Steve Davis

[saintquin]

Will become Northern Ireland's most capped player, overtaking Pat Jennings with 120.

Pleased for him. A good hard working player!

Edited 7 October, 2020 by saintquin
too many spaces

[Toadhall Saint]

👏👏👏

[Jeremy Corbyn]

Really good player for us in our highest placing team of the Premier League era, perfect player when surrounded by flair players.

[davefizzy14]

Absolute class act is Davo great player for us. He thoughly deserves this accolade.

[the saint in winchester]

Some preferred the unpredictability of someone like Alex Higgins, but I liked to watch Interesting Steve Davis.

[Micky]

Top pro,  hope he stays in the game, will bring a lot of the right stuff to young players as a coach or manager.   Congrats to him. 

[Maggie May]

5 hours ago, the saint in winchester said:

Some preferred the unpredictability of someone like Alex Higgins, but I liked to watch Interesting Steve Davis.

Ah, right on cue.

[rooney]

Good man and a great player. Congratulations Steve.

[Saint Garrett]

Think he is still living in Winchester, and commutes to Glasgow, not sure what his arrangement is!

Pops into the Winchester golf academy.

[Katalinic]

A great pro and excellent for us in his time here. Fantastic achievement for him.

[SuperSAINT]

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/12019/12098581/steven-davis-mauricio-pochettino-says-northern-ireland-star-was-his-andres-iniesta 

[austsaint]

1 hour ago, SuperSAINT said:

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/12019/12098581/steven-davis-mauricio-pochettino-says-northern-ireland-star-was-his-andres-iniesta 

That's a tremendous read.  And Pochettino's comments are marvellous and a warm tribute to a much loved Saint.

[It's There]

Wow- some of that is really strong and positive. Ambassador/coach at Saints or Rangers in the future when he stops playing I would guess.

[Lets B Avenue]

Walter Smith says he doesn't know anyone who has a bad word to say about him

Obviously doesn't come on here.

[austsaint]

2 minutes ago, Lets B Avenue said:

Walter Smith says he doesn't know anyone who has a bad word to say about him

Obviously doesn't come on here.

One of his biggest critics on here was/is Verlaine - who otherwise is a poster well worth reading.

[verlaine1979]

7 hours ago, austsaint said:

One of his biggest critics on here was/is Verlaine - who otherwise is a poster well worth reading.

I never really disliked him, just thought the praise here was overblown for a player who seemed to define workmanlike averageness whenever I watched him. But then I always preferred Zidane to Deschamps.

[Turkish]

38 minutes ago, verlaine1979 said:

I never really disliked him, just thought the praise here was overblown for a player who seemed to define workmanlike averageness whenever I watched him. But then I always preferred Zidane to Deschamps.

Far from it, he was a quality player. One of those unspectacular team players that every side needs. He was one of the best signings we’ve made since returning to the premier league. 

[Antrimsaint]

Great player and Consistant. To emulate razor hands Jennings is no mean feat. Love him but I’m biased

[verlaine1979]

18 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Far from it, he was a quality player. One of those unspectacular team players that every side needs. He was one of the best signings we’ve made since returning to the premier league. 

He was unspectacular in both the defensive and the attacking phases. We conceded many goals through his lack of marking, and saw many attacks break down because of his conservatism. He kept it neat and tidy but forgive me if I consider that to be the absolute bare minimum for any premier league midfielder, and not the defining characteristic of 'the most underrated player in the league (tm)'.

[Sergei Gotsmanov]

I think it is easy to underestimate how important it is to like the players that play for our team. Not only did I really rate him as a footballer I liked him. 

[Whitey Grandad]

Congratulations to him. I’ve always liked him when he played for us but we should not forget that he scored the third goal for Villa when they came back from 2-0 down to beat us in April 2005.

[Turkish]

1 hour ago, verlaine1979 said:

He was unspectacular in both the defensive and the attacking phases. We conceded many goals through his lack of marking, and saw many attacks break down because of his conservatism. He kept it neat and tidy but forgive me if I consider that to be the absolute bare minimum for any premier league midfielder, and not the defining characteristic of 'the most underrated player in the league (tm)'.

