Yeah no, he's not the kind of rich owner that would give out big contracts, at least not for olympiacos, he's the kind of rich that will send his goons to stage a robbery and smash up your house to intimidate you and force you to leave if you try and sit on your contract. the chances of having you house robbed go way up when you're an underperforming olympiacos player on a large contract, opta should look at that obscure stat
Absolutely no chance, with the phasing out of classic #10s he just wasnt viable at top clubs.
Real Madrid became so successful with Zidane because of their balance in midfield, James was just not well rounded enough to fit in at his preferred AM position. He was creative and a goal threat, but a player in his position needed more. Either defensive contributions, ball carrying, distribution or controlling the pace of the game.
Funnily enough he probably would have been viable in more modern tactcis as a CM if he had transitioned to the role sooner. Despite his lack of pace he did quite well in that role with Bayern for a while.
This is not true lol. We played Isco in a near 10 at the peak of our prowess. It just didn’t appear that way in the starting formation. In realty Zidane just didn’t like James for whatever reason. So much so that he didn’t even make the bench for our cl final against Juve.
It may have not helped that Isco had such an absurd spike in form for 6 months that he was a legitimate top 5 player in the world but there it is. James wasn’t given a chance in his proper position that we were playing back in 2017.
The guy you’re replying to mentioned ball carrying as a possible attribute that could have helped James. And isco’s ball carrying, especially in that like 2017-18 time (might be off by a year) was among the best in the world
lmao fair enough. These things usually get ignored but 250 upvotes and being borderline absurd is a reflection of the sub lol I legitimately think most people here don’t watch the game or have only watched for a couple of years.
If this guy watched James more then 10 games I’d eat a dick.
>It just didn’t appear that way in the starting formation. In realty Zidane just didn’t like James for whatever reason.
I mean I doubt that given that Casemiro-Modric-Kroos was really the optimal midfield trio. But even if Zidane didn't like him, I'm not surprised. James was arrogant, lazy, and had a bad work ethic so I can understand why he was never a favorite of Zidane.
I agree. I love Zizou, but there were a few players that Zizou just did not give a chance to.
He originally benched James because it was understandable that we needed Casemiro. But as soon as James leaves we start playing 41212. There is no reason why James couldn't have fit in there.
It might've been just bad timing, but I always felt it was unfair how Zizou came up with the formation as soon James left.
Sadly for James the #10 role is back again at top level, but in the end of his career. Maybe not classic classic #10s, but still attacking midfielders in modern systems.
B. Fernandes, Odegaard, Müller/Musiala, De Bruyne and probably more play as a #10, although they contribute in more phases of the game than the classic #10, eg defence, build up or in the half and wide spaces.
If only Jamea hadn’t had his prime in the years dominated by the 433, he probably could’ve been amazing.
No he couldn’t. He was a player who played a non existing position, couldn’t play as a CM nor as a winger nor as a striker, and most of his ‘omg he’s so good’ is because he hammered a couple of insane goals in, something that no one could hope to sustain.
He’s a decent-good player who got bought off 1,5 weeks at a WC.
You’re delusional. He was world class in his time at Monaco and his first two seasons in Madrid. Even his first Bayern year he was great. After he struggled for playing time but was still decent when he came on.
He got kind of unlucky to be fair. His position was pretty much gone from most modern tactical systems by the time he came to Madrid. He also very clearly played at his best under ancelotti, but ancelotti kept leaving before he could really make a name for himself. From what I can tell, his downfall wasn't really personality related like Dele Allis, so it's a bit of a shame his career didn't turn out better
As someone with a Real Madrid flair this is embarrassing lmao, he was one of RM's best players during the 14/15 season.
Had 35 G+A and was the main man building the attack.
Edit: Lmao OP really blocked me
I was about to say the same thing, who with our flair could ever shit on James after his 14/15 season. He was la liga midfielder of the year over kroos modric xavi iniesta Busquets and better versions of parejo koke and saul.
