2019/20 Leighton Baines.

[AussieToffee11]

I can remember as far back as Mike Pejic, he's not as good as he was. Bailey, Van Den Hauwe, Lescott, Hinchcliffe...all better defenders and players than Baines.

He was nothing without Pienaar filling in for him. Never in a million years a defender.

Your capacity to be consistently negative is actually quite extraordinary...

 

[Lanolin]

Well thats because they are the easy ones, the World Cup winner and the current/recent incumbent.

I prefer players like Van Den Hauwe at left back personally. I would also have Hinchcliffe ahead of him personally. That's not to say Baines is bad, of course he isn't/wasn't. I like my favoured players to win things though.

Saying that Wilson and Baines are the easy ones and then picking the last 2 left backs to win a trophy with us is pretty ironic really.

 

[blueblue]

If only.

Meant left back.

 

[blueblue]

I can remember as far back as Mike Pejic, he's not as good as he was. Bailey, Van Den Hauwe, Lescott, Hinchcliffe...all better defenders and players than Baines.

He was nothing without Pienaar filling in for him. Never in a million years a defender.

Dave. I remember back to the 1970 team.
Leighton Baines in his prime was as good as any we ever had.

 

[Arteta10]

Dave. I remember back to the 1970 team.
Leighton Baines in his prime was as good as any we ever had.

There were 2 or 3 years when he was in his prime when i genuinely thought he was the best left back in the world.

As others have said, not defensively, but he could do stuff that no other left back in the world was doing at that time

 

[dead_soft]

I can remember as far back as Mike Pejic, he's not as good as he was. Bailey, Van Den Hauwe, Lescott, Hinchcliffe...all better defenders and players than Baines.

He was nothing without Pienaar filling in for him. Never in a million years a defender.

Lescott was a better defender but had nothing on him as an attacking creative force. Hinchcliffe wasn't close in either attack or defence.

 

[dead_soft]

A footnote in Everton's history.

It's not though. You might only care about pots but 14 years at Everton isn't a footnote. That Fiorentina game isn't, if the only time it counts is if the team win something then over 90% of our history is a footnote. Nonsense just so you can hate Everton

 

[MikeH72]

Well thats because they are the easy ones, the World Cup winner and the current/recent incumbent.

I prefer players like Van Den Hauwe at left back personally. I would also have Hinchcliffe ahead of him personally. That's not to say Baines is bad, of course he isn't/wasn't. I like my favoured players to win things though.

Would you have Stuart Barlow ahead of Lukaku then because he won something?

 

[Papa Shango]

Fair enough.

I always find that a harsh way to judge a player tho.

If we're only judging on footballing ability that is not always reflected in trophies won, a lot of other factors contribute to it

Generally I would agree and maybe it is a bit harsh but he was a regular in a good side for a very long time. They should have won something but they always let you down at the worst possible times.

 

[Papa Shango]

Would you have Stuart Barlow ahead of Lukaku then because he won something?

No but the difference here is Van Den Hauwe and Hinchcliffe were good players in their own right so it's not quite the same as comparing an obviously good player to an obviously crap one.

I have Baines, Van Den Hauwe and Hinchcliffe all in the good category, but would favour the other two as they won stuff.

I wouldn't have Lukaku ahead of say Andy Gray either, or say Latchford ahead of Sharp. We are talking about fine details here and winning stuff gives them an edge to me over equally as talented players who did not win anything.

 

[Papa Shango]

It's not though. You might only care about pots but 14 years at Everton isn't a footnote. That Fiorentina game isn't, if the only time it counts is if the team win something then over 90% of our history is a footnote. Nonsense just so you can hate Everton

We lost that game.

Says it all really!

 

[Arteta10]

We lost that game.

Says it all really!

*tie

We won the game 2-0

 

[davek]

Dave. I remember back to the 1970 team.
Leighton Baines in his prime was as good as any we ever had.

Not a defender. Never a defender. Imagine Catterick or Kendall having a player constantly caught out of position and turning his back on crosses as much as Baines did/does? They;d never have entertained him.

He's Hinchcliffe without the chin...and Hinchcliffe was a better all round player, btw.

 

[davek]

Lescott was a better defender but had nothing on him as an attacking creative force. Hinchcliffe wasn't close in either attack or defence.

Lescott could be very good surging upfield. Hinchcliffe had a better delivery than Baines....and both could defend better than Baines...always useful for...erm...a defender.

 

[davek]

It's not though. You might only care about pots but 14 years at Everton isn't a footnote. That Fiorentina game isn't, if the only time it counts is if the team win something then over 90% of our history is a footnote. Nonsense just so you can hate Everton

Look, enough people have been briawashed to accept no marks in an Everton jersey who won nothing as 'legends'.

I'm not one of them.

An above average player for us, but no more than that. In a decent succssful Everton team he'd never have made the first team. You need to be competent at defending to get into any successful team. Ashley Cole was always head and shoulders above Baines precisely because he could defend aggressively. Baines was and always will be a pushover as a defender.