What do people think SD brings to the team as a starter? I've got mixed feelings about his contribution recently. He's one of the hardest working guys on the pitch and generates the occasional moment of brilliance but I have to say that for the bulk of the time he plays a holding role. Keeps the ball. moves it about well but not getting himself of others into any kind of dangerous position. Don't get me wrong I like the guy and think he's a solid player but I do think we had too much of this hold it, move it and dont give it away drummed into us last season to the point where we werent generating enough attacks. Pleased to see that changing under Koeman. Personally I think Cork would be a better starter at the moment. He's on a roll with goals and assists. SD will do a good job holding onto a lead with 20 mins to go. Harsh?
38 games in a league season. Plus there are cup matches. Plenty of room for Steven Davis's special brand of virtues, and everybody else' s for that matter.
He is not a holding midfielder, but neither is he an attacking midfielder. As we have more options now he will lose game time, but like Cork remain a valuable member of the squad, he is very much like Cork in that they are both capable yet unspectacular midfield players
Exactly it. Thats it in a nutshell, I'd like to see him be one thing or another. I'm a fan of Cork, when he had a good run of games last season he bossed some class teams. This season he has started really well and changed the game when he's come on.
Pretty much. He works as hard as anyone out on that field doesn't excel at anything. I don't think he should start when we have a full roster but like Cork keep on the bench as he is a fantastic player to have on the bench or as cover for injuries.
I think we should see who hits the ground running out of our new entrants. I don't see Davis as an impact player but we would miss his hard work in the middle of the park. He does much the same for us as he does for NI. He is a "fetcher and carrier" type player. Probably doesn't get too many assists in a season but on the "assists to the assist" ranking he would be close to the top in my book.
If he could only score a few more goals he would be nailed on to start. He has had two golden chances at least, this season, one against Liverpool when we were at 1-1 and if he hadn't tapped it straight to Mignolet it might have won us the game. There was also a chance against West Ham which he similarly spurned. Apart from that he is a tireless, tenacious midfield dynamo who maybe, will get less time on the pitch from now on, but hopefully will make more impact when he does play.
"Fetcher and carrier"... Excellent. For all Cantona said about Deschamps, Didier was a World Cup winner and the value of that type if player is always understated. They are an important part of the whole.
I thought Davis was a bit miscast last year when he was asked to take on more of an attacking midfield role, though he put in a good effort and in the end did a surprisingly good job. I feel like in a 4-3-3 there is more room for a traditional midfielders. Which is good because I feel that JWP, Cork, Davis and maybe even to some degree Schneiderlin all fall in that category. Some are a little more attacking, some more defensive, but they're all kind of box-to-box. I suspect that once Koeman gets a good feel for everyone, there will be a lot of mixing-and-matching depending on opponent. Which is fine with me. It was one thing I wished MP would have done a little more of last year.
I read that too. Lambs keyboard battery must be starting to fizzle out. Earlier he typed stoed. It took me a few seconds to realise he meant stoked.
