Powell v James | Vital Football

Powell v James

Stormin' Norman

Stormin' Norman

Vital Squad Member
Who would you have back if we had the money?

Both good players, but say we could only afford one of them, who would it be and why?
 
James. Covers two or three positions. Quality delivery from dead ball situations, and missed very few games (if any) due to injury
 
on last season yes James .... But time will tell Powell at Crewe as a young player was outstanding thats why fergie signed him
 
Now this is a no brainer...
Powell is a natural genuine match winner, James isn't really.
 
James is a million times the player, outrageous talent... far more talent much more versatility, much better attitude, a total battler, he will be special. Powell has flopped somewhat in his career cause he shouldn’t of been at our club with his ability. Given all I can’t understand anyone who would choose Powell.
 
These names should never be in the same sentence one of these will look back in disappointment the other gonna be counting England caps
 
Will_Shahane said:
I think James is a match winner too. He just wins matches in a less obvious way than Powell does.
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Will, you miss my point.
You're right, there could have been games that we may not have won without James in the side. But James isn't going to come onto the pitch with us 2 goals down with little time remaining and score a hat-trick to win the game. An extreme example I know, but that's what I mean by a match winner.

Replace James with a lesser player, say Evans, and he will still provide a function that will enable the team to play its normal way. Replace Powell with a lesser player, say Windass, and he won't win us too many games with a piece of genius from nowhere.

So that's why I'd go for the matchwinner.
 
henski said:
Will, you miss my point.
You're right, there could have been games that we may not have won without James in the side. But James isn't going to come onto the pitch with us 2 goals down with little time remaining and score a hat-trick to win the game. An extreme example I know, but that's what I mean by a match winner.

Replace James with a lesser player, say Evans, and he will still provide a function that will enable the team to play its normal way. Replace Powell with a lesser player, say Windass, and he won't win us too many games with a piece of genius from nowhere.

So that's why I'd go for the matchwinner.
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James was a match winner defensively
 
henski said:
Will, you miss my point.
You're right, there could have been games that we may not have won without James in the side. But James isn't going to come onto the pitch with us 2 goals down with little time remaining and score a hat-trick to win the game. An extreme example I know, but that's what I mean by a match winner.

Replace James with a lesser player, say Evans, and he will still provide a function that will enable the team to play its normal way. Replace Powell with a lesser player, say Windass, and he won't win us too many games with a piece of genius from nowhere.

So that's why I'd go for the matchwinner.
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henski said:
Will, you miss my point.
You're right, there could have been games that we may not have won without James in the side. But James isn't going to come onto the pitch with us 2 goals down with little time remaining and score a hat-trick to win the game. An extreme example I know, but that's what I mean by a match winner.

Replace James with a lesser player, say Evans, and he will still provide a function that will enable the team to play its normal way. Replace Powell with a lesser player, say Windass, and he won't win us too many games with a piece of genius from nowhere.

So that's why I'd go for the matchwinner.
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That’s what I meant though when I said that James wins matches in a less obvious way. He won’t come on and score a 10 minute hat trick, but still won many games for us last season, especially after he was moved into a central midfield role, and could therefore have a greater impact on the game. I would personally rather have someone like James who can win games for us on a consistent basis, than Powell who turns up every now and then with a truly match-winning performance, but is absent for the rest of the time.

I see what you mean about Powell having that little bit of magic that is difficult to replace, but you must admit that his magic moments came less and less frequently as last season progressed, and injuries took their toll. Even when he was playing, he wasn’t effective for significant periods of the game; Windass probably won us more points than Powell last season. So yeah I think Powell’s magic and natural ability will be hard to replace, but in terms of the amount of points he managed to win for us, I think Windass could be an apt replacement in time.
 
If we are going to debate this properly I think we should add Grigg and Burn into the equation.

I would personally take Grigg over Powell as a proven 20 goal a season striker, although in the case of Burn or James it would have to be James.
 
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