Tom Davies can't wait to get fit again and learn from Lampard

I've just been reading this article about Tom Davies, another kid (with Kenny and Gordon) who hasn't had it easy whilst playing for Everton (except his pay packet obviously), and I wouldn't write him off either.

Football is such a brutal sport, and to read what Davies says about how he's feeling and everything he's gone through makes me aware of how hard it is to play at the top. When he talks about falling back in love with the game, then I hope he gets every chance to prove it at his boyhood club.

Many, including myself, have criticised Davies, but he has clear talent that has probably been held back by the turbulence around the club. And if I understood correctly, to be told the manager didn't want you at the beginning of the season was obviously a huge blow. He's been passed from pillar to post. I don't doubt his ability. My concern is he's a "nice guy".

I think playing and training alongside Allan improved him and gave him a different mentality.

Now with Van de Beek (for however long we keep him), Doucoure, Alli, Allan, around him, this surely bodes well for getting the best out of Tom. Look at that list in comparison to what he had around him 3 or 4 years ago.

As well as a manager who will promote that. I too hope he gets to live the dream we all lived and still do! That's why I'm so pleased for Jonjoe.

I don't understand the stick Davies gets; maybe Lampard can get another 10% from him and we can appreciate what he does bring to the table/pitch.

I see on BBC that Seamus made team of the week, not the most glorious of accolades but always nice when one of ours gets a bit of recognition

Tony, that's the main cause of the disrupted progression of young players at the club. When you have seven managers to seven years, the structure needed to progress a youngster through the ranks into the first-team squad is impacted.

When posters say Kenny or Davies have no chance of becoming a quality Premier League player, I wonder how they could possibly know? When did they last get a chance to play 5-10 games in a settled position on a settled side? In Tom's first season under Koeman, he did and he was very good.

The outcome of that is Rondon featuring in 14 league games this season and Kenny only 5 games. He may not be a really top player in the future, but I hazard a guess that he might have acquitted himself as well if not better than the other players who have featured at full-back this season.

Rondon was hung out to dry, although it didn’t do the man who was playing him much good either, and there is an argument that Davies and Kenny have also been hung out to dry down the years, but yesterday has already gone, and I think it’s definitely now about looking forward, for Lampard and Everton, Steve!

Agree with everything you say Tony. It must have been tough for Tom to watch from the sidelines and feeling helpless as his team has floundered this season. I had wanted to comment before reading this article that Tom’s attitude and connection with the club would have been invaluable in our battle against relegation. Hope he comes back super fit and gets to work under Lampard. I have a feeling that this mid-career break might do him a world of good.

It's young lads like Kenny, Davies, Gordon and Dobbin who will fight for the club and drag the others along with them. The changes in manager will have affected their progress especially given the reluctance of most of them to give young players a chance. On Saturday's evidence, it is not yet too late!

I think just reading what Tom said about Lampard talking to him, even though they both knew he would be out for a while, says a lot about Lampard's style, and why players will want to play for him.

It must be hard for young players to pick up injuries that keep them out for a long period of time, especially with a new manager in charge who everybody will be trying to impress while you just have to sit on the side-lines and watch.

I think, over the coming weeks and months, we will see competition for places really hot up as some of our injured players get back playing. Competition is the most important thing at any club, when you get into a mindset of, regardless of your form, you know you will be picked is not a good position for a club to be in.

So in the coming weeks the battle for forward and midfield places will intensify, with Allan, Van de Beek, Doucoure, Gomes all vying for a central midfield role.

But in attack, we will have Gordon, Calvert-Lewin, Richarlison, Alli, Gray, Iwobi, Townsend, El Ghazi and Rondon – not forgetting Dobbin. I am sure if Frank can get them all firing then it will be hard to get on the bench never mind in the team.

If there is one thing, this manager will connect with the younger players. And the older more experienced can't fool him either.

You could have said that about Ancelotti but he ended up being the nice Uncle type figure. Benitez might as well have taken the name of a certain Italian Dictator. I hope the Finch Farm Tea Lady kept her job before he was done. Lampard is new & fresh.

Interesting insight from Tom. On one hand, great that the new manager is managing him and keeping him involved, building his possibly shattered confident like a lot of the team. Giving him that arm around the shoulder. There aren't many better midfield role models in the modern game. He is down to earth; east London boy so he will connect well in Liverpool.

On the other, having to fall back in love with playing football again? That's a bit concerning. How much was he affected by the supposed not being wanted claims last summer? I hope that confidence isn't too shattered.

Get fit soon Tom and be part of this squad.

I suspect it would be only too easy to fall out of love with football at Everton in recent times, Danny. If Lampard can re-energise these players & get them enjoying playing football the right way then this squad will suddenly seem a whole lot better, even before we get to the summer window.

