The Importance of Alphonso Davies

[Vasi]

2 hours ago, RichV said:

is it possible he is still injured? 

 

Maybe. He was slow for the last 20 min and was constantly bending over as to take a breath or stretch out. No was he is 100%. Same as Estaquio. Except Davies did not reinjure himself 

[InglewoodJack]

He posted a pic of a really nasty gash on his leg. Don’t think it affected his play, but looked pretty rough.

[PegCityCam]

Veth clapping back...

 

[kacbru]

This Chris Jones guy - he just seems like an insignificant piece of dog shit.  Not the fresh, steaming piece of shit that smells enough so you take notice, or that when you step in it, it lingers in the treads of your shoes.  Rather, he's like one of those dried out, rock hard pieces of shit.  It's still shit, but it doesn't stink.  No need to pay it any attention.  Just kick it out of the way and move on.

[SpursFlu]

Defund the CBC. A bunch of clowns

[Onelessstar]

5 hours ago, rydermike said:

The biggest thing I want to (not) see is him on set pieces. Just because you are the best player does not mean you are the best player at everything. PKs (David), FKs (Eustaquio), corners (Hoilett) are the primary guys I want to see on them. I've seen so many corners from Phonzie that don't make it past the first defender at the side of the six yard box 

I agree. Did you see Chávez for México yesterday? Geez. Kid can hit a ball.

Find the best player to take the set pieces.... not just the best player.

Edited December 2, 2022 by Onelessstar

[grigorio]

Haven’t read through the all the posts here but… no more Phonzie up front for Canada. Until he’s getting his reps in week in week out in a professional environment on the wing or in a central role I don’t want my national team to be an experiment in which we are misusing our most naturally talented player and throwing off the rhythm and sync of the entire formation and team. 
 

We’ve seen enough and he isn’t going to get better playing once or twice every 3-4 months for Canada in such a position. Just cause he can sometimes get away with some magic vs Concacaf teams doesn’t mean it should be a reason to keep trying and instill worse habits for the group. 
 

If he gets meaningful reps and successes in at Bayern then fine but otherwise can we move on from this experiment? 

Edited December 2, 2022 by grigorio

[top cheese]

I think the CBC piece was disgusting trash. 

But I think what this WC has shown is that Davies is a piece to the puzzle on a good team. Not someone who is going to take over a game. I think his play this tournament was selfish and was overplaying the game. I felt like there was more effort in him getting canadas first goal then there was to get the team points. I think if he played the way he did at the WC in BM hed be plastered to the bench. 

[Bertuzzi44]

4 hours ago, top cheese said:

I think the CBC piece was disgusting trash. 

But I think what this WC has shown is that Davies is a piece to the puzzle on a good team. Not someone who is going to take over a game. I think his play this tournament was selfish and was overplaying the game. I felt like there was more effort in him getting canadas first goal then there was to get the team points. I think if he played the way he did at the WC in BM hed be plastered to the bench. 

Just this tournament? This is how he plays for Canada, always. He tries to take on too much for Canada. Sometimes of course it comes off brilliantly because of his skill, but too often plays die at his feet.

This is a riddle Herdman must figure out. How to consistently get the most out of Davies. This is very important for 
Canada!

[DeRo_Is_King]

We're grasping at straws if we're trying to determine if Davies should play as a wingback or winger. For me, this was not a huge issue. Davies got up well in the box to score off a header vs Croatia, so I think he can be very effective higher up the pitch. The goal against Panama during WCQ shows he can do well on the right as well -- even if it really isn't his natural side. 

That said, him being the player face of this team is unhealthy. Sometimes I feel like hype is more around watching Davies than Canada. That needs to change. 

[VinceA]

13 hours ago, PegCityCam said:

Veth clapping back...

 

Then Veth came and embarrassed himself and Canadians as usual trying to trying to fight Americans about Canada's place in CONCACAF. We lost all our games and ended with 0 points man. Take the L. The US are moving on and we aren't.

