The Importance of Alphonso Davies

[Lansdude]

They could use his pace in this match.

[ghostknownunknown]

Here he comes. 

[dyslexic nam]

I you have to make 2 subs before half, you know things started off badly.  Not sure if I would blame the coach for poor player selection or the players for underperforming (or both) but Bayern look better now.

[Gian-Luca]

Sule looked like he was in a bit of pain coming off, so that may not have been tactical. The "whoops, I should have started Davies" sub when down 2-0 definitely seemed tactical, though I was a bit surprised Goretzka was taken off.

[DavemTFC]

Bayern's ceiling is just so much higher when Davies plays. More dangerous going forward and less vulnerable defensively due to his exceptional recovery speed

That said this could easily be 2-2. PSG look more dangerous when they're in Bayern's half but they don't look capable of creating chances on their own other than finding Mbappe/Neymar on the counter

Still they were much better when Davies was on

[El Hombre]

I am impressed by Davies' vision.  He doesn't just lay off the easy pass.  He more often than not starts a movement with his passing.  Really impressive.

[ADP10]

I think he played really well today

[JuicyHam]

Just now, ADP10 said:

I think he played really well today

Yeah made some mistakes but was really dynamic and Bayern changed when he came on 

[TOcanadafan]

Davies showed he definitely should have started... and I really think Hernandez is a better CB than Boateng.

[sebdeserio]

Traded shirts with Neymar maybe he already had Mbappe from the CL finals? He must already have the most impressive kit collection of any Canadian player.

[DavemTFC]

He better start the second leg. Definitely one of Bayern's better players today.

REALLY good game to watch

[Unnamed Trialist]

Don't you think he was too conformist in the last 20, needing a goal? 

I get the sense he does not have that urgency, being a LB you have to be able to charge ahead to get numbers, and if it does not work, charge back. It's like it is not up to him, he just has his role and that is enough.

[ghostknownunknown]

He had every right to be furious at Alaba after that third goal. He was WIDE OPEN down the left and instead Alaba played a hopeful ball into the box which lead to the counterattack and goal. 

Edited April 7, 2021 by ghostknownunknown

[Floortom]

4 minutes ago, ghostknownunknown said:

He had every right to be furious at Alaba after that third goal. He was WIDE OPEN down the left and instead Alaba played a hopeful ball into the box which lead to the counterattack and goal. 

Alaba always does that. he is always too apt to switch away from Davies.

 

i thought Davies played well but wish he would have done a little more in the final third.

Edited April 7, 2021 by Floortom

[LeoH037]

On 4/7/2021 at 5:03 PM, Unnamed Trialist said:

Don't you think he was too conformist in the last 20, needing a goal? 

I get the sense he does not have that urgency, being a LB you have to be able to charge ahead to get numbers, and if it does not work, charge back. It's like it is not up to him, he just has his role and that is enough.

Probably had instruction to stay back a bit to not get burned on the counter (i.e. Mbappe)

All in all, Flick had a lapse in judgement not starting Davies, Bayern just took on a whole different shape once he came on. Unfortunately they were chasing the game at that point. 

Edited April 9, 2021 by LeoH037

[Unnamed Trialist]

16 minutes ago, LeoH037 said:

Probably had instruction to stay back a bit to not get burned on the counter (i.e. Mbappe)

All in all, Flick had a lapse in judgement not starting Davies, Bayern just took on a hole different shape once he came on. Unfortunately they were chasing the game at that point. 

I get the idea. I also get that they think others will do the scoring, that it is not his job. But it is not like he does not having striking capacity.

Turn Coman in and let Davies find the line, for example. They were playing four back against Mbappe up the left, and Kean, who is not fast, centred or drifting over to Davies side...but really they should have gone to a back three and pushed numbers up, for 15 minutes at least.

I guess I would like to see Alphonso in the mix and with a bit of adrenalin rushing, instead of just being okay about it all.