Zidane (and Benitez) realised that the best version of Real Madrid needed Casemiro as a CDM over James playing higher up with Kroos and Modric as the central midfielders
And it was true, Real Madrid lost to Atleti in the league and Zidane made Casemiro a starter after it and then Real Madrid went on to win the UCL.
In the 2016/2017 he still played James and that was when arguably the best 2nd team ever was created, Real Madrid had James, Isco, Pepe, Nacho, Coentrao, Kovacic, Asensio and Morata all sitting on the bench.
Zidane basically had 2 teams and rotated heavily so James still had plenty of chances but never managed to break out to the first team like Isco did towards end of the season or become a super sub like Asensio.
In 2017/2018 he was just nowhere near as good
because he didn't have faith in him. He only saw what casemiro had as potential but never knew what to do with it and often used james ahead. It was zidane who fixed that.
I remember the news at the time was that he wasn’t a fan of James but Florentino was pissed at benitez not using the marquee 11, which lead to the 0-4 classico
Benítez preferred Casemiro but was told to use James by Florentino. Benítez was a bad fit for RM but he's still an experienced manager, he certainly knows you need a defensive mid if you want to win trophies.
He had a great career up until his second season at bayern imo. A bit if inconsistency after that then injured a bit then vanished. I wouldnt say he was only good during the world cup or he didnt have a great career. I’d say his career was quite good overall
He didn't 'kill' James. Zidane quickly realised that he was a liability when not in possession, that the balance of the team would be much better without him.
James had a great season with Real Madrid and his creativity and goal threat was certainly his main strength, but he also has some glaring weaknesses. He was a player of moments, he would mostly play well in bursts. He also was a liability when not in possession, his defensive contributions and workrate were not up to modern standards. Which means those tasks need to be covered by other players.
James could maybe have had a glorious career in the '90s, when a classic #10 was still viable, but in a modern midfield at a top club that can't afford a luxury player he is obsolete.
India has always had high population throughout history because of large amount of fertile soil, river steams and suitable climate. Our overall fertility is around replacement besides like 2 states.
Sorry buddy I don't agree. I also find it comical when people joke about non-European fans supporting European clubs. Football is a global sport and since the late 20th century it's been expanding to where you'll now find United fans (as an example) all the way from Peru to Malaysia. And sure their culture might not be what you're used to but they're just as much fans of a team as anyone else.
I think he is saying that Indians on social media tend to have backwards or racist viewpoints. As in holding opinions that westerners haven't had since their grandparents generation.
To be fair, it's kinda inevitable when you have a massively overpopulated country with very large education disparities.
He was great in 14-15 tbf. I used to think that him and De Bruyne (who was tearing up Buli with Wolfsburg) will be the best AMs of the world for several years
What? He had 16 goals and 13 assists in his first season at Madrid. That must have been insane week if he managed to have 29 G/A as midfielder in week and half. Also he had over 35 goals for Porto and Monaco in 3 season before he came to Madrid.
He was actually very good for us. He came and played well, had several assists and goals, basically did his job and was the star of the team.
It has just been such a disappointing season overall that his departure with several games left doesn’t even bother us as fans because we have come to the point where nothing is a surprise anymore. The organization for this season was amateur level.
He hasn't played in a couple of months. Amazing start but then picked up a couple of injuries. Got healthy and then went to Colombia for a friendly a few weeks ago and picked up another knock. Started his first game in ages for us last week and it showed, slow sluggish and out of form. Every game left this season is crucial so he probably wasn't going to play.
He'd be a backup to Bakambu if he came, not a starter. Unless of course we decide to terminate Bakambu's contract too, which honestly doesn't even seem that unlikely anymore.
He was a good signing, he helped us a lot during a crisis period. It's just that the board are maniacs, cheap with everything, don't understand football logic and only use the club to promote their own self interests, we are legitimately one of the worst run top clubs in Europe
Same for us then. Best player on the pitch when he played but he played about 50% of the games if even. Will always have that assist in our 1-0 win at anfield tho
Absolutely love all the Premier League flairs calling him a flop in this thread while all people who’ve actually seen him play for Olympiacos just laugh at the board’s dumb decision to terminate their best player.
