The Importance of Alphonso Davies

[VinceA]

3 minutes ago, Infernal said:

https://twitter.com/KaylynKyle/status/1596947432297754624?t=-q5r20YhxikDadZqB3w5mg&s=19

KJ clarified that there's a difference between WC rights holders and international press.

[sebdeserio]

3 hours ago, Kadenge said:

Lots of emotion in some of the posts I'm reading. Davies was our best player today period.

Buchanan. But Davies was very good just ran out of ideas when he'd get triple teamed down the sideline.

[Fullback]

We’re looking for an enemy when there isn’t one. Guy played well today, scored our first ever goal in a World Cup and tried to make things happen. I’m happy with his play, we all should be

 

[trc2014]

2 minutes ago, Fullback said:

We’re looking for an enemy when there isn’t one. Guy played well today, scored our first ever goal in a World Cup and tried to make things happen. I’m happy with his play, we all should be

 

He also never gave up - was going for it in the 96th minute.

[Copes]

6 hours ago, football_world said:

But in the Bundesliga, he was struggling in that position and eventually, he was moved to left back, which he found immense success at Bayern Munich.  But still, left back is where Alphonso Davies is a world class player - he is not a world class player as an attacking midfield player.  For this reason, I hope that by the next World Cup cycle, Alphonso Davies will get more opportunities at Bayern to play as an attacking midfielder, and that Bayern develops him at that position.

I'm going to take a bit of a different angle. 

I hope that for the next World Cup Cycle someone sits Davies down and points out to him that he is currently the most valuable left-back on the planet. I hope they point out that he probably could slot into the world Best XI as LB... but as you say, he is not a world class attacking midfield player. 

After that I hope that Davies, and Canada, embrace his role. It doesn't mean that he can't contribute to the attack. It doesn't mean he can't bomb down the wing. He can do all of that, as the best fullbacks / wingbacks in the world do. 

But it would probably help Canada immensely. We would have a world-class player playing their position. It would shore up our questionable defense. It would mean that we aren't trying to cram Davies / David / Larin / Buchanan into our attack.

I think I'm in the minority with this thought but that's my personal hope. I hope that Davies realizes he has an opportunity to be a global generational player in the role he is playing at club level. He should embrace that role for club and country.

[jonovision]

Is there any reason to believe that Davies has been asked to play LB for Canada and has refused? It seems to me if he's in the wrong role that's on the manager.

[Copes]

44 minutes ago, jonovision said:

Is there any reason to believe that Davies has been asked to play LB for Canada and has refused? It seems to me if he's in the wrong role that's on the manager.

I was under the impression... be it an interview or something I read (or thought I read) that Davies expressed a desire to play a more attacking role for country.

[GasPed]

2 hours ago, Copes said:

I'm going to take a bit of a different angle. 

I hope that for the next World Cup Cycle someone sits Davies down and points out to him that he is currently the most valuable left-back on the planet. I hope they point out that he probably could slot into the world Best XI as LB... but as you say, he is not a world class attacking midfield player. 

After that I hope that Davies, and Canada, embrace his role. It doesn't mean that he can't contribute to the attack. It doesn't mean he can't bomb down the wing. He can do all of that, as the best fullbacks / wingbacks in the world do. 

The issue isn't where he plays best - it's where he helps the team the most.

Yes, he's a world class left back, but if you look at Canada, the drop off between him and Sam Adekugbe is not that far.  On the other hand, at LW, you could argue the drop off between him and Liam Millar is bigger.

If we had a very good left-winger in-waiting, then yes, putting Davies at LB would be a no-brainer.  But we don't - he's it.

Edited November 28, 2022 by GasPed

[JAVIERF]

5 hours ago, sebdeserio said:

Buchanan. But Davies was very good just ran out of ideas when he'd get triple teamed down the sideline.

Buchanan,  Davies is self centered.  

[JAVIERF]

1 hour ago, GasPed said:

The issue isn't where he plays best - it's where he helps the team the most.

Yes, he's a world class left back, but if you look at Canada, the drop off between him and Sam Adekugbe is not that far.  On the other hand, at LW, you could argue the drop off between him and Liam Millar is bigger.

If we had a very good left-winger in-waiting, then yes, putting Davies at LB would be a no-brainer.  But we don't - he's it.

With his attitude I have no problem he plays next to a 9,  give him the free role,  but please pass the ball

[ballerz]

He is arguably Canada's best current option in the #10 free roaming role. However, if Canada is to have success with him in that role, he needs to (1) pass the ball, and (2) develop a right foot. Otherwise, giving David the free role is not that big of a difference and perhaps he has better attributes than Davies in that role. 

 

[football_world]

6 hours ago, Copes said:

I'm going to take a bit of a different angle. 

I hope that for the next World Cup Cycle someone sits Davies down and points out to him that he is currently the most valuable left-back on the planet. I hope they point out that he probably could slot into the world Best XI as LB... but as you say, he is not a world class attacking midfield player. 

After that I hope that Davies, and Canada, embrace his role. It doesn't mean that he can't contribute to the attack. It doesn't mean he can't bomb down the wing. He can do all of that, as the best fullbacks / wingbacks in the world do. 

But it would probably help Canada immensely. We would have a world-class player playing their position. It would shore up our questionable defense. It would mean that we aren't trying to cram Davies / David / Larin / Buchanan into our attack.

I think I'm in the minority with this thought but that's my personal hope. I hope that Davies realizes he has an opportunity to be a global generational player in the role he is playing at club level. He should embrace that role for club and country.

Yup, I agree.  The whole issue would be solved if we had a world class attacking midfield player to play Alphonso Davie's role, so that Davies can play his best position, which is left back.

Maybe if we're lucky, we can develop such a player by 2026 to fill the attacking midfield role so that Davies can play left back.  I guess we'll see.

