I'm doing one of my blog preview thingy's for the Bolton game, and so I'd like to get some BFC opinions on Davies and his time here, to share with our friends from Flicker country... Just a few words - did you rate him? do you miss him? will you give him a decent reception etc? Cheers, Andy.
Rated him a lot. Good finisher. Struggled with his first touch when he arrived, but obviously worked hard on improving it as he got better and better during his time here. His performance in the game at Birmingham will live long in the memory. Just a shame that he appeared to be going through the motions for the last month or two. He wanted away and his performances reflected that. I won't give him any sort of reception. The opposition team hasn't been read out while they're on the field for a long time at Oakwell so there is no opportunity to applaud past players (or boo them if you're that way out).
It's likely that we'll get the chance to welcome him in whichever way we see fit, as the likelihood is that he will come off the bench. I imagine he'll predominantly get booed. I think I'll abstain. i actually quite liked him whilst he was here, but his attitude was awful at the end and cast the terrible penalty against Birmingham in a different light when we knew he was off. We have actually looked better up front since he left though, but I am expecting him to give our defenders a hard time if he does come on.
I rated him, probably first name on the team sheet earlier in the season. He was scoring plenty of goals and was shaping up to be the striker that we've needed for so long, a 20 goals per season man. He wasn't afraid to take on a shot from long distance, some which came off like away at Peterborough and some that were well wide of the mark. I recall him peppering the Ponty from long range in the warm up many a time. His touch improved a lot while he was here and I don't think there will be many Reds fans that will forget the 4 against Birmingham anytime soon. However, he showed very little after the Birmingham game. While he had improved a lot and finally the ball was sticking to him rather than just bouncing off him, he wasn't putting in as much effort. I think he thought he was better than the rest of the team and that our slump in form wasn't down to him. It's true that he was getting next to no service but the goals dried up all too quickly, as did his willingness to work for the team. I don't think there were too many that bothered when he finally did leave. It was obvious that he wanted away and he'd become a shadow of the player he had been early on. Had someone asked me early in the season if losing him in January would be a big blow then I'd certainly have said yes. But it seems to have been a blessing in disguise. Daggers and Harewood have formed a brilliant partnership and have been instrumental in our recent revival. They want to play for the manager and the club. Davies' lazy performances are a world away from Daggers tireless displays and Harewood has more passion in his little finger than Davies had under Hill. Were he to come back to us now, I'd probably have him down as 5th choice striker. I won't applaud or boo him either way on Saturday. He was good for us at times and bad for us at others. We were a sinking ship when he left, and no one wants to play in league 1.
I honestly believed at the start of the season that if he went we might as well not bother playing the rest of the season and just be relegated. Strong, powerful, decent finish..... it was something we'd been crying out for in a striker for years. The Birmingham performance was something special. I don't miss him now due to how well we're doing. In fact, I forgot where he went. Maybe if goals dry up for us and we go down we'll wish we had him all season but only time will tell on that one. I'll be booing him like **** on Saturday, but I'll be off my head on a stag do in Newcastle so it won't mean too mch . . . .
Over rated imo. He had a great shot when he connected right but he was just as likely to slice or hook it. Poor attitude in the last few months. Didn't bother me when he left, had a feeling he wouldn't be missed because despite his 4 goals at Brum he only scored in about 4 games all season.
I rated him to begin with and like others have said I thought he was key to our survival however the last couple of months of him being here he may as well not have been on the pitch because he was disinterested and ineffective. His high point this season was the Birmingham away game, his lowest point (IMO) was his Birmingham home game. I won't boo him but I won't applaud him either. My strongest memory of him sadly is seeing him take the worst penalty I have ever seen and his reaction to that costing us getting anything from the game.
