I've said it before, Davies had a few shockers for us and a lot of people judge him only on those. That's their right I suppose, but the fact is that for the majority of his games he was at least steady, and sometimes very good. And he was only 22 or 23 when he signed with the pressure of a huge fee around his neck, but seems to have been cut none of the slack that players like Clark get because they're "still learning".
Quote from: ktvillan on February 05, 2013, 02:05:28 PMI've said it before, Davies had a few shockers for us and a lot of people judge him only on those. That's their right I suppose, but the fact is that for the majority of his games he was at least steady, and sometimes very good. And he was only 22 or 23 when he signed with the pressure of a huge fee around his neck, but seems to have been cut none of the slack that players like Clark get because they're "still learning".Sorry KT, I don't agree. There was a time when Davies and Cuellar were our centre back pairing, and for a long old streak of games they were conceding nearly three goals a game.
Quote from: Risso on February 05, 2013, 02:32:03 PMQuote from: ktvillan on February 05, 2013, 02:05:28 PMI've said it before, Davies had a few shockers for us and a lot of people judge him only on those. That's their right I suppose, but the fact is that for the majority of his games he was at least steady, and sometimes very good. And he was only 22 or 23 when he signed with the pressure of a huge fee around his neck, but seems to have been cut none of the slack that players like Clark get because they're "still learning".Sorry KT, I don't agree. There was a time when Davies and Cuellar were our centre back pairing, and for a long old streak of games they were conceding nearly three goals a game.I totally agree that when he and Cuellar were together, those were some of Davies' worst games. However I don't recall them being paired all that often at CB, I more often remember Davies with Laursen and possibly Knight, when he was generally ok or good. And how much of it was down to Davies and how much down to Cuellar? And why did the older and more experienced Cuellar remain a favourite among a section of fans despite being gash in many many games, while the less experienced Davies got nothing but stick? They were at least equally culpable for that pairing being awful. Cuellar was and still is a terrible footballer and a mediocre defender, who was only rated by MON and maybe a few of our less discerning fans. He got away lightly whilst Davies seemed to be everyone's favourite scapegoat once he got the wrong side of the blessed Martin.
Fastest centre back I have ever seen at Villa Park was John Charles. Just as comfortable at centre forward of centre half. Superb athlete. These days he would retire on fifty million quid in the bank. He was the last of the generation who got the license of a pub if they were lucky.
Davies was excellent at a game at Anfield when he played through his shoulder injury.