Daniel James slammed live on BBC for what he did during Wales loss v Slovakia
Nathan Blake criticised Leeds United winger Daniel James for not giving his all as Wales fell to an embarrassing defeat against Slovakia.
James played 71 minutes for Wales in Sunday’s (9 June) 4-0 friendly defeat away in Trnava as Rob Page’s men’s poor form continued.
The 26-year-old was not necessarily his country’s worst performer, but Blake believes he is capable of far more in a Wales shirt.
“You’d want bit more from the likes of Josh Sheehan, Brennan Johnson, Dan James, Nathan Broadhead,” Blake told BBC Radio Wales [9 June, 9:09pm].
“I think you’re entitled to want a bit more and expect a bit more from those players tonight.”
Daniel James needs to rest up after exhausting Leeds United season
This defeat for Wales is the last game James will play for club and country in what has been a gruelling campaign.
The attacker has put his body on the line for United countless times this season and did well to recover from injury to feature in the play-offs.
While James has provided some undoubted moments of quality, the 2023-24 campaign will go down as one of the most painful of his career.
Not only did Leeds narrowly miss out on promotion to the Premier League, he also missed the decisive penalty as Wales lost to Poland in their Euro 2024 play-off.
Blake has a point in that James is indeed capable of more – as was every other Wales player in Trnava – but he is quite simply exhausted and now needs to rest up.
The only concern is that pre-season, remarkably, is not too far away. Let’s just hope James comes back refreshed and raring to go come the 2024-25 campaign.
In other Leeds United news, the club risk repeating the same transfer mistake over a £3million player decision.
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