The Importance of Alphonso Davies

[longlugan]

26 minutes ago, Stryker911 said:

Crazy that a team like Bayern doesn't have a bit more depth. I realize that this is how Davies got a shot, but still. Really the only option that had on the bench that was offensive was Musiala. Kind of annoyed on how some people have turned on Davies. He is still our best player and the best player in our region.

Depth? Lewandowski,  Gnabry, Goretzka and Süle were missing today and they still beat PSG in Paris. Over the two legs I thought they were the better team but lacked the finishing to put PSG away. All part of the game and PSG deserved to go through (I guess) but ask Liverpool  how their season has gone with all of their injuries. How much more depth do you expect them to have? They just had some bad luck that they've been able to overcome before but not this time. At this point I just hope it's not one of the plastic teams that wins the whole thing.

[TOCanada115]

5 hours ago, Aird25 said:

At least once more, because much of what you said is wrong

After his speed, what would you say is his next best attribute is?

For me, I’d probably name 4 or 5 things before anything to do with his defending. 

[longlugan]

2 minutes ago, dyslexic nam said:

To be clear, I haven’t “turned” on Davies.  But I do resist some of the suggestions that he is one of best LB’s in the world.  The reality is that his pace often saves him when he gets beaten, and against top class opponents that can happen a fair bit.  The reason he gets the accolades he does is for his attacking abilities from that position - but LB is ultimately a defensive position and I think there are aspects of his defensive game that need to improve if he wants to maintain a lock on the LB position at Bayern.  
 

I agree somewhat while also disagreeing...if that's possible 😁. I still think he's "one" of the best at the position but definitely not "the" best. The real difference I noticed this year is that Flick has him on more of a leash and I don't understand his reasoning.  What made Phonzie so dynamic last season was his two-way play but this season he's hardly looked to make an impact offensively and that has made his sometimes defensive naiveté more glaring. But that's ok too because he is still learning the position and will only get better. I still think he's tailor-made for this position at this level but just needs to keep learning. One negative going forward is that his mentor (Alaba) won't be there after this season to guide him. I have faith in Phonzie to continue his path to the top at his position...next thing to look forward to for him and us is World Cup qualifying.

[Stryker911]

8 minutes ago, longlugan said:

Depth? Lewandowski,  Gnabry, Goretzka and Süle were missing today and they still beat PSG in Paris. Over the two legs I thought they were the better team but lacked the finishing to put PSG away. All part of the game and PSG deserved to go through (I guess) but ask Liverpool  how their season has gone with all of their injuries. How much more depth do you expect them to have? They just had some bad luck that they've been able to overcome before but not this time. At this point I just hope it's not one of the plastic teams that wins the whole thing.

I get that they had alot of regulars out. No question about that. I am just surprised that they don't have more options within the second team or that they could recall some of their loans. For instance Zirkzee, Meier, Cuisance, or Dajaku may have been good options to have. Sending these guys on loan may have cost this team the Champions league.

Even Choupo-Moting as essentially Lewandowski backup is very underwhelming. I have no idea how a guy with those numbers ends up on such big clubs.

[longlugan]

19 minutes ago, Stryker911 said:

I get that they had alot of regulars out. No question about that. I am just surprised that they don't have more options within the second team or that they could recall some of their loans. For instance Zirkzee, Meier, Cuisance, or Dajaku may have been good options to have. Sending these guys on loan may have cost this team the Champions league.

Even Choupo-Moting as essentially Lewandowski backup is very underwhelming. I have no idea how a guy with those numbers ends up on such big clubs.

 

20 minutes ago, Stryker911 said:

I get that they had alot of regulars out. No question about that. I am just surprised that they don't have more options within the second team or that they could recall some of their loans. For instance Zirkzee, Meier, Cuisance, or Dajaku may have been good options to have. Sending these guys on loan may have cost this team the Champions league.

Even Choupo-Moting as essentially Lewandowski backup is very underwhelming. I have no idea how a guy with those numbers ends up on such big clubs.

I think he was a brilliant acquisition as a backup to Lewandowski and trust me I questioned it at first too but he's done what's been asked of him in limited time.

[lowlander]

22 hours ago, TOCanada115 said:

I don’t know how many times I need to watch him for Bayern, or the Canada. 
 

He is not a fullback. Hasn’t played it his whole career until Bayern, and it shows. At best, he’s a wingback. He’s not a very good defender. He just relies on his speed. 
 

