Following his heroics in our Champions League opener against Sporting, I thought it'd be a perfect time to create such a topic.

He had more than enough reasons to leave Real Madrid in the transfer window. He could've almost had a pick of a club that he could've gone to, perhaps with the exception of Barcelona because we would never sell to them. Many clubs came knocking, offering reasonable sums for his signature. He could walk into almost any starting 11 in the club football, yes, including Barcelona. But he didn't. He chose to stay, to fight for his place, to prove his quality, to prove his doubters wrong.

I was always of the opinion that he is a top quality player, better than playmakers who are today considered as one of the best, such as Ozil, Pjanic, Hamsik, and etc. He's a class above all those players if you ask me, and today he proved that. Honestly, I'd rate him on par with De Bruyne.

Just to recap:

James Rodriguez came on in the 77th minute. He created 3 chances and provided the assist for the 94th minute winner.

There's nothing more that he can do to justify. That cross he delivered to Morata is the reason why he was so expensive. In that position, I'd think any other player would have just passed it down to Marcelo but not James.

So I just want to say thank you James for staying with Real Madrid.

Thank you for fighting spirit, and thank you for your determination.

Seeing as how we most likely will end up serving a ban for two transfer windows, you can be sure that we won't let you go any time soon.

It would seem that he might have started changing Zidane's opinion as well, as he was quoted saying, "James will get to start". I hope he gives him his start in the next game, he needs confidence. He needs stability and continuity. But this will also give quite a headache to Zidane, because which one of our three midfielders will he bench? Casemiro is the likely candidate.

And I do believe that against weaker opposition, such as Sporting, we should start with a midfield of James - Kroos - Modric. Only against the elite do we need that extra defensive cover.

Anyway, going a bit off topic here.

To sum up:

Thank you James.

You are our future.

I don't know if you misunderstood, misread, or just making a different point entirely but I never said that we should start games against teams like Barca or Bayern without a CDM like Casemiro.

What I did say was that we could start games against weaker opposition, those who park the bus and don't have a very scary attack with a midfield trio of James - Kroos - Modric. Since we would be doing most of the attacking, Kroos could provide some cover. He's definitely not going to be as effective as Casemiro, but we don't need that much defensive cover against such teams. What we do need is more creativity against such teams, especially if they defend stubbornly. That is when we should start James instead of Casemiro, and I really hope Zidane does that in the future.

There's no reason to completely change the system to incorporate James into the starting 11. Why not instead of have 2 game-plans instead of?

One with a CDM like Casemiro against strong opposition. The other without Casemiro, against those looking to simply avoid losing (or losing big)?

I don't know if you misunderstood, misread, or just making a different point entirely but I never said that we should start games against teams like Barca or Bayern without a CDM like Casemiro.

What I did say was that we could start games against weaker opposition, those who park the bus and don't have a very scary attack with a midfield trio of James - Kroos - Modric. Since we would be doing most of the attacking, Kroos could provide some cover. He's definitely not going to be as effective as Casemiro, but we don't need that much defensive cover against such teams. What we do need is more creativity against such teams, especially if they defend stubbornly. That is when we should start James instead of Casemiro, and I really hope Zidane does that in the future.

There's no reason to completely change the system to incorporate James into the starting 11. Why not instead of have 2 game-plans instead of 1? An attacking starting 11, and a balanced 11?

One with a CDM like Casemiro against strong opposition. The other without Casemiro, against those looking to simply avoid losing (or losing big)?

James is a great player, the problem is that he is propably still not as important in Zidane formation than Modric and Kroos, he is too talented to be a sub and too useful to be loaned and too costy as well. James for work well as a sub for Madrid for now and as a rotation player, in a year or two, he will without much doubt start most of the game for real but for now, he must be patient and work hard to surpass his team-mate. Also, since its hard to tell how a team is gonna play their game, its alway a danger in my opinion to start a game without Casemiro so in my opinion, he should really only be subbed off when it become clear the opponent are not go attack too much and will play to not take too many goal.