I think he’s one of those players you don’t really appreciate unless you’ve played at a decent level or have a good understanding of the game.

[Toadhall Saint]

1 hour ago, verlaine1979 said:

He was unspectacular in both the defensive and the attacking phases. We conceded many goals through his lack of marking, and saw many attacks break down because of his conservatism. He kept it neat and tidy but forgive me if I consider that to be the absolute bare minimum for any premier league midfielder, and not the defining characteristic of 'the most underrated player in the league (tm)'.

Bollocks

[VectisSaint]

3 hours ago, verlaine1979 said:

I never really disliked him, just thought the praise here was overblown for a player who seemed to define workmanlike averageness whenever I watched him. But then I always preferred Zidane to Deschamps.

Classic. Never really disliked him 🤣 

[wild-saint]

1 hour ago, Turkish said:

I think he’s one of those players you don’t really appreciate unless you’ve played at a decent level or have a good understanding of the game.

Wow tell him what you think  his football knowledge. Agree with you though 

[Baird of the land]

A wonderful result for his 120 cap.

5 more for Shilton record.

[verlaine1979]

3 hours ago, Turkish said:

I think he’s one of those players you don’t really appreciate unless you’ve played at a decent level or have a good understanding of the game.

 Of course, those qualities - so subtle as to be almost ineffable - must be why he's had such a storied career lighting up the Premier League with Saints, Villa and Fulham.

'Model pro' is how successful players describe average players who've had long, unspectacular careers.

[Antrimsaint]

What a result, really pleased for him. Would love to see him back someday. Never a problem, consummate professional. Loved him. Must have shagged Verlaine's missus. Guy has a serious chip where Davo is concerned.

Edited 8 October, 2020 by Antrimsaint
Incorrect info

[Turkish]

6 hours ago, verlaine1979 said:

 Of course, those qualities - so subtle as to be almost ineffable - must be why he's had such a storied career lighting up the Premier League with Saints, Villa and Fulham.

'Model pro' is how successful players describe average players who've had long, unspectacular careers.

No one said he’d had a spectacular career, I said he’s one of those players other players, managers and fans who understand the game appreciate and every team needs, something you unsurprisingly seem to be struggling to comprehend. 

[Harry_SFC]

He was an unbelieveable bargain. 

[alehouseboys]

A great signing for us and fantastic servant to the game, especially when you compare the peanuts we paid for the fella against the £millions we've squandered on dross in recent years. I'm inclined to go with those that know best.

Mauricio Pochettino: "The talent of him I compare to football people like Xavi and [Andreas] Iniesta. You put him in the same level as this type of player because of this capacity to play football, be a playmaker, the intelligence to read the game, his capacity to run. I think to compare Christian Eriksen to this type of player too, they make your team better.

Lots of good informed comments here:

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/12019/12098581/steven-davis-mauricio-pochettino-says-northern-ireland-star-was-his-andres-iniesta

Edited 9 October, 2020 by alehouseboys
Link wasn't working

[S-Clarke]

12 hours ago, verlaine1979 said:

He was unspectacular in both the defensive and the attacking phases. We conceded many goals through his lack of marking, and saw many attacks break down because of his conservatism. He kept it neat and tidy but forgive me if I consider that to be the absolute bare minimum for any premier league midfielder, and not the defining characteristic of 'the most underrated player in the league (tm)'.

You've always had a problem with Davis and it's very odd.

Pretty much 99.9% of people you ask, with any decent level of football understanding, will appreciate what a good pro and a technically gifted player he is/was. Massive for us in those 14/15 15/16 seasons.

[Saint_lambden]

Deserved his MBE for those two goals at Spurs alone. Great player and clearly an even better guy from that thread of tributes Sky put together. Be interesting to see what he does when he hangs up his boots - suspect Gerrard may want him as part of the Rangers set-up but would love to see him stay in the south and work in some kind of role at Saints. 

[saint1977]

31 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

You've always had a problem with Davis and it's very odd.

