The Mavies Factor

For the first time in what, a year perhaps, we dominated a game.

The midfield had control of the game meaning less work for the defenders and more ball for the attacking players.

So what was the big difference last night? No Mark Davies of course. Now this isn't a thread to slag off Mark Davies, he was pants in the Premier League but has played better at this level. But I have been saying for weeks we would be a better TEAM without him in it.

Yes, he's decent on the ball and scores the odd good goal, but he goes missing for huge parts of the game. Last night we may not have had as technically gifted players as Mark Davies in midfield, but they all contributed for 90 minutes. When your whole midfield is involved it's much easier to control the centre of the pitch. That in turn takes pressure off the defence and allows the attacking players to play. Eagles has never had a better game because of this.

It would have been nice had Dougie thought of this himself, but clearly he was forced into this change of personnel because of suspension. If I arrive at the Reebok on Saturday and he's put Mavies back in the team I will turn around and head home as there will be no hope.

Sometimes you have to leave players out for the benefit of the team, no matter how good they are. It would be a disgrace to drop anyone who played last night. I hope you all agree.

I still think Mark Davies is one of our more talented players. Saying that, we didn't miss him last night. Butterfield had a good game and if possible I would like Dougie to extend his loan period.

A midfield of Davies, Butterfield and Spearing would be perfect imo.

Reebok Trotter wrote:I still think Mark Davies is one of our more talented players. Saying that, we didn't miss him last night. Butterfield had a good game and if possible I would like Dougie to extend his loan period.

A midfield of Davies, Butterfield and Spearing would be perfect imo.

No it wouldn't as the old habits would return immediately. Andrews might not be a "sexy" player but he does his job well. Replace him with Mavies and the opposition will again be cutting through us like butter.

It's incredible after our best performance of the season that there's even a chance Mavies will return.

It's a big call for DF on saturday, he has swapped players around in nearly every game but last night seemed to find the right blend and formation, personally i'd keep Mavies on the bench and keep andrews spearing and butters in the centre.

The big thing I notice about Butterfield to Davies is Butterfield doesn't bloody come deep for the ball and actually stays behind the striker playing the attacking midfielder role very well and this is the big thing that lets Mavies down, it means when SKD wins a header Mavies is nowhere to be seen.

I agree with you Davies is massively overrated, he was crap last year, hes played alright this year, but no better than you would expect of a 'highly rated' creative midfielder - in fact given that label hes probably under-performed.

But on your point of not dropping any players who played last night. I think one of the reasons for the success we have had with Dougie is due to him constantly changing the team making the opposition guess on the line up and the players play hard for their space.

I would have no problem if we were to drop SKD for example. I have defended him all season whilst most wanted to drop/sell him, but ive always agreed that he plays best when hes been rested, overplay him and he becomes pretty useless, as shown last night when hes fully rested he can be a handful (they had three players marking him!) And I would hope N'gog could cope, at home.. to Ipswich.

Then we have him fully ready to go away to Huddersfield, which should be a tougher game.




Im not saying we need another 6 changes, but id be fine if there were 1 or 2

Lofty_Love wrote:I agree with you Davies is massively overrated, he was crap last year, hes played alright this year, but no better than you would expect of a 'highly rated' creative midfielder - in fact given that label hes probably under-performed.

But on your point of not dropping any players who played last night. I think one of the reasons for the success we have had with Dougie is due to him constantly changing the team making the opposition guess on the line up and the players play hard for their space.

I would have no problem if we were to drop SKD for example. I have defended him all season whilst most wanted to drop/sell him, but ive always agreed that he plays best when hes been rested, overplay him and he becomes pretty useless, as shown last night when hes fully rested he can be a handful (they had three players marking him!) And I would hope N'gog could cope, at home.. to Ipswich.

Then we have him fully ready to go away to Huddersfield, which should be a tougher game.


Im not saying we need another 6 changes, but id be fine if there were 1 or 2

I agree. Kevin Davies shouldn't be playing two games a week, but I'd like to see the rest of the team stay the same for Ipswich.

Mavies would be a good sub ...... pretty much in agreement with Natasha on this one. Good point about Doog not seeing it as well.

Did he put out a well though out team last night or was it a fluke?

terenceanne wrote:

Did he put out a well though out team last night or was it a fluke?

If it was a fluke it was a good one. The main difference was Ricketts and Knights at centre back and Butterfield in midfield. It worked well so I can't see him changing anything against Ipswich other than Mark Davies going back into the team at the expense of Andrews.

terenceanne wrote:Mavies would be a good sub ...... pretty much in agreement with Natasha on this one. Good point about Doog not seeing it as well.

Did he put out a well though out team last night or was it a fluke?

terenceanne wrote:Mavies would be a good sub ...... pretty much in agreement with Natasha on this one. Good point about Doog not seeing it as well.

Did he put out a well though out team last night or was it a fluke?

Finally ditching Mills and playing Ricketts at centre-half was a good move. He stumbled into leaving Mavies out, the key is taking advantage of this "fluke" and giving it another go. I will be quite livid if Mavies starts against Ipswich.