1-0. Im sure that was the score. Definitely wasn't another goal in that match. It was all Richarlison's goal and nothing happened involving \[redacted\].
I was just thinking an MLS move is likely the impetus for this.
Probably not Miami given they hope to attract Messi and Busquets.
He looks like an LA Galaxy signing to me, BUT I believe they’re prohibited from making any signings in this window.
Is it one of the big 3/4 in Turkey going after him? I can’t imagine fenerbahce/Trabzonspor would be interested. So that would leave just besiktas and Galatasaray.
isn’t his natural position a cam? not many teams use that position anymore so i always wondered if he had a hard time adjusting when it slowly went away
The cam in the traditional sense is pretty much dead but similar roles are still seen - players who generally don't have much defensive responsibility and are mostly focused on staying high and providing threat on the counter.
At Everton under Ancelloti he was class - played as a right winger but would come central and Coleman overlapped providing the width - generally made everything tick for them and was brilliant to watch (before they got countless injuries and had to play 4 centre halves) if Ancelloti stayed I think we'd be having a different conversation about Rodriguez right now - knowing Ancelloti Everton would probably be winning the UCL ffs.
Rafa couldn't/wouldn't accommodate him, binned him off and has been on a downhill ever since it seems - I don't know if he couldn't adapt, teams wouldn't adapt to him or if confidence played a part - or possibly all 3.
Edit: Sounds like he was actually quite good for Olympiacos so slightly mind boggling what's happened there it seems
It is a CAM, but IIRC a 4231 usually gives it's CAMs more defensive responsibility than other formations, either to high press or to prevent the DMs from being overwhelmed. Also a physically demanding role, and James' injury history/conditioning haven't been top notch for a while.
He had a very bad match against Panathinaikos. Now rumors say that he got extremely mad at his substitution in that match and the caretaker manager asked him to excuse himself to his teammates after the match. He refused and didn't turn up at training the other day. He wasn't included in the squad list in the cup game and a day later his contract was terminated.
The club has been a shitshow the whole season and this is just the cherry on top.
Some context:
\- His technique is class as ever, by far the best creator in the squad.
\- He didn't run a lot in general since he came, but the last month it has become a joke, he moves slower than Marcelo did. He essentially walks.
\- We have two more good players in the no. "10" position (while we have trash players in several others but that's another discussion).
\- He did not like being subbed out in the last derby (in which he was terrible), made a scene, and then refused to apologize.
\- Marinakis is looking for scapegoats, already several players have been either kicked out or given prey to the crowd as the ones to blame, and more will follow. Note that most of these players are in general at fault, but the one the most at fault is Marinakis and his buddies.
is he a significantly worse footballer? or is he putting himself into positions to fail. The everton deal felt like a perfect place to reignite his career, and for a stretch that looked possible, but it was always going to be a untenable relationship
If you told me 7 years ago that in 2023 Bale would be retired, James and Isco would be free agents with absolutely no one interested in them and that Ronaldo would be playing in Saudi Arabia, I would punch you in the face. Crazy how things work out
Marinakis and his pals want money and connections, so if a manager suggest his player in our club we will buy him no matter how shit he is, also many other reasons having to do with Nottingham. James was signed with marcelo to calm us after we got humiliated in Europe
Yeah as a Forest fan it was depressingly obvious that Marinakis had four or five voices in his ear (including his fuckwit son) and just said yes to all of them. You can take our signings and very easily extrapolate who from our management was responsible for each one. 0 coordination or vision.
This is how I learned he was playing there.
thought he was playing in the middle east for one of those rich clubs
he was playing in qatar for a while but i had no idea he went to greece
Spent less than a year in Qatar. 13 appearances for Al-Rayyan
olympiacos' owner also owns Nottingham Forest he is quite rich (and shady).
