Ipswich Town: How the Blues helped Leif Davis to hit the next level

Ipswich Town fans believe that Leif Davis is on his way to achieving greatness.

It might seem strange for outsiders, especially when they see his name touted in discussions about future England internationals. After all, he’s a left-back who was cast away by Leeds United, which led to him dropping down to League One. Yet the reality is that there’s so much more to him.

Whether that was the case before departing Elland Road remains a mystery. Of course, he was held in high regard by the Whites – in particular former boss Marcelo Bielsa – while a loan move to Bournemouth showed they saw him as a Championship-level player at a young age.

Given the injury issues they've had at left-back, with both Sam Byram and Junior Firpo missing games this season, letting Davis go is quickly becoming one of their biggest mistakes.

The fact that his time at Leeds never materialised into something more can be viewed as another criticism of Jesse Marsch’s spell at the club, but Ipswich still had to be the ones with a vision to help him fulfil his potential, and Kieran McKenna has done just that.

Along with goalkeeper Vaclav Hladky, the 23-year-old has been the star of this Town team so far this season, and that’s down to his role as much as the quality that he possesses.

Davis made just 14 appearances for Leeds across four years at the club (Image: PA Images)

When you look at the heat maps from his games so far this season, you notice the same thing that you do when watching him in real life: he plays incredibly high up the pitch. In fact, he’s often the furthest forward of any Ipswich player. Earlier in his career, he described himself as “a modern-day, attacking left-back”, but he certainly takes it to the extreme.

There are clear drawbacks. The Blues have to live with the fact that Davis’ positioning leaves the left flank a little bit exposed, albeit that he does his upmost to track back when his side loses the ball, showcasing his unbelievable stamina and work rate. It still puts a lot of pressure on Cameron Burgess, or whoever is asked to play as the left-sided centre-back.

Going forward, McKenna uses him to create overloads. By playing alongside the forward line, the left winger shifts towards the middle to play a narrower role (a position which Nathan Broadhead loves to take up). That turns their front four into a front five, meaning that opponents are outnumbered in key moments, with the two wide players (usually Davis and Wes Burns) flanking the two central players (Broadhead and Conor Chaplin) behind the lone striker (George Hirst).

Davis is often the architect within those aforementioned key moments. The record number of assists for a Championship full-back in a single season is 14 (achieved by Barry Douglas and Kieran Trippier), yet Davis is halfway to achieving that in just 15 games. On current form, which may or may not be sustainable, he’s on course to surpass 20 for the campaign.

Davis has been unable to score from any of his 11 shots this season (Image: Stephen Waller)

He leads the way for chances created (53) too, ranking ahead of both Norwich City’s Gabriel Sara (49) and Leicester City’s Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (45), who’ve been highlighted as two of the best midfielders in the league this season.

He’s also outperforming his expected assists (xA), which currently sits at 3.0 – the 10th highest in the division. Could it be a concern that he can’t maintain his current levels? Perhaps, but on the other hand, it could also show how well he’s doing to be the creator from such an unorthodox position.

Nobody should ignore how hard it is to do what he does from left-back. No full-back in the league has managed to replicate his attacking stats, where he sits top for assists, shot-creating actions and progressive passes.

Luton Town duo Alfie Doughty and Ryan Giles are often cited as similar players, although the Hatters’ back five means that they’re deployed as wing-backs. Giles, for example, earned a Premier League move after an impressive campaign at Middlesbrough on loan from Wolves, where he never featured.

Boro fans were quick to highlight his defensive flaws, which seemed harsh at the time, but it's ultimately held him back from becoming a regular starter under Rob Edwards.

This is an area where many people would say the same of Davis, but that isn’t the case. 

Of course, he isn’t a big, crunching defender with high tackling stats, but his positional awareness makes up for that. Per 90, he averages 1.25 interceptions and 1.18 blocks, which are still pretty high for a full-back, never mind one who rarely sits in the defensive third.

Davis has won more than half of his tackles and duels this season (Image: Stephen Waller)

In fact, during Carlos Corberan's time as assistant manager at Leeds, the Spaniard turned him into a versatile defender who could also cover at centre-back, which sounds insane when you look at his current role.

Doing that at a higher level is obviously a different challenge, but the stats show us that he’d certainly be capable.

We don’t need stats to tell us what our eyes can see, however, and that’s that he’s a top-flight player in the making.

But as a unique player, he requires a unique team. You couldn’t just drop him in a random Premier League side and expect him to do the business because his style means that the players around him have to adapt. This isn’t just the back line, but also the attackers.

You can’t ask him to fit a certain style of play if you want to achieve the same results, it has to be the other way around, you have to accommodate him.

That’s why he works so well at Ipswich, where McKenna has shaped the team around him. One of the Town boss’ biggest strengths is finding what certain players do best and using that to his advantage in a Moneyball-style approach.

As an all-round left-back, Davis can be good, but his role at Ipswich has allowed him to become great because they play to his attacking quality while covering up the areas where he isn’t as good.

What that means in the long term remains to be seen, but for now, it’s working perfectly for everyone.