Think it’s a bit naïve to assume we wouldn’t of won had Mavies been in the team last night! One match doesn’t prove much, I’m not saying he should be put back in by any means I trust Dougie to make that decision, but I knew as soon as we’d won that you’d be starting this thread.

bwfc1874 wrote:Think it’s a bit naïve to assume we wouldn’t of won had Mavies been in the team last night! One match doesn’t prove much, I’m not saying he should be put back in by any means I trust Dougie to make that decision, but I knew as soon as we’d won that you’d be starting this thread.

So you're saying the fact we dominated for the first time in ages was nothing to do with Mavies not being there?

bwfc1874 wrote:Think it’s a bit naïve to assume we wouldn’t of won had Mavies been in the team last night! One match doesn’t prove much, I’m not saying he should be put back in by any means I trust Dougie to make that decision, but I knew as soon as we’d won that you’d be starting this thread.

I like the insinuation that the win was a fluke because of one enforced change out of the six he made.

the other changes he made and his tactical decisions during the game don't count.

Hipster_Nebula wrote:

I like the insinuation that the win was a fluke because of one enforced change out of the six he made.

the other changes he made and his tactical decisions during the game don't count.

You haven't seen the game, how the fuck would you know? Mavies missing from the team was the main reason we were so comfortable for so long last night.

Sorry? People don't want to be told they weren't at the game.

I trust that post will be removed.

Natasha Whittam wrote:

bwfc1874 wrote:Think it’s a bit naïve to assume we wouldn’t of won had Mavies been in the team last night! One match doesn’t prove much, I’m not saying he should be put back in by any means I trust Dougie to make that decision, but I knew as soon as we’d won that you’d be starting this thread.

So you're saying the fact we dominated for the first time in ages was nothing to do with Mavies not being there?

Clearly not what I'm saying no. As hipster says there were 6 changes last night, yet you've decided the only one that made a difference was Mavies.

You could be right about Davies being the difference but I'd like to think not, as he's one of our better players who I'd prefer to see succeed.

There are plenty of reasons behind the improvement last night, not just mark Davies not playing, for all you know we could of won 6-0 with him on the pitch, or lost its impossible to say off one game.

Natasha Whittam wrote:

Hipster_Nebula wrote:

I like the insinuation that the win was a fluke because of one enforced change out of the six he made.

the other changes he made and his tactical decisions during the game don't count.

You haven't seen the game, how the fuck would you know? Mavies missing from the team was the main reason we were so comfortable for so long last night.

Not exactly 100% correct, the last time we played blackburn at ewood we played very well and won, just like last night and who scored that night, none other than mark davies.

I see what you are trying to get at but i'm not sure we still wouldn't have dominated last night had mavies played.

Amidst this sea of bollocks I think the one comment that stands out was "Andrews might not be a "sexy" player but he does his job well"

Can't see it really. Despite being given a key role, he is too slow, easily bypassed by better players and does a lot of standing around and shouting at the rest of the team. Whilst we do need an organiser, it would be good if it was someone who had an engine and could play a bit too. His passing is variable at best and he won't be chipping in with the odd goal. Used to be a force in the game a few years ago but he was never top class and hasn't done anything of note since joining us. We can do better.

Natasha Whittam wrote:For the first time in what, a year perhaps, we dominated a game.

The midfield had control of the game meaning less work for the defenders and more ball for the attacking players.

So what was the big difference last night? No Mark Davies of course. Now this isn't a thread to slag off Mark Davies, he was pants in the Premier League but has played better at this level. But I have been saying for weeks we would be a better TEAM without him in it.

Yes, he's decent on the ball and scores the odd good goal, but he goes missing for huge parts of the game. Last night we may not have had as technically gifted players as Mark Davies in midfield, but they all contributed for 90 minutes. When your whole midfield is involved it's much easier to control the centre of the pitch. That in turn takes pressure off the defence and allows the attacking players to play. Eagles has never had a better game because of this.

It would have been nice had Dougie thought of this himself, but clearly he was forced into this change of personnel because of suspension. If I arrive at the Reebok on Saturday and he's put Mavies back in the team I will turn around and head home as there will be no hope.

Sometimes you have to leave players out for the benefit of the team, no matter how good they are. It would be a disgrace to drop anyone who played last night. I hope you all agree.

Once again we are forced to play without Mavies and we win comfortably. I can't say we played well today but we did look less likely to let in a bagful. Perhaps because we played with 11 men, rather than 10 and a bit.

I'm hopeful this Mavis injury will lead to a few good results.

Can't say I didn't see this coming Natasha. You make a good point but I think it's stretching it a bit to say we won comfortably. Charlton were more likely to score in that turgid first half and it could all have turned out differently - but it didn't. Not a massive fan of Mavies myself, but we have a long way to improve before we can dominate games. Until then he will always be the choice of a manager who hasn't worked out his best attacking options yet.