[Sal333]

12 hours ago, kacbru said:

This Chris Jones guy - he just seems like an insignificant piece of dog shit.  Not the fresh, steaming piece of shit that smells enough so you take notice, or that when you step in it, it lingers in the treads of your shoes.  Rather, he's like one of those dried out, rock hard pieces of shit.  It's still shit, but it doesn't stink.  No need to pay it any attention.  Just kick it out of the way and move on.

Sounds like you've done a lot of research on the matter.

[RS]

1 hour ago, VinceA said:

Then Veth came and embarrassed himself and Canadians as usual trying to trying to fight Americans about Canada's place in CONCACAF. We lost all our games and ended with 0 points man. Take the L. The US are moving on and we aren't.

Meh. "Tactical Manager" needs to be reminded what a dumbass he is from time to time.

[BearcatSA]

10 minutes ago, RS said:

Meh. "Tactical Manager" needs to be reminded what a dumbass he is from time to time.

You mean Dr. Dumbass.  For awhile, his twitter account was "Dr. Manuel Veth" but that changed fairly soon after when he got called on it, especially when it was pointed out to him that many Nobel Prize winning PhDs didn't use "Dr." in their twitter names.

Living and learning, too, which seems to be the theme of the day on here

[RS]

4 minutes ago, BearcatSA said:

You mean Dr. Dumbass.  For awhile, his twitter account was "Dr. Manuel Veth" but that changed fairly soon after when he got called on it, especially when it was pointed out to him that many Nobel Prize winning PhDs didn't use "Dr." in their twitter names.

Living and learning, too, which seems to be the theme of the day on here

"Tactical Manager" is a prominent American soccer Twitter account that Veth was responding to. @VinceA thinks Veth was embarrassing himself and other Canadians, but I believe "Tac" is a moron who deserves clapback.

Veth has said some dumb things himself, but the "Dr." thing I think was a response to a segment of American conservatives who were belittling Jill Biden for using "Dr." in her title at the time. I may be misremembering it, though.

[BearcatSA]

1 hour ago, RS said:

"Tactical Manager" is a prominent American soccer Twitter account that Veth was responding to. @VinceA thinks Veth was embarrassing himself and other Canadians, but I believe "Tac" is a moron who deserves clapback.

Veth has said some dumb things himself, but the "Dr." thing I think was a response to a segment of American conservatives who were belittling Jill Biden for using "Dr." in her title at the time. I may be misremembering it, though.

I guess it was a little too hip for the room because I myself remember questioning it on this forum and no reference was made to that but some posted he was a doctor of soccer.  

[Kadenge]

Phonz has not always played this way for us. In earlier WCQ matches he was instrumental in setting up his teammates. vs USA away when he beat the defender wide on the left flank and squared the ball to Larin for a tap in. The through pass to Oso for his goal at Azteca.  After his goal vs Panama, Phonz started to hog the ball vs CR and Mexico in Edmonton, where he was subbed in both games iirc. Perhaps it was all the social media reaction or he felt he could keep scoring those types of goals and it would convince Bayern to play him up front, which I still think he wants for both club & country. At that point JH and perhaps the vets on team should have spoken to him. I still would like to see him as a forward as long as he picks his moments and plays within the system

Edited December 2, 2022 by Kadenge

[Obinna]

I hope Davies isn't going through the same thing as Pulisic, where he feels he has to play hero ball.

Both him (and Pulisic) will both learn with time it is not necessary. They need to just play to their strengths while playing within the team. 

[The Beaver 2.0]

58 minutes ago, Kadenge said:

Phonz has not always played this way for us. In earlier WCQ matches he was instrumental in setting up his teammates. vs USA away when he beat the defender wide on the left flank and squared the ball to Larin for a tap in. The through pass to Oso for his goal at Azteca.  After his goal vs Panama, Phonz started to hog the ball vs CR and Mexico in Edmonton, where he was subbed in both games iirc. Perhaps it was all the social media reaction or he felt he could keep scoring those types of goals and it would convince Bayern to play him up front, which I still think he wants for both club & country. At that point JH and perhaps the vets on team should have spoken to him. I still would like to see him as a forward as long as he picks his moments and plays within the system

Thanks for this. Yes, Davies was excellent at Azteca, but he mostly played out wide that game. The assist to Oso was beautiful, one of the best goals we've scored the past two years, but the key here is that Phonzie took a touch or two and then made the pass.