Pretty much 99.9% of people you ask, with any decent level of football understanding, will appreciate what a good pro and a technically gifted player he is/was. Massive for us in those 14/15 15/16 seasons.

And very consistent, can’t think of many Saints players as consistent throughout his time with the club. Rickie, Kenny Monkou (stood out along with MLT in some very poor Saints 90s sides), VVD pre-unrest, Ings this season and last, Michael Svensson. Morgan was pretty consistent in his 20s, problems came after Saints. Into the 80s there were more consistent players but the club was able to bring a higher calibre in as a different game. 
 

Loved the Poch and Koeman years, went to quite a number of games and never came away feeling Davis hadn’t performed well or at least decently. 

[bazza]

Davo’s a worthy successor to the great Pat Jennings as our record caps holder, he’s been brilliant for NI. (And, if you’ve ever met him, a really nice bloke too.) Hopefully we can get past Slovakia next month & he can bow out fittingly by leading us in the Euros next summer.

[Charlie Wayman]

...and you wouldn't have believed the vitriol on here towards this "useless player who wasn't fit to wear a Saints shirt"......

[verlaine1979]

On 09/10/2020 at 00:36, S-Clarke said:

You've always had a problem with Davis and it's very odd.

Pretty much 99.9% of people you ask, with any decent level of football understanding, will appreciate what a good pro and a technically gifted player he is/was. Massive for us in those 14/15 15/16 seasons.

I've only ever had a problem with the overblown hype - of which comparing him, even charitably, to Iniesta is right up there.

Back when this debate was actually relevant, Davis was always compared very favorably to JWP. The forum majority decried Ward-Prowse as an impotent, sideways-passing lightweight, while to me the two of them were practically indistinguishable in contribution, aside from JWP's better delivery.

So, now that he's comfortably surpassed Davis's PL contribution in both goals and assists, are we nominating Ward-Prowse as the most underrated player in the league?

 

[alehouseboys]

2 hours ago, verlaine1979 said:

So, now that he's comfortably surpassed Davis's PL contribution in both goals and assists, are we nominating Ward-Prowse as the most underrated player in the league?

 

Maybe once he’s put in a stint to football that Davis has then yes.

And, unless you’re more than qualified to voice an opinion over the likes of Poch et el then some of us will just appreciate the contribution he’s made to the game and doth our cap.

[verlaine1979]

1 hour ago, alehouseboys said:

Maybe once he’s put in a stint to football that Davis has then yes.

And, unless you’re more than qualified to voice an opinion over the likes of Poch et el then some of us will just appreciate the contribution he’s made to the game and doth our cap.

JWP has played more games for Saints and scored & assisted more Premier League goals. How much more of a stint do you want?

[alehouseboys]

7 hours ago, verlaine1979 said:

JWP has played more games for Saints and scored & assisted more Premier League goals. How much more of a stint do you want?

Well this thread is about tributes to Steve Davis and his 120+ caps, not generally about his Saints career. He's been a professional footballer for 16 years, an international for 15 of them. Numerous top managers, players and fans are heaping praise upon him, you don't agree, you're entitled to your opinion.

Hopefully in another 5 years or so we can heap the same sort of praise on JWP.

[Over land and sea]

On 08/10/2020 at 19:38, Turkish said:

Far from it, he was a quality player. One of those unspectacular team players that every side needs. He was one of the best signings we’ve made since returning to the premier league. 

Agree with all this - there were times when his contribution was obvious (I recall coming on as a second half sub at Bournemouth) but so often what he did didn't hit the headlines.  Reminds me in that respect of the importance of Nick Holmes to Lawrie's side of the mid 70s through to the mid 80s.  We had loads of flair, big name players but somehow if Holmes was not on the team sheet we always seemed to lose.  Had goals in him as well - even when he played at left back.  I recall a goal from the half way line against Watford when we played them off the park in the first leg of a league cup tie at the Dell and won 4-0.  (We lost the second leg 7-1. )

I wonder if Davo has coaching ambitions - if he's stil in the area may be hoping for a role at Saints in the future.