Alphonso Davies

[Macksam]

I see it now....Davies strips Lukasz Piszczek of the ball which begins a counter as he thunders down the center of the field with his signature long strides as he effortlessly brushes past Nuri Sahin, however, the boy does not remain unmolested for long as Pulisic comes from the side trying his best to stifle him but Davies extends his right arm causing the American to lose his balance and fall on his ass, Davies continues down the center path and Omer Toprak, the last line of defense makes his way forward......Davies winds his leg up and quickly snaps it down without striking the ball, causing the German-born Turk's legs to open up momentarily, enough for Davies to quickly nutmeg him and as he glides past the defender he sees Burki dash out to make a last ditch attempt to thwart the Canadian's effort....and the Swiss keeper manages to get a finger tip on the ball as it trickles out for a corner kick. ??

[Gordon]

12 hours ago, jpg75 said:

Yeah, like how to sell a dive.

We play in CONCACAF, I have dreams - fantasies even - of Canadian players selling dives and injuries up one, late at Saprissa with Costa Rican (or any nation) seething at the injustice. Welcome to our world Bitches!!!

[amacpher]

16 hours ago, Keegan said:

That dude is 20 he’s gonna be fine.. 

I’ve seen it mentioned in articles that Bayern is like Real Madrid and spends buckets of money hoping for a gem but that’s not true at all. Bayern is strategic with who it chooses, Davies is the first player they’ve paid for this year. They’re not going to waste him, just like Renato Sanches they’ll try to make it work for him because he’s an investment.

I'm not so sure that Sanches is going to be fine.  But perhaps a better example is Julien Green who joined Bayern at about the same age as Davies and has completely fallen off the radar.  

[Keegan]

1 minute ago, amacpher said:

I'm not so sure that Sanches is going to be fine.  But perhaps a better example is Julien Green who joined Bayern at about the same age as Davies and has completely fallen off the radar.  

Or like Junior Flores at Dortmund or Gedion Zelalem at Arsenal.  Green is different because he was with their academy since 14/15... and all these guys got sucked into the American hype machine unreasonably.  They were good youth players who many assumed would do it at the next level but their clubs never paid 20 million for them.

Thats the major difference here: free v a 20 million investment.  Those clubs weren’t all in with those players - Davies at this point represents all their transfer spending for this year. I’m confident in the kid... he’s proven himself v men which is why he went for huge money compared to boys playing boys.

[Guest Tg11]

On 7/26/2018 at 1:36 PM, AvroArrow said:

Alphonso Davies has the potential to be to soccer what Steve Nash was to basketball.

Definitely agree with this comparison and the parallels are there too. I just hope he actually gets first team minutes and by playing for one of the best clubs in Europe playing in one of the best leagues in the world in the Bundesliga it can only help him in his progression to superstardom. I mean with Bayern he actually gets a chance to not only play alongside the world's best players in Germany but to compete against the very best that that league has to offer and he gets that valuable Champions League experience too which is just a bonus.

[Ed_S]

14 hours ago, jpg75 said:

Yeah, like how to sell a dive.

I was going to add "... at the training pool" to the original post.

[Obinna]

1 hour ago, amacpher said:

I'm not so sure that Sanches is going to be fine.  But perhaps a better example is Julien Green who joined Bayern at about the same age as Davies and has completely fallen off the radar.  

Yeah positionally that's a better comparison but even when I watched Julien Green coming up, I never saw the x-factor that Davies has, despite all the goals he scored with Bayern's second team.

I think Green is actually closer to Tabla than Davies, at least when it comes to playing style. 

I am curious what Bayern plan for Davies on the field, but in the most recent interview he says they discussed how they see him fitting into the team first team (should he earn it). That makes me think they'll play him close to goal, because I presume Davies would not have chosen Bayern (yes, he chose them) if their plan was for him to play as a wingback or fullback. He may still play there, but I now feel comfortable speculating that wing back or full back isn't why they brought him in. I can't wait to see either way.

[Guest Tg11]

24 minutes ago, Obinna said:

Yeah positionally that's a better comparison but even when I watched Julien Green coming up, I never saw the x-factor that Davies has, despite all the goals he scored with Bayern's second team.

I think Green is actually closer to Tabla than Davies, at least when it comes to playing style. 

I am curious what Bayern plan for Davies on the field, but in the most recent interview he says they discussed how they see him fitting into the team first team (should he earn it). That makes me think they'll play him close to goal, because I presume Davies would not have chosen Bayern (yes, he chose them) if their plan was for him to play as a wingback or fullback. He may still play there, but I now feel comfortable speculating that wing back or full back isn't why they brought him in. I can't wait to see either way.

At least he will get to play in Champions League especially playing for a big club like Bayern

[Unnamed Trialist]

5 hours ago, Gordon said:

We play in CONCACAF, I have dreams - fantasies even - of Canadian players selling dives and injuries up one, late at Saprissa with Costa Rican (or any nation) seething at the injustice. Welcome to our world Bitches!!!

Me too, 100%. We have been what the Spanish call "madres" for too long (yes, they say that when a player is naive and too nice).

In any case, it is never really cut and dry. If some hack defender is going to go for your ankles and boot because he is not good enough to take the ball from you, you HAVE to go down, and not wait too long to do so. Go down, sell the foul, and get the guy to back off. Embellishment is the way a team with the ball and some talent superiority ensures they have that bit of space to be able to play the game they want to. If the ref goes with you, you force the defender to slightly back off, all you need to play your game. 

I have never heard anyone ever complain of diving in reference to an untechnical player on a losing team.

