The Importance of Alphonso Davies

[Cblake]

25 minutes ago, Floortom said:

Rumours are that Phonzie will be starting at left wing tomorrow vs Furth. I believe this would be Davies’ first start at winger for Bayern? 
Furth are pretty poor and will be overmatched so good chance for Davies to get some goal contributions.

That will be great to see, love his speed out on wing, has can do some amazing things. Looking forward to the match tomorrow. 

[Unnamed Trialist]

19 hours ago, Floortom said:

Rumours are that Phonzie will be starting at left wing tomorrow vs Furth. I believe this would be Davies’ first start at winger for Bayern? 
Furth are pretty poor and will be overmatched so good chance for Davies to get some goal contributions.

I don't know about starts, but in his first season, preseason, they had him playing matches on the right wing a few times, and even left. And he was not that bad, he was just getting settled. Then they had their injuries at the back and he was fit into the LB position. Not sure if they came up with that, based on their own analysis, or if they'd seen enough of him playing there with Robinson to understand it was an option.

In any case, Davies was not signed by Bayern Munich as a LB.

[frmr]

Looks like Davies is indeed on the wing today. That should be fun.

[Unnamed Trialist]

Well it has been fun until 45m, he plays his relaxed role up high on the left, with Sane backing him from the middle. Cross for the assist on the first goal (after a slight rebound), also in the build-up for the second, which was similar. But just cruising and doing his role, with lots of space. Also made a few nice crosses. Just need to see him shift into shooting mode, since he is up high he needs to add that piece.

Not sure I'll watch 2nd half, the rival has great spirit--and their fans are great too-- but it is not much of a match.

[ardsa]

And his day at wing is over. Pavard red results in him shifting to LB.

[Bertuzzi44]

How did he do on the wing?

 

[ardsa]

I only saw bits and pieces of the first half. From what I saw it looked similar to when playing for CANMNT. Maybe stuck to the side a bit more - I didn't see him inside very often. Sane on the opposite wing seemed to have a lot more movement towards the middle.

[canuckgbp]

Involved in the first two goals. 

 

[VinceA]

Do you want to get more conspiracy theory with Davies and that Insta post from earlier this month?

One thing I notice is that players often comment on each other's Insta posts, usually simply stuff but very warm and very nice, usually a congrats or things like that.

Davies in all of his recent posts does not get any of that from his fellow Canada teammates. He only gets comments from Bayern players, some other pro players and his GF. He also AFAIK doesn't comment on posts of his teammates. Look at the comments on his latest post for example, and compare with the comments on David's latest post.

It is probably nothing, then again....

[Mattd97]

It's already a Monday morning, what are you trying to do to me?

[VinceA]

3 minutes ago, Mattd97 said:

It's already a Monday morning, what are you trying to do to me?

[Stryker911]

26 minutes ago, VinceA said:

Do you want to get more conspiracy theory with Davies and that Insta post from earlier this month?

One thing I notice is that players often comment on each other's Insta posts, usually simply stuff but very warm and very nice, usually a congrats or things like that.

Davies in all of his recent posts does not get any of that from his fellow Canada teammates. He only gets comments from Bayern players, some other pro players and his GF. He also AFAIK doesn't comment on posts of his teammates. Look at the comments on his latest post for example, and compare with the comments on David's latest post.

It is probably nothing, then again....

Davies latest post of him standing in a bathroom was liked by 14 CMNT players. The post prior of him drinking a slushi was liked by 15 CMNT players. I didn't have time to ranalyze all 600 comments from his 4,000,000 followers. I assume they still like him...

David's latest post, which is actually soccer related, was only liked by 11 CMNT. Uh oh mb Davies is more popular than David!!!

Also, David liked Davies post, but Davies did not like David's. From that I assume Davies is worried David will be more popular than him.

Edited September 27, 2021 by Stryker911

[theaub]

Davies was just on Twitch with one of the big FIFA streamers talking about playing Mexico during the international break (and his stadium is completely Canada themed)...let's all settle down here.

[ADP10]

Anyone know how he played today. He had another good whoscored rating of 7.7

[GasPed]

1 hour ago, ADP10 said:

Anyone know how he played today. He had another good whoscored rating of 7.7

He only played 69' but was good as usual.  He is playing way higher up the pitch under Nagelsmann than under Flick - basically he's playing left wing in possession.  With him and now Sane playing on that side (Sane actually tucks in and lets Davies take the outside) it truly is the flank of fear for their opponents.  The only issue is he is also expected to get back on defense so he is running a lot.  But playing as the starting left wing/back/wingback on what is probably the best team in the world right now was never going to be easy.  🙃

 

[Dinozotti]

It’s best we keep our connection with Bayern happy. Things are working a lot more smoothly with Nagelsmann than with Flick

[Unnamed Trialist]

Let's bring the discussion over on the Liam Millar thread over here, since it is about Alphonso Davies. 

My patience is running thin with so many fans and supposedly knowledgable supporters of the national team, who insist on playing our best player where he can do the least damage. 

We are simply taking an "accident", Bayern Munich in a pinch with injuries, and making it into a law: Davies plays left side. The other part of that story is Robinson easing a kid into a team, all credit to him.

Now for a team with prolific goal scorers galore and plenty of attacking options, a team that steamrolls most rivals, it's fine, let him be a role player. Or for a coach wanting to give a kid some time to fit in.

