BBC reporting James could be out of the Panama match due to a hamstring injury. ☹️

BBC Sport

World Cup 2026: Reece James and Declan Rice injury concer...

England's Reece James and Declan Rice miss England's penultimate training session before Panama with injury concerns.

3 hours ago, just said:

BBC reporting James could be out of the Panama match due to a hamstring injury. ☹️

BBC Sport

World Cup 2026: Reece James and Declan Rice injury concer...

England's Reece James and Declan Rice miss England's penultimate training session before Panama with injury concerns.

Why should today be different?

Fabrizio Romano on X: "🚨🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 BREAKING: Reece James, out for England with hamstring injury. ❌ He’ll miss at least next two World Cup games, reports @Guardian. https://t.co/sjxj6D8rqc" / X

James is f**ked. What are we going to do? keep taking him out of games after a certain amount of minutes to protect him? keep leaving him out of crucial games when we need our best players available? James is now holding us back. We need to put sentimentality aside and face reality, we need a replacement.

1 minute ago, Scott Harris said:

James is f**ked. What are we going to do? keep taking him out of games after a certain amount of minutes to protect him? keep leaving him out of crucial games when we need our best players available? James is now holding us back. We need to put sentimentality aside and face reality, we need a replacement.

I actually think there is a decent case for having separate captains next season ... a club captain (Reece) and a different playing captain who has reliable fitness and will start 30+ PL games a season, as well as actual leadership skills (don't rate James for that - he is too passive). No idea who that might be though LOL.

Time to accept he can’t be relied upon long term. Great guy and it’s rotten luck but we need to be realistic with this one.

15 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

I actually think there is a decent case for having separate captains next season ... a club captain (Reece) and a different playing captain who has reliable fitness and will start 30+ PL games a season, as well as actual leadership skills (don't rate James for that - he is too passive). No idea who that might be though LOL.

Think its' pretty obvious.

Badiashile.

I can see the club converting James to CDM as he doesn’t appear to hold up to the full back / wing back running. Sky reported this is James tenth hamstring injury since 2020.

All the more intrigued to see Palestra. Also pleased to have defenders joining over 6ft tall. Colwill, Hato, Palestra, insert other CB, maybe Wharton - a bit more presence defending set pieces.

8 hours ago, Sexyfootball said:

I actually think there is a decent case for having separate captains next season ... a club captain (Reece) and a different playing captain who has reliable fitness and will start 30+ PL games a season, as well as actual leadership skills (don't rate James for that - he is too passive). No idea who that might be though LOL.

We've done that before actually.

Just play him in the big games. 25 games a season from, no different from what Madrid did with Bale.

World class.

40 minutes ago, GarnachoCheese said:

Just play him in the big games. 25 games a season from, no different from what Madrid did with Bale.

World class.

Bale's issues at RM weren't fitness related.

Guy should just retire.

He’s World Class, he’s also not capable of being a professional Premier League footballer. Crying shame.

How’s RLC been doing in Serie A? Reece profiles very similarly to him with these recurring injuries. Maybe a move is best?

23 hours ago, dermott said:

Bale's issues at RM weren't fitness related.

From our season review of 25/26 season on the club website

Reece James

Total appearances: 39 (29 starts)

Minutes played: 2,951

Goals: 2

"Our captain enjoyed an excellent campaign, putting previous injury issues behind him by racking up 39 appearances in all competitions.

James scored on his 200th Chelsea appearance, away to Nottingham Forest, and a brilliant free-kick at Newcastle in December was unsurprisingly voted our Goal of the Month."....

He was managed through every game, don't know how many games he completed, but he certainly was NOT injury prone

Now that f**king idiot Tuchel has played him for over 90 minutes in each back to back games and has the front to say " no one saw that coming " even though he was our coach during the time when Reece was missing numerous games due to continuous injuries.

Edited June 28Jun 28 by The Rising Sun
Info

On 28/06/2026 at 01:28, GarnachoCheese said:

Just play him in the big games. 25 games a season from, no different from what Madrid did with Bale.

World class.

Or Dani Carvajal

Only works between April - July every season. Comes in, locks down the hyped up star left winger and assists someone or the other in knockout games.

Has won 6 Champions Leagues, 4 league titles, and a Euros in 10 years doing this one trick

Edited June 29Jun 29 by SydneyChelsea

It's getting weary now with his another injury news.. he's just like ledley king. Reece James is super highly rated but that also helped by the fact that he's not playing the game regularly to be rated objectively. People tend to only remember his good games and shrugged off his poor games easily.

Should have sold him for big money when madrid wanted him last time but it's too late now. Instead of selling him for cheap, it's better to keep him to play back up role as RB or CDM. He's taken a significant pay cut so we just need to adjust our expectation of him not being seen as the core player.

Said a long time ago, James stays fit we win the world cup with Tuchel in charge.

Still believe this to be true going into the semis.

He’s certainly world class in his position when fit. Interested Saturday he also came on in midfield ahead of Mainoo.

Still think he’s waiting for his moment at the World Cup, and he looks a little tense / anxious (obviously missed 3 games with injury also). Examples - his crosses are not the quality we see week in week out at Chelsea, and keep hitting first man!

Burns had his moment vs Mexico and he looks immovable when brought on. Rodger’s probably just had his with the long shot. Gordon with the assists vs Congo. Those players have a little more confidence as a result.

Once Reece has his, which he will, we’ll see that Chelsea quality we all get the pleasure of watching!

I love the guy, he's one of the most talented players out of our youth team in a long time, but he's just not the same player he was. We all hold onto hope that he might finally be over injury ssues, but it's chronic and it's clearly not going away, and that means you just can't rely on him especially in big games, or to even be available enough to build into your team plans. If we were playing that 2021 CL final tonight with current James, there's no way he'd catch up and make some of the tackles and clearances he did, and then he'd be off the pitch with tight hamstrings before the end. It's a f**king shame to see such a talented player not be able to fulfill his potential, but it's reality.

I've given up on ever seeing him as an attacking wing back for us again, but given how we need a physical presence in defensive midfield I wonder if thats where he ends up for us. Maybe not his best position but hey, what can you do.

50 minutes ago, AndyDowsleftflank said:

I've given up on ever seeing him as an attacking wing back for us again, but given how we need a physical presence in defensive midfield I wonder if thats where he ends up for us. Maybe not his best position but hey, what can you do.

I am getting increasingly concerned about his speed of thought in critical areas. I don't doubt his ability and his quality with the ball at his feet, it is his anticipation of the presence of pressure at pace that concerns me and has done for some time to be honest. With time he is undoubtedly outstanding quality, but in the heat of battle i am not so sure sometimes.

I also noticed he was often the 1 of the 4 out of position in the line when balls were played over the top. The others would stay in line and he would drop, making the attacker on side. I think the injuries and the mental effects have just completely changed him as a player.