Strikers are about partnerships. When you think of the best of times at BFC, you tend not to think of one player up front, you think of two. You think of Aylott and Parker, you think of Wilkinson and Hendrie, you think of a big un and a little un. Personally, I never felt that Craig Davies fitted into the role of the self-sacrificing big un, who works hard, who receives the ball with his back to goal and brings other players into the game and who creates things for his partner. He was too selfish for that role. Neither was he the player who played on the shoulder of the last defender, who feeds of the big man and who reads the game in the box and who is always in the right place when a chance comes. Because he fits in neither camp, he is a difficult player to partner. Since he has left, two players who the previous manager tried to partner with Davies have thrived in his absence. Davies had a tendency to drift towards the left wing, where he thought he would find space, a tactic which many supporters put down to our former manager. However, I believe that the tactic suited him because he could then cut inside, across the face of the defense to unleash spectacular efforts on goal. Anyone who has watched the pre-match warm ups would witness Davies end those sessions by practicing his long distance shooting, often at an empty goal, and often badly mistiming most of the session by trying to hit the ball too hard. He was practicing the spectacular in the knowledge that if he was able to repeat it in a game, one such effort would earn him more respect from the fans than if he scored five run of the mill goals. However, the tactic was soon rumbled by the rest of the league and most teams developed a strategy to combat it. However, to my mind, this sums up his attitude . I believe that part of the reason he failed to form a working partnership with any other striker whilst at Oakwell was his selfish attitude towards the rest of the team. Bolton are using him as an impact substitute in the same way as we are using Scotland. For both players (for different reasons) this is probably the best scenario for the way they play. I would be surprised to see Davies start for Bolton at Oakwell. I will not be surprised to see him play for the final 20 minutes, especially if they need a goal when his lack of team ethos is made up for by the loners ability to score from out of the blue.
he was ok strikers come and go think jason scotland is far better,,, but question is why havent we put a block on davies playing against us ?????????????????
The thing I always said about Davies was that he wasn't an outstanding footballer, but was an exceptional finisher who always seemed to provide the goals. With a decent partner alongside him, he always looked like scoring, and that's why his goals dried up in the stint he had alongside Tudgay and Harewood. Tudgay was quite lazy himself and therefore Davies was made to do more legwork, which didn't suit him. Harewood didn't have the best first half of the season but seems rejuvenated under Flitcroft. When Davies was partnered with Vaz Te, and this season, Dagnall, he was paired with a worker, and therefore could focus on what he does best, score goals. He was a very frustrating player, when he was having a particularly good game, he didn't seem to get on the scoresheet, yet when he was anonymous, he often popped up and scored the winner. Do we miss him? No, if Vaz Te was still at the club then we might miss Davies, as they were a perfect partnership, I mean almost 20 goals between them before christmas. But this season, other than the Birmingham game, (where a lot of credit has to go to the work of Mellis and Dagnall), I feel he was pretty poor for us this season, and we have 3 better options at the moment in the Hare, Daggers and Scotland. Will I boo him? Yes. He's an opposition player now and I feel that if he recieves a frosty reception, it could put him off of his game a little, like it did with Hammill last week. I wish Davies all the best in his career, and thank him for the memories he has provided. I don't resent him moving, we aren't a fashionable club and i'm sure Bolton we're a more appealing club financially than we could ever be. It's nothing personal Craig, it's all about the football. YOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUU REEEEDDDDDDDDDDDSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!
He has all the tools to make him a decent player barring his first touch (which for a professional footballer is ABYSMAL) and his attitude which at times was poor. Good in the air, can beat a man and has a shot like a rocket. Should really score a few goals in this division but misses too many one-on-ones. Would I swap him for Daggers on current form? Not in a month of Sundays!
He was okay. I'm still sore about the total lack of effort as he was getting ready to leave. Just in case we were harbouring any ideas to for-go the 300k and hold him to his contract. Unforgivable for me that, we gave him a good opportunity and his attitude was contributing to our relegation.
While the upturn in our fortunes is down to Flicker/Mellon/Scott i'd also put a bit of it down to bad apple Davies being moved on. I don't think it's a coincidence that Dagnall plays better alongside Scotland or Harewood.