Doesn’t pick up his man well in the box, and  the angles he takes to defend are weird. And that completely understandable, with how long he’s learned this position. 
 

But, he’s not being fully utilized. He has so much to bring to an attack, but doesn’t get to on that team. He needs to be freed. 

His reluctance to attack is so complete that it seems it must be on instructions. But it actually weakens Bayern as the opposition know that he will not take them on. It does not make sense, especially when most of the attacking on the night by Bayern was mechanical and not too hard to defend against. They could have used a few drives down the left to mix things up and unsettle the defence.

 I agree with several posters that Hernandez was superior in this game, which is actually the first time I have felt that so clearly. I don’t see Bayern changing Davies’ position but I hope they unleash him a little to get greater benefit from his skill set which leans offensive.

[TOcanadafan]

3 hours ago, lowlander said:

 I agree with several posters that Hernandez was superior in this game, which is actually the first time I have felt that so clearly. I don’t see Bayern changing Davies’ position but I hope they unleash him a little to get greater benefit from his skill set which leans offensive.

Bayern will lose Alaba and Boateng this summer. I think Hernandez will play at CB which is a better fit.

[DavemTFC]

I really think the "he isn't a fullback" talk is ridiculous after one bad match. He's got clear holes in his game but he's more often than not been a plus defensively and offensively for Bayern whenever I've watched him (let's not forget him literally playing Sancho out of the game last year). I don't want to see him at FB for us because he's clearly our best attacking player and isn't a good enough defender to be expected to do that alongside a frankly weak defensive corps while also being one of our main creative players. But Bayern are broadly speaking a well organized, well structured team who also usually dominate whoever they play against - so Davies is basically in a wingback role which suits him well.

He has to improve defending against players who don't rely on their speed but seriously when you compare him to other defenders he really doesn't get beaten or caught out very often. That said I would like to see him take more risks going forward

[Unnamed Trialist]

I don't even think it was a bad match for him, that is not what most are saying. They won. They also had some close ones. All we are getting at is that if your team really needs a goal, you have to step up. You, every player on the pitch. 

But I feel this in general, I'm a Barça fan and find it very irritating that some players (Busquets) can just say to themselve, hey, it's not on me, that's not my job. So never shoot, even when the chance is clear.  Scoring, like defending, is everyone's job. And as Canada fans we'd like to see Alphonso be a bit more effective in attack because we know it is not at all a waste for him to go forward with gusto.

[Aird25]

Doesn't he have like the most dribbles of any fullback over the last couple of seasons? Holding back last game seemed to be a clear tactical decision to me. In the first leg Bayern gave up two goals on the break, and could have given up more. Davies was brought on to stem this with his speed, and though they gave up chances they did shut PSG out the second leg. Davies spends far more time in the attacking third and taking players on most games. Finding that balance when it changes from game to game is something he has to work on, but he's generally a very attacking fullback. Though I do agree, that he usually defers to his wingers and midfielders when he has the ball deep. Its not often we seem him take a player on like he did against Semedo last year, but I think he has the tools to do it more often

[yomurphy1]

Wild take.

I think Alphonso Davies is going be okay. 

The man has taken every opportunity he's been given and exceeded expectations. 

Edited April 15, 2021 by yomurphy1

[Bdog]

Played 90 in a 3-2 win against Wolfsburg. Assist on the first goal. https://streamgg.com/ib/HqOCkDdbCr
 

The goal against here was another case of not tightly marking his man on a cross, which according to everyone whenever this happens means he should never play LB again and it’s all his fault. 😉 https://streamgg.com/ib/fFmwaadaFX

[red card]

delete wrong thread

Edited April 17, 2021 by red card

[SoccMan]

On FotMob he got a rating of 8.2 fourth highest on Bayern today not bad .

[dyslexic nam]

Didn’t see the game, but apparently Davies went 90 minutes in a 2-0 win against Leverkusen.  RBL dropped points so Bayern are now 10 points clear.   
 

Unfortunately, Fotomob didn’t have a lot of positives to say about him:

Alphonso Davies (LB) - 5/10 - Quick to track back and deny Leverkusen’s right-hand side on numerous occasions but didn’t have the same impact on the front foot, being sloppy, lacklustre and strangely tentative with his crossing and dribbling.

Edited April 20, 2021 by dyslexic nam

[N1ckbr0wn]

5 minutes ago, dyslexic nam said:

Didn’t see the game, but apparently Davies went 90 minutes in a 2-0 win against Leverkusen.  RBL dropped points so Bayern are now 10 points clear.   
 