When I think of all his other great moments the past two years, the bulk of them come from him on the wing, often starting from somewhere deep in our own half, blazing upfield with ridiculous pace and agility. Hell, this has been the case his entire career.  He's a key piece to a counter attacking squad, but is most effective when coming out of the back, not leading the line.

[jonovision]

1 hour ago, Kadenge said:

Phonz has not always played this way for us. In earlier WCQ matches he was instrumental in setting up his teammates. vs USA away when he beat the defender wide on the left flank and squared the ball to Larin for a tap in. The through pass to Oso for his goal at Azteca.  After his goal vs Panama, Phonz started to hog the ball vs CR and Mexico in Edmonton, where he was subbed in both games iirc. Perhaps it was all the social media reaction or he felt he could keep scoring those types of goals and it would convince Bayern to play him up front, which I still think he wants for both club & country. At that point JH and perhaps the vets on team should have spoken to him. I still would like to see him as a forward as long as he picks his moments and plays within the system

I think it's a bit unfair to read too much into his play in those two Edmonton matches. He was keyed on physically in both matches, especially vs Mexico, and I don't think he had more of the ball in those matches than in any other. He just struggled to keep it because technical play is more difficult in those conditions. He was subbed in both matches because he was out of gas, and the flow of the match, especially vs Mexico, changed almost immediately as a result.

I don't think he played another minute of WCQ after that point.

Edited December 2, 2022 by jonovision

[SpursFlu]

I think both Davies and David had off tournaments. I think it just speaks to the level of play and when teams of this calibre game plan against you and key in on certain players, they can take you out of the game if others don't step up to draw defenders away from you

[Corazon]

7 hours ago, VinceA said:

Then Veth came and embarrassed himself and Canadians as usual trying to trying to fight Americans about Canada's place in CONCACAF. We lost all our games and ended with 0 points man. Take the L. The US are moving on and we aren't.

So many of Veth's takes are terrible.  I try to avoid his posts at all costs 😁

[Obinna]

2 hours ago, jonovision said:

I think it's a bit unfair to read too much into his play in those two Edmonton matches. He was keyed on physically in both matches, especially vs Mexico, and I don't think he had more of the ball in those matches than in any other. He just struggled to keep it because technical play is more difficult in those conditions. He was subbed in both matches because he was out of gas, and the flow of the match, especially vs Mexico, changed almost immediately as a result.

I don't think he played another minute of WCQ after that point.

I think this is too charitable. Davies gave the ball way too much in both games. People in the stands were very frustrated (myself included) after a while, complaining he was holding onto the ball too long.

For all of his amazing qualities, ball control on his first touch is not one of them. He is so creative and athletic that he's often able to make something of these heavy touches, but on occasion he gets caught. This kills us too often when he takes up inside positions. This is why I do not like Davies playing inside. If he's going to do so, he has to be cleaner and more assured on his first touch. Anyways, in my opinion this tendency for him to take heavy touches was indeed exacerbated by the poor surface in Edmonton.  

 

Edited December 2, 2022 by Obinna

[kacbru]

10 hours ago, Sal333 said:

Sounds like you've done a lot of research on the matter.

Unfortunately, I have a natural ability at finding it, so yes. 

[Grandbloke]

6 hours ago, The Beaver 2.0 said:

When I think of all his other great moments the past two years, the bulk of them come from him on the wing, often starting from somewhere deep in our own half, blazing upfield with ridiculous pace and agility. Hell, this has been the case his entire career.  He's a key piece to a counter attacking squad, but is most effective when coming out of the back, not leading the line.

I’m now firmly in the Davies-at-left-back camp. We of course would then go to a back 4, with Johnston at right back, his natural position. These changes would also make us much stronger defensively.

Edited December 3, 2022 by Grandbloke