Davies can dance to the Samba beat
1:30pm Thursday 26th January 2012 in Latest By Marc Iles
DAVID Wheater sees shades of Samba genius in team-mate Mark Davies.
The Redcar-born defender idolised striker Juninho as he rose through the junior ranks at Middlesbrough.
Now he recognises some of the Brazilian’s genius on the ball in Wanderers’ own midfield dynamo, whose current form has made the Premier League sit up and take notice.
Wheater – a Boro product from the age of seven – watched Juninho cast a spell on the Riverside during two stints with the club. And he reckons Davies can weave the same sort of magic at the Reebok if he can continue in the same vein that saw him sink Liverpool last weekend.
“He’s such a great player,” the 24-year-old said. “It’s so hard to get the ball from him – he reminds me of Juninho.
“I was at Middlesbrough when he was at his very best, and everyone loved him.
“Sparky is that good on the ball, he can be a great player for us as well.”
One criticism of former Wolves playmaker Davies has been that he does not get among the goals as often as he should. But, after seeing the midfielder strike against Blackburn Rovers and Liverpool in recent weeks, Wheater, pictured right, hopes he is now starting to find a killer touch.
“It’s about time he started scoring,” he said. “I keep telling him to shoot because he does all these nice skills and then doesn’t shoot at the end of it. Now it’s good to see him getting among the goals.
“He could go right to the very top – but now he’s started getting some goals as well, you can see his confidence is growing. He’s such a good out ball for us because you know when you pass to him, he’ll get on a run.”
Forging a decent partnership with Zat Knight in the centre of defence in recent weeks, Wheater has reason to be pleased with his own form too.
And he puts some of the defensive solidity shown against Liverpool down to the role played by current captain Nigel Reo-Coker.
“It’s always great to have that protection in front of you, someone who can watch their midfield runners,” he said.
“As defenders, we’re marking, so it’s difficult when you have to worry about midfielders breaking through as well. Having Nigel there is perfect because he’s good at that role.
“He’s one of the best talkers in the squad, so he deserves to be captain. He’s been playing well with the captain’s armband as well.”
Buoyed after escaping the bottom three, Wanderers turn their attention to the FA Cup this weekend and the visit of Swansea to the Reebok.
With new signing Tim Ream out of the country, Wheater is likely to carry on alongside Knight at the heart of the defence and is keen to see no drop in standards.
“That result should just be the start of what we’re looking to achieve,” he said. “We shouldn’t be fearing anyone.
“Arsenal is the next league game and we’ve all looked at the table and planned how many points we need to get out of the bottom three. It’s a good start but now we’ve got to stay out.”
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