2019/20 Tom Davies

[catcherintherye]

....got my MoM for his tireless effort. Should’ve buried his chance regardless of Gomez getting a touch but I was most encouraged he was in the 6 yard box to get on the end of it.

He continues to make me nervous when he tires as he is prone to give the ball away in key positions. Late on, he played a blind pass backwards to Mane that immediately put us under pressure, but it was good seeing him make such a positive contribution.

The break might have actually done him a favour as he looked much sharper.

A very fair assessment. You are right to say to have the engine to get forward in the 80+ minute on the first game back is a big positive. I think he can get quite a few goals if he can incorporate this into his game.

There is an issue of decision making with him. At times he is much too casual in possession and takes undue risks. Fine if you're in the opponents final third creating opportunities but in his own half he has to cut that out. I would encourage him in training to play 1 or 2 touch in that area. Get him out of the habit of taking too many touches in the wrong area.

I've said on another, that I saw Hutchinson saying about Ross Barkley the advice he would give him is play the first pass you see and do it early. I think it's really good advise, it's simple and effective. It may not be the best pass, and it may be that if you went past a couple of players better options could come, but ultimately if you see a pass, play it. To me it would make a lot of sense for Davies. If you see a pass, play it and make sure you take the right care to play it. I played CB most of my career, and that was always my mentality too, I didn't want to take a 2nd touch, I just tried to move the ball away from the goal, with as little risk as possible. For Davies, in our half that sort of simplicity would help him.

But yes plenty of good alongside the poor stuff yesterday.

 

[mill]

Been saying that since he was 18.

Well yes. Because he’s still young.

 

[orly]

A very fair assessment. You are right to say to have the engine to get forward in the 80+ minute on the first game back is a big positive. I think he can get quite a few goals if he can incorporate this into his game.

There is an issue of decision making with him. At times he is much too casual in possession and takes undue risks. Fine if you're in the opponents final third creating opportunities but in his own half he has to cut that out. I would encourage him in training to play 1 or 2 touch in that area. Get him out of the habit of taking too many touches in the wrong area.

I've said on another, that I saw Hutchinson saying about Ross Barkley the advice he would give him is play the first pass you see and do it early. I think it's really good advise, it's simple and effective. It may not be the best pass, and it may be that if you went past a couple of players better options could come, but ultimately if you see a pass, play it. To me it would make a lot of sense for Davies. If you see a pass, play it and make sure you take the right care to play it. I played CB most of my career, and that was always my mentality too, I didn't want to take a 2nd touch, I just tried to move the ball away from the goal, with as little risk as possible. For Davies, in our half that sort of simplicity would help him.

But yes plenty of good alongside the poor stuff yesterday.

He's got 5 goals in nearly 100 games. There's no indication of this at all.

 

[ForeverBlue92]

Well yes. Because he’s still young.

We should have sent him on loan 1-2 years ago to give him regular game time but we have a habit of hoarding young players and letting them stagnate.

Kean will be the next one to sit around doing nothing for years - look at Holgate how that loan move to WBA really pushed him on.

 

[catcherintherye]

He's got 5 goals in nearly 100 games. There's no indication of this at all.

He's not really done that much before though. If he can start making late runs int the box, he will score more goals.

 

[orly]

He's not really done that much before though. If he can start making late runs int the box, he will score more goals.

Literally did it in his breakthrough performance against Man City.

 

[billyblue80]

I think he tried really hard and had some good aspects to his play but the way he can't control possession or make the right decision is so poor at times. I do worry he is going to end up in the championship

 

[catcherintherye]

Literally did it in his breakthrough performance against Man City.

Did he? He carried the ball about 70 yards going past half their team in that game. I think we can safely say he won't be repeating that feat, but if he can start attacking the box when balls are delivered from wide areas, he will start to score more goals. He needs to score more goals as his record is currently underwhelming.

 

[orly]

Did he? He carried the ball about 70 yards going past half their team in that game. I think we can safely say he won't be repeating that feat, but if he can start attacking the box when balls are delivered from wide areas, he will start to score more goals. He needs to score more goals as his record is currently underwhelming.

He gets the ball to Barkley - a player light years more talented, by the way - who passes to him IN THE BOX.

Have a look at the timestamp of your "Davies = Pienaar" post and you'll see why we are all flagging his lack of improvement.

 

[catcherintherye]

He gets the ball to Barkley - a player light years more talented, by the way - who passes to him IN THE BOX.

Have a look at the timestamp of your "Davies = Pienaar" post and you'll see why we are all flagging his lack of improvement.

He carries the ball from deep and yes he then gets put in again. It was a great goal. It would be great if he could do more of it but feel it's wholly unrealistic. However the point above was about arriving late into the box from balls from wide positions. He hasn't done enough of this, and needs to do it more, which if he does, will lead to more goals.

As for the lack of improvement, I think everyone would agree on that. But one way he could improve is by getting in the box more!

 

[MercuryBlue88]

I thought he was the best of a poor midfield, every single one of them ran down blind alleys or got crowded out at some point.

 

[Pob The Pole]

He’s a year younger than Holgate and DCL and I would’ve snapped your hand off for 5 million for the pair of them last year. He gets more time for me. A lot to improve though.

 

[orly]

He’s a year younger than Holgate and DCL and I would’ve snapped your hand off for 5 million for the pair of them last year. He gets more time for me. A lot to improve though.

Fair point tbh. But Holgate hadn't played nearly 100 games for us before his stellar improvement.

 

[jerseytoffee]

Fair point tbh. But Holgate hadn't played nearly 100 games for us before his stellar improvement.

There was an improvement yesterday and he has shown in patches he has qualities to his game, I think he needs time playing under a decent manager with a bit of stability and if he doesn't improve then, well no one can say he didn't get a fair go

 

[Hickson9]

He came from the academy and he is one of our lowest paid first team players.

He is also very young and has one of the best managers in the World to learn from.

Yesterday was a disciplined performance and he was very unlucky to not get the winner.

We have much bigger problems than Davies being an OK squad player.