Ben Davies

[parklane1]

Where do people see him legacy wise? Our top 5 LBs:

1) Knowles
2) Rose
3) Houghton
4 ) Davies
5) Ziege

Something like that?

Knowles
Hughton
Benny
Ziege
Davies

 

[Grays_1890]

You know if it were possible to stop people from doing what they regularly do in sport then basketball matches would be nil nil.

You can make it harder and harder you just can’t stop all the permutations.

Saka is strong and has good control of the ball and is going to get the better of full backs who will rarely be able to match him let alone nullify him.

Yeh exactly this, footballing utopia does not exist, you can't score every chance stop every attack, as frustrating as it might be. Davies has been absolutely fine for us, is actually a very decent LCB

 

[tw12yid]

What about that other Welsh LB we had think we signed him from Southampton

 

[Gutter Boy]

Left to me I would not sell him this summer but give him the option to stay for a year and leave on a free, he has earnt it.

We should leave it up to him. We could release him a year early and let him go and play 2-3 more years at Swansea. Or he could stay with us and keep doing his coaching with the academy.

I'd only play him at CB in our system now though - I'd much rather have Skipp/Donely/Spence at LB.

 

[Gutter Boy]

Knowles
Hughton
Benny
Ziege
Davies

I get the BAE appreciation. But for a couple of seasons Rose was the best LB I'd seen since Maldini. He's got to be top 3 IMO.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

I get the BAE appreciation. But for a couple of seasons Rose was the best LB I'd seen since Maldini. He's got to be top 3 IMO.

Rose was the best LB in the world for that period

 

[K.D.D.D.D.Soc]

You know if it were possible to stop people from doing what they regularly do in sport then basketball matches would be nil nil.

You can make it harder and harder you just can’t stop all the permutations.

Saka is strong and has good control of the ball and is going to get the better of full backs who will rarely be able to match him let alone nullify him.

Who would want to watch any sport where each team stop every positive move their opponents make and nobody ever makes a mistake apart from experts who analysis the joy out of a game.

 

[glasgowspur]

Where do people see him legacy wise? Our top 5 LBs:

1) Knowles
2) Rose
3) Houghton
4 ) Davies
5) Ziege

Something like that?

No sonny?
Harsh!

 

[Spur of the moment]

Where do people see him legacy wise? Our top 5 LBs:

1) Knowles
2) Rose
3) Houghton
4 ) Davies
5) Ziege

Something like that?

Sacrilege. Henry #1.

 

[metalgear]

Davies has had to run too fast to get to Saka to be able to effectively show him onto his right. That's partly his own fault for ball watching before Saka got the ball but VdV, PEH and even Romero need to be more alert to the danger around them. It's poor defending all round. While Davies could have done better, he did enough to make life hard for Saka if others had been doing their jobs.

lack of pace was Davie's big weakness. even in attack you could see he was afraid to go too far forward to support the attack for leaving the rear exposed. they say the first few seconds the reaction is in the head, so maybe a bit about that too.

To me he was a good defender in an organised defence but offered little more. Obviously a nice guy, trusted by the many coaches and players he's survived through the years.

 

[Jurgen the German]

Where do people see him legacy wise? Our top 5 LBs:

1) Knowles
2) Rose
3) Houghton
4 ) Davies
5) Ziege

Something like that?

Not in the top 5 in my lifetime. Definitely below Rose, BAE, Udogie, Ziege and Bale just to name a few. Likeable guy but nothing more than a 5-6/10 player for me. Top professional though and just gets on with his job.

 

[Gutter Boy]

Not in the top 5 in my lifetime. Definitely below Rose, BAE, Udogie, Ziege and Bale just to name a few. Likeable guy but nothing more than a 5-6/10 player for me. Top professional though and just gets on with his job.

I think you have to factor in longevity a bit too when you are talking about the pantheon - Bale only had a handful of games at LB, Udogie has 28 so far and Ziege didn't even clock 50.

 

[harr1984]

Not in the top 5 in my lifetime. Definitely below Rose, BAE, Udogie, Ziege and Bale just to name a few. Likeable guy but nothing more than a 5-6/10 player for me. Top professional though and just gets on with his job.

All those you name might of had a bit more x factor in one way or another, but in terms of consistency and number of games here, plus ability to slot into the CB role in a 3 or even a 2 on occasions - I think he is ahead of at least a couple you name. Plus to say he is a 5-6/10 player I just can't agree with, there is not any player over the past 10 years who has had that many games with us who is of that standard. You have to be of a good level to have featured that heavily for us in a period when we have consistently been in Europe....

 

[Push and run]

Can't believe Ben Thatcher hasn't made any of these lists. In fact, the list of worst left-backs might be interesting too. Davies is definitely more than a 5 or 6 imho; as I've said (somewhere) before, he's a top notch back up and squad player at our level, albeit one who's not especially suited to stand-in for Udogie. Loyalty, professionalism, versatility and longevity are crucial in players who aren't first choice, and know they aren't.

 

[billyiddo]

Davies is a consistent performer, not stellar by any means but you can set your watch to getting a 7/10 performance out of him most weeks.

Been a good servant

 

[Roland Beurre]

Davies is a consistent performer, not stellar by any means but you can set you watch to getting a 7/10 performance out of him most weeks.

Been a good servant

Did Danny Thomas ever play on the left for us? I seem to recall he was mostly a right back.

 

[parklane1]

Did Danny Thomas ever play on the left for us? I seem to recall he was mostly a right back.

He did yes but mostly at RB, He had to retire early [ 26] after a shocking challenge by Maguire and had to retire from the game.

 

[Lilbaz]

He did yes but mostly at RB, He had to retire early [ 26] after a shocking challenge by Maguire and had to retire from the game.

Remember going to his testimonial. I was 10.

 

[Hotspur75]

Can't believe Ben Thatcher hasn't made any of these lists. In fact, the list of worst left-backs might be interesting too. Davies is definitely more than a 5 or 6 imho; as I've said (somewhere) before, he's a top notch back up and squad player at our level, albeit one who's not especially suited to stand-in for Udogie. Loyalty, professionalism, versatility and longevity are crucial in players who aren't first choice, and know they aren't.

Definitely much better than Tramezzani and Atouba, certainly also a lot better than Edman and Taricco. I would say better than Ziege at Spurs - he was already over the hill when he arrived at WHL. About as solid as BAE, and much longer of course. Lots of other names here: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2143657-ranking-tottenham-hotspurs-last-15-left-backs (a bit of a nonsense list with Bale at no. 7, but a list composed it seems at the moment Davies arrived at Spurs).

 

[Jurgen the German]

All those you name might of had a bit more x factor in one way or another, but in terms of consistency and number of games here, plus ability to slot into the CB role in a 3 or even a 2 on occasions - I think he is ahead of at least a couple you name. Plus to say he is a 5-6/10 player I just can't agree with, there is not any player over the past 10 years who has had that many games with us who is of that standard. You have to be of a good level to have featured that heavily for us in a period when we have consistently been in Europe....

The reason I say he is a 5-6/10 player is he doesn’t do anything really badly but he doesn’t excel at anything either. He’s ok defensively and he’s average-below average going forward. Sometimes you need a reliable backup player and he has been that IMO, but he’s miles behind Rose and BAE at the minimum.