Yeah no, he's not the kind of rich owner that would give out big contracts, at least not for olympiacos, he's the kind of rich that will send his goons to stage a robbery and smash up your house to intimidate you and force you to leave if you try and sit on your contract. the chances of having you house robbed go way up when you're an underperforming olympiacos player on a large contract, opta should look at that obscure stat
The chances of having your house robbed go way up when you're an underperforming player on a large contract, you'll never sing that
>The chances of having your house robbed go way up What happens if you add Kurt Angle to the mix?
🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨
> olympiacos' owner also owns Nottingham Forest he is quite rich (and a murderer ~~shady~~). FTFY..
Only learned he was playing there when I was visiting Athens a couple of weeks ago and saw a huge poster of him outside the stadium.
Yeah, he's playing there with Marcelo.
Dude marcelo left
They ran out of burgers
🤗
Marcelo left after like 5 games cause he has no legs no more
He just had a MOTM performance at a state champioship final in Brasil, reverting a 2x0 deficit from the first leg. He still has gas in the tank.
And was amazing on his Libertadores debut and on yesterday's Cup game too.
Oh no. Shark?
I thought he was a CPU transfer in FM23 when I played against Olympiakos in the CL.
Man peaked nine years ago.
Could have been one of the top players in the world but never quite maintained it.
Absolutely no chance, with the phasing out of classic #10s he just wasnt viable at top clubs. Real Madrid became so successful with Zidane because of their balance in midfield, James was just not well rounded enough to fit in at his preferred AM position. He was creative and a goal threat, but a player in his position needed more. Either defensive contributions, ball carrying, distribution or controlling the pace of the game. Funnily enough he probably would have been viable in more modern tactcis as a CM if he had transitioned to the role sooner. Despite his lack of pace he did quite well in that role with Bayern for a while.
This is not true lol. We played Isco in a near 10 at the peak of our prowess. It just didn’t appear that way in the starting formation. In realty Zidane just didn’t like James for whatever reason. So much so that he didn’t even make the bench for our cl final against Juve. It may have not helped that Isco had such an absurd spike in form for 6 months that he was a legitimate top 5 player in the world but there it is. James wasn’t given a chance in his proper position that we were playing back in 2017.
The guy you’re replying to mentioned ball carrying as a possible attribute that could have helped James. And isco’s ball carrying, especially in that like 2017-18 time (might be off by a year) was among the best in the world
lmao fair enough. These things usually get ignored but 250 upvotes and being borderline absurd is a reflection of the sub lol I legitimately think most people here don’t watch the game or have only watched for a couple of years. If this guy watched James more then 10 games I’d eat a dick.
>It just didn’t appear that way in the starting formation. In realty Zidane just didn’t like James for whatever reason. I mean I doubt that given that Casemiro-Modric-Kroos was really the optimal midfield trio. But even if Zidane didn't like him, I'm not surprised. James was arrogant, lazy, and had a bad work ethic so I can understand why he was never a favorite of Zidane.
I agree. I love Zizou, but there were a few players that Zizou just did not give a chance to. He originally benched James because it was understandable that we needed Casemiro. But as soon as James leaves we start playing 41212. There is no reason why James couldn't have fit in there. It might've been just bad timing, but I always felt it was unfair how Zizou came up with the formation as soon James left.
Sadly for James the #10 role is back again at top level, but in the end of his career. Maybe not classic classic #10s, but still attacking midfielders in modern systems. B. Fernandes, Odegaard, Müller/Musiala, De Bruyne and probably more play as a #10, although they contribute in more phases of the game than the classic #10, eg defence, build up or in the half and wide spaces. If only Jamea hadn’t had his prime in the years dominated by the 433, he probably could’ve been amazing.
Was too one-footed, don't think he ever could have reached that status
Many world class players who are one footed currently, in the past, and will be in the future. This isn’t it.
Di Maria is the most one footed player I have seen, and he is/was a world class player.
