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Alphonso Davies


Northvansteve

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18 hours ago, jpg75 said:

He has to stay one more year, he can't transfer outside of Canada, Liberia or Ghana until his 18th bday.

Also, i'd bet the farm he signs at a big English club. I hope he doesn't, but it'll probably happen.

BTW, thinking about comparisons i see some similarities in his stride and athleticism, ball winning too to Paul Pogba. Tall, lanky athlete who runs at defenders and wastes a bunch of opportunities but seems to make shit happen and scores big goals.

Ya  Pogba   very  good   comparision

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The Davies-Pulisic comparisons are inevitable simply because of the similarities between Canada-US....both have tremendous potential to be real difference makers...I hope both continue to progress and become elite international players...I think it would make for a great rivalry between Canada and the US...which I'd love to see eventually! 

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10 minutes ago, mrstepp817 said:

The Davies-Pulisic comparisons are inevitable simply because of the similarities between Canada-US....both have tremendous potential to be real difference makers...I hope both continue to progress and become elite international players...I think it would make for a great rivalry between Canada and the US...which I'd love to see eventually! 

I  agree   with  everything   you  have  said   and  I  want  to see   a  Canada  v  USA   RIVALARY  increase     and  the  same  time  I  want  to  see  us  beat  the  A mericans    

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4 minutes ago, gigi riva said:

I  agree   with  everything   you  have  said   and  I  want  to see   a  Canada  v  USA   RIVALARY  increase     and  the  same  time  I  want  to  see  us  beat  the  A mericans    

As a fan of both it'd be awesome and great for both countries and the region as a whole.....I'd love to see a USA-Canada game at BMO or see them play in Detroit in front of a big crowd where the stadium split is 50/50...talk about a fun sporting experience in general......

 

I went to USA-Mexico in San Antonio a couple of yrs ago and it was 60/40 Mexico-US and that was unreal....

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3 hours ago, harrycoyster said:

... Do you think Robbo starts Brek Shea over him most games because he hates Davies or something? Davies has loads of talent and potential, but he can be a major liability at times.....

Are you seriously suggesting Robbo has any fucking clue about starting winning lineups??

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1 hour ago, gigi riva said:

Going  to  England  would  be the  worst  thing  for  him  EPL  does  not  develop   he  is  better   going  to  Italy  Holland  or  Belguim   

I don't know where the ideal location would be, but I agree re England - and I say that as someone who follows the EPL a lot more than any other league.  I would not want to see him move there, only to warm a bench or get immediately loaned to a lower tier English team.  He is not yet the world beater that would walk into the starting line-up of an elite club as a kid.  In the next few years the most important things will be top coaching and lots of first team playing time in a really competitive environment.  

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With Davies it's not really what he does its how he does it. He'll blow by or go thru a couple players and it doesn't even look like he's trying. Sometimes you can tell the defender knows exactly what hes gonna do but they cant stop it. I watch Tabla play or just say Pulsic and I feel they're more polished footballers but with Davies there is just something about him. And then you remind yourself... he's 16!

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Everything else aside, he's brave.  No doubt about that.  In the two matches I've seen he's shown he's willing to take responsibility when it matters.  Call it the confidence of youth if you want but he's willing to stick his neck out in attack and you can't say that of many Canadian players the last few years.  Very refreshing.

Lot of training up to do for sure but that will come with real world experience and some very real tests are coming later this week.  Can't wait to see what happens but this tourney will be worth it's weight in gold to him.

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In MLS I think we will see Davies alternate between starts and subs. He and Shea are probably going to start/sub for each other. He's started 6 of 13 games in MLS so in the short term I see that continuing. In the medium term (i.e. next season) he really makes Shea trade bait.

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22 hours ago, harrycoyster said:

I'm pretty sure I listed them in detail somewhere earlier in this thread if you want to go search, but here's a summary:

Passing- Davies has a low passing percentage. He has a habit of waiting too long to make a pass. He also isn't very comfortable getting pressed and is easily forced into blind passes into midfield. This is emblematic of a larger issue in his game; he doesn't pick his head up while transitioning from dribbling to passing/crossing. You saw this even in the FG game when Cavallini yelled at him twice for delivering blind crosses. He's also shown that he isn't great at lifting the ball off the ground. He struggles to switch the play and regularly over hits lifted crosses. You'll notice that when shooting, crossing and passing, he tries to keep the ball on the ground, even when the situation calls for more power.

