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Player Watch Player Watch: Ben Davies

SugarRay

Well-Known Member
Jul 6, 2011
7,984
11,110
1) don’t call people knuckle heads just because you don’t like their opinion, it’s not conducive to anything positive.

2) I don’t think anyone thinks a good crunching tackle makes him a good player, people just like seeing it, and it does have a positive effect as, so long as it’s clean, it gets the crowd going, objects some momentum where there was none, and makes the attacker hesitant to take Ben on next time.

3) what does make him a good player might be the fact that he’s played almost every match for us and we have the leagues third best defence, he’s only assisted one fewer than the highest assisting fullback in the league at the time of posting (in fewer starts) and he is both consistent and dependable.

If Ben Davies had a more exciting name or a stupid haircut or tattoos everywhere, or was from somewhere more exotic than Neath Port Talbot, he would be far more highly rated. As it is, he comes off as Mr Ordinary so people refuse to accept that he’s actually been top class for you for pretty much a calendar year now.

Throw in Rose clearly not the player he was ( yet? ) then Davies is absolutely number 1 choice right now. He’s having a great season
 

jimmy_the_yid

Well-Known Member
Jan 2, 2006
545
310
I’m completely agreed with what you said except this part.

If Ben Davies had a more exciting name or a stupid haircut or tattoos everywhere, or was from somewhere more exotic than Neath Port Talbot, he would be far more highly rated. As it is, he comes off as Mr Ordinary so people refuse to accept that he’s actually been top class for you for pretty much a calendar year now.

Harry Kane is Mr Ordinary from Chingford and people accept that he is top class.

Davies’ style isn’t as bombastic as we’ve come to expect in recent years, and people are missing the clever parts of his game, I particular like the low, direct pass he often plays infield. He reminds me of Corluka.
 

BringBack_leGin

Well-Known Member
Jul 28, 2004
27,719
54,929
I’m completely agreed with what you said except this part.



Harry Kane is Mr Ordinary from Chingford and people accept that he is top class.

Davies’ style isn’t as bombastic as we’ve come to expect in recent years, and people are missing the clever parts of his game, I particular like the low, direct pass he often plays infield. He reminds me of Corluka.
He definitely has similarities with Corkuka, but a touch quicker and not quite as skilful. That pass is one I’ve noticed too.

As for Kane, it’s a lot harder to ignore the guy who gets 20+ goals every season than the left back who carries out his duties, especially when we’ve produce old Harry ourselves. And his name sounds like Hurricane.
 

mattdefoe

Well-Known Member
Jul 16, 2009
3,182
2,572
Davies is a brilliant old school mixed with new school full back. He also dosent shy out of a tackle
 

kmk

Well-Known Member
Oct 5, 2014
4,145
27,497
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/43290088
Ben Davies: How defender became key for Tottenham and Wales

By Michael Pearlman
BBC Wales Sport

He was considered an understudy for club and country, but now it is safe to say Ben Davies is one of the first names on the teamsheet for Tottenham Hotspur and Wales.

Once described by a TV presenter as Tottenham's "go-to guy in the Europa League," Davies is now established as one of Spurs' key defenders.

So how did Davies manage to dislodge England full-back Danny Rose as Spurs' first choice fullback?

How did Davies go from being on the outside to being described by BBC Sport's Garth Crooks, himself a former Tottenham striker, as "outstanding," in his latest team of the week?

"His all-round performance was outstanding," he said of his display against Huddersfield. "If I were fellow Spurs full-back Danny Rose I'd be somewhat concerned," he added.

Ahead of what would be a 150th Premier League appearance for Davies against Bournemouth on Sunday and Spurs' huge Champions League clash with Juventus, BBC Sport Wales takes a look at what has gone right for the man from Ystalyfera.

Nearly always available
Davies' career so far has been notable for the fact that aged 24, the Welsh left back has only suffered three injuries in his whole career that have sidelined him for longer than a week.