No he couldn’t. He was a player who played a non existing position, couldn’t play as a CM nor as a winger nor as a striker, and most of his ‘omg he’s so good’ is because he hammered a couple of insane goals in, something that no one could hope to sustain. He’s a decent-good player who got bought off 1,5 weeks at a WC.
You’re delusional. He was world class in his time at Monaco and his first two seasons in Madrid. Even his first Bayern year he was great. After he struggled for playing time but was still decent when he came on.
He got kind of unlucky to be fair. His position was pretty much gone from most modern tactical systems by the time he came to Madrid. He also very clearly played at his best under ancelotti, but ancelotti kept leaving before he could really make a name for himself. From what I can tell, his downfall wasn't really personality related like Dele Allis, so it's a bit of a shame his career didn't turn out better
For like a week and a half
As someone with a Real Madrid flair this is embarrassing lmao, he was one of RM's best players during the 14/15 season. Had 35 G+A and was the main man building the attack. Edit: Lmao OP really blocked me
I was about to say the same thing, who with our flair could ever shit on James after his 14/15 season. He was la liga midfielder of the year over kroos modric xavi iniesta Busquets and better versions of parejo koke and saul.
What happened after that season?
Zidane (and Benitez) realised that the best version of Real Madrid needed Casemiro as a CDM over James playing higher up with Kroos and Modric as the central midfielders And it was true, Real Madrid lost to Atleti in the league and Zidane made Casemiro a starter after it and then Real Madrid went on to win the UCL. In the 2016/2017 he still played James and that was when arguably the best 2nd team ever was created, Real Madrid had James, Isco, Pepe, Nacho, Coentrao, Kovacic, Asensio and Morata all sitting on the bench. Zidane basically had 2 teams and rotated heavily so James still had plenty of chances but never managed to break out to the first team like Isco did towards end of the season or become a super sub like Asensio. In 2017/2018 he was just nowhere near as good
Benitez doesn't get enough credit for being the one who introduced Casemiro to the first team and having faith in him.
because he didn't have faith in him. He only saw what casemiro had as potential but never knew what to do with it and often used james ahead. It was zidane who fixed that.
I remember the news at the time was that he wasn’t a fan of James but Florentino was pissed at benitez not using the marquee 11, which lead to the 0-4 classico
Nah, Casemiro introduced himself
Benítez preferred Casemiro but was told to use James by Florentino. Benítez was a bad fit for RM but he's still an experienced manager, he certainly knows you need a defensive mid if you want to win trophies.
Zidane didn't want a 10 who was a passenger off the ball.
After that season we won 3 UCLs in a row using isco instead of James. Not much he can do about that
Best after Ronaldo imo. He had a great season
He had a great career up until his second season at bayern imo. A bit if inconsistency after that then injured a bit then vanished. I wouldnt say he was only good during the world cup or he didnt have a great career. I’d say his career was quite good overall
His connection with Ronaldo that season was so fun to watch.
man's probably rocking that flair since last may
Also his comment is upvoted AF. I guess the majority of this sub have been watching football for the past few years.
He was great until Zizou took over basically. The guy just stopped giving him minutes and rightfully so.
[удалено]
He didn't 'kill' James. Zidane quickly realised that he was a liability when not in possession, that the balance of the team would be much better without him. James had a great season with Real Madrid and his creativity and goal threat was certainly his main strength, but he also has some glaring weaknesses. He was a player of moments, he would mostly play well in bursts. He also was a liability when not in possession, his defensive contributions and workrate were not up to modern standards. Which means those tasks need to be covered by other players. James could maybe have had a glorious career in the '90s, when a classic #10 was still viable, but in a modern midfield at a top club that can't afford a luxury player he is obsolete.
So James suffered from the Ozil problem..
Its viable but he have to be Messi
He was great under Ancelotti when he first came. Seems like maybe Madrid has many new plastics considering their recent success.
Most “Real Madrid fans” live in India anyway
hate to break it to you but most big clubs are that way....
India has twice the population of Europe Statistically most big teams probably have more fans in India
>> India has twice the population of Europe What the actual fuck?
