2019/20 Tom Davies

[Eggs]

I said as much after the game. To have a 2nd player in there who can carry the ball and make space to pass the ball forward seems to help Gomes and means you can't just mark him.

On a broader point both he and Davies are almost throwback midfield players who did a bit of everything.It's refreshing and shows to a certain degree that the game of football doesn't inherently change. There's been a lot of trying to box midfielders in to a specific role, but actually if you get two lads who want to tackle, pass, carry the ball, press and get into both boxes they can cover for one another.

I had a similar feeling watching Manchester United and Brighton (against Spurs) in relation to strikers. We've been told for a while 2 strikers doesn't work, it's old fashioned, it's too rigid etc. Yet what I saw in both games were a pair of strikers, with good mobility and movement really help their sides out and dovetail well.

Anyway back to Davies, football is about partnerships. Even when Davies enjoyed good form it never felt we had found the right partner for him, and I suspect the same is true for Gomes (but for a bit at the back end with Gana). I hope these two get a little run together where we can put a few positive results on the board.

...I don’t get too hung up on systems (there’s more than one way to skin a cat), it’s more to do with what a team does when they have the ball and what they do when the opposition have possession. It’s about players, it’s about blend (partnerships, players complimenting each other), it’s about quality and it’s about organisation.

Colin Harvey (as a coach) played two up top, but when the opposition had the ball one would drop deeper to support the midfield. It’s hard work, but these lads should all put a shift in. I suppose it’s an extension of the no10 role, so it was good to see Iwobi getting beyond the striker for that sitter he missed.

 

[Nymzee]

Imagine being Declan Rice right now.

Got absolutely beasted on a footie pitch by a guy that wears a skirt.

 

[Saint Domingo]

I wouldn't say 'time and again'. He's had plenty of games where he's been awful and made the players around him look worse too. I believe we won 3 of the 10 league games he started last season, 2 of them against teams who finished 19th and 20th, so it might be stretching the truth a little to suggest that we always play better with him in the side.

He's not a bad player, but my issue with Davies is that his level on Saturday is about as good as he ever is, and it's only 'good' rather than 'excellent'. Hopefully he can use this performance as a springboard and start to put consistent quality performances in.

I’ve long said that Davies may not be the quality we require to be where we want to be but he puts in more consistent performances than Siggurdson or Schneiderlin do which is why managers keep going back to him.

 

[gav1985]

I thought that was his best game for us. Hopefully it wasn't a one off and he can keep it up. The silly yellow he got himself right on half time seemed to affect him slightly as he wasn't putting in as many challenges but still thought he played well after that.

 

[maccavennie]

Well done Tom, could have bagged himself a goal as well

 

[Sheedy's right knee.]

He should have bagged a goal but we’ll played Tom.

 

[Paul Rideout]

If he’s not starting next game then it’s a travesty

 

[mightymoyes]

from football 365 winners and losers section:

Winners
Tom Davies and Everton’s tempo
It has been a rotten 2019 for Davies, who before Saturday had not started a Premier League match since February 6. The issue seemed to be one of circumstance rather than failure of effort or ability. Marco Silva describes him as an excellent box-to-box midfielder, but with three attacking midfielders behind a striker, Everton’s manager has preferred two more defensive midfielders to hold the fort.
Saturday was evidence of why Davies could be so vital. So far this season, Everton have looked stunted in possession. Fabian Delph and Morgan Schneiderlin, with 11 league starts between them, might be effective screens for the defence but they are far less mobile and tend to both play safe, sideways passes. It’s all very well having four attacking players on the pitch, but if they have to drop so deep to pick up the ball that the opposition can easily get organised then it becomes counter-productive.
Judging Everton on one performance would be hasty, particularly given how poor West Ham played, but Silva deserves credit for the success of his plan. Richarlison, Bernard, Theo Walcott and Alex Iwobi were told to press high up the pitch to win possession, meaning that Everton stopped inviting their opponents onto them as they have at times this season. Richarlison, Bernard and Walcott made nine tackles between them. Gylfi Sigurdsson was dropped, but still made the difference coming off the bench.
Silva still needs to get the balance right. Andre Gomes and Davies were both booked and both are more progressive midfielders than holders. The loss of Idrissa Gueye and subsequent injury to Jean-Philippe Gbamin at least partly explains Everton’s poor form, and Gbamin is likely to be out until January. But there’s no doubt that Davies’ intensity gave Everton a lift, and his league start was long overdue. Would Silva consider switching to a 4-3-3 and playing three midfielders and wide forwards (Bernard and Iwobi) who had licence to drift infield and allow the full-backs to overlap?

