Heitinga

[Papa Shango]

Have I really just read someone say Distin is world class???

Heitinga didnt deserve to be dropped and Moyes seemed to make some reason up for him doing so saying that he always comes back from the summer break slowly.

To be fair Jagielka and Distin have been Ok so far this season but I would still have Heitinga in first personally.

 

[Jeff Jones]

Lash Distin left back, then Jags, then SHeitinga, then Coleman

Pop Baines-y on the left wing, Pienaar in the middle (drop Ossie), Fellaini, Gibbo (or that Junior kid, whoever can stick back), Mirallas/Naismith on the right and Jely-One-Touch up top

As our friend Angelwitch would say... simples.

Not the worst idea I've heard. Not saying I'd do it V.Newcastle, but if things go pear shaped in the near future...

I've often thought Bainsy would be a great LM.

 

[SheedyBracewellReidSteven]

Johnny and Jag looked comfortable together at the back end of last season. Johnny and Distin also looked good together last year.

For the first half of last season Jags and Dizzer were all over the show making errors left, right and centre. This season they have kept out Man Utd and looked boss. Had an Uber shaky spell Vs Villa what nearly saw them come back into the game and looked a poor excuse for a pairing against WBA.

I've said for a long time I don't rate them as a pairing and I'm suprised a man likes Moyes who places so much emphasis on solid defence has persevered as long as he has with them. Like others have said we know he has his favourites and those two must be in them, because there's no way anybody thinks those two are our best pair and the stats back that up.

If they are as gash as all that, how come we had the third best defensive record in the league last year?

 

[Joao Moutinho]

Don't understand how Jagielka gets in the team ahead of him

 

[Jags..class]

Don't understand how Jagielka gets in the team ahead of him

I do, he a much better defender, 2 place is between distin and Johnny for me.

 

[Summerskin]

Some people seem to have a problem that we have 3 quality central defenders and can't wait to ship one out so we can sign bloody Scott Dann or something. Let's get rid of this small time mentality. It's a long season and Johnny will play lots.

A mentality you'll find amongst a lot of Evertonians lately, just cause we were sh*t in the 90's taking part is all that counts for some of these people.

 

[Joao Moutinho]

I do, he a much better defender, 2 place is between distin and Johnny for me.

It should either be Heitinga and Distin/Jags and Heitinga, I think he is too much of a presence not to be there, he is a natural leader.

 

[phildp]

Well my fantasy FM team to would be:
Tim Howard
Jags Heitinga Distin
Naismith/Mirallas Gibbo Ofoe Baines
Felli Pienaar
Jelavic

Naismith at the mo for his workrate tracking back when needed but would like to see Mirallas when up to speed.
Hopefully Gibbo and Ofoe will protect the defence (not that i have seen Ofoe play yet, he may by useless in Premier League).

 

[Blackwatch1878]

Distin will be 35 in December , we should be thinking of keeping JH

 

[SouthBlue]

Not the worst idea I've heard. Not saying I'd do it V.Newcastle, but if things go pear shaped in the near future...

I've often thought Bainsy would be a great LM.

Thing is if Baines were a left mid there's a good chance he'd lose his effectiveness - fullbacks are nearly always attacking running forwards into the space created by the midfield tucking in (which pienaar does so well).

Not saying he couldn't learn to do it, but put him on left mid then he'd be receiving the ball with his back to goal a lot more and having to cut inside more on his weaker foot. See how Coleman's marauding was noticeably reduced when he moved from RB to RM - it's a different skill set.

 

[Summerskin]

Thing is if Baines were a left mid there's a good chance he'd lose his effectiveness - fullbacks are nearly always attacking running forwards into the space created by the midfield tucking in (which pienaar does so well).

Not saying he couldn't learn to do it, but put him on left mid then he'd be receiving the ball with his back to goal a lot more and having to cut inside more on his weaker foot. See how Coleman's marauding was noticeably reduced when he moved from RB to RM - it's a different skill set.

Exactly right, Baines can not take players on directly...the amount of times he ran into nothing against WBA was infuriating.

Running into space made by a midfielder however? One of the best.

 

[Cockney_Toffee]

Exactly right, Baines can not take players on directly...the amount of times he ran into nothing against WBA was infuriating.

Running into space made by a midfielder however? One of the best.

Plus, we've not been playing with out and out wingers recently. Moyes relies on his full backs to get up and down the line.
It's 4-2-3-1 system we've been playing.

 

[Rook]

There will be plenty of chances for Johnny H to get matches. Its a long season. If he plays as well as he did last season he'll probably displace one of them.

CB is our deepest position, its a nice luxury to have.

 

[Roger Moore]

I don't understand this debate over our centre backs.

We shouldn't be thinking about selling Heitinga, our player of the season.

The decent teams have four centre backs as they realize it's a long season with injuries, yet we seem obsessed with flogging a fantastic footballer.

This is the mentality built by kenwright where we spend most of our time discussing who to sell rather than challenging for trophies.

 

[steken1]

i guess i meant in terms of the level of their club play. i think more than a few would disagree with the call-up decisions of their respective nations / their exclusions.

heitinga played in a world cup final, while jags has played in a handful of international matches and distin has played in even fewer, do you really think that means heitinga is a better player. or is it more likely that johnny is the beneficiary of a highly politicized selection process for internationals, while jags and distin are victims of the same?

edit: distin has played in no internationals. still doesn't change the fact that he's world class for me

Without trying to belittle either player, only Distin has a medal to show for his career and Everton are by far the biggest club either has played for. Players like Dawson, Cahill, Lescott and even Carragher have been chosen over Jag. And all have a fair claim that they are better than him. I don't believe any of them players are world class. I don't think they were picked for political reasons either.

I doubt Johnnys appearance in the world cup final was down to politics either but he's played against much better opposition, much more often. I don't consider him in the same bracket as those two and I reckon if he was English he'd be playing regular for us.