The Swansea City goalkeeper will come face to face with Davids – one of the legends of the game – when they face Crystal Palace this afternoon after the midfielder came out of retirement to join the Eagles back in August.<\/p>\n
And De Vries is looking forward to the encounter as he explained to the Western Mail \u201cHe is a legend<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been one of the greatest midfielders Holland has ever had.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was such a great player, especially at Ajax when he won the Champions League.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had so many international caps and was a great tackler and dynamic midfielder. He gave the team something extra.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s good to see those players playing in the Championship, even if it\u2019s in the later stages of their career.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a hard league and he knows it. It\u2019s great for us to play against him as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never thought I would, but he came back from retirement and it\u2019s an extra bonus.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was a hero of mine because he never gave up.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe just wanted to do anything to win the game, but in a good way.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wasn\u2019t a really dirty player, he was a tough tackler and had great vision.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have every respect for him, but I\u2019m not a shirt collector, so one of the other Dutch guys will probably ask him for it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe main target for us is not keeping clean sheets, but winning games,\u201d he added. \u201cThat\u2019s the first thought. We want to get the three points and to do that we need to score goals.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve shown this season we are capable of doing that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019re more and more together and more sure of what we\u2019re capable of, especially away from home.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt critical times when we are under pressure we can soak it up and deal with it, there is always someone who will do the job.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a cliche, but it\u2019s true that defending starts up front and attacking starts from the back.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast season\u2019s clean sheet record was amazing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI definitely think we can get close to it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn this league anything is possible and the main focus for us is winning games and not drawing them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have the belief to keep on going and try to keep the unbeaten run going in the league.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou need to have players in the right shape to get you through difficult moments and we\u2019ve got that.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have got great confidence and we want to keep on progressing. Last season we looked at the league table and for a long, long period we were fourth, but in the end got nothing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe must take it step by step, that\u2019s all you can do.\u201d<\/p>\n