That contrasts with the problems faced by Spurs teammate Rose, who missed close to ten months of action with a knee injury between January and October.

Davies' eagerness to play and availability is in fact how he made his mark in the game. His first chance at Swansea came during a pre-season tour in 2012 when first choice for the Swans and Wales, Neil Taylor, was away on international duty with Team GB in the Olympics.

Davies was only a youth team player, but did enough to start the season playing Premier League football.

Davies made his Wales bow in the same season and went on to play 44 games for the Swans.

A year later, and firmly established with Wales, Davies switched to Spurs in a swap deal that took Gylfi Sigurdsson back to the Liberty Stadium.

It was, in fact, one of the first transfers to be sanctioned by Spurs' new boss, Mauricio Pochettino.
Pochettino's philosophy was that full-backs would be such a key component to Tottenham's style that there would be a need for almost constant rotation.

However, for a long time, there could be no denying that Davies was very much second choice behind Rose, just as on the right flank Kyle Walker was the number one, ahead of firstly Kyle Naughton and then Kieran Trippier.

That, however, was then.

Rose injury and newspaper controversy
Davies played second fiddle to Rose at White Hart Lane for around 18-months, until Rose injured his knee at Sunderland in January 2017.

Davies played every Premier League game from that moment on for the rest of the season and has barely looked back at Spurs since.

By the time Davies got a prolonged run in Tottenham's team, he had already established himself as a key component of Chris Coleman's Wales side that stunned the footballing world by reaching the semi-finals of Euro 2016.

In fact, Davies' amazing goal-line clearance in Wales' opening win over Slovenia really set the wheels in motion for Wales' phenomenal run.

However, while he was established in the red of Wales, for Spurs it was a different story.

Davies had played just seven of 18 Premier League games before Rose's injury on 30 January, having featured in just 17 of 38 matches in the 2015/16 season and only making 14 starts in his debut campaign as a Lilywhite.

Davies' recent run in the Spurs side coincided with their best form of last season, with no side accruing more Premier League points between February and May as they finished second in the Premier League.

With Rose unable to return for the start of the season, Davies was always likely to keep his place in Tottenham's first XI, but his run this year has almost eradicated rotation at Spurs in the left back spot.

Davies has played in 24 of Spurs' 29 Premier League matches, with Rose picked only five times.

That contrasts the right back situation, where Trippier (16) and Serge Aurier (13) have shared game time with Walker sold to Manchester City.

It should be noted, however, that Davies' case has probably been helped by the furore caused by Rose's comments to the Sun newspaper on the eve of the season where he openly questioned Tottenham's ambitions and pay structure.

Spurs boss Pochettino quickly declared the matter settled after Rose apologised, but many Spurs fans believe Rose is still paying the price for his words.

No longer the defensive left back
Conventional wisdom for a long time in the stands at White Hart Lane was that while Davies was possibly a stronger defensive option than Rose, there was little doubt the England defender was better going forward. BBC Sport's Jermaine Jenas was one pundit who expressed that viewpoint.

However, the stats do not back up the assertion that Davies is inferior to Rose as an attacking full back or wing back.

Davies (14) leads Rose (13) in career assists after providing the winner for Harry Kane in the latest North London derby.

Not only does Davies top Rose for assists in his career, but he has also managed five this season, the fourth most of any defender in the Premier League, as well as scoring twice.

For context, only Christian Eriksen and Dele Alli have created more Spurs goals this term.

Spurs also perform better defensively with Davies in the side and have a higher win percentage when he starts than when he does not. All these factors have led to his manager describing him as "one of the best left backs in the Premier League."

There can be no doubt, therefore, that for club and country Davies has become absolutely key.
 

