Woah... I was being tongue in cheek there.... I'm sure Rangers would want Davis, he'd be a star north of the border.
I can see why Fonte would want to move to Portugal and Davis why would want to move to Rangers. Both aren't getting any younger. I just hope not too many go.
Davis is another one with 2 years left on his contract. Can't see us letting him go as he plays nearly every game.
I was only taking the piss in my comment above, but I do hope that we don't have a 3rd Summer in a row of trying to replace 3+ 1st teamers. It will come back to bite us one day.
I would like to see us bring in a couple of star names and replace anyone else with youth players. Romeu and Clasie will be a good DM pairing, with JWP and Reed as backup. Where we desperately need to strengthen is the creative midfield role Dusan is supposed to fill! If we sold him and invested the money, plus 15M more, we might get one really good player.
Steven Davis is the closest Saints have to a central creative player, and Davis can see and execute a very good pass, but he often gets bogged down in his defensive duties. Tadic is the wide creative player. He had a great first half of his first season, but small injuries, amount of games, and the simple fact that teams realised what he did blunted his dangerous potential. What Saints do, instead of having one major midfield creator, like Fabregas, Coutinho, Silva, Mahrez, Alli, Payet [the list goes on] is share the creative duties amongst 3 or 4 members of the team. That's a great idea when a team back away 5-10 yards, but when they're pressurised they don't have the time to create. Bit of a shame Coutinho turned us down a few seasons back. He could have been the difference. That's what Saints need.
If JWP is unhappy with how RK handles players, is it because he's had a quite "soft" introduction into the first team squad, with Adkins and Poch being quite close to the players and enjoying a good laugh, during training sessions? English isn't Ron's first language, so it is quite feasible that he may say things in a way that seems harsher than is intended. So long as he doesn't line them up and say "You can't", in that special way he says it, because that might upset them.
I was telling the Coutinho thing to my 6yo at the weekend. He said why would he turn us down for Pool. I had to admit I did not have an answer...
Yes, but Davis isn't a creative player at heart. He's a hard-working team player. Radical may be a wide player, but he's the only guy in the team who you would consider creative. He just isn't all that creative. I agree we try to spread out the creation, but it doesn't work. Having one really creative player draws two defenders, and gives everyone else space to look creative. Sharing it just leaves everyone marked and leads to sideways passing. There must be plenty of good creative players in other leagues we can tempt with the excesses of all that Sky money...
I believe I may have suggested that. He's not instinctually a creative player, I suppose we both mean.
If Pelle is going this summer, then surely Dusan must feel that he can't go on here. Everywhere he looks at the training ground and stadium will remind him of Graziano and the good times they shared. At the beginning of the season I was 50/50 on whether Dusan would kick on this season. Like the well discussed Gaston I fear his game is not right for the premier league. He doesn't have that turn of pace and his defensive ability is pretty poor. A wonderful footballer and I would love him to stay on as he is definitely a man who can make things happen, but I understand that he probably needs first team football and i'm not sure we can guarantee that.
Totally agreed! We really need a Payet quality type player, that has the ability to unlock defences & score a few goals himself (crying shame we missed him). As for the rest, yes there are the obvious deficiencies but all IMO are workable with the existing squad or some minor tweaks with a few in's & out's but it's a really quality creative midfielder we need.
As compilation videos go, it's not that impressive. One good goal, some terrible defending and goalkeeping, and some neat passes. I am happy to get Vilhenna, but I would be disappointed if he was seen as the creative midfielder we need.
15 goals and 13 assists from 127 appearances might not sound that impressive, but remember he has only just turned 21. Imagine if, say, JWP had stats like that!
