A couple of days ago, on twitter, Dai posed a question: Is there an argument at the moment that Sorba Thomas deserves a starting place in a Cymru team, ahead of Daniel James?
Dai’s justification for this was Thomas’ 6 assists in 13 games, compared to zero for James.
Now if we were recording a podcast I’d be arguing about the redundancy of the question. For me, James and Thomas are not comparable options. In my mind, the question is really which three of the established front four – Bale, Moore, Johnson and James – are we starting? There’s also an argument for only starting two of these if Ramsey connects a holding midfield pair with a front two.
As @shirtlane replied:
That said, Dai’s question got some interesting responses and also made me examine Dan James’ Cymru contributions.
It’s fair to say James’ loan move to Fulham ‘hasn’t pulled up trees’ as @fulhambore responded. Since the late move to Craven Cottage, James has started three league games and come on as substitute in the other two. For someone who joined the squad so late, those don’t seem unreasonable numbers; especially for a player who can’t have been key in Marco Silva’s thinking.
It’s clear though that as a Cymru coaching team, we don’t seem to put a huge amount of stock in an individual player’s club form or the level at which he’s playing. Contributions in a dragon crested red shirt seem far more critical.
Embed from Getty ImagesIf we were trying to find a player that’s become embedded in the team, it would be hard to get further than Daniel James. Since his debut, four years ago, in that forgettable defeat in Albania, DJ has played in every competitive Cymru game … all 37 of them. And apologies to Gunter and his then record breaking 93rd cap, but is was a very solidly forgettable game.
However, James’ statistical contributions don’t seem that striking. Five goals in total, one in a friendly against Belarus, and five assists. Some of his goals have undoubtedly been crucial, the pair home and away against Czechia spring to mind, of course.
Embed from Getty ImagesDiving a bit deeper and acknowledging that his strengths are as a fast-paced winger (not always how he’s used), the trend in the quality of his crossing is a concern. During the Euro 2020 tournament, James’ averaged 2.5 accurate crosses for each of the four games. For the ten World Cup qualifying games, the average had dropped to 1.6 a game. And in the recent six Nations League A games fell further to only 0.8. (Raw data from whoscored.com).
So, if the offensive contribution isn’t stellar, and even that is sliding, what other qualities does DJ bring to the Cymru side? I think @harrilew6 summed it up best ‘DJ’s defense is his biggest asset’
And as @BuzzBoncath said ‘the work he does, harrying and chasing.’
Assuming Bale plays and we have a starting front three (a different discussion, though in my mind the first is a non-argument and the second a more genuine debate) then DJ’s defensive effort helps mitigate the lack of tracking back by Bale, Johnson and to a lesser extent Moore. This has become the crucial point, I think. For me, Daniel James starts because of his effort in both directions, and the threat and fright he gives to opposition defenses.