If you saw something in Rose last season that suggested he could be the player he is now, you should be a scout.
There were moments last season where he (and Naughton) were just plain fudgeing terrible ...
Full credit that he has stepped up, but lets be clear, I think even the club thought Davies would be a significant upgrade.
Ahem.......
December 2012:
I disagree massively. I think he looks tailor made to be a good left back.... Quick enough, strong enough and good enough on the ball, can beat a player on the outside and seems to have good delivery with his left foot. I don't think he is quite good enough at receiving the ball in tight spaces or dynamic enough to be a really effective left winger, but as he is gradually learning to defend properly with more and more games at left back he is looking better and better. I would leave him at Sunderland for the whole season and then by next season I think we'll have a genuine alternative option to Ekotto.
August 2014:
I also think that some people may revise their opinion of Rose this season, with us likely to have a more balanced shape to our defensive play.
September 2014:
I think we have already seen an improvement in Danny Rose's application on the pitch now he knows that he has a £10 million player giving him competition for his place. I thought that last season under both managers (but specifically AVB) certain players were frozen out or knew they would always play if fit so didn't have to give their all.
I agree with you here. Rose is a good example. He has probably been our best player this season (certainly was yesterday) has improved defensively, been a real threat going forward and is now clearly working harder for the team - and yet there are still a lot of Spurs fans who **** him off at any opportunity.
I am with you here 100% I think Rose also is a player that does this. He looks to make things happen and constantly looks to get himself in a position to make a difference in an attacking sense, even if he has done so previously and delivered a poor ball. One of the things that I liked about both Defoe and Robbie Keane was that irrespective of what had happened before in the game they would still look to put themselves into the positions to make a difference.
October 2014:
I think that is unfair on Rose. No player will ever have a 100% completion rate with their crosses and Rose has put in a number of good balls this season - either getting them into the right areas between the opposition's defenders and their keeper or to a players feet in the box. I think a team of our means would seriously struggle to find a better left back than Danny Rose in both an attacking and defensive sense. After Lloris, Rose is the last player that I would be replacing in our team at the moment.
November 2014
Any left back who has to defend behind Chadli would look weak positionally. Yet despite having two players to defend against in just about every game this season Rose has been consistently one of our best 3 or 4 players in each game.
Feb 2015:
I said it before and I'll say it again.... He will be in the England squad this year and challenging Baines for a starting spot too.
March 2015
I am with you here.... I think Rose's ceiling is much higher than that of Davies, who will never have the pace and ability to get up and back like Rose does. I think Rose will probably be England's first choice fullback within a year or two.
April 2015:
One of the reasons for me always being a fan of Rose was because I could see how well he did despite the handicap of often having two players to worry about. That being said I thought Davies excelled himself on Saturday in terms of having an absolute stinker.
May 2015:
Rose. IMO the best left back in the Premier League, has the hardest job in our team having to play behind Chadli, yet still produces.
Now where do I apply for that scouting job?
