Chelsea captain Reece James has been in excellent form recently and that continued on Monday evening with a man of the match performance for England in World Cup Qualifying. James helped lead the Three Lions to a 3-0 victory over Latvia and played the full 90 minutes at his customary position at right-back.
James was the star man on the night as he dominated the right flank and even opened the scoring with a world class free kick 25 yards from goal. He curved the free kick around the Latvian wall and into the top right corner with the keeper firmly rooted to the spot. It was a “top bins” finish as the kids like to say.
It was excellent to see James back in fine form and looking fit once again but it does raise questions about whether he is being used properly by his manager at Chelsea. There has been a lot of talk in recent weeks about James and where his long term future lies on the football pitch as manager Enzo Maresca has insisted he is a midfielder and not a fullback.
On the other side of the coin, we have his former Chelsea manager and current England manager Thomas Tuchel saying that James “is a player for the full-back and wing-back positions". James had his best seasons under Tuchel and was a key figure for the Blues as they won the Champions League and Club World Cup under the German’s reign.
Chelsea legend John Terry agreed with Tuchel’s assessment and that he feels James is a "world class defender" who just needs a good run of matches to get fit. Terry has never been shy about speaking his mind but it feels significant that he is indirectly criticizing the tactics of Maresca by implying that James is being miscast in a midfield role.
One argument that would be in favor of James playing in midfield is that it allows Maresca to play Wesley Fofana at right back where he also excels. If it’s a matter of simply getting your best eleven players on the pitch then it makes sense to shuffle the deck a bit. However, if Maresca truly believes that James is better suited in the middle of the park rather than where he has excelled for several years out on the flanks then we have to doubt his tactical acumen a bit here.
The other argument is that playing defensive midfielder is better for the long term health of James. He has a long history of hamstring and other soft tissue problems and perhaps bombing up and down the flanks could exacerbate it further. Maresca would never come out and say that but he could be looking to protect James from injury by playing him centrally so he isn’t making those lung and hamstring-bursting runs down the wing.
Regardless of where James lines up it’s been brilliant to see him back in action and playing at a world class level. Chelsea, and England, are much better sides when Reece James is on the pitch even if he’s playing a different position than what we are accustomed to.