James is a great player, the problem is that he is propably still not as important in Zidane formation than Modric and Kroos, he is too talented to be a sub and too useful to be loaned and too costy as well. James for work well as a sub for Madrid for now and as a rotation player, in a year or two, he will without much doubt start most of the game for real but for now, he must be patient and work hard to surpass his team-mate. Also, since its hard to tell how a team is gonna play their game, its alway a danger in my opinion to start a game without Casemiro so in my opinion, he should really only be subbed off when it become clear the opponent are not go attack too much and will play to not take too many goal. Its too bad Real don't really have a backup CDM though. :(

James is a great player, the problem is that he is propably still not as important in Zidane formation than Modric and Kroos, he is too talented to be a sub and too useful to be loaned and too costy as well. James for work well as a sub for Madrid for now and as a rotation player, in a year or two, he will without much doubt start most of the game for real but for now, he must be patient and work hard to surpass his team-mate. Also, since its hard to tell how a team is gonna play their game, its alway a danger in my opinion to start a game without Casemiro so in my opinion, he should really only be subbed off when it become clear the opponent are not go attack too much and will play to not take too many goal. Its too bad Real don't really have a backup CDM though. :(

@Amerr30 I wouldn't mind seeing James playing a bit more over Kroos to be sincere as I like James a bit more but my opinion like a lot of strategical knowing so I'm not sure if that would be safe. Anyway, its been a while Amerr, nice to see you again lad! :D

@Amerr

I didn't make my point as clear as it could have been, so I apologize.

Last season, Real dropped points they didn't need to drop, against weak opposition. Gijon, Malaga, Athleti, Sevilla (when they were still playing like crap) and Barca all got results again Real in the first 12 games of the season. Real won only 7 of their first 12 league games.

The reason for that was the lack of balance, and while it became obvious against teams such as Barca, it was nevertheless a major contributing factor in the other dropped points as well. Balance is not just better defending, in fact both the Gijon and Malaga games were 0-0 draws. But if you don't play Casemiro, Kroos and Modric don't have the freedom to control the game, and a year ago, James did not compensate for that in the attacking part of the field. In terms of attacking, I would argue, with considerable justification, that having 2 free CM's is better than having 1 free CAM and 2 locked CM's.

Now, if you think that James is good enough to make up for losing over 50% of both Modric and Kroos' attacking ability (and maybe some of Marcelo and Carvajal as well) then that's a different question. To be completely honest, I'm not certain ANYONE in the world is good enough for that.

Before you say, "while other teams play CAM's, so why not Madrid" that answer is fairly straightforward, and it's that other teams have real CDM's, usually two of them. For Madrid to play a CAM without sacrificing their midfield balance, they'd have to pull Bale and Ronaldo down to supporting roles (never going to happen) or play with two actual CDM's, which they don't have, and won't be able to get for another year due to their transfer ban.

I respect the hell out of Modric, and I think Kroos is one of the top 3 CM's in the world. To limit their attacking ability by adding James, as well as asking them to perform a skill they don't have (positional defending) is a trade-off that in my mind isn't even close to being worth it - regardless of who Madrid is playing.

@Amerr

I didn't make my point as clear as it could have been, so I apologize.

Last season, Real dropped points they didn't need to drop, against weak opposition. Gijon, Malaga, Athleti, Sevilla (when they were still playing like crap) and Barca all got results again Real in the first 12 games of the season. Real won only 7 of their first 12 league games.

The reason for that was the lack of balance, and while it became obvious against teams such as Barca, it was nevertheless a major contributing factor in the other dropped points as well. Balance is not just better defending, in fact both the Gijon and Malaga games were 0-0 draws. But if you don't play Casemiro, Kroos and Modric don't have the freedom to control the game, and a year ago, James did not compensate for that in the attacking part of the field. In terms of attacking, I would argue, with considerable justification, that having 2 free CM's is better than having 1 free CAM and 2 locked CM's.

Now, if you think that James is good enough to make up for losing over 50% of both Modric and Kroos' attacking ability (and maybe some of Marcelo and Carvajal as well) then that's a different question. To be completely honest, I'm not certain ANYONE in the world is good enough for that.

Before you say, "while other teams play CAM's, so why not Madrid" that answer is fairly straightforward, and it's that other teams have real CDM's, usually two of them. For Madrid to play a CAM without sacrificing their midfield balance, they'd have to pull Bale and Ronaldo down to supporting roles (never going to happen) or play with two actual CDM's, which they don't have, and won't be able to get for another year due to their transfer ban.

I respect the hell out of Modric, and I think Kroos is one of the top 3 CM's in the world. To limit their attacking ability by adding James, as well as asking them to perform a skill they don't have (positional defending) is a trade-off that in my mind isn't even close to being worth it - regardless of who Madrid is playing.

@Dynastain

If you play a 6,8, and 10, any team with a balanced 3-man midfield will rip that to shreds. Madrid's only route to pass the ball would be long ones up the wings, since 2 real CDM's, or even CM's, could blanket either the 8 or the 10 and Madrid would have nowhere to go.

Emo: I'm glad there are others who recognize just how big of a talent James is. He is my "Kaka surrogate."

