Journalist Dave Prentice has recently heaped praise on Everton midfielder Tom Davies for his recent performances under Carlo Ancelotti.
Prentice appeared as a guest on the latest episode of the Royal Blue podcast and the panel discussed multiple issues involving the Toffees. They talked about multiple Everton players and one player they shed light on was Davies. Prentice believes that the midfielder is finally realising his potential at Goodison Park.
The 22-year-old Davies has started Everton’s last two Premier League games against Arsenal and Sheffield United. The midfielder is a product of the Everton youth academy and made his debut for the club back in the 2015/16 season.
Is Tom Davies slowly realising his potential?
Yes
No
Prentice believes that Davies’ recent performances have been excellent and he had a lot of praise for the Liverpool-born man.
He said: “He was excellent, I wouldn’t say surprising because we know he’s got that kind of quality in there but it just looked like a very mature performance. And you know, he wanted the ball all the time. He was driving forward with the ball. I remember [after] 20 minutes just thinking – wow, you know, he’s made a great start here, you know, so let’s hope that this can continue. And it reminded me of Huddersfield a season or two ago where he again had a really good performance and created the winning goal for Richarlison very early on in the game.
“Maybe it’s that part of South Yorkshire that he particularly enjoys? It was a really, really good performance from him. And, you know, I was delighted for the lad because he does get a lot of flack, sometimes from the Everton fan base, sometimes unfairly, or always unfairly. And that’s largely because – sometimes the local lads seem to get a bit harder and always have done historically than players who’re brought in for a transfer fee.
“And then obviously, you know, so because of his demeanour and his personality off the pitch that tends to rub people up the wrong way as well. But we should really be judging him on what he does on a football pitch. And he looked great, he had a really, really good performance.
“And I hope he gets the opportunity to build on that now over the next few games, because you know, there are signs finally he’s maturing and he’s actually realising that potential that we all you know he has. Okay, it’s only one game, let’s not get carried away but you know, it’s a very, very good start. So yeah, I was delighted to see that performance from him and long may it continue.”
TIF Thoughts on Tom Davies…
Davies has made eight Premier League appearances this season but the Englishman is yet to score or assist for Ancelotti’s men. He has also played thrice in the League Cup (as per Transfermarkt).
He earned a pretty good rating against Sheffield United – 7.25, but his performance against Arsenal wasn’t particularly impressive. He did pick up a very good rating in the club’s 1-0 loss to Leeds (as per WhoScored).
This suggests that while the 22-year-old has had some good games, he might need to perform more consistently to really reach a higher standard.