Has Steven Davis become the new Chris Marsden? I know there are many on here who in the past have not rated him, but given his performances for us and the NI national team, surely he is now deserving of the Monika...
Never ever got the love for Chris Marsden, but super Steve had added the one thing missing from his game- GOALS!
Davis is a decent player and in great form. He's capable of playing defensive midfield, central midfield, central attacking midfield, left midfield, right midfield. The thing Davis always brings in all these positions is high energy and a high level of tactical awareness. His decision making with and without the ball tends to be good (even if his execution of a decision on the ball isn't always good). I also like the fact he looks to pass the ball forward. These things are why he is so versatile. When Clyne played right back for us (particularly under Pochettino) Davi often filled into the right back slot and never looked troubled when Clyne got caught forward. This leads me to believe he would be ok at right back. The fact he looks just as good at left midfield as right midfield I'd say he could also do a job at left back. And Having seen Gary Medel look a quality centre back in the world cup and Copa America I feel Davis would even be good at centre back. This sort of talk is arguably pointless, and ridiculous, as we obviously don't need him to play these three positions ever..but it's just an observation of how versatile he actually is. He's good enough on the ball, his decision making and tactical awareness is very good to play these positions in my opinion. The one thing to improve has always been his abysmal finishing and heading. This is starting to improve, but he still needs to play a few more killer passes. The problem is when he is off the pace sometimes, or generally off form for a while, it is a huge problem for him and others if he isn't a goal threat at all. It means the opponent can focus more on our players that are capable of getting the ball in the net, or capable of providing an assist. I'm happy right now he's in red hot form on and off the ball, hopefully it continues.
As we've said before, a thinking player and a player's player. The rest of the team always appreciate someone like Steve Davis while fans are loving the flashy, exciting ones. A team needs both sorts of players and Davis's versatility makes him popular with the manager. Am very happy for him when he has his moment in the sun.
Davis is probably my favourite Saint player at the moment. We are lucky to have him, and mostly even unaware of that.
We have needed a box to box midfielder to gamble when attacking to score goals. We have not had this for ages, however Davis is starting to do this and his confidence is high. He has always been consistent except the end of last season after his injury.
And one of his other assets....no one will link him to another club. No worrying every transfer window.
Wouldn't mind betting that he would be the first name that players come up with, if asked to pick a Saints team? Its always surprised me that if we buy, or were linked with a midfielder, many on here assume it will be to replace Davis.
http://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/southampton/news/41065/ Piece from Saintsweb saying the same as us about Davis.
The only thing wrong with this thread is that it's old news to some of us. He's always been a very good player for us. So many times over the last three seasons we haven't looked right without him. He's an unsung hero. Too many people just don't "get" what he brings to the team and just look at the lack of goals, hence why he is getting plaudits now. Yes the goals are great but not what is making him a good player; they are just icing on the cake. The Spuds game last season he was slaughtered for missing three very adorable chances. No one bothered commenting about how well he played that day, they just bemoaned his misses.
Yes he played well that day, but he had a shockingly bad second half of the season. I hope he maintains his current form rather than falling away like he did last season.
Couldn't agree more FLT. Don't get me wrong, I have criticised Steven for various things since he has been here, but his non-stop effort for the cause has never been on the list. You are right of course about the goals, but didn't he score in his first game for us at Man City? Maybe he should have settled in a bit more before he started banging them in, then we wouldn't have noticed the drought! By the way, I love the idea of an adorable chance! Bless Autocorrect...
But his form only went down hill after an injury i think didnt it ? So maybe he will remain on song this season if he is lucky and stays injury free. Im always happy when i see Steven Davis on our team sheet.
Shockingly bad? Nah. His form dipped as did quite a few of the team. Some of you went overboard with the criticism of him. Unsurprisingly. I believe you were one this summer saying he wasn't good enough for us and we needed to replace him?
I got odds of 28/1 for Davis to be scorer and 1 nil result in his last international. Predictably since that result came in, I think he's even more awesome now although I've always thought he was a top player for us.
Yes and I stand by what I said at the time. Obviously he's proved me wrong but at the time he hadn't shown anything to suggest he should still be in the team IMO.
