2018/19 Lucas Digne

[BlueToff]

I love baines as much as the next guy, and going forward he was definitely one of the best in the world at the time, but defensively he was no where near the coles, evras etc

But neither is Marcelo, whose the best in the world atm.

Same with Alaba - he's often caught out at the back - while Alba has never been defensively strong.

Mendy is probably considered the best lb in the Prem right now, and he's not great defensively either.

 

[evertonarntwe]

Madly mate, i was just reading defensively and he was actually better defensively than Evra ( was a article on when he nearly joined united)

based on what?

 

[evertonarntwe]

But neither is Marcelo, whose the best in the world atm.

Same with Alaba - he's often caught out at the back - while Alba has never been defensively strong.

Mendy is probably considered the best lb in the Prem right now, and he's not great defensively either.

I agree none of them are as strong as say a cole defensively, but they're certainly not average at defending like baines is either

and all as mentioned above have/had rapid pace to get back into position something baines never had

 

[buededw1]

based on what?

The usual defensive stats, tackles won, aerial duels etc.... Evra came out on top on some though.

 

[thebluenosebolt]

I agree none of them are as strong as say a cole defensively, but they're certainly not average at defending like baines is either

and all as mentioned above have/had rapid pace to get back into position something baines never had

I think its probably arguable too then that those teams are generally attacked less because those teams have better midfielders and forwards than everton had in Baines's pomp.

 

[allezlesbleus]

Any way back to Digne. Personally I am calling him Dixie and hopping he is WORTHY of the Royal Blue Jersey. There is a pun in there for those who want to do a bit of French!!!

 

[BlueToff]

I agree none of them are as strong as say a cole defensively, but they're certainly not average at defending like baines is either

and all as mentioned above have/had rapid pace to get back into position something baines never had

Baines was (I'd argue still is) a better out and out defender than Marcelo, mate - the bloke's a liability at times.

Alba plays in a team that doesn't have much defending to do but is actually leaking goals right now.

 

[Azzurri]

There are more quality left backs now than there were when Baines was at his peak. That's why it wasn't crazy to say Baines was world class.

Disagree sir. Mendy, Alonso, Robertson, Sandro, etc. are currently nowhere near the quality around in Baines’ day. You look at Evra, Cole, Alba, Luis, Alaba etc. and they were miles ahead. But Baines was still world class.

 

[evertonarntwe]

Baines was (I'd argue still is) a better out and out defender than Marcelo, mate - the bloke's a liability at times.

Alba plays in a team that doesn't have much defending to do but is actually leaking goals right now.

come on lad, I know your probably just exaggerating but that's utter nonsense

Marcelo is a better attacker than a defender but he's nowhere near as bad as you make out

what you need to factor in when you make these claims as well is baines at his best had pienaar back to help him at all times, marcelo bombs on gets back and defends alone he doesn't have a winger to help him defend ( which is a part of the way Madrid play football ) alba likewise ( but I don't rate alba as world class anymore either )

 

[TheBigIguana]

Disagree sir. Mendy, Alonso, Robertson, Sandro, etc. are currently nowhere near the quality around in Baines’ day. You look at Evra, Cole, Alba, Luis, Alaba etc. and they were miles ahead. But Baines was still world class.

Right but the other part of what I said originally was that Alba and Alaba had not really broken through and Evra and Cole were getting on a bit.

 

[BlueToff]

come on lad, I know your probably just exaggerating but that's utter nonsense

Marcelo is a better attacker than a defender but he's nowhere near as bad as you make out

what you need to factor in when you make these claims as well is baines at his best had pienaar back to help him at all times, marcelo bombs on gets back and defends alone he doesn't have a winger to help him defend ( which is a part of the way Madrid play football ) alba likewise ( but I don't rate alba as world class anymore either )

He is not a better defender than Baines was in his peak, mate. Lopetegui hauled him off on about 60 minutes in a Madrid game I covered earlier in the season. He's brilliant going forward, but gets caught out so many times at the back (Belgium targeted that flank by putting Lukaku there in the World Cup, for example).

 

[evertonarntwe]

He is not a better defender than Baines was in his peak, mate. Lopetegui hauled him off on about 60 minutes in a Madrid game I covered earlier in the season. He's brilliant going forward, but gets caught out so many times at the back (Belgium targeted that flank by putting Lukaku there in the World Cup, for example).

doing stuff like that will be the start of his downfall, he hasn't had a good start as manager lets be honest

i'll be honest I don't watch Madrid unless it's in the CL and the classic/athletico game but I always think he looks defensively sound myself

 

[toffeejack]

Disagree sir. Mendy, Alonso, Robertson, Sandro, etc. are currently nowhere near the quality around in Baines’ day. You look at Evra, Cole, Alba, Luis, Alaba etc. and they were miles ahead. But Baines was still world class.

yeah, that post baffled me too.

 

[Zatara]

In the midst of this 'discussion' of which left backs were good 5 years ago, i'll say this...

Digne plays like a Brazilian. Very exciting to watch and extremely effective.

The left flank with him and Bernard has the potential to be the best weve had in the premier league era.

I hope Silva and Brands are taking notes on this and have similar types of players earmarked for the right side.

Deadly.

 

[Nyhus]

You do realise you have just woken the anti christ with that post

Oh yes. Davek is coming.