SpursD22

Well-Known Member
Aug 3, 2017
4,682
8,929
He’s been phenomenal this season but if we want to compete for the CL is he good enough to be out first choice LB? I don’t think so. But I’m not gonna overreact because of one result
 

ilya

Well-Known Member
Aug 23, 2013
464
1,368
If he had some more skills going forward and pace he would be great. But he doesn't, and that's why he remains what he is, good but not great. I think we are now closer to be in absolute top, and we need players who suit that level. There's a reason why better teams aren't after Davies, like they were after Walker, and why we're afraid of losing players like Toby and Eriksen, but not Davies. He seems very likeable but this is rough business. I know that again I'm gonna get lot of disagrees saying this about Davies, but if you think I'm wrong please explain me because I really want to know. I just think we can do better, and we need to do better if we want to match elite clubs. I could actually say this same all about Trippier also, ok he should be great at crossing (in which Davies is not) but I don't think it has helped us enough to consider him as a first choice. So if you are a fan of these players, please do tell me for example, how would you sell these players to a big club if you were their agent, what would you say? In Kanes case you wouldn't have to say anything, but how about Trips and Ben?
 

isaac94

Well-Known Member
Jan 5, 2017
2,921
9,733
If he had some more skills going forward and pace he would be great. But he doesn't, and that's why he remains what he is, good but not great. I think we are now closer to be in absolute top, and we need players who suit that level. There's a reason why better teams aren't after Davies, like they were after Walker, and why we're afraid of losing players like Toby and Eriksen, but not Davies. He seems very likeable but this is rough business. I know that again I'm gonna get lot of disagrees saying this about Davies, but if you think I'm wrong please explain me because I really want to know. I just think we can do better, and we need to do better if we want to match elite clubs. I could actually say this same all about Trippier also, ok he should be great at crossing (in which Davies is not) but I don't think it has helped us enough to consider him as a first choice. So if you are a fan of these players, please do tell me for example, how would you sell these players to a big club if you were their agent, what would you say? In Kanes case you wouldn't have to say anything, but how about Trips and Ben?
In Davies defense he was strongly linked with Man City last year, but anyway I would say they are solid squad players (in our system we need 4 full backs).
 

Hoops

Well-Known Member
Mar 15, 2015
3,650
6,363
We definetly need better full backs. Its an area we can easily improve without spending too much (aka striker equivalent).

Our full backs just arnt at the level of the rest of the team.
 

Hawk_Spur

Well-Known Member
Dec 17, 2004
1,539
2,387
Yep, thought he was okay.

In hindsight, Poch possibly should have played Rose last weekend. Look knackered by the end.
 

isaac94

Well-Known Member
Jan 5, 2017
2,921
9,733
I thought he did okay, that backheel was class, 10 mins of switching off cost us, fine margins at this level
 

allpaths

Well-Known Member
Oct 31, 2014
3,174
8,381
He got destroyed by Douglas Costa today. Didn't seem to get anything right.
lol he most certainly did not get destroyed by Costa, smh Davies had one slip up all game and it cost us other than that him and Son owned their flank.
 

Wheeler Dealer

Well-Known Member
Jul 29, 2011
6,863
12,282
We definetly need better full backs. Its an area we can easily improve without spending too much (aka striker equivalent).

Our full backs just arnt at the level of the rest of the team.
We had the best fullback in the league and sold him to one of our rivals to improve there area of weakness.
 

knowlespurs

Well-Known Member
May 31, 2012
2,741
8,514
We had the best fullback in the league and sold him to one of our rivals to improve there area of weakness.
i dont think walker staying and not signing Aurier has made any difference to our season and it allowed us to bring Sanchez in, without him and Tobys injury i think we would be a lot worse off
 

ajspurs

Well-Known Member
Jul 7, 2007
22,985
31,166
I like him as a player don't get me wrong and I don't even want to criticise him as I think he plays to his best almost every game, plus he's improved. Watching him a lot of the time I can't help but get the feeling that we can get something more from someone else in that position still. He's a player that kind of does everything to a reasonable standard, but nothing any bit exceptional. Rose and Walker for instance, individually and as a unit, may have had standard of less than standard (maybe in Walker's case) crossing ability, but the energy they provided in bombing up and down their flanks and the speed they had was exceptional.
 
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