Finishing- Davies generally doesn't have a good shot on him. I'm less concerned about this since it may partially be a confidence thing, but Davies reluctance to lift the ball along hurts his ability to strike from distance. He just isn't much of a threat to cut in and score from the top of the box. He has what I call "Juan Agedelo syndrome"; the tendency to try to walk the ball into a 1v1 with the goalkeeper instead of just opening up you hips and taking chances from decent areas. Davies has taken just 6 shots in MLS this season despite having 20 successful dribbles (beat his defender)...that's crazy low. Again, I hope some of this is fixed by his current form.

Dribbling technique- Davies prefers to touch the ball with his insteps rather than his toe/laces while dribbling. It's not a terrible thing, most soccer players rely on their insteps to control the direction of the ball. The best wingers in the world, however, use their toe/laces when dribbling because it makes your change of direction much more unpredictable. This is something Davies has clearly been working on, but he likely won't ever be a skill dribbler like Dembele or Neymar.

1v1 ability- I mentioned earlier that Davies has 20 successful dribbles in MLS. That number is really good. Like, really good. The issue here is that he has accumulated those dribbles off of one thing, his change of pace. Oh boy what a change of pace it is, but to be successful against the more talented, faster, smarter fullbacks of European football, he's going to need to develop the skill set of more agile players. In MLS, he has been primarily used as a sub because his change of pace is amplified by the tired legs of defenders 70' into a game. When he does start, his dribble percentage drops as the game goes on because he loses the a lot of his burst due to fatigue.

He has some issues with work rate and decision-making as well, but those usually improve greatly over a player's career. The aforementioned issues are things that don't automatically improve with age, though you can assume a 16 year old will get better in those areas; it's just a matter of how much. If he is able to turn these flaws into elite traits you are talking about a world superstar.

 

 

So a couple things. Decent assessment but I have a bike to pick with the passing.

i can't really recall Davies waiting too long to pass the ball (whitecaps, WFCII, or Edmonton strikers video). I'm getting the sense this is a gross overreaction to the one Cav-Davies exchange last match. His passing is okay and getting better, he's always been able to play teammates in at lower levels but hasn't quite done it at MLS (but showing signs).

 

also his change of pace is a huge reason why he can beat MLS defenders but his very odd ability to meg players at pace is a big part of it to. How this stacks up against better defenders, I don't know. Just a note.

 

he can shoot but as you mentioned needs to work on it a lot because he doesn't get it done from the run of play as well as he could yet

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3 hours ago, C2SKI said:

Has his finishing actually been poor, or is he just not finding himself in good scoring positions with Vancouver? Because that's a pretty common theme with the 'Caps these days.

Few minutes at Caps. A team with very little of the ball. He playing wide outside and mostly respecting the guys in the middle. Sort of like him in the 1st half the other day, just a crosser in. 

There was a game recently Robbo had him inside, vs. Dallas, and he was good, subbing on, but with defenders deep and in front of him. 

I think he will score this year, should, but at Caps he can also learn from there more savvy, technical guys with experience. IMO he is not yet as good as Techera, Shea, Montero or Reyna, all of whom have real football intelligence.

You have to like how Cavallini shouted at him, like kid, you gotta give me the ball in when I say, and not babying him, I liked that. Next time, he did better. Then, when Alphonso was up high and near him, Lucas comes out, controls, turns and lays of the ball perfectly for his run, a beautifully weighed pass. Our third, mostly Davies´ credit mind you for the run and finish.

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6 hours ago, C2SKI said:

Has his finishing actually been poor, or is he just not finding himself in good scoring positions with Vancouver? Because that's a pretty common theme with the 'Caps these days.

Pretty much agree with @Unnamed Trialist. He has 0 goals on 6 shots, which isn't the end of the world by any means. I think the bigger issue is that he doesn't think to shoot unless he's in on goal. He's only taken 1 shot from outside the box this season and I'm pretty sure it was meant to be a cross. 

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1 hour ago, harrycoyster said:

Pretty much agree with @Unnamed Trialist. He has 0 goals on 6 shots, which isn't the end of the world by any means. I think the bigger issue is that he doesn't think to shoot unless he's in on goal. He's only taken 1 shot from outside the box this season and I'm pretty sure it was meant to be a cross. 

Good point. I don't think there is a single Caps or Canada follower with the remotest idea whether he has a good shot or not. Unless some of the guys who saw him with WC2 paid attention.

Which is kinda funny if you think about it, this phenomenon, scoring for us, and we don't know if he can shoot.

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