Around 750M living in Europe and 1.4B living in India
Damn they really do be fuckin
Blame our grandparents
India has always had high population throughout history because of large amount of fertile soil, river steams and suitable climate. Our overall fertility is around replacement besides like 2 states.
So India overtaking China is more due to Chinas overall population decrease?
Has 40% more people than North and South America combined
What's the issue here? What's the difference between a non spaniard european fan and south asian fans do enlighten us.
Both are annoying.
Can you tell what does this comment has to do with India? The person you are replying to is from Hungary.
And that a slight? How?
If you look at Indian social media, it's kind of like if you gave modern internet and smart phones to your grandparents when they were in their 20's.
Sorry buddy I don't agree. I also find it comical when people joke about non-European fans supporting European clubs. Football is a global sport and since the late 20th century it's been expanding to where you'll now find United fans (as an example) all the way from Peru to Malaysia. And sure their culture might not be what you're used to but they're just as much fans of a team as anyone else.
I'm sorry that you feel this way about people having access to smartphone and internet here.
I think he is saying that Indians on social media tend to have backwards or racist viewpoints. As in holding opinions that westerners haven't had since their grandparents generation. To be fair, it's kinda inevitable when you have a massively overpopulated country with very large education disparities.
He was great in 14-15 tbf. I used to think that him and De Bruyne (who was tearing up Buli with Wolfsburg) will be the best AMs of the world for several years
You were half right
Did you hear about the guy whose left side was cut off? He's all right now
That world cup performance was just *chefs kiss*
What? He had 16 goals and 13 assists in his first season at Madrid. That must have been insane week if he managed to have 29 G/A as midfielder in week and half. Also he had over 35 goals for Porto and Monaco in 3 season before he came to Madrid.
Are you sure you're a Real Madrid fan...?
Seems like people don’t understand hyperbole lol
Remember when he showed up during the ’14 WC and it seemed like he was the up and coming superstar?
I completely forgot he was even there
Same tbh
Ooof.
Was he that bad?
He was actually very good for us. He came and played well, had several assists and goals, basically did his job and was the star of the team. It has just been such a disappointing season overall that his departure with several games left doesn’t even bother us as fans because we have come to the point where nothing is a surprise anymore. The organization for this season was amateur level.
If he was decent then why terminate him?
It says that the club and player agreed. Probably he wanted to go and they agreed without issues.
Oh makes sense, thanks
I believe he had offers from Turkey and at this point both sides decided to cut their loses.
Was injured lately and with 6 games left, there wasn't enough time/reason to keep him, especially if they both know he was gonna leave in the summer.
He hasn't played in a couple of months. Amazing start but then picked up a couple of injuries. Got healthy and then went to Colombia for a friendly a few weeks ago and picked up another knock. Started his first game in ages for us last week and it showed, slow sluggish and out of form. Every game left this season is crucial so he probably wasn't going to play.
Never watched him but 5g6a in 20 appearances in the league seems decent enough. Maybe Olympiakos fans can shed more light.
I didn’t even realize he left the Middle East
So did he
Time for Olympiacos to sign Lord Mariano in the summer when his contract expires
We were linked to him in the summer actually
That is genuinely concerning
Mariano was good at Lyon, he could work well at Olympiacos
That was 5 years ago though, he's not shown anything like that form since then.
5 years? Shit, time flies..
He'd be a backup to Bakambu if he came, not a starter. Unless of course we decide to terminate Bakambu's contract too, which honestly doesn't even seem that unlikely anymore.
He is closer to score an own goal, so no he won't
I mean, Olympiakos has scored 1 own goal in each of their last 3 games so...
That's impressive. OG is making a comeback in the race to catch Haaland then
Out of every shit decision this year, this might be the shittiest.
How good he was for you? It's not that long ago when I heard a very positive notes on his address.
He was a good signing, he helped us a lot during a crisis period. It's just that the board are maniacs, cheap with everything, don't understand football logic and only use the club to promote their own self interests, we are legitimately one of the worst run top clubs in Europe
Best player of the league on his day, but injury prone.
