2020/21 Tom Davies

[Paul Rideout]

Shouldn't have been the one subbed vs city, Don't know if he would work in a trio with Allan and Doucoure, but for me if James plays it should be either him or Gomes.

We can afford one passenger who is the creator, not two.

 

[dead_soft]

Still full of kids on here, i see. No wonder, I don’t bother. He’s awful, end of story...

Wrongest post outside of the Current Affairs forum for some time

 

[Brisan123]

Has improved immensely the last few games and proved me wrong
Lets hop he keeps it up

Still needs a shave and a haircut

 

[Lanolin]

Hard work always beats talent and this lads always giving 100%, his one of us so I will always back the lad.

Yeah that is definitely not the expression, or the truth.

 

[blueblue]

Nobody is saying he is the answer though. I suppose it depends on what the question is.

Is he going to lead if to domestic and European glory by being one of the best midfielders around? No of course not.

Can he provide useful squad depth at a relatively cheap cost? Yes he can.

The same 5 year thing was used on DCL too. All that really matters is his current form and working it if that is now the player he is or if he has just been in good form and thats it.

I don't think any of us know what quality of player he will eventually be.

He is still only 22 and probably has another four years of improvement before he reaches his peak.

Those who insisted that he was useless have been forced to raise their bar somewhat but it will always be a kicking and screaming exercise as he surpasses each target because ultimately they don't want the player to do well.

 

[billy bluestar]

I don't think any of us know what quality of player he will eventually be.

He is still only 22 and probably has another four years of improvement before he reaches his peak.

Those who insisted that he was useless have been forced to raise their bar somewhat but it will always be a kicking and screaming exercise as he surpasses each target because ultimately they don't want the player to do well.

Now you’re taking nonsense. He burst on the scene and the goal against city, we all thought wow, we’ve got a good one.
Ever since he’s done nothing... the game against Tottenham, he played ok in a midfield that is truly appalling at the moment (come back Allan please), but one swallow does not make a summer.
He’s not good enough for me. Championship will be his level.

 

[DanEFC92]

 

[Toffe3m4n]

He's a good lad. Just hope he keeps improving, would actually like to see him make it here.

 

[wandyr79]

Now you’re taking nonsense. He burst on the scene and the goal against city, we all thought wow, we’ve got a good one.
Ever since he’s done nothing... the game against Tottenham, he played ok in a midfield that is truly appalling at the moment (come back Allan please), but one swallow does not make a summer.
He’s not good enough for me. Championship will be his level.

After that goal, and I am sure it was the same for the majority of Blues, I said 'wow, we potentially have a good one here. As an adult, and possibly one of the sane logical ones, it is always hard to judge a player at 17/18, especially midfielders. We have found out subsequently that that goal did not define his best style.

The managers he has had played for have played him in the wrong way, they saw him as an attacking midfielder, then they saw him more defensively minded (may have remembered this wrong but didn't he play a couple of games at full back, etc. He has been pushed to pillar and post on the field by managers who did not know what to do with him but played him regardless.

Ancelotti is a manager with enough experience to have seen every kind of player there is in the game. It is obvious that he has spent a lot of time coaching Davies (or his team has) on focusing on the role that he is most suited at. One swallow does not make a Summer but 2 man of the match performance against very good midfield's and then a very good performance against the team playing the best football in the world says to me that is more than one swallow. In fact I have seen improvement more and more way before those games, when he has the right players round him.

It is not a negative thing to say as he does need the right players alongside him to bring the best out of him, it is a team game and Doucoure has a very complimentary game.

 

[blueblue]

Now you’re taking nonsense. He burst on the scene and the goal against city, we all thought wow, we’ve got a good one.
Ever since he’s done nothing... the game against Tottenham, he played ok in a midfield that is truly appalling at the moment (come back Allan please), but one swallow does not make a summer.
He’s not good enough for me. Championship will be his level.

So you do accept you were talking nonsense before ?

 

[blueblue]

Just seen this, great name like

Is that his real name or someone tweaking wikipedia?

 

[Jacko93]

Is that his real name or someone tweaking wikipedia?

I think its an edit mate.

 

[billy bluestar]

So you do accept you were talking nonsense before ?

No, he’s not good enough, bad wording on my part.

 

[Eggs]

....no doubting he’s a very decent lad as is his brother. I’m sure their parents are proud of who they are rather than what they are.

 

[ButOkayThatsFootball]

I think the primary issue is that prodigious talents such as Rooney and (to a lesser extent) Barkley coming through have skewed expectations of how good a player has to be in order to pass the Da's strict litmus test.

Just because he's not the second coming of Eusebio doesn't mean he can't instil himself as a solid member of the squad imo. After all, amazingly he's still only 22 and is now one of the most well-established members of the squad - brought through during a tumultuous period in the club's history without a great deal of support, where he's had to shoulder more responsibility than any other young player I can think of.

I also think Tom's made clear improvements in his overall play this year - he's found a role that simplifies his game, maximising his abilities and hiding his shortcomings. As long as he can add marginal improvements year-on-year, there's no reason he can't find himself to be an integral member of the squad by his mid-late 20s.

I understood the counter-points made maybe 12 months ago when he and Gomes were hung out to dry in a midfield two that clearly wasn't working, but now we've undoubtedly seen green shoots of tangible improvement, I'd rather get behind him rather than criticise him for looking like he's walked out of Nanamica's AW21 lookbook.