Once. And he was part of the XI. Whether he was a help or a hindrance to that, is another matter. There's a reason why, with all these player departures over the years, he has never found himself being taken. He'd be a top, top CM for a low mid-table team. Half the league pretty much should want him. But for us, I want so much better. Why have one Romeu, when you could have two?
Nor would I, nor did I say get rid of him. But imo he should be a player for rotation, and not a regular.
I don't really mind a mid table finish, I don't expect wonders from a team of our stature. Davis is good enough (even too good) a player to help us achieve a mid table finish and I have no problem with him. I'm just saying that if we want to step up, we should look to bring a better midfielder.
Too many fans think about 11 players. It is about a good strong squad and Davis should still be let of that. No player is signed to be part of the 11. I don't get why people seem not to understand this. One 11 maybe better suited to an opponent than another 11 and hence it isn't about better players necessarily.
He asked for £150,000 a week in last contract.... without significant investment we'd struggle.... oh... wait a minute....!!
He can, but the point is it's probably not his contribution that made the difference there. It was Mane's, Pelle's, Virgil's ecc. And with a player like Gylfi instead of Davis it would've probably been even higher than 6th place. It is about a good strong squad and the squad would be stronger if we bought another midfielder which will be an improvement on Davis.
Of all the things to get worried about, that is bottom......by a mile. Jesus, I'd worry about being attacked by a Lion in Winchester more.
I remember many occasions when we weren't playing well and it coincided with Davis' absence. More often than not, he was the man that made things tick for those players you mentioned. For too many seasons, too many fans haven't seen his contribution. It is almost funny that the one season when he doesn't have as many good games the team really hasn't done quite as well, yet fans haven't made that link. For five seasons we've been saying we need an improvement on him, yet three different Managers haven't found one!
There are a variety of non-Davis reasons why this might be the case, but: we have just 7 league wins on the season in the 27 matches Davis has started. We have 5 (WBA away, Leicester home, Bournemouth away, Everton home, Burnley home, in reverse chronological order) in the 9 matches he didn't.
But when you're talking about a 32 year old, having that one season where they didn't have as many good games (and markedly so) be the most recent one is a concern. Particularly when the guy behind him in Clasie -- who I still have real doubts about, numbers aside -- features the reverse...we've done far better when he starts, winning half those matches.
But that statistic is misleading, for example the Bournemouth away game was changed when he came on, and I think we won in large part because of him. Way too simple to look at it in just that way.
All this really proves is that statistics mean sod all without some examination of their context. Which you acknowledge in your first sentence tbf.