Unfortunately, Fotomob didn’t have a lot of positives to say about him:

Alphonso Davies (LB) - 5/10 - Quick to track back and deny Leverkusen’s right-hand side on numerous occasions but didn’t have the same impact on the front foot, being sloppy, lacklustre and strangely tentative with his crossing and dribbling.

That’s weird. Didn’t watch the game myself, but WhoScored has the opposite. They have him tied for 3rd highest rated player

 

[dyslexic nam]

1 minute ago, N1ckbr0wn said:

That’s weird. Didn’t watch the game myself, but WhoScored has the opposite. They have him tied for 3rd highest rated player

 

Ha.  Weird.  I guess the lesson is to watch and draw your own conclusions.  

[red card]

1 hour ago, dyslexic nam said:

Didn’t see the game, but apparently Davies went 90 minutes in a 2-0 win against Leverkusen.  RBL dropped points so Bayern are now 10 points clear.   
 

Unfortunately, Fotomob didn’t have a lot of positives to say about him:

Alphonso Davies (LB) - 5/10 - Quick to track back and deny Leverkusen’s right-hand side on numerous occasions but didn’t have the same impact on the front foot, being sloppy, lacklustre and strangely tentative with his crossing and dribbling.

Not fotmob as he was rated 8.1 there and they don't provide qualitative player assessments.

This is one guy's view named Max Parsons from Back Page Football.

[Floortom]

This was Phonzies best game in a while actually..had some nice attaching moments and was strong defensively

[baulderdash77]

It was a bad take.  Phonzie dominated and shut down his side of the field.  Destroying the other sides attack in a 2-0 win is very valuable.

[Bison44]

PFFFTT!!  Lacklustre crossing and dribbling....ummm he is the LB.  Bayern really needs him to generate their attack?  This is what drives me crazy about the whole LB/LW debate.  When Davies has a game where he is focused on defense first, and maybe not so involved in the attack, the whines come out.  Its like when people say he is better attacking from LB because he has room to build up speed.  Grrrr....if you want him attacking all the time put him up on the wing, and even then he still has duties in his own end.  

[Obinna]

13 hours ago, Bison44 said:

PFFFTT!!  Lacklustre crossing and dribbling....ummm he is the LB.  Bayern really needs him to generate their attack?  This is what drives me crazy about the whole LB/LW debate.  When Davies has a game where he is focused on defense first, and maybe not so involved in the attack, the whines come out.  Its like when people say he is better attacking from LB because he has room to build up speed.  Grrrr....if you want him attacking all the time put him up on the wing, and even then he still has duties in his own end.  

I can see how it would drive you crazy that we complain when he is focused on defense first, because he's a defender. That's his primary job, defending. 

That said, it is understandable that people want to see a two-way performance from him, especially when he can generate so much offense from that position. The claim he attacks best with room to build up speed is accurate, though. 

[Norrin Radd]

1 hour ago, Obinna said:

I can see how it would drive you crazy that we complain when he is focused on defense first, because he's a defender. That's his primary job, defending. 

That said, it is understandable that people want to see a two-way performance from him, especially when he can generate so much offense from that position. The claim he attacks best with room to build up speed is accurate, though. 

Looking at the stats from yesterday's game, Davies had 7.4% possession (the best of any player on the pitch), 97% pass success rate and 5 dribbles completed. It doesn't sound like he was only defending or that he was in any way sloppy, tentative or lackluster.

[archer21]

22 hours ago, Obinna said:

I can see how it would drive you crazy that we complain when he is focused on defense first, because he's a defender. That's his primary job, defending. 

That said, it is understandable that people want to see a two-way performance from him, especially when he can generate so much offense from that position. The claim he attacks best with room to build up speed is accurate, though. 

I’m not sure why everyone thinks this. I think he has been very effective for us as a forward in the few instances he’s been given the opportunity. Having him chasing down long balls in behind slower defenders is a massive threat for the opponent. A lot of the reason we beat USA in Toronto in my opinion is that they didn’t know how to handle the speed/counter attack that we had up front.

[Aird25]

12 minutes ago, archer21 said:

I’m not sure why everyone thinks this. I think he has been very effective for us as a forward in the few instances he’s been given the opportunity. Having him chasing down long balls in behind slower defenders is a massive threat for the opponent. A lot of the reason we beat USA in Toronto in my opinion is that they didn’t know how to handle the speed/counter attack that we had up front.

What you’re describing is him attacking with room to build up speed