The Importance of Alphonso Davies

[Brethers8]

6 hours ago, Jith12 said:

Caps POTY for Phonzie:

 

Fucking hell, the size of that trophy!

[Jith12]

12 minutes ago, Brethers8 said:

Fucking hell, the size of that trophy!

Yeah, he's gonna need a new trophy case for that one.

[Jith12]

FONZIE YOU LEGEND!!!

 

[dyslexic nam]

Highlights of the two goals embedded in this CBC article:

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/mls/whitecaps-timbers-farewell-davies-1.4881859

[Stryker911]

This is the most recent comment on a Munich forum regarding Davies. Lots of optimism.

Re: Alphonso Davies

by IsiahRashad » Sun Oct 28, 2018 11:31 pm

Not a single player in Bayern squad today that can sprint 35 meters with the ball and score like that with his left foot. Let's hope that he can transform in our own Mbappe. Davies currently is looking like Kylian in his first games for Monaco. Even Mbappe started playing for the first team at 16, Davies is doing it since he was a 15 year old kid. 

Usually I'm not excited with our young guys recently, but I have high hopes for him.

Edit : Alphonso Davies will play for Canada against St. Kitts and Nevis on 18 November then will immediately join Bayern for training. Niko Kovač: "He will come to Germany and start training. When you spend that much money on a player, you don't just put him in the second team"

[PhillyCanuck]

Niko Kovac has confirmed that Davies will join Bayern Munich immediately following the international break in November:

https://www.bavarianfootballworks.com/2018/10/29/18037346/bayern-munich-niko-kovac-confirms-alphonso-davies-training-november-international-break-whitecaps

[Keegan]

But every time I talk to a Canadian soccer expert they tell me “MLS is so bad.  He’ll be loaned out or won’t play for Bayern. 20 million is nothing”.  

Should I believe the experts or Niko Kovac?  #confused

[Bison44]

17 minutes ago, Keegan said:

But every time I talk to a Canadian soccer expert they tell me “MLS is so bad.  He’ll be loaned out or won’t play for Bayern. 20 million is nothing”.  

Should I believe the experts or Niko Kovac?  #confused

Are these "experts" on here??  I would go with the coaches at Bayern. 

[Unnamed Trialist]

5 minutes ago, Keegan said:

But every time I talk to a Canadian soccer expert they tell me “MLS is so bad.  He’ll be loaned out or won’t play for Bayern. 20 million is nothing”.  

Should I believe the experts or Niko Kovac?  #confused

They are right that the money is not enough to ensure you have to play the guy first team, not for Bayern. Real Madrid signed Vinicius Jr, for over 40 million Euros, and he plays on the B team at the same level as Ballou, third tier. 

They may also be right that there is a period of adaptation. There is for most young players from outside of Europe, like Brazilians, Africans. There is for top quality guys who are not used to what tend to be very tight positional systems in the top Euro teams, where your movement off the ball is strictly watched, for example (esp harder for attacking players to deal with). So all that.

In retrospect, the fact he has played outside back, will probably be something that will have helped him, he does know what it means to have to stay back when required.

He also has the advantage of being the kind of player you can put on the bench, and use late to try to open something up, or if you are winning and under pressure, just use him to counter. He is not going to dismantle the entire system if he is not entirely adapted. It is a low risk sort of sub you can make, and watch how he does.

Now he gets a few weeks off. Then he goes with Canada, then is training with the first team for a few more weeks, then getting a break until they start up again, usually the third week of January in Germany, I think. Good that he'll get a rest, train a bit, adapt a bit, be home for Xmas, then be back in the mini-preseason before they start again. All good as I see it, smooth transition into the team.

The litmus test, as I see it, will be see if they include him in their Champions roster for the knock-out rounds.

[KW519]

Not much competition on the flanks, and the manager himself said they intend to make good on that 20M investment....no reason to believe he won't be involved from the start unless we get news indicating otherwise

[SpursFlu]

2 hours ago, Keegan said:

But every time I talk to a Canadian soccer expert they tell me “MLS is so bad.  He’ll be loaned out or won’t play for Bayern. 20 million is nothing”.  

