The Importance of Alphonso Davies

[Corazon]

18 minutes ago, dyslexic nam said:

We may not like it, and it may not be optimal for the CMNT, but I think we have moved into the phase where LB is his position.  The amount of time he spends at Bayern, training in that position surrounded by world class talent, dwarfs his time and play with the CMNT.  We may still utilize him as a winger due to our own offensive needs, but we are now the ones who will be playing him out of position. 

Maybe he gets pushed up further (like a Bale) in future years due to his overwhelming offensive threat, but he is clearly being given Marcello-like license to race forward in attack already.  In that role, and given his ability to track back faster than virtually anyone who might be attacking his space, I suspect he stays at LB for a long time to come.

Definitely need to improve on our center backs first but absolutely given our current attacking talent.  If we had Tomori & Ferreira in his prime, I would be less hesitant to have him play Left back and join in the attack.

[Obinna]

At Bayern he is playing the one-two with the winger and getting the return pass on the underlap. Most of his devastating forays into the attacking third start out this way.

Can we re-create that with Canada?

The pattern of play is simple enough, but do we have enough reps to perfect it? Not saying it is impossible, but the nature of international soccer has me skeptical. There is less time to train and the players can and will vary with each camp. 

If we can't hammer that out, aren't we just left with Davies taking guys on in our defensive third? That's how Davies tries to get involved in the buildup at the moment. Is it just me who sees it that way?

I am okay with Davies taking guys on off the cuff. He does this at Bayern on occasion. I bolded that for emphasis, because with Canada he does it too much and too risky considering the quality of our backline.

[CanadaFan123]

Great point Obinna and if all we have is the underlap /overlap with Davies coming from deep that will be nullified very quickly.  Similar to what we did vs. the States and Bradley last October.

[SpursFlu]

His biggest strength hasn't been seen in a while because he played for Canada at LB, against Concacaf minnows or for Bayern who dominate possession. That strength is the counter attack. Imagine Canada v Mexico or even agains a European/S American team. Push Phonzie out in to space and hit him for quick counter attacks along with David. Top 20 teams in the world will be crapping their pants. I don't care who they are

[cronaldo7]

Not sure if this was posted anywhere but little interview w Tomori and talks about Davies/Canada for a good bit of it.

 

[CanadaFan123]

6 minutes ago, cronaldo7 said:

Not sure if this was posted anywhere but little interview w Tomori and talks about Davies/Canada for a good bit of it.

 

The fact that he may be cap tied to England and never play for them has to scare him a bit when he knows that he could be a key part of our squad.  I think him and Cristante made the right choices but that thought always has to linger there, especially when they are seeing guys like Davies and David making headlines.  

[RS]

4 hours ago, Kent said:

So are there highlights anywhere that Canadians that don't subscribe to DAZN can watch? I was able to watch the video of the fans chanting Davies name and the one of the English commentator talking about him, but I went to DAZN Canada's twitter and any game highlights aren't playing for me. I don't see anything on TSN or Sportsnet's websites that include videos, and I watched about an hour of Sportscentre last night and there was no mention of the game.

I just found some extended highlights on a dodgy looking site so I have at least seen his assist now. I was hoping for something a bit more of a watchable length. https://hoofoot.com/?match=Chelsea_0_-_3_Bayern_Munich_2020_02_25

 

2 hours ago, Obinna said:

DAZN puts highlights on YouTube 

Yep.

 

[Corazon]

12 minutes ago, CanadaFan123 said:

The fact that he may be cap tied to England and never play for them has to scare him a bit when he knows that he could be a key part of our squad.  I think him and Cristante made the right choices but that thought always has to linger there, especially when they are seeing guys like Davies and David making headlines.  

It all depends on their long term goals.  Tomori and Cristante both may very well end up like De Guzman who only ended up with 14 caps for Netherlands.  10 to 20 caps for a team like England, Italy  or Netherlands vs 50 plus caps and playing an integral role for Canada.

For years I thought De Guzman was crazy for waiting on the Netherlands call.  I think he may have been 26 by the time he was called but he ended up playing in a World Cup.  So it all depends.

[CanadianSoccerFan]

 

[finchster]

19 minutes ago, Corazon said:

It all depends on their long term goals.  Tomori and Cristante both may very well end up like De Guzman who only ended up with 14 caps for Netherlands.  10 to 20 caps for a team like England, Italy  or Netherlands vs 50 plus caps and playing an integral role for Canada.

For years I thought De Guzman was crazy for waiting on the Netherlands call.  I think he may have been 26 by the time he was called but he ended up playing in a World Cup.  So it all depends.

I think 50 games playing minnows in the Caribbean isn't worth as much as playing in a major tournament for a major nation.  

[Kadenge]

14 hours ago, Acid-Tone said:

I bet the sales of jersey #19 are doing even better!

Dyslexic nam   hacked my account!

[TFC2017]

3 hours ago, SpursFlu said:

His biggest strength hasn't been seen in a while because he played for Canada at LB, against Concacaf minnows or for Bayern who dominate possession. That strength is the counter attack. Imagine Canada v Mexico or even agains a European/S American team. Push Phonzie out in to space and hit him for quick counter attacks along with David. Top 20 teams in the world will be crapping their pants. I don't care who they are

Add in Millar on the other side if he can develop at Liverpool and try cracking into that team. It'll be tough but I genuinely believe he has the potential to make it there. 