Would be fantastic for Tom to get fit and be mentored by Lampard.
Tom's career just seemed to stall a bit so the chance of a top midfielder like Lampard to hopefully bring him on would be great for the team.

I've never quite know what type of midfielder Davies could or should be. I don't see him being a Gana Gueye type, bursting around making tackles and not do I see him being a Fernandes or Lampard goalscoring creating chances type.

I think the best hope may be for him to try to do what Donny van de Beek did on Saturday, a player who whilst not quick, covers a lot of ground, is often in the right place to break up play and/or receive a pass.

Does Davies have the composure and intelligence to be that type of player at a high level? I don't know but I was impressed with him at times under Ancelotti last season and feel he would benefit from playing in a team with increased movement and energy, as we seem to be getting from Lampard.

Less time to think and more time to just do what comes naturally, maybe, Sam!

Get him out on loan for a season, it didn't do Ossie any harm, he was 26-ish (I think?) before he got into the first team.

A season out on loan to a newly promoted team where he will play most games may benefit everyone.

Sean 16 - Osman's loan to Derby finished just as he turned 23. At that point, he'd played in the Premier League a few times for us.

Davies is 24 at the end of this season and has already played nearly 150 times. I'd suggest the two aren't really comparable.

If Davies isn't good enough now, he never will be. Assuming we stay up, he'll be in our squad next year. He'll either be good enough to break back in (or be a useful backup) or it's time to cash in. I don't see a loan being of much benefit to him or us at this stage of his career.

Joe @ 17,

Fair shout, I thought Ossie was a few years older.

To tell any player right at the get go that they are not wanted is a huge mistake for any new manager to make, especially before a ball has been kicked in anger. Far better to make assessments based on actual performances - giving everyone an opportunity to prove himself and only then making a decision.

So well done, Mr Lampard, not only for his chat with Tom, but also for giving even Iwobi and Rondon a chance to prove themselves -– despite our relegation worries. (Can't believe I've just typed that!)

Tom Davies has maybe suffered badly from playing to different set-ups, coaching methods, positions and instructions with a variety of midfielders alongside. Add to that the bizarre negativity that exists sometimes at Goodison and on here towards our own young players and it must be very discouraging.

I feel sure that, if Tom had been playing, a few of our most disastrous performances and results this season might have been avoided. Like Kenny, he has always put the effort in.

Why, it was only weeks ago that Gordon was being written off as an ineffective lightweight. I mean, why develop our own young players when you can splodge £500 million on Bolasie, Walcott and their ilk?

Joe #17... "If Davies isn't good enough now, he never will be."

Clearest comment so far. And the only place he can find out is at Everton. A loan seems pointless right now and he has little current sell-on value, so he'll be staying into next season. And with some of our current midfielders likely moving on come summer, Tom's best chance -- and perhaps his last -- is Lampard.

Tom has topped out physically. He'll never get any stronger or faster. He'll never be much of a scorer or creator -- the talent just isn't there, nothing to match the big heart and the huge lungs.

But if this manager can teach him to truly read the game... to anticipate and intercept attacks rather than chase them... to be calm on the ball and make consistently effective passes with no mistakes... then he can be what's called in American sports a "glue guy." That's a comparatively unnoticed player whose guts and smarts make him nonetheless essential to his team's cohesiveness.

If Tom's to have a top-quality Premier League career, he has to think his way to it. Not run his way to it.

Tranmere beckons, Tom.

The interesting thing about Lampard was he himself was not that good. He was too slow and Fat Frank.

He was not the most natural athlete / skilful player but through sheer hard work he became not only better than his dad but one of the best Chelsea players ever and he did this all in the modern fitness freak era.

I have no idea if he will become a good manager for us but surely he will have a positive influence on our younger players

Only the best managers can we really improve players. Pep is a master at it. Now if usual suspects, Iwobi, Keane, and even Davies, end up being effective as squad players or first teamers because of our coaching, well, all the better for us. Soon find out in the next month if they are going to revert to type.

Davies was always looking for a player to pattern himself after and we haven't had one that could mentor him. Mike's comment on learning to read the game is spot on I think and his fortunes may have improved with someone like Van de Beek to show him how it's done one level up.

There is nothing wrong with praising or criticising players, John, wherever they come from or how they ended up at Everton.

We will judge them on potential. We will judge them on individual games. We will judge them over a season. Some will be flashes in the pan, some will fail to live up to expectation, some will exceed it.

The truth is we just never know.

Sometimes you can spot the obvious ones like Rooney (I was watching the documentary earlier), but mostly you can't really tell.

I do have high hopes for Anthony Gordon though.

I hope Tom has a future at the club and that he can improve under Lampard. Regardless, we've had and still have plenty of expensive midfielders who've contributed less.

Mostly the criticism of players is pretty fair but sometimes it seems to take on a momentum out of all proportion to their perceived faults. Kenny and Coleman being more recent examples.