[Aird25]

1 hour ago, El Hombre said:

I am impressed by Davies' vision.  He doesn't just lay off the easy pass.  He more often than not starts a movement with his passing.  Really impressive.

I think this is a part of his game that he's improved on from last year. He still defers to his winger or midfielders too often for me in the final third, but that's probably by design. We don't see that with Canada

52 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Don't you think he was too conformist in the last 20, needing a goal? 

I get the sense he does not have that urgency, being a LB you have to be able to charge ahead to get numbers, and if it does not work, charge back. It's like it is not up to him, he just has his role and that is enough.

I definitely got the sense this was tactical. He had opportunities to overlap but he held his run. One of the few times he did push forward, Alaba ignored him and PSG went and scored on the counter.

50 minutes ago, ghostknownunknown said:

He had every right to be furious at Alaba after that third goal. He was WIDE OPEN down the left and instead Alaba played a hopeful ball into the box which lead to the counterattack and goal. 

Alaba ignores Davies in space far too often. 

[Kadenge]

During the 2 recent Canada games there was a big change in Davies' disposition from 16 months ago. Like "this is my team" I'm taking control. That assertiveness is not there yet for Bayern and understandably so. He defers to the vets but that will come soon. Bayern still rely on him for defensive  cover.

[canadasoccer20]

 

 

So cool watching one of the biggest names in the sport showing respect to Davies.

[PopePouri]

It must be amazing to get the shirt from a true great.

 

I'm so happy for Neymar.

[Cheeta]

Just wondering who is this Davis fellow?

 

 

[dyslexic nam]

3 hours ago, canadasoccer20 said:

 

 

So cool watching one of the biggest names in the sport showing respect to Davies.

I believe the headline should read:

”Neymar got Alphonso Davies’ shirt at full time”

[cronaldo7]

12 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

I get the idea. I also get that they think others will do the scoring, that it is not his job. But it is not like he does not having striking capacity.

Turn Coman in and let Davies find the line, for example. They were playing four back against Mbappe up the left, and Kean, who is not fast, centred or drifting over to Davies side...but really they should have gone to a back three and pushed numbers up, for 15 minutes at least.

I guess I would like to see Alphonso in the mix and with a bit of adrenalin rushing, instead of just being okay about it all.

I have similar thoughts when watching. You know just feel like Alphonso has another gear but it’s so apparent that he’s being tamed by the tactical demands. It’s clear that, “give the ball to Coman, Kimmich, etc” and they will deliver the final product, via pass or strike.

And that’s fair. He has world-class talent around him that do indeed produce. Perhaps it’s just a matter of Alphonso capitalizing on the one or two times in a match where he does push towards goal (we saw it more last season).
 

All in all, Bayern have been pretty successful (putting it mildly) with their tactics but sometimes hard for us to take off our Canadian-footie-fan-glasses. 
 

So, while I have the same feelings as you about wanting him to want to be in the mix more offensively, I don’t think it’s up to him as I think we’ve see it’s in his character to indeed want to be in the mix as much as possible (there’s a word-salad for ya ;)).

What I do love to see is how confident he was playing when he came on. A couple cheeky backheels, stepovers, pushing forward aggressively, not just playing safe etc. He came on with the attitude like, “hey.. I am in the same conversations as Neymar, Mbappe etc.. and I belong here”. We’ve never seen a Canadian do that. It’s really cool.

[DavemTFC]

On 4/7/2021 at 5:19 PM, LeoH037 said:

Probably had instruction to stay back a bit to not get burned on the counter (i.e. Mbappe)

All in all, Flick had a lapse in judgement not starting Davies, Bayern just took on a hole different shape once he came on. Unfortunately they were chasing the game at that point. 

This is it. It's only the first leg, not worth going all out attack when you're the main option to recover defensively

[LeoH037]

Honestly, If I'm Davies, and having just witnessed Mbappe score a superb solo goal after having breaking off in the counter (and with 3-4 defenders on him), I remain cautious and stay back too. A 3-2 loss is still salvageable for a team like Bayern.