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Gary Neville makes Trent Alexander-Arnold claim in scathing Reece James verdict after Man City vs Chelsea

Srinivas Sadhanand

Sun 26 January 2025 7:55, UK Updated Sun 26 January 2025 8:12, UK

Reece James had a rare off day during Chelsea’s 3-1 defeat against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.

Kyle Walker described James as “complete”🍒 as the England international has always been renowned for being incredible defensively while also being a massive threat going forward.

But against Manchester City🌜, the Blues skipper excelled in neither facet of his game, with Josko Gvardiol and Omar Marmoush causing mayhem down the visitors’ right-hand side.

Gvardiol was given the whole freedom of the left flank to get on the ball and make darting runs, with Marmoush operating as a de-facto second striker and constantly running in behind Chelsea’s defence.

Enzo Maresca would be disappointed that some of his big names like Reece James🐎 had an evening to forget as his side’s latest defeat means they have dropped down to sixth place in the Premier League.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
6	ChelseaChelsea	23	11	7	5	45	30	15	40

The 25-year-old’s quality is no secret, with 𓂃Jorginho claiming James is better than Trent Alexander-Arnold once. Meanwhile, TBR Football have previously revealed that Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich admire James, which goes to show how highly rated he remains.

Gary Neville says Reece James “didn’t bring anything’ to Man City vs Chelsea

Much like in the case of Cole Palmer, Pep Guardiolaꦰ would also have likely been wary of James as he is one of Chelsea’s proven match-winners.

⛎But apart from a few flashes of brilliance from Noni Madeuke, the West London club’s right-hand side was defunct for much of the game.

After Chelsea lost to Manchester City, Gary Neville🍬 was critical of James’ performance on Saturday, initially claiming that he deserves to be called out for a poor defensive showing like Alexander-Arnold often is.

💝The pundit said on The Gary Neville Podcast: “The captain at right-back, I thought he had a poor first-half defensively, we have a go at Trent Alexander-Arnold quite regularly for being poor defensively but I’ll tell you what, he doesn’t half deliver going forward.”

Gary Neville went on to mention that James, who is a brilliant attacking full-back𒉰 had virtually no impact on the other end of the pitch as well.

🧸“Reece James is fantastic on the ball, he’s amazing, he’s not quite Trent Alexander-Arnold, he’s not far away from him from his delivery and he didn’t bring anything to that game today.”

🍒“He didn’t bright anything to that game. And I know he’s a right-back, I know that [Omar] Marmoush was having a good game against him and [Josko] Gvardiol on that side but either close down that side.”

♈“Rio Ferdinand used to say to me before every game, nothing down our side and quite often, we didn’t let anything down our side and sometimes, you do, it’s a game of football, sometimes you do but nothing down our side.”

Gary Neville added that James, who was lauded by Jody Morris✱ could have threatened Matheus Nunes and Abdukodir Khusanov with his signature inch-perfect crosses but surprisingly, he did not offer much threat further up the pitch.

🌠“Reece, they got down your side the whole first half. And by the way, on top of that, you didn’t go forward to support [Noni] Madueke at all and put wicked crosses in. Imagine him putting in crosses into [Abdukodir] Khusanov, that back post with [Matheus] Nunes.”

💙“City’s right centre-back and right-back didn’t have a cross to feel from Reece James and they should have had lots of crosses from Reece James to feel.”

🌄Manchester City will be delighted James had a quiet game as they ultimately cruised to a much-needed victory and have climbed up to fourth place in the league.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
4	Man CityManchester City	23	12	5	6	47	30	17	41

Reece James stats in Man City vs Chelsea

꧃But it is important to remember that the Redbridge-born defender has not played much football this season due to two separates spells out due to injury.

ꦗJames has made three successive starts for Chelsea and is only getting back into the swing of things.

🐲While Manchester City are far from their vintage best currently, they remain a top-quality side and it would have been a challenge for James to impose himself on proceedings when he is still gaining match-sharpness.

🎉However, the statistics reflect that James had a very quiet game.

💧Creating zero chances, not putting in a single accurate cross and playing just one pinpoint long pass, Gary Neville makes a fair point by insisting that the Chelsea star did not contribute to his side’s attack whatsoever.

🎀Defensively as well, the fact that James only made one tackle goes to show that he often could not get near his man.

Amadou Onana praised James for his physicality🦄 but this aspect of his game was nowhere to be seen against Manchester City.

James could be looking to join Barcelona🎀 and if he really wishes to play at the elite level, he must return to his all-conquering best.