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...JMR makes The Guardian's list of the 60 best young players in the world. Yikes.
https://www.theguardian.com/football...world-football
Anyone else see this not happening unless he moves? I mean, we don't even seem to know where to play him yet. He's seventeen, the age when the best young players are starting to see first-team time on squads like Man City and Bayern. Instead, he's getting a handful of appearances at TFC.
Has he even been that good for TFC II?
Not really but I didn't think Davies was anything special at VWC either.Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeForbes
Wow that's crazy. Need to watch him a little more closely when he plays.
I would just like to see him play some more consistent minutes. Here’s hoping there’s more to this than just hype.Quote:
Originally Posted by Canary10
I though Davies looked pretty good in Vancouver, the speed was there, the runs, the dribbles, a couple of great strikes. I didn’t expect him to become a world star but you could see talent. JMR has a long way to go to reach Davies MLS level performance. To me JMR looks timid so maybe with a few more minutes and some confidence his skill will showQuote:
Originally Posted by Ultra & Proud
This is not the first time this has been talked about in the football world about him so really hoping there is something to it. Would be nice to have another Davies level player this time from the TFC ranks...
Davies is an athletic freak of nature and a once-in-a-generation prospect (at least in Canada terms). He’s on the extreme end of the spectrum both in terms of talent and his ability to keep up with pros as a teenager.
JMR still needs to grow more before we can see what his game is capable of at the pro level. Right now, we’re giving him minutes for experience and because of his long term potential.
Very hard to tell what we’re looking at right now.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ag futbol
This.
Just because he made some list, it doesn't mean he should be thrown out there 90 minutes a game.
Javier Perez seems to understand youth, at least that what it looks like by the players he's using.
He's smart not to be putting too much weight on the kid. The team has been in shambles. You don't put a kid in that situation.
Now that things seem to be settling down and the team understands how they should be playing, we are seeing him come in more. (4 times in the past month). This makes sense to me because now he can focus on maturing his game without worrying about a shit show around him.
Be nice to see him coming in regularly around the 60th minute, see if he can get some proper playing time. But we have to be well up or down for that, and we're always in one-goal games these days, it seems.Quote:
Originally Posted by jabbronies
Well exactly.Quote:
Originally Posted by jabbronies
I’m not sure what the people crying about him not getting time (not on this forum, elsewhere) are so wound up about. Throwing kids on the field at the pro level is not some sort of panacea for development.
But hey, easier to tell yourself that big bad Toronto is screwing the little guy than getting the facts straight. I bet we’d be number one in Canadian player minutes this year, by a significant distance and both for players under 23 and older.
Looked at the 2015 list &...unimpressed with this list.
I don't think we need to be in winning position in the game in order for him to come in, I think he could come on in close games, as long as everything around him isn't a disaster. There's no real pressure right now, win or lose. I just think our play needs to be solid - which it has been.Quote:
Originally Posted by jloome
JMR has no positional sense right now - that needs to be worked on if he is going to go anywhere.
It’s amusing when you ponder it.
This is as pointless an exercise as have ever existed by the Guardian. They don’t have enough eyes on the ground to do a list like this. I mean seriously, 97% of hardcores here barely know JMR- even watching TFC2 a lot, you wouldn’t really have the ability to have a small opinion on JMR. It’s too weird a league, too one off a sample set. With kids that age, you have to watch them practice. A lot.
(Phonzie often looked pretty ordinary in Vancouver.)
But the Guardian somehow has a big opinion? So much so that he is in the top 60 on the world?
I feel like this is a list whose specific purpose is the repayment of favours by newspapers to agents.
”Since you gave us that scoop about Player X a few months ago, tell us who you would like to be on our top unknown kid list”.