That cannot be the case for Canada. We need our best playing in their best positions if we don't want to be sitting watching Panama playing Portugal and Uruguay in the first round of the Qatar World Cup, in a year. And Alphonso, if he is meant to be an attacking player, is a right side attacker turning in. 

But don't take my word for it. This is the player that Bayern bought for a record price (and no, they did not buy a left back). They bought an electric fast attacker who plays right, turns in and scores. Check these MLS goals, all 8. Only two is he even remotely on the left side and the rest middle or right. The best, from the right. But some here, and Herdman, are shitting themselves over this. Why?

I'll take this with Tajon or Miller playing up the left and turning in to shoot, or assist. I'll take Tajon's goal against Mexico or Miller at Basel. 

Now if tactics or game circumstances have him elsewhere, fine, he's great. A great option for assisting from the left, can't complain with that: but only as the exception, not the rule. 

Waiting for everyone to tell me that what he did 3 years ago in MLS he is not capable of reproducing now.

 

Edited October 1, 2021 by Unnamed Trialist

[archer21]

14 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Let's bring the discussion over on the Liam Millar thread over here, since it is about Alphonso Davies. 

My patience is running thin with so many fans and supposedly knowledgable supporters of the national team, who insist on playing our best player where he can do the least damage. 

We are simply taking an "accident", Bayern Munich in a pinch with injuries, and making it into a law: Davies plays left side. The other part of that story is Robinson easing a kid into a team, all credit to him.

Now for a team with prolific goal scorers galore and plenty of attacking options, a team that steamrolls most rivals, it's fine, let him be a role player. Or for a coach wanting to give a kid some time to fit in.

That cannot be the case for Canada. We need our best playing in their best positions if we don't want to be sitting watching Panama playing Portugal and Uruguay in the first round of the Qatar World Cup, in a year. And Alphonso, if he is meant to be an attacking player, is a right side attacker turning in. 

But don't take my word for it. This is the player that Bayern bought for a record price (and no, they did not buy a left back). They bought an electric fast attacker who plays right, turns in and scores. Check these MLS goals, all 8. Only two is he even remotely on the left side and the rest middle or right. The best, from the right. But some here, and Herdman, are shitting themselves over this. Why?

I'll take this with Tajon or Miller playing up the left and turning in to shoot, or assist. I'll take Tajon's goal against Mexico or Miller at Basel. 

Now if tactics or game circumstances have him elsewhere, fine, he's great. A great option for assisting from the left, can't complain with that: but only as the exception, not the rule. 

Waiting for everyone to tell me that what he did 3 years ago in MLS he is not capable of reproducing now.

 

He’s pretty outstanding on either flank. I do agree that I prefer him further up the pitch, but I don’t necessarily prefer him on the right over the left. In general, I agree that inverted wingers can be very dangerous but in the limited CMNT matches that he’s played on the wings, he seems better on the left. He’s just so fast that he can beat the opponent to the end line at will and set up great scoring chances for Larin, David, etc. When he’s on the right, he’s more inclined to cut into traffic, which will lead to more goals for him, but often just leads to him trying to do too much and losing possession.

[Aird25]

I've watched the vast majority of games in Phonzie's career, and I'm in no way convinced LB or LWB isn't his best position. That being the position he can excel at the highest level in. He's very strong defensively, and he's lethal going forward with space to run. That being said, if he's played further up the pitch for Canada, I think he's far more of a scoring threat from the right side or middle of the park.

[Kent]

This is a problem I never thought Canadian national teams would ever have. Our world best XI player is good at too many positions, so we don't know where to play him.

I have always been against Davies at LB. Whether he plays on the left or the right, I'm easy either way. I didn't think it was crazy when Herdman got him to switch sides despite having his way early in that Honduras game. I thought it would be a chance for him to maybe turn in and take some shots, and also to try to get Buchanan (it was Buchanan right?) going against a defender that was having a really tough time.

[Lurker]

What if played Davies as a striker in Mexico?  Less running and with his skill and speed it would keep Mexico honest at the back.  I realize that’s a pretty simple thought but it would create an interesting challenge for Mexico and we can defend heavily and just toss long balls to create some serious chances on a counter attack.

[dyslexic nam]

21 minutes ago, Lurker said:

What if played Davies as a striker in Mexico?  Less running and with his skill and speed it would keep Mexico honest at the back.  I realize that’s a pretty simple thought but it would create an interesting challenge for Mexico and we can defend heavily and just toss long balls to create some serious chances on a counter attack.

No way we should try something for the very first time against Mexico - while unnecessarily risking fatigue or injury.  

[Lurker]

55 minutes ago, dyslexic nam said:

No way we should try something for the very first time against Mexico - while unnecessarily risking fatigue or injury.  

I was thinking it would be less risk since he wouldn’t be forced to track up and down the wing all night in high altitude if he was up front.

[dyslexic nam]

1 hour ago, Lurker said:

I was thinking it would be less risk since he wouldn’t be forced to track up and down the wing all night in high altitude if he was up front.

Maybe.   But I think we should keep him in the bench, try to keep things really tight defensively for around 60 minutes, and then turn him loose for the last 30 to run at tired legs in an effort to get a result.  

[Cblake]

25 minutes ago, dyslexic nam said:

Maybe.   But I think we should keep him in the bench, try to keep things really tight defensively for around 60 minutes, and then turn him loose for the last 30 to run at tired legs in an effort to get a result.  

Absolutely depending on the health of some, letting Davies and David go for the final 30 to give the team a boost could very likely be the way to go, depending on how things are going.