Post-Match - Bolton (a)

[DannyMan2006]

Agree, Kevin Davies is a very useful player. Not only is he big and strong, he's great at holding onto the ball, bringing others into play and upsetting centre backs.
I would be all for it if we signed him.

Good finisher as well when used in this way. Last year he started playing off Elmander and his goal ratio increased a great deal. I would have liked to see him get his chance at a bigger club.

[Craig_H]

Think we already hoof the ball a bit too much without having another reason to do so.

I dont think it's about hoofing, it's simply someone who can take some batterings, dish it out and take the pressure off Torres.

It's too one dimensional and simple to think 'oh we would just hoof it then', because we wouldnt. It's a bit like the Heskey argument, with regards to england. He doesnt score goals and people look at that, and think he's ****. But it's more about the effectiveness overall and what his impact does for the team. Davies would be a similar thing IMO.

Kevin Davies. **** me, are people here desperate for a striker or what.

Compared to nobody, yes Davies would be a good option.

Torres is getting battered every game. Gerrard's having to drop deeper because Mascherano and Lucas are incapable of carrying the ball higher up the park or finding him, and it's disjointing our play.

[Craig_H]

Agree, Kevin Davies is a very useful player. Not only is he big and strong, he's great at holding onto the ball, bringing others into play and upsetting centre backs.
I would be all for it if we signed him.

That's one of the key things too. He makes the ball stick, similar to what Crouchy did for us. It's not just about goals and flair.

Torres would score even more goals with Davies alongside him.

Agree with danny about the cost though, Davies is Bolton's key attacking outlet and they'd probably want about £8m for him.

[DannyMan2006]

Davies is frequently cited as being the player in the Premier League that commits the most fouls, committing more such offences than any other Premier League player in the 2004–05, 2005–06 and 2006–07 seasons. In the 2003-04 and 2007-08 seasons Davies was slightly better behaved, committing the second highest number of fouls per season. In his Bolton career Davies has committed some 522 fouls, more than any other Premier League player in the same period.[4][5][6] At the same time Davies has also featured near the top of the list of most fouled players

[Craig_H]

As i say, takes it and dishes it out

[RedReet]

I dont think it's about hoofing, it's simply someone who can take some batterings, dish it out and take the pressure off Torres.

It's too one dimensional and simple to think 'oh we would just hoof it then', because we wouldnt. It's a bit like the Heskey argument, with regards to england. He doesnt score goals and people look at that, and think he's ****. But it's more about the effectiveness overall and what his impact does for the team. Davies would be a similar thing IMO.

When Crouch was here, even though he wasn’t a great target man, we always ended up hoofing it a lot more than was required.

I don’t know if it was instruction or just an easier ball for the defence, but either way I’d worry that it would happen again.

The same would go for any target man we might be linked with that isn’t blessed with great pace or skill.

[Craig_H]

I dont think we 'always' hoofed upto crouch, and i dont think we would with a player like Davies. It's about a balance. Playing long ball can have it's merits too in certains situations and even without a big target man, we do it sometimes. I'd rather we were doing it with the correct weapons to make the best use of it.

[RedReet]

I said always hoofed it more than required, not always hoofed it.

I liked Crouch as a player, but my biggest problem with him was how his presence affected the rest of the team, i.e. more willing to play the long ball rather than look for the pass. I’m not saying at times it wasn’t effective or it mightn’t have been our best option, but other times it clearly wasn’t working and much to my annoyance certain players still persisted in trying. Riise, Carra and Sami all spring to mind.

I don’t disagree on your reasoning for using a target man, I just don’t think Kevin Davies is the man for the job.

[leftpeg]

aye, according to the lfc.tv he's 5 ft 8

pretty sure lennon is shorter than that

maybe they meant shortest defender?

He's not even the shortest player at the club. Spearing and El Zhar both listed as 5' 6". Maybe they just meant the shortest player in the match.

[Craig_H]

I said always hoofed it more than required, not always hoofed it.

I liked Crouch as a player, but my biggest problem with him was how his presence affected the rest of the team, i.e. more willing to play the long ball rather than look for the pass. I’m not saying at times it wasn’t effective or it mightn’t have been our best option, but other times it clearly wasn’t working and much to my annoyance certain players still persisted in trying. Riise, Carra and Sami all spring to mind.

I don’t disagree on your reasoning for using a target man, I just don’t think Kevin Davies is the man for the job.

I wasnt meaning it as you'd said we 'always hoofed it' with Crouch, because i know you didnt. But you obviously think we'd hoof it far too much with a target man, and i think the side has improved a fair bit since Crouch left, so i dont think it'd necessarily happen too much now.

[DannyMan2006]

He's not even the shortest player at the club. Spearing and El Zhar both listed as 5' 6". Maybe they just meant the shortest player in the match.

No they're going of old stats. He has grown quite a bit since.

[pezzzer]

Btw, what the hell is Kevin Davies still doing at Bolton? A tough ******* like him would do a great job for any big club. He's been getting praise from all his opponents for about 10 years now and he's still at ****ing bolton

he's also quite possibly the dirtiest player in th pl, regularly bottom of fair play league mate

[-V-]

he's also quite possibly the dirtiest player in th pl, regularly bottom of fair play league mate

So? Torres is getting booted all over the place right now, bet those defenders would think twice if Davies was around to boot them back

[Joe King]

It was indeed a very poor performance. It took the sending off for Liverpool to change the game and it was a very fortunate decision at that. Liverpool are in the results business however against better teams, they will get caught out.

[Craig_H]

Yawn.