I agree with Tony's point, now a time for looking forward and let's see what Lampard can do with the existing squad.

Good point, Dale #24, but unfortunately Tom almost certainly won't have a chance to play with Donny. He's out for the season, and it's highly unlikely we'll be able to buy Donny in the summer. Unless we can raise a big chunk of cash by selling other players, he's headed back to Old Trafford at the end of the loan.

Peter's comment at #22 is the more likely scenario. Tom comes in for summer training fully fit and learns at the feet of the Master of the Temple. No Premier League midfielder I've seen, outside of De Bruyne and Scholes (and maybe Kante), has ever read a game better than Lampard.

Danny #11 Benitez is more likely modeled on a certain Spanish dictator.

When he first arrived as the new shite manager he was clean shaven and he looked reasonably fit, then he grew his little beard and got fat. I thought that he was trying to look like one of the old kings of Spain from a 17th century paining.

Tony #15 "Less time to think and more time to just do what comes naturally "

I think you hit the nail on the head. That's exactly the thought went through my mind about several of our players against Leeds. particularly Iwobi. In the past I often thought Iwobi seemed slow to react to breaking balls etc. What may have been happening is him being confused about what to do, what position to take.

There was nothing complicated about the way we played on Saturday and we were much, much better for it.

Mike, I would not rule out some creative financing to keep Donny. Sigurdsson, Delph and Tosun are costing us about £200k/week and they will be off the books at the end of the season.

I am a big Tom Davies fan, and feel his development has suffered because of the numerous managerial changes. I love his obvious enthusiasm and the fact that he never hides. Yes, we all know he hasn't yet developed into the player we hoped but the ingredients are all there so let's hope with different coaching he will be back on track.

It's hard for local players to make the grade at Everton, and I think we supporters can be very critical when things don't go too well. Let's hope Tom comes back more mature and goes on to fulfil his potential.

If Lampard (and the coaching team) are the ones who can improve players (esp the young ones), then all those who have been written off (unfairly) might just begin to thrive.

That'll change the whole outlook of EFC moving forward and might just keep Kenwright and Moshiri from interfering too much...

It’s great if your manager can make you a better player, but reading what Kenny has said today, and reading what Davies is now saying, I’ve always been a great believer that the only person who can really make you a better player, is yourself.

The best thing a coach can do, is to give you confidence, and make you believe in yourself imo, but the hard work, is always done by the player himself, with fitness and desire covering a multitude of sins, and a realisation that very few players are as good as they seem, once you can compete with them physically?

It's early days but Franks seems to have earned the respect of the squad and he is getting a tune at home out of the squad.

Saturday's a massive game, which I'm looking forward to and to shut Mr Ed's mate, up by Everton winning would be superb.

Clearly by what Davies and Kenny, have said bodes well for the future and hopefully the squad have now a real target and sense of purpose.

The discipline model for attendance, punctuality and dress code, hopefully will instil the desire to play good football every week, represent Everton Football Club with professional pride.

Very well put Tony @33.

As a coach, you can make players feel better. You can give them pointers. Tell them what they do well and praise them. Tell them what they can do better.

But ultimately it's down to the player to take responsibility and improve.

The coach / manager can only tell. The players are the ones who have to do.

Ed #30, no salary dump will help us with that. Man Utd paid $42 million for Donny. If he plays well for us, their new manager (whoever it is) will want him back.

Even if they're willing to sell, you can bet we'd need to come up with more than $50 million to pry him loose. And the only way we get that is by selling off good players to cover the tab.

Mike (36),

Whether we can (or want to) retain Donny depends on a number of factors – obviously, how he performs for the remainder of the season, who Man Utd appoint as their new manager, which players the new fellow wants, whether we stay up in the league, etc.

Man Utd are reported to be after Declan Rice who would cost them in the £90-100 million range. They need to sell players to fund those big purchases. £35-40 million for Donny - again, depending on how he performs - might be enough.

In any case, Lampard would also be looking at other targets, I bet.

Nice to hear from Tom, who to be fair I had almost forgotten about, so long has it been that he has had an impact with us. I like him a lot and do feel he has probably been hamstrung by the constant managerial changes.

I would like to see him go on loan too, then we could see if he can step up again like in his breakthrough season or whether we cut our losses and cash in. He is one of us and a loan would in my opinion give him a chance to prove himself, week-in & week-out. I would loan him to a newly promoted team to the Premier League.

If the rumours are true that we are looking to get Gallagher on loan (Frank cashing in one last Chelsea favour – yes please!) next season and the strong likelihood we will go after Gilmour (Frank loves him) as our much needed No 6, then I can't see much space for Tom to thrive with us yet.

If those deals came off, we wouldn't be going in for Donny van de Beek.