Should I believe the experts or Niko Kovac?  #confused

When 17 yr old shreds defenders day in day out. Its not a great look for the league. But yah he's good and the NA youth and the quality of mls imports are improving year to year. Its not that confusing, just use your eyes and judge for yourself.

Edited October 29, 2018 by SpursFlu

[villus]

3 hours ago, KW519 said:

Not much competition on the flanks, and the manager himself said they intend to make good on that 20M investment....no reason to believe he won't be involved from the start unless we get news indicating otherwise

Robben, Ribery and Gnabry are all very good players with pedigree at the top level.  I think Davies will have every opportunity to get playing time and Kovac really likes players with a profile like Davies.  Its crazy that Davies is still so young but will be competiting with world cup and Champions league winners.  I do think that bringing him along slowly and getting the chance to train and adapt without the pressure of games for the first few months is a good thing.  

[dyslexic nam]

11 minutes ago, villus said:

Robben, Ribery and Gnabry are all very good players with pedigree at the top level.  I think Davies will have every opportunity to get playing time and Kovac really likes players with a profile like Davies.  Its crazy that Davies is still so young but will be competiting with world cup and Champions league winners.  I do think that bringing him along slowly and getting the chance to train and adapt without the pressure of games for the first few months is a good thing.  

I have said it before, but will reiterate - the more I think of it the more I am excited about Bayern specifically as the place for Davies to grow.  They have two of the more active, effective wingers in the world over the past 10 years and he will be training with them and learning from them.  Davies will likely be getting sub appearances early in his tenure, and as the veterans wind things down and he grows into his game, he ideally will be able to work his way into the starting line up.  It is like he is part of a great succession plan.  

Edited October 30, 2018 by dyslexic nam

[villus]

2 minutes ago, dyslexic nam said:

I have said it before, but will reiterate - the more I think of it the more I am excited about Bayern specifically as the place for Davies to grow.  They have two of the more active, effective wingers in the world over the past 10 years and he will be training with them and learning from them.  Davies will likely be getting sub appearances early in his tenure, and as the veterans wind things down and he grows into his game, he ideally will be able to work his way into the starting line up.  It is like he is part of a great succession plan.  

And they have two fantastic distributors in the middle in Thiago and James and a very good target CF, its got all the ingredients for a young wide player like himself to flourish, especially with Bayern often running away with the league he should have every opportunity to be successful on paper.  

[toontownman]

He isn't eligible to play until January though is he?

[Obinna]

5 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

In retrospect, the fact he has played outside back, will probably be something that will have helped him, he does know what it means to have to stay back when required.

Maybe this is why Robinson played him at wingback all those times?

He did always claim he knew what he was doing when it came to developing Davies

Edited October 30, 2018 by Obinna

[Obinna]

 

1 hour ago, villus said:

And they have two fantastic distributors in the middle in Thiago and James and a very good target CF, its got all the ingredients for a young wide player like himself to flourish, especially with Bayern often running away with the league he should have every opportunity to be successful on paper.  

So two questions:

1) Are you saying Lewandowski is the new Kei?

2) If Yes, will he be dancing in the corner with Davies during goal celebrations?

[Shakmur]

7 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

They are right that the money is not enough to ensure you have to play the guy first team, not for Bayern. Real Madrid signed Vinicius Jr, for over 40 million Euros, and he plays on the B team at the same level as Ballou, third tier. 

For Bayern he is a big signing at 16M. Go see how much they usually spend on players. Listen to Kovac, Bayern dont pay 16M for a player to send him to the reserves.

[nolando]

Am I the only one still pinching myself, coming to terms that this is really happening?

[BenFisk'sBiggestFan]

Another article supporting Davies:

https://www.bundesliga.com/en/news/Bundesliga/where-will-alphonso-davies-play-for-bayern-munich-516167.jsp

[Unnamed Trialist]

16 hours ago, Shakmur said:

For Bayern he is a big signing at 16M. Go see how much they usually spend on players. Listen to Kovac, Bayern dont pay 16M for a player to send him to the reserves.