 

Davies - David - Millar... I don't care who you are, you're going to be scared of that

[TFC2017]

2 hours ago, Corazon said:

It all depends on their long term goals.  Tomori and Cristante both may very well end up like De Guzman who only ended up with 14 caps for Netherlands.  10 to 20 caps for a team like England, Italy  or Netherlands vs 50 plus caps and playing an integral role for Canada.

For years I thought De Guzman was crazy for waiting on the Netherlands call.  I think he may have been 26 by the time he was called but he ended up playing in a World Cup.  So it all depends.

True, but you'd have to wonder where Canada would be right now (solidified in the hex? Would we have choked the lead against Haiti?) with those 2 in the team and most definitely in the starting 11. 

[El Hombre]

4 hours ago, dyslexic nam said:

We may not like it, and it may not be optimal for the CMNT, but I think we have moved into the phase where LB is his position.  The amount of time he spends at Bayern, training in that position surrounded by world class talent, dwarfs his time and play with the CMNT.  We may still utilize him as a winger due to our own offensive needs, but we are now the ones who will be playing him out of position.

Bayern LB is not the same as Canada LB.  Two completely different positions.

Its interesting though that what Bayern looks for in a LB is similar to what Canada needs in a LW: someone that can make incredible runs, can cross and has a little bit of defensive awareness.

Canada isn't good enough to have that in a LB, but definitely needs it as a LW.

[Unnamed Trialist]

5 hours ago, dyslexic nam said:

Maybe he gets pushed up further (like a Bale) in future years due to his overwhelming offensive threat, but he is clearly being given Marcello-like license to race forward in attack already.  In that role, and given his ability to track back faster than virtually anyone who might be attacking his space, I suspect he stays at LB for a long time to come.

This is what I think is going to eventually happen at Bayern, although they have very good players up front, and fairly young too. And if not, then we can do it at Canada. After all, if it was really Robinson who put him at LB first, and the rest copied. So we can also alter what Bayern is doing for our needs.

For me, he is a liability at LB in our system, as shown in the last US game. While if he were a false mid on the right with room to attack and turn in, he'd be more effective for us and not have to be always worrying about rigorous defensive coverage.

Edited February 26, 2020 by Unnamed Trialist

[Lansdude]

Would love it if Bayern turned him into an inverted winger with a long distance shooting threat.

[Obinna]

According to Sport1 Bayern are now in talks to give Davies an improved deal that runs to 2025.

[RS]

2 minutes ago, Obinna said:

According to Sport1 Bayern are now in talks to give Davies an improved deal that runs to 2025.

Yes, someone linked a tweet with that info upthread.

[Aird25]

7 hours ago, Obinna said:

At Bayern he is playing the one-two with the winger and getting the return pass on the underlap. Most of his devastating forays into the attacking third start out this way.

Can we re-create that with Canada?

The pattern of play is simple enough, but do we have enough reps to perfect it? Not saying it is impossible, but the nature of international soccer has me skeptical. There is less time to train and the players can and will vary with each camp. 

I’m fairly certain there’s a direct quote from Flick after yesterday’s assist saying that they don’t practice that sort of run because it’s not a standard attack 

[baulderdash77]

14 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

In any case what Canada really needs is to have over half the team at Europa League level or better, in the key positions as well. You can't do anything with no CBs, for example. Which as I see it is what we are really missing.

We’re not that far off at least from a starter perspective:  Arfield, David, Davies and Borjan are all there now.  Kaye could be next year if he transfers.

Your right that our CB depth is the biggest gap but the top of our roster is high quality.

[baulderdash77]

8 hours ago, Obinna said:

At Bayern he is playing the one-two with the winger and getting the return pass on the underlap. Most of his devastating forays into the attacking third start out this way.

I don’t think we have DM’s and Wingers with the athleticism and awareness to see the under lap and automatically rotate to cover the LB position.  It’s an orchestrated move and without the cover it would leave Bayern wide open to a counter.  Of course they’re Bayern so no problem, but we could get exploited fairly easily.

[Obinna]

3 hours ago, Aird25 said:

I’m fairly certain there’s a direct quote from Flick after yesterday’s assist saying that they don’t practice that sort of run because it’s not a standard attack 

Very interesting. If you come across it please share.

Let's assume that is true. Why do you think we see Davies successfully underlap with Bayern at LB, but not with Canada? Any theories?

Edited February 27, 2020 by Obinna

[Cheeta]

4 hours ago, Aird25 said:

I’m fairly certain there’s a direct quote from Flick after yesterday’s assist saying that they don’t practice that sort of run because it’s not a standard attack 

Pretty text-book in Canada I'd say, when I was a younger man anyway.  On that particular play at Stamford Bridge I don't think you could find very many players who could have made it work.  Davies athleticism, and lets say it, balls, made that play work.  That was a brave commitment.   

I love this guy.  "See you later.  Going on a raid." 

[BearcatSA]

For us, he needs to be in a more advanced attacking role where he can combine with David and Cavallini/Larin as well as pose a threat off the counter.  I'm betting that Bayern will indeed be pushing him up into that role sooner than later.

[Snowcrash]

Video of Bayern practice.  Davies catches up to Kimmich and takes away the ball like nothing.
 

https://media.giphy.com/media/jOhIkGUpeGeqCBCoOX/giphy.gif