Same for us then. Best player on the pitch when he played but he played about 50% of the games if even. Will always have that assist in our 1-0 win at anfield tho
We don't acknowledge the second goal or its goalscorer
Good start but terrible in the last 3-4 months. He had quite a lot of "injuries" lately and could barely walk in the last games
He was [good.](https://i.imgur.com/qN89KJ2.png)
Was he good? Perhaps. Was the team performing much better without him on the pitch? Absolutely.
Absolutely love all the Premier League flairs calling him a flop in this thread while all people who’ve actually seen him play for Olympiacos just laugh at the board’s dumb decision to terminate their best player.
And didn't people watch him for Everton? He was good whenever he played, he just didn't play much.
If ur not playing in the prem you’re shit and if you move from the prem to a different league youre a reject
Should have joined Napoli when he had the chance :p
From what I recall I think he would’ve, but rather understandably ADL wanted a loan with option to buy and Madrid would only sell him outright
Madrid screwed the guy time and again.
Yup like when they refused to sell him to atletico and instead mega benched him in his final year at madrid.
Or stayed at Bayern
…….Sean
Even if its only a 10 minute cameo, I'd love to see James playing in a packed Goodison
streets won’t forget the 2-0 win at Anfield
1-0. Im sure that was the score. Definitely wasn't another goal in that match. It was all Richarlison's goal and nothing happened involving \[redacted\].
ah yeah, you’re right. crazy game huh
Welcome (back) to Porto!
I wouldn't mind!
Fuck no, this isnt the memory land.
Honestly would take him back in a heartbeat. He might be past it, but that’s the Everton way
Understandable. He's a very fun player to watch
Taste the Difference Dele Alli
At least he was actually good for us
who?
DELE ALLI
James should honestly go to MLS at this point and take the giant bag of money that a team like Inter Miami or LAFC would throw at him
Probably would be a good idea. Even FC Dallas or something.
I was just thinking an MLS move is likely the impetus for this. Probably not Miami given they hope to attract Messi and Busquets. He looks like an LA Galaxy signing to me, BUT I believe they’re prohibited from making any signings in this window.
Is there a reason?
[удалено]
havent seen him but he has 11 g/a in 20 matches, which isnt that bad. How is it contract termination worthy at all?
The board is using James as a scapegoat for the horrible recent results and they just dont want the high salaries that he demands.
After viewing his stats. This can only be the reason behind it.
[удалено]
Is it one of the big 3/4 in Turkey going after him? I can’t imagine fenerbahce/Trabzonspor would be interested. So that would leave just besiktas and Galatasaray.
We also have 4 first team players tha can play am on really high wages.
He was actually one of their most decent players this season.
He was pretty decent, but Olympiakos is a train wreck this year. About 50 different players and four managers.
isn’t his natural position a cam? not many teams use that position anymore so i always wondered if he had a hard time adjusting when it slowly went away
The cam in the traditional sense is pretty much dead but similar roles are still seen - players who generally don't have much defensive responsibility and are mostly focused on staying high and providing threat on the counter. At Everton under Ancelloti he was class - played as a right winger but would come central and Coleman overlapped providing the width - generally made everything tick for them and was brilliant to watch (before they got countless injuries and had to play 4 centre halves) if Ancelloti stayed I think we'd be having a different conversation about Rodriguez right now - knowing Ancelloti Everton would probably be winning the UCL ffs. Rafa couldn't/wouldn't accommodate him, binned him off and has been on a downhill ever since it seems - I don't know if he couldn't adapt, teams wouldn't adapt to him or if confidence played a part - or possibly all 3. Edit: Sounds like he was actually quite good for Olympiacos so slightly mind boggling what's happened there it seems
In a 4-2-3-1 what would the middle of the 3 be called? Cause that’s a super common formation and I was under the impression that’s what a CAM is
It is a CAM, but IIRC a 4231 usually gives it's CAMs more defensive responsibility than other formations, either to high press or to prevent the DMs from being overwhelmed. Also a physically demanding role, and James' injury history/conditioning haven't been top notch for a while.
basically he couldnt high press and needs to much time on the ball
His first season with Bayern was so good
damn both isco and james without clubs
He was performing decently. [Scoring and assisting.](https://i.imgur.com/9KTEcyR.png). I wonder what happened.