If you want we can do a long list of even more expensive players who have not played or even gotten time with a reserve side, I am game if you are. Every major club has either one or two now, or has in the last few years. You can't just make up statements that are not based in fact: all major clubs have huge investments sitting around, playing for reserves, loaned out, and so on. 

The Germany B3 is probably the best in the world right now, as I see it. Or in there with League One. If you can't give a player minutes on the first team, you don't just sit there stubbornly saying we paid this or that and not keep him game sharp. Not done. You send him down to the B team and he adapts, he learns language, he learns system. He is pushed. I'd love to see Davies spend a month in B3 tearing things up, it would be fun. As long as he is not going to get 1st team minutes on one of the top 8 clubs in the world.

[Keegan]

5 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

If you want we can do a long list of even more expensive players who have not played or even gotten time with a reserve side, I am game if you are. Every major club has either one or two now, or has in the last few years. You can't just make up statements that are not based in fact: all major clubs have huge investments sitting around, playing for reserves, loaned out, and so on. 

The Germany B3 is probably the best in the world right now, as I see it. Or in there with League One. If you can't give a player minutes on the first team, you don't just sit there stubbornly saying we paid this or that and not keep him game sharp. Not done. You send him down to the B team and he adapts, he learns language, he learns system. He is pushed. I'd love to see Davies spend a month in B3 tearing things up, it would be fun. As long as he is not going to get 1st team minutes on one of the top 8 clubs in the world.

Wait.. the German and English third divisions are better than the Spanish third division?  Have you been hacked?

[Unnamed Trialist]

47 minutes ago, Keegan said:

Wait.. the German and English third divisions are better than the Spanish third division?  Have you been hacked?

Actually if you look at my posts when the England snobs went ape (when I said that when Hume played for Pontferrada in 2nd div Spain, he was our highest ranked European player, ahead of Arfield and Hoillet then in Championship), they were about the Spanish 2nd tier.

Which I consider to be superior to the Championship, they quality is higher, the play, the competitive level as well. I can argue this another day.

But those same posts also argued that the new Germany B3 was probably the best third tier in the world. Not Spanish 3rd tier, with 4 divisions, but Germany. And better than League One.

Part of the argument is this: there are 18 teams in B1, 18 in B2, and only 20 teams in B3, the level is higher than League One. The 18 teams in B3 are the 37th to 56th best teams in Germany. In England, there are 8 teams in the Championship who would be in B3 Germany, the bottom third of the entire division. League One has the 45th to 68th best teams in England. Twelve teams in League One,  half the division, if playing in Germany, would be in fourth tier.

Smaller divisions are always more competitive. There are more teams close to potential promotion spots. And more close to relegation. Mid table is riskier. Late season there is more to play for. Unlike with these filler divisions in England, where they have a huge section of the division in no-mans land or wallowing in relegation by February. 

I am wrong about Phonzie though: he'd play reserves in the Bavarian division, 4th tier.

[Keegan]

I get it, I’m just teasing.  In my mind the Championship is the best 2nd division in the world and it’s not much of a debate followed by the B2 (sorry).  I would completely agree with your third division analysis. 

[Obinna]

B3?

Are we really expecting him in the German third tier, or am I overly optimistic on Davies at Bayern?

I know it was a friendly game, I know the MLS Allstars are not Bayern Munich, and I know Juventus was in preseason, but the way Davies played, it really suggested to me that he will quickly adapt to the Bundesliga.

Let's face it, he'll be up against teams way better than anything in MLS, but that Allstar game was also better skill wise and he didn't make the sort of mistakes you'd expect from a 17 year old, playing out of position, in an MLS Allstar game against a big European team.

Rather, he blended in and played up to the level of the Allstars around him. A good sign.

Also a good sign that he'll have 2 months of training under his belt, meaning he won't exactly get thrown in the fire.