But the same when it comes to killing off a game by having every player on the pitch without a yellow getting one in the last 10 minutes to preserve a win.

[Unnamed Trialist]

3 hours ago, Tg11 said:

Definitely agree with this comparison and the parallels are there too. I just hope he actually gets first team minutes and by playing for one of the best clubs in Europe playing in one of the best leagues in the world in the Bundesliga it can only help him in his progression to superstardom. I mean with Bayern he actually gets a chance to not only play alongside the world's best players in Germany but to compete against the very best that that league has to offer and he gets that valuable Champions League experience too which is just a bonus.

And with one of the best coaches around, I hope Pep Guardiola really shows him the ropes.

[toontownman]

25 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

And with one of the best coaches around, I hope Pep Guardiola really shows him the ropes.

Pep isn't a boxer duh. 

[Unnamed Trialist]

I was thinking that the Caps announcing that Alphonso is playing tomorrow, which is silly as it conditions the coach, would give rise to a run on tickets. A lot of people are curious, you'd think there might be another 5000-8000 interested in seeing him, or more, enough to justify opening the upper tier. 

But just checked official and unofficial resale channels, and a lot is available still. I even saw a Clubhouse box available for 30 euros each on stub hub, that was a cool deal.

So I am not sure how it goes: the lower tier can absorb a few thousand more and its upper reaches can be opened up. When, though, do the Whitecaps say it is worth having a few extra thousand in an upper bowl,  that it is better than sending potential fans away. That would have to be the dream: selling over 35,000 at BC Place and regularly opening the upper tier to sell 10k more tix.

[toontownman]

When they buy a couple of name DP's or players that can cause the stir. That is the only thing that will draw extra punters in. The experience and onfield product then has to be decent to get them to stay. 

I can't see the attendance spiking for anything else, maybe a deeper playoff run but thats only temporary. It will grow with time 5/10 years if they invest the Davies money well in players that will excite the paying crowd when they come or draw more media to the club. 

[Yoginess]

https://www.whitecapsfc.com/post/2018/07/25/whitecaps-fc-agree-mls-record-breaking-transfer-homegrown-midfielder-alphonso-davies

Sounds like Davies won't be going out on loan or on youth sides. Worked into the first team in some capacity.

[shermanator]

The young Whitecap has been promised first-team minutes, with no loans or residency spells, shown how they want him to fit into the team’s playing style, and the off-field support a teenager alone in a foreign country needs — from German lessons (“It’s not good, he smiled. “I don’t think I know any”) to food and lodging.

https://theprovince.com/sports/soccer/mls/vancouver-whitecaps/art-of-the-alphonso-davies-deal-how-a-special-bond-made-for-dramatic-lucrative-transfer

[shorty]

Just read that article too, and it strikes me how important it is for young up and coming athletes to have good people around them to help them keep them grounded with their heads on straight and to protect them from the sharks.

[Keegan]

Wow.  The kid follows up his signing with the best performance of his career.. this is unbelievable.

[The Beaver]

2 goals and 2 assists! Both goals very well taken. Kid is electric.

[jpg75]

That was fun to watch.

[LeoH037]

He's already surpassed Tabla methinks, and the way he handled the ball on that second goal for me proved it. 

[Unnamed Trialist]

22 minutes ago, LeoH037 said:

He's already surpassed Tabla methinks, and the way he handled the ball on that second goal for me proved it. 

So you watched Tabla in the last 20 minutes today vs. Tottenham, you saw a couple of classy details there did you?

Just asking, since Tabla has now played a friendly with the first team of Barcelona, and played  half a season in Spanish 2nd tier, arguably better on average than MLS. 

I am not going to slag Davies, I was blown away tonight at the game. He was incredible. But he won't see the field with Bayern until next January, so we should be cautious about comparisons.

 

[LeoH037]

Oh I saw the entire game, and while I liked what I saw from Tabla, I'm convinced Davies has the higher ceiling. He just has more tools than Tabla does, and when comparing Tabla's last MLS season with Davies, its clear who's made the biggest impact for their team. At 17 Tabla was not considered the best player of his age group neither, and while I'm convinced Tabla will one day end up starting for a good European team, I'm personally still skeptical as to whether that team will be Barcelona since there are many players with a style and skill set similar to his. Davies on the other side I can picture as breaking into the Bayern XI some day as there aren't many players in the world like him, and Bayern wouldn't shell that much $$$ on a teenager (heck, the most Bayern has ever spent on a player is 41.5M euro) if they didn't intend on giving him a chance.

[Keegan]

I said last year Tabla is a more world class skill player while Davies has that elite athletic level that very few in the world have.  Now I see skill and confidence from Davies that makes me wonder if Davies is the more talented player skill wise at the same age - I think he just edges it. 

Both are enormous talents but the truth is one just went for 22 M and has achieved quite a few more feats.  Ironic that maybe if Tabla played for Canada he would have reached the same value.

[Dominic94]

Saw the highlights...

 

hes a 17 year old with match winning ability, he won the game for the caps... he will play at Bayern for a longtime and he will carry Canada to the 22 WC, he’s dominating a league near par with the EFL championship... he alone can get us out of Concacaf, what’s great is he’s got help in place and on the way..

 

Ballou would of had this type of exposure if he stayed...

our midfield is looking great.

 

[mpg_29]

Some of the arguments against Davies is that he is mostly speed and that he is playing against MLS defenders. But if you look at both of his goals last night that was some tight dribbling and ball control to move into position. Even against lower quality defenders those moves require a lot of skill. His dribbling ability has improved immensely.