[football_world]

4 hours ago, GasPed said:

The issue isn't where he plays best - it's where he helps the team the most.

Yes, he's a world class left back, but if you look at Canada, the drop off between him and Sam Adekugbe is not that far.  On the other hand, at LW, you could argue the drop off between him and Liam Millar is bigger.

If we had a very good left-winger in-waiting, then yes, putting Davies at LB would be a no-brainer.  But we don't - he's it.

Yeah, that's the conundrum we are in. We don't have a left wing attacking midfield player at a world class level, so that we can put Davies back into left back.

[Copes]

I can't help but feel like we could play a 5-3-2 pretty solidly. Same 3 defenders. Davies pushed forward on the LWB position. 3 midfielders... some combination of Atiba (until imminent retirement) Starq, Oso, Kone, Plette based on what we are up against and if we need more of an offensive or defensive bunch. And then Larin / David up top. 

Issue here is Buchanan... he would likely end up complimenting Davies in the RWB position and he is more offensively gifted than defensively gifted. Lareya obviously can play the RWB position as well. 

I dunno... maybe I'm crazy. Probably am. We've dabbled with this sort of look but seems like we have continued to try to push Davies up up up. Belgium game he was in the front 3 in a 4-3-3.

[VinceA]

50 minutes ago, Copes said:

I can't help but feel like we could play a 5-3-2 pretty solidly. Same 3 defenders. Davies pushed forward on the LWB position. 3 midfielders... some combination of Atiba (until imminent retirement) Starq, Oso, Kone, Plette based on what we are up against and if we need more of an offensive or defensive bunch. And then Larin / David up top. 

Issue here is Buchanan... he would likely end up complimenting Davies in the RWB position and he is more offensively gifted than defensively gifted. Lareya obviously can play the RWB position as well. 

I dunno... maybe I'm crazy. Probably am. We've dabbled with this sort of look but seems like we have continued to try to push Davies up up up. Belgium game he was in the front 3 in a 4-3-3.

The nice thing about a 3-5-2 is we could leave weapons on the bench for later, instead of emptying our load in the first half.

 

[Jack1997]

By 2026 I’d like to have Davies at LB with a preferred 11 of

4-3-3

St.Clair

Johnston Miller ? Davies

Kone Eustaqio ? 

Buchanan David Corbeanu

 

[VinceA]

10 minutes ago, Jack1997 said:

By 2026 I’d like to have Davies at LB with a preferred 11 of

4-3-3

St.Clair

Johnston Miller ? Davies

Kone Eustaqio ? 

Buchanan David Corbeanu

 

If Davis stays as a LB for the rest of his career I honestly have no problem with him playing that position for Canada. Especially if we get some mroe wingers that develop.

[Copes]

57 minutes ago, Jack1997 said:

By 2026 I’d like to have Davies at LB with a preferred 11 of

4-3-3

St.Clair

Johnston Miller ? Davies

Kone Eustaqio ? 

Buchanan David Corbeanu

 

I feel like this sort of setup would be fine as well. I like Osorio in the midfield... I maybe rate him higher than others but I always have found him to contribute well to our attack. He has great vision. He will be 33 turning 34 I think around the time of 2026, so definitely his last cycle, but for the next few years he could slot in there. And we did just see a game with older midfielders carrying weight.

Henry heals and you put him in the back and we could start working on this sort of system right now if that's the route we wanna go. Obviously we have some slots to upgrade (the ones you mention) but at least we have people playing their positions. 

[Mattd97]

Just like herdman, this whole thread forgot adekugbe has been terrific

[clamlinguine]

21 hours ago, football_world said:

Yeah, that's the conundrum we are in. We don't have a left wing attacking midfield player at a world class level, so that we can put Davies back into left back.

The conundrum is that the only thing we have is a world class attacking midfield player, when Davies is playing there. 

[Footyeh]

17 hours ago, Jack1997 said:

By 2026 I’d like to have Davies at LB with a preferred 11 of

4-3-3

St.Clair

Johnston Miller ? Davies

Kone Eustaqio ? 

Buchanan David Corbeanu

 

Obliviously 4 years from now is a long time and there will be many players emerge we aren't even talking about now.  But, I feel like this is a very realistic and exciting line-up for upcoming events like Gold Cup, Nations League, Copa America? etc.

[football_world]

3 hours ago, clamlinguine said:

The conundrum is that the only thing we have is a world class attacking midfield player, when Davies is playing there. 

Well, I disagree with you there. Davies is not a world class player in the midfield position. If he were, he would be playing midfield at Bayern Munich, and Bayern wouldn't have moved Davies to left back.  The reason why Bayern moved Davies to left back was because Davies was struggling at Bayern when he played midfield there.

[Copes]

6 hours ago, clamlinguine said:

The conundrum is that the only thing we have is a world class attacking midfield player, when Davies is playing there. 

Yeah I'm gonna agree with @football_world above and edit your comment. 

The only thing we have is a world class player in Davies, who for country happens to be playing attacking midfield.

He is not a world class attacking midfielder. He's a phenomenal player and will be "good" playing anywhere. He is a world class left-back.

Edited November 29, 2022 by Copes

[SthMelbRed]

2 hours ago, football_world said:

Well, I disagree with you there. Davies is not a world class player in the midfield position. If he were, he would be playing midfield at Bayern Munich, and Bayern wouldn't have moved Davies to left back.  The reason why Bayern moved Davies to left back was because Davies was struggling at Bayern when he played midfield there.

He was 18, and was doing well to get minutes at LW for one of the best teams in the world. They didn't move him due to his deficiency as an attacking player, but because they suffered an injury crisis on their backline.

[narduch]

Real Madrid rumour.