 

[Lanolin]

from football 365 winners and losers section:

Winners
Tom Davies and Everton’s tempo
It has been a rotten 2019 for Davies, who before Saturday had not started a Premier League match since February 6. The issue seemed to be one of circumstance rather than failure of effort or ability. Marco Silva describes him as an excellent box-to-box midfielder, but with three attacking midfielders behind a striker, Everton’s manager has preferred two more defensive midfielders to hold the fort.
Saturday was evidence of why Davies could be so vital. So far this season, Everton have looked stunted in possession. Fabian Delph and Morgan Schneiderlin, with 11 league starts between them, might be effective screens for the defence but they are far less mobile and tend to both play safe, sideways passes. It’s all very well having four attacking players on the pitch, but if they have to drop so deep to pick up the ball that the opposition can easily get organised then it becomes counter-productive.
Judging Everton on one performance would be hasty, particularly given how poor West Ham played, but Silva deserves credit for the success of his plan. Richarlison, Bernard, Theo Walcott and Alex Iwobi were told to press high up the pitch to win possession, meaning that Everton stopped inviting their opponents onto them as they have at times this season. Richarlison, Bernard and Walcott made nine tackles between them. Gylfi Sigurdsson was dropped, but still made the difference coming off the bench.
Silva still needs to get the balance right. Andre Gomes and Davies were both booked and both are more progressive midfielders than holders. The loss of Idrissa Gueye and subsequent injury to Jean-Philippe Gbamin at least partly explains Everton’s poor form, and Gbamin is likely to be out until January. But there’s no doubt that Davies’ intensity gave Everton a lift, and his league start was long overdue. Would Silva consider switching to a 4-3-3 and playing three midfielders and wide forwards (Bernard and Iwobi) who had licence to drift infield and allow the full-backs to overlap?

I think since saturday there's been a tendency from some to talk about how they think we've been playing rather than how we really have been playing. This is an extension of that. For me the difference on Saturday was just that we executed things a lot better than we have in some other games, rather than there being a massive difference in how we actually tried to play.

Delph has definitely tried to pass forwards a lot this year, he's just not been very good at it. It feels a bit like people have got an image in their head of him being a safe defensive player and they just assume that's how he's been playing. If anything he hasn't done enough of that though, he's been trying to spray balls round left right and centre, but putting half of them out of play. Davies did well on Saturday by just keeping it pretty simple, and the movement ahead of him was massively improved on recent weeks.

 

[Gaffa]

Imagine being Declan Rice right now.

Got absolutely beasted on a footie pitch by a guy that wears a skirt.

Mark Noble was another one - has made a career as a premier league footballer, probably earns £30k a week, has played at all the top grounds, has million in the bank, no doubt lovely house and car and doesnt need to work again - yet he is absolutely woeful as well

 

[mightymoyes]

I think since saturday there's been a tendency from some to talk about how they think we've been playing rather than how we really have been playing. This is an extension of that. For me the difference on Saturday was just that we executed things a lot better than we have in some other games, rather than there being a massive difference in how we actually tried to play.

Delph has definitely tried to pass forwards a lot this year, he's just not been very good at it. It feels a bit like people have got an image in their head of him being a safe defensive player and they just assume that's how he's been playing. If anything he hasn't done enough of that though, he's been trying to spray balls round left right and centre, but putting half of them out of play. Davies did well on Saturday by just keeping it pretty simple, and the movement ahead of him was massively improved on recent weeks.

maybe but I think we can all agree that gomes and davies and more offensively minded midfielders than delph and scheiderlin though.

 

[mightymoyes]

Mark Noble was another one - has made a career as a premier league footballer, probably earns £30k a week, has played at all the top grounds, has million in the bank, no doubt lovely house and car and doesnt need to work again - yet he is absolutely woeful as well

50k p/w

 

[Eggs]

....Tom Davies’ Mum is a hairdresser, looks like the young man won’t let her near his locks.

 

[Lanolin]

maybe but I think we can all agree that gomes and davies and more offensively minded midfielders than delph and scheiderlin though.

Gomes is just miles better than all the others though. It has to be remembered that Delph's best game so far also came in a home game next to Gomes, so it's not necessarily this seismic shift that it's being painted as in some quarters. Gomes has absolutely run the show in both of his last 2 games, it makes the job of the player next to him - whoever it is - much easier.

 

[Cels]

Although there were a few stray passes here and there, I thought Tom Davies had a very good game against West Ham. Always looked to keep the pressure on the opposition by moving the play forward as much as possible, and never neglected his defensive duties.