ScepticalStan Posted 3 August, 2015 Share Posted 3 August, 2015 Verlaine sums it up once again. No-one wants to give any of our players a disproportionate amount of criticism but one very often finds that they simply have to in order to counter the absurd level of praise directed at Steven Davis. I think that Saints do have a disproportionately chauvinistic fanbase to be quite frank. Players like Lambert and Steven Davis are deified whilst players like Mane and Pelle are written off after one bad game. The cold hard truth last season was that having an attacking midfielder who can't score goals is a major, major handicap. (and to those who say that Steven Davis isn't an attacking midfielder; he has been the most advanced player in the side for the past three seasons apart from the three dedicated forwards) In those three seasons he has scored 4 goals Premier League goals, with a big fat 0 in the most recent one, so its not like he's shown any signs of improving on what has been a clear weakness in his game for quite some time now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Verbal Kint Posted 3 August, 2015 Share Posted 3 August, 2015 Glad you think its "cute" (are you 12?). Unfortunately this is how your postings on this subject come across, obsessive, vitriolic rubbish. Or incredibly accurate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verlaine1979 Posted 3 August, 2015 Share Posted 3 August, 2015 Glad you think its "cute" (are you 12?). I see you comprehend facetiousness about as well as you understand football. I'm slightly curious as to why you haven't noticed that you expend an identical amount of energy responding to every one of my criticisms, but I fear your answer would get weirdly emotional and I'd prefer to spare you the upset. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david in sweden Posted 3 August, 2015 Share Posted 3 August, 2015 He normally does get 5 or so goals, last season was a bit of a freak unfortunately. well Johnny boy, I suppose it's a matter of how you learned to count. Steven Davis record since signing; 2012-13 - 2 goals, 2013-14 - 4 goals 2014-15 - 0 --- totals 6 goals in 114 apps. (it just seemed like more at the time) Interestingly .........Morgan Schneiderlin (in the same period) scored 12 goals in 102 games also to compare.... Victor Wanyama .......(in 2 seasons) has scored 6 goals in 62 games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcbendy Posted 3 August, 2015 Share Posted 3 August, 2015 Steven Davis is a fantastic player for us. He is terrifically fit, technically excellent, passes well, tackles well. It would be brilliant if he scored lots too, but let's not lose sight of what he does do for the team. I can see it, and so can a succession of Saints managers... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dellman Posted 3 August, 2015 Share Posted 3 August, 2015 Davis has been something of a midfield hub, his work rate is fantastic, his fitness record is amazing, how many matches has he missed? (compare Ramirez) but the fact is we can't get a midfield goalscorer---anyone watch the programme with Scholes' 107 goals? If we could get just five a year, I'd be satisfied Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saintsteve7 Posted 3 August, 2015 Share Posted 3 August, 2015 Let's not blame Davis for the fact that we haven't/can't find better than him. We tried with Gaston and that was an epic fail, we could play Juanmi at number 10 and he'll get us 5 goals but the flip side being Davis could well save us 5 goals a season with his defensive work. I'm in the camp that doesn't actually notice many good things he does in a game but bloody hell you really notice the difference when he's not there!! We'd all like an Oscar or Fabragas at no. 10 but they cost £30m+ and we simply can't afford one of those so we get on with what we have and support whoever's doing it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcbendy Posted 3 August, 2015 Share Posted 3 August, 2015 (edited) Davis has been something of a midfield hub, his work rate is fantastic, his fitness record is amazing, how many matches has he missed? (compare Ramirez) but the fact is we can't get a midfield goalscorer---anyone watch the programme with Scholes' 107 goals? If we could get just five a year, I'd be satisfied Here is 24 seconds from the Vitesse game in three screen grabs. 