

If we does not he leaves a big hole for the opposition to exploit, this happened against Bayern and Gnabry and if he does it becomes just 2 CBs behind him.

With Azpi at times I have noticed him on the left wing and some times players like Willian running back to provide cover on the right.

Frank has to make a call on this assuming he recognises James needs more support.

 
The Young lad didn't seem out of place today when playing in the regista role. I hope we see Frank use James more in that position with the current injury situation.

 
loz said:
Am I the only person left in football who misses the days that we didn't talk about registas and trequartistas?
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I agree Loz. I thought Boris and  Brexit might stop all that sort of thing.

 
robdog said:
The Young lad didn't seem out of place today when playing in the regista role. I hope we see Frank use James more in that position with the current injury situation.
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I think he can play any deeper position and he's doing it better than some of the guys that are older than him!

 
robdog said:
The Young lad didn't seem out of place today when playing in the regista role. I hope we see Frank use James more in that position with the current injury situation.
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He played all right, but it didn't quite feel natural to watch him. I don't think his spacial awareness is quite as pronounced as Gilmour, who's always looking over his shoulder and knows how much time he has before receiving a pass. It was a useful exercise to play RJ in CDM, although I still prefer him out on the right. Then again, Gilmour played so well in that position that anyone coming in would struggle to impress!

 
Shweaves said:
He played all right, but it didn't quite feel natural to watch him. I don't think his spacial awareness is quite as pronounced as Gilmour, who's always looking over his shoulder and knows how much time he has before receiving a pass. It was a useful exercise to play RJ in CDM, although I still prefer him out on the right. Then again, Gilmour played so well in that position that anyone coming in would struggle to impress!
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I would say he did alright too, looked a bit ponderous with the ball in the middle at times though did not lose it. I don't think we should play him there as good teams would target him yet as a makeshift in a match that could be useful, IMO.

 
Strider6003 said:
I would say he did alright too, looked a bit ponderous with the ball in the middle at times though did not lose it. I don't think we should play him there as good teams would target him yet as a makeshift in a match that could be useful, IMO.
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yeah I prefer to keep him at RB, but there may be times where his physicality, or some sort of injury crisis it could be very useful to have him there. Kind of like how there were a few games where Luiz moved from CB to CDM and it turned out quite well.

 
He was used in the middle quite often when he was at Wigan. I think it’s great to have such versatile player! 

 
Shweaves said:
He played all right, but it didn't quite feel natural to watch him. I don't think his spacial awareness is quite as pronounced as Gilmour, who's always looking over his shoulder and knows how much time he has before receiving a pass. It was a useful exercise to play RJ in CDM, although I still prefer him out on the right. Then again, Gilmour played so well in that position that anyone coming in would struggle to impress!
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I would argue that Gilmour looked better playing in more advance position - he couldn't his shot on target, but he did help create a couple of chances - that one to Tino should have been a goal

 
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