When we signed him (Kaka) from Milan, I was more excited than when we signed Ronaldo. He was bar-none my favorite player during that time, and even now I have a deep admiration for him. He's never been flashy. His style was simplicity, but he made simplicity look beautiful.

James is a player that I have seen come closest to Kaka in terms of both style, grace, and talent. Since we never really got the Kaka we wanted (and paid for), I consider James to be his substitute. That is why I want him to start, I want him to succeed at Real Madrid. This is all a bit of a biased, personal preference that I have for James but that doesn't take away from his talent. I believe he is one of the most talented players in the World right now, and deserves to be a starter and to be celebrated like the rest of our midfielders.

I've been a bit busy but I'm back now. It is very nice to see you as well, as is the rest of the Madridistas even if they might be wrong. :)

//

SunFlash: Nobody is denying what both Kroos and Modric bring to the table. However, they are both the same 'type' player. Very horizontal in their approach, and are definitely a big, big part of our midfield. They are being misused however. Neither one of them is a number 10 type player, yet they have to in between them, supply that which we lack when we field a trio of Modric - Case - Kroos.

They have to take the responsibility of creating plays, and so far Modric has done fantastically well but it is not his natural position. Neither is it Kroos'. What we need is to either bench one of them and field a play-maker, or we will run into problems such as the one we faced against Sporting. There simply wasn't enough creativity in the midfield, all of which changed with the introduction of James.

They can do the job together, but not as well as a player who's sole purpose is to create. You want to talk about "balance", that's what it would bring. One CDM (Case), One engine CM (Modric), and one CAM (James). Kroos can substitute both Case and Modric when Zidane feels either one is flat.

That would be our best setup.

I'm not going to talk to you about tactical issues we ran into last year, especially when Zidane wasn't the manager. We played poorly in many games, and tactics wasn't the only reason. If Zidane fielded the same starting 11 which failed with Banitez, there is a good chance that the team will perform better with Zidane simply because they are happier, they respect their coach, and want to impress him. A good manager can make a huge difference in a team, can make a bad system work even, that is why we cannot look at the results you're talking about or its tactical elements. There were outside elements that negatively influenced our players performance.

Emo: I'm glad there are others who recognize just how big of a talent James is. He is my "Kaka surrogate."

When we signed him (Kaka) from Milan, I was more excited than when we signed Ronaldo. He was bar-none my favorite player during that time, and even now I have a deep admiration for him. He's never been flashy. His style was simplicity, but he made simplicity look beautiful.

James is a player that I have seen come closest to Kaka in terms of both style, grace, and talent. Since we never really got the Kaka we wanted (and paid for), I consider James to be his substitute. That is why I want him to start, I want him to succeed at Real Madrid. This is all a bit of a biased, personal preference that I have for James but that doesn't take away from his talent. I believe he is one of the most talented players in the World right now, and deserves to be a starter and to be celebrated like the rest of our midfielders.

I've been a bit busy but I'm back now. It is very nice to see you as well, as is the rest of the community. Many new people here though, I almost created a thread asking where is everybody? :) Good I didn't. There are still plenty around.

//

SunFlash: Nobody is denying what both Kroos and Modric bring to the table. However, they are both the same 'type' player. Very horizontal in their approach, and are definitely a big, big part of our midfield. They are being misused however. Neither one of them is a number 10 type player, yet they have to in between them, supply that which we lack when we field a trio of Modric - Case - Kroos.

They have to take the responsibility of creating plays, and so far Modric has done fantastically well but it is not his natural position. Neither is it Kroos'. What we need is to either bench one of them and field a play-maker, or we will run into problems such as the one we faced against Sporting. There simply wasn't enough creativity in the midfield, all of which changed with the introduction of James.

They can do the job together, but not as well as a player who's sole purpose is to create. You want to talk about "balance", that's what it would bring. One CDM (Case), One engine CM (Modric), and one CAM (James). Kroos can substitute both Case and Modric when Zidane feels either one is flat.

That would be our best setup.

I'm not going to talk to you about tactical issues we ran into last year, especially when Zidane wasn't the manager. We played poorly in many games, and tactics wasn't the only reason. If Zidane fielded the same starting 11 which failed with Banitez, there is a good chance that the team will perform better with Zidane simply because they are happier, they respect their coach, and want to impress him. A good manager can make a huge difference in a team, can make a bad system work even, that is why we cannot look at the results you're talking about or its tactical elements. There were outside elements that negatively influenced our players performance.

So, can anyone tell me why RM is still playing with one of wither Isco or James? Not exactly producing results.

@Sun Haven't watch RM recently so I can't really help you there, but sometime, its not the fault of the player on the field if they're not getting the result they are looking for. :P