15:50 - that's Davis next to Pelle in the box 16:05 - Davis back in central midfield exchanging passes with Clasie (who loses it in a dangerous position) 16:14 - Davis overtakes Clasie and leaves him for dead, chases down the Vitesse player and helps Yoshida push him wide and out of play Also worth taking a look at the first (Pelle) goal in this game. Note Davis's starting position and where he ends up. If the shot comes back off the post or the keeper, he gets a tap-in. Makes you wonder why he doesn't score more... Edited 3 August, 2015 by mcbendy typo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kermitsaint Posted 3 August, 2015 Share Posted 3 August, 2015 Some good posts. And, as i expected, most mentioning his score rateas his biggest drawback. Great contribution to the team though. So much energy and seems to be everywhere at times. Picks up a lot of loose balls and strives to go forward. How many times do you see a pass from him go backwards? Or sideways even? And he does have a really good pass on him no doubt. He is always involved in our attack. Would like to see a few heat maps from him, but, like us, he's never the focus of the media either. You can't argue with his stats though, or the amount of managers that include him. As you know Koeman picks him, so did Pochettino and Adkins. And so did O'Leary, O'Neill, Lawrie Sanchez, Coleman, McCoist, and Walter Smith. He played 35 times for club and country in his debut season at 19. How many of our youngsters have managed that even? In his second season he won "Young Player of the Year", "The Fans Player of the Year" and "Player of the Year" all at once. The amount of games he's played after that and still does is impressive for sure. He gets picked for the first team and cup games. How many times do we think to 'rest' another player for a cup game, especially in the early stages? He seems to play them all. And his appearance tally backs it up. His appearances. Includes internationals. 2004-2005 - 35 2005-2006 - 49 2006-2007 - 50 2007-2008 - 58 2008-2009 - 49 2009-2010 - 60 2010-2011 - 58 2011-2012 - 46 2012-2013 - 40 2013-2014 - 47 2014-2015 - 47 Very impressive. I'm just wondering, now we're in Europe, how many he will make this season. If we make the Europa group stages then i'm going to say 53. What do you think? Completely disagree with this . How say the opposite really . How many useful passes does he make ? Often goes for the sideways or backwards pass as he lacks the confidence or vision to make an incisive through ball . Loses possession constantly and panics anywhere with in 20 yards of the box . Playing him as an attaching midfielder seems very odd as he lacks the creativity or drive to do anything useful . Often fails to track back after losing the ball in dangerous areas. Its interesting how fans see certain players totally differently . I think he gets game time due to a lack of options in the squad . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St_Tel49 Posted 3 August, 2015 Share Posted 3 August, 2015 more like no ones back up. it is up to him to force himself into the side. He's already in the side. RK, and previously MP, clearly value his contribution Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St_Tel49 Posted 4 August, 2015 Share Posted 4 August, 2015 Verlaine sums it up once again. No-one wants to give any of our players a disproportionate amount of criticism but one very often finds that they simply have to in order to counter the absurd level of praise directed at Steven Davis. I think that Saints do have a disproportionately chauvinistic fanbase to be quite frank. Players like Lambert and Steven Davis are deified whilst players like Mane and Pelle are written off after one bad game. The cold hard truth last season was that having an attacking midfielder who can't score goals is a major, major handicap. (and to those who say that Steven Davis isn't an attacking midfielder; he has been the most advanced player in the side for the past three seasons apart from the three dedicated forwards) In those three seasons he has scored 4 goals Premier League goals, with a big fat 0 in the most recent one, so its not like he's shown any signs of improving on what has been a clear weakness in his game for quite some time now. Yeah - he's obviously useless and RK has no idea what he is doing - get rid! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScepticalStan Posted 4 August, 2015 Share Posted 4 August, 2015 Yeah - he's obviously useless and RK has no idea what he is doing - get rid! He's obviously not useless. No-one is saying he's useless. He's a pretty good Premier League player. However, he's nowhere near good enough for the top-4/top-6, which is where we, last season, were trying to be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hutch Posted 4 August, 2015 Share Posted 4 August, 2015 the industrious Steven Davis is Southampton’s most underrated player Who'd have thought it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now