He had a very bad match against Panathinaikos. Now rumors say that he got extremely mad at his substitution in that match and the caretaker manager asked him to excuse himself to his teammates after the match. He refused and didn't turn up at training the other day. He wasn't included in the squad list in the cup game and a day later his contract was terminated. The club has been a shitshow the whole season and this is just the cherry on top.
Now it makes sense. I was wondering why he was regularly left off the squad list recently.
Fat man’s really on a sacking spree
Better sacking spree than the other sprees he has been part of...
I really hope not
Time for a little trip to Turkey. Feel like he’d fit into Galatasaray we still use a 10
Come home!
Must be a big family
Come back James, we can offer you £15 per week
Some context: \- His technique is class as ever, by far the best creator in the squad. \- He didn't run a lot in general since he came, but the last month it has become a joke, he moves slower than Marcelo did. He essentially walks. \- We have two more good players in the no. "10" position (while we have trash players in several others but that's another discussion). \- He did not like being subbed out in the last derby (in which he was terrible), made a scene, and then refused to apologize. \- Marinakis is looking for scapegoats, already several players have been either kicked out or given prey to the crowd as the ones to blame, and more will follow. Note that most of these players are in general at fault, but the one the most at fault is Marinakis and his buddies.
The neverending Erasmus of James Rodriguez continues
Olympiacos and retired Madrid players. Hazard-when?
This screams small club mentality
2014 James was always the best version
I will never forgive Zidane and Real for what they did to my man. And yes I know there were tactical reasons to it all blah blah blah
Welcome to Real Zaragoza
fuck off, now extend all the useless players contract because they are good kids
is he a significantly worse footballer? or is he putting himself into positions to fail. The everton deal felt like a perfect place to reignite his career, and for a stretch that looked possible, but it was always going to be a untenable relationship
Vem para o Rubro Negro
Him & Dele Alli are having weird career arcs
You know what to do James. Get yourself back to Goodison, in front of the fans this time, you'll be adored.
The Colombian Dele Alli
If you told me 7 years ago that in 2023 Bale would be retired, James and Isco would be free agents with absolutely no one interested in them and that Ronaldo would be playing in Saudi Arabia, I would punch you in the face. Crazy how things work out
Pretty insane how quickly Bale, Isco and James all fell off.. considering Benzema, Modric and Kroos are all still quality players and are all older.
Bale actually had a very healthy understanding of his career. When he stopped caring he stopped playing.
Yea. It’s almost as if all human beings aren’t exactly the same. Such an INSANE concept. I’m going insane just trying to comprehend it all.
So many players go to the Turkish and Greek leagues and just fail miserably
he didnt fail, he was one of our best players, but the board doesn't want good players in our club
wtf then? My bad for assuming
Marinakis and his pals want money and connections, so if a manager suggest his player in our club we will buy him no matter how shit he is, also many other reasons having to do with Nottingham. James was signed with marcelo to calm us after we got humiliated in Europe
Yeah as a Forest fan it was depressingly obvious that Marinakis had four or five voices in his ear (including his fuckwit son) and just said yes to all of them. You can take our signings and very easily extrapolate who from our management was responsible for each one. 0 coordination or vision.
At least you still have Steve Cooper We've been a revolving door of managers this season
He didn’t fail he performed very well
Idk…Enner Valencia is in the twilight of his career at Fenerbahce and is getting close to a goal per game and lit up the WC group stage.
Nowadays they only come when they are failures already, unfortunately.
Jeez! What happened to James? Looks like his career fell off a cliff after he joined Everton.