Dan May talks Mark Davies
Here’s Dan discussing what we should do about Mark Davies. Quick note- I have been unable to post as I am in the process of moving house and am without wifi for quite a while, but don’t worry I’m on their case! Hopefully I’ll be able to arrange some to go up in the next week or two (I’m currently posting this from a coffee shop). *Nicky out, Dan in*
Mark Davies is one of the most technically gifted and frustrating players I have had the pleasure of following at Bolton Wanderers. I have always raved to my friends from other clubs that he would walk into their team, and would eventually develop into a solid premier league midfielder. Unfortunately for him and us this has never occurred, as injuries and the team`s struggles have stunted his potential.
When he first burst onto the scene on his debut against spurs in January 2009, after Megson brought him to the club, I thought we had signed a wonder player! He drifted past players for fun, and looked like a player with the confidence to play at that level week in week out. Glenn Hoddle who worked with him at Wolves said at the time he had never seen a player who could run as fast with the ball as he could without it.
We have certainly seen glimpses of the player we all hoped he would become, such as that memorable goal against Sheffield Wednesday away, but they are far too rare for my liking. Every manager who comes to the club, including Neil Lennon this week, have mentioned how excited they are by his talent, and how he will be key for the way they want to shape the team going forward. But so far none of them have been able to get the best out of him?
Why is he so inconsistent?
Consistency is certainly not a word I would associate with Mark Davies. Some weeks he will play and to be honest I won`t even notice he was on the pitch as he would go missing, and the game would just pass him by. I personally believe this is partly down to his fitness. Does he have an attitude problem? I have had a genuine concern with his weight at the beginning of past seasons in which he`s had here, and have noticed it usually takes him a number of games before he looks slim enough to get around the pitch and dictate games like we know he can. For a professional footballer I would hope they would look after themselves over summer and come back in a decent condition ready to start the season. For one reason or another this has never been the case with him!
Obviously it`s difficult to regain form straight after injuries and he has had his fair share, so his inconsistency can be partly down to this. Hopefully if he stays fit for a considerable period of time we will get to see the best from him.
He needs a run of games, without picking up any recurring injuries, so he develops that confidence he had when he first came to the club. I will reluctantly make a comparison to Wilshere in that they are similar in the way they play but also injury wise and not progressing into the players we all thought they could become. Recently jack has had a run of games and you can see the confidence flowing through him again as he has regained that composure and guile he also showed, admittedly to a much higher degree when he first burst onto the scene.
What is his best position?
Many people, including myself have always said he should play behind the striker so we can utilise his ball running ability, however I believe we should consider playing him as a deep lying midfielder, so he can pick up the ball and dictate the play. Chungy demonstrated in his brilliant performance at Birmingham how to play the attacking midfield role, and for this reason I believe we must find a role for Davies elsewhere. Dougie regularly operated him in a right or left wing position in order to accommodate his other players which made Mark Davies` contributions redundant and in my opinion wasted a player with potentially the most ability in this league.
Should we sell or keep?
There was reported interest from Swansea just over a year and a half ago and talk that we rejected 5 million. At the time I thought it was a good decision to reject however in hindsight we have seen nothing of a player worth that amount of money. Given his injury record and the amount of games we get out of him in an average season I think we should seriously consider selling him if the price is right.
However I really hope Neil Lennon is the man to finally get the best out of him, as I still maintain that glimmer of hope that he can be the player to drive us forward and get us playing the brand of football that excites the wanderers faithful, which has been missing for so long!