Even if we lose the next 3, Spurs would haveto win all 3 to make us 5th, so that whole "havn't played the hard sides" goes out the window when we are still in the top 4 come January
Do you think if our manager was Klopp and Vardy was Benteke and and Mahrez was Lallana would the pundits give us some respect
I'm afraid Matty James, for all his effort, is nowhere near being a replacement for Drinkwater. His first time layoffs and touch, as well as his vision for the long pass, would be missed. Some of the one-touch interchanges against Chelsea left them chasing shadows at times. I'd even go so far as to say you wouldn't have seen better at Barcelona with the 3 amigos.
James is a DM - he is competing with Inler as backup for Kante. The backup for Drinkwater is King and he did an admirable job when he came on although like you said Drinkwater is a more classy player while King is more industrious - only problem is who is King's backup if Drinkwater is out for a while? Can see us going for one of those Polish midfielders we were linked with a while back to fill that gap.
To be fair, the pundits/media have been full of praise for us for a few weeks now. Some even apologising for getting their pre season predictions so horribly wrong. I was talking more about opposition wumming fans
Whilst I agree, should anything happen to King and we have to play Inler/James with Kante it's still a very strong midfield and quite balanced, just different to how it is at the moment
Can see us playing with Mahrez in the middle if that is the case as both Inler and James aren't really attack minded and there will be a lot of space between them and Vardy up front.
I'd agree, though i don't think even Kante could do that much defensive work on his own, it would probably go 4-5-1 with Inler or James supporting Kante and Mahrez middle with Dyer or Schlupp on the wing.