I was thinking similar and that's it's also like advertising their clients to hopefully get bigger fees.Quote:
Originally Posted by ensco
Doubtful. People grossly overestimate how well newspaper reporters work with others or are liked/trusted by their sources. In years at dailies, most agents hated the sports guys and even the best of them weren't usually on good speaking terms or providing leaks, except perhaps during contracts talks.Quote:
Originally Posted by ensco
More likely, based on the geographical spread, they decided based on trying to make the list appeal to as wide a reader base as possible, then mined their story databases for past mentions of promise from each geographical area. That's why the Ali quote is two years old.
So they're probably not basing it on anything other than news stories (they get Canadian Press stories by Neil through the shared wire service agreement), and there were quite a few two years ago when Ali hyped him.
Making that list, part of the exercise was probably find out who are the youngest kids in the world with pro contracts, then add them to the list. if they're that young they must have amazing potential. Oh a 15 year old Canadian (who is now 17),add him to the list.
One Guardian journo coordinates the list and they have "experts" from each region submit their picks. Tom Marshall used to do it for CONCACAF.Quote:
Originally Posted by ensco
The list is hit and miss. Barco was on it pre Atlanta move. Haaland was on it before/around the time he made his Molde debut IIRC. They do follow ups on each year to track progress.
Their track record isn't too bad when you look at players you know from previous years. They probably get about 10 from each year who go on to be legitimate contributors in big leagues. The only other MLS based player I could see in previous years is Moses Nyeman of DC United. Don't know how he's doing now.Quote:
Originally Posted by Areathrasher
Phonzie was on it in 2017. Andrew Carleton too, either 16 or 17 IIRC.Quote:
Originally Posted by Canary10
Ha, forgot he played with Vancouver tbh! Didn't see Andrew Carleton. Where is he now? Never heard that name.Quote:
Originally Posted by Areathrasher
Atlanta. Currently in USL with Indy IIRC. He has/had talent, just too fond of a drink/party by all accounts.Quote:
Originally Posted by Canary10
He just moved to Jicaral Sercoba of the Costa Rican league a few weeks ago.Quote:
Originally Posted by Areathrasher
Nyeman is still at D.C.
That's an interesting move.Quote:
Originally Posted by jloome
Probably trying to showcase himself to Liga MX, as even doing well in USL C is unlikely to overcome his rep. He was given plenty of warning in Atlanta about not taking it seriously but was reportedly quite the dickhead due to prodigious talent.Quote:
Originally Posted by Areathrasher
It's incredible there are players that treat it this way. One thing those lists show very clearly is the odds of being even a decent player in a quality league are so low. There are just so many players out there. Phonzie doing what he has done is just shocking and phenomenal.Quote:
Originally Posted by jloome
Hang on a sec unless I’m missing something Davies was very good at Vancouver especially his last year when I don’t think he was 18 yet. Moreover, he was the leader scorer if I’m not mistaken in his first Gold Cup , the overall leading scorer at the Gold Cup and I think he was only 17 , so ya it was there for all to see that this kid was special at such a young age .
even from his limited minutes, clear to see the talent JMR has.
davies comparisons are lazy, JMR talent is all based in spatial awareness, technique, vision, passing etc.
i would say is he should hit the gym this off season, needs to bulk up in order to compete with senior pros. although also appreciate bulking up at age 17 us hard.
Floating between lines but effecting neither their midfield nor their defence when attacking nor when defending isn't really showing much spatial awareness to me but lets see moving forward.Quote:
Originally Posted by leedsandTFC
JMR is a player without a position right now. He could play basically anywhere from fullback to midfield to winger.
Barco is finally coming true, he is running Atl now. He always looked like he had loads of skill thoughQuote:
Originally Posted by Areathrasher
I'd compare JMR more to Tajon Buchanan than Davies.... I think he might have the potential to be of his level. At 17... he still has time to work into the starting 11. This was not the season to do that with all the madness and instability. Next year will really be the important one...we need to give him time.
I really don't believe JMR is near the athlete that Tajon is. Buchanon has pace for days and has a big time vertical on him. JMR's technical ability at age 17 seems to be where the hype comes from.