It’s the 24th day in June – time to check out how our number 24 is getting on this month.
Not everything has gone smoothly for this team since January, but Reece James is on a positive trend without doubt.
Injuries mean James is managed – but looking fitter than ever
Since coming back from his latest injury at the turn of the year, the captain has been able to play his longest run of games in years without issues. That’s included making a return for England too.
He’s still being treated very carefully by the coaching staff, as you’d expect. He didn’t start more than game a week during the close to the Premier League season, and it was actually quite unusual to see him play on Monday and Friday in both Club World Cup games last week – even if he was subbed off in both. It will be very interesting to see if he starts a third in a row tonight – we very much doubt it.
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James position continues to cause debate
In that second CWC game, the defeat to Flamengo, James was used in midfield from the start. Now that his injuries are a lesser concern (touch wood), the positional debate is where the interest really is with James.
The frustration expressed that James is being used out of position in midfield is not just about not seeing the best of him. The knock on effects of it are that a) the out of form Malo Gusto gets into the team at right back and b) midfielders we want to see like Andrey Santos are left on the bench.
From the perspective of most fans, using James in midfield therefore brings 3 negatives, yet manager Enzo Maresca continues to persist with it.
The coach Enzo is just being unnecessarily stubborn in playing James in Midfield. You keep trying this approach and it yield nothing why not jettison the idea. What’s wrong with this coach. Play James at RB period. If a team locks out cucurella, Chelsea wld go no where that day. Why change a winning team in the first place. Chelsea had better bring back Petrovic, get a matured defender and a goal poacher. We can’t play like this in the UCL. This nonsense talk of a GK being good with his legs is just being over clogged. A GK role for his team is to catch balls with his hands, period. Wake up Maresca.
I could never have said this better. There can be no better treatment for Maresca than the Pochetino treatment. Sack at the end of the season. This man will lead us on to disaster. Imagine not playing Santos against a Brazilian team… With Santos all on the edge to demonstrate his skills….
You definitely right, Enzo Maresca is training on how to be a coach with Chelsea but he doesn’t deserve the team. Most talents will lose paths under him
You definitely right, Enzo Maresca is training on how to be a coach with Chelsea but he doesn’t deserve the team. Most talents will lose paths under him
Enzo please don’t try to put midfilder James cause he’s right defender n that’s why that game we lost it from flamengo just imagine that yesterday make draw with small team
Imagine having a maestro or mastermind coach like Flick,Klopp or Zidane
Chelsea has talents. He’s still experimenting yet this is now his second season
He ruins players by playing them out of position
Nkuku is an attacking midfielder/box to box give him the consistency you gave Palmer I can guarantee you,Nkuku will excel
Deploying James in midfield isnt a bad idea but look at the bench.. we’ve gat better options for that position….. Santos.. essugo..
C’mon we can’t go like this in champions League next season
I think he is protecting James because RB has a higher work load than mid.