2021/22 Lucas Digne

[BlueToff]

Partly because Townsend seem to gravitate towards the right and Gordon offering more cover for coleman as a consequence. As for Digne he is one of the best at the club but he has been out of sorts for sometime. I’m hoping he watched last night and he is itching to get back in the team. I also think if Gomes was playing and we switched Godfrey to the right back position He would have a greater influence getting forward and we would probably improve defensively giving Godfreys attributes but that’s for the manager to sort out.

If we play 433 it frees up the full-backs to attack

Given we’ve had three central midfielders to choose from lately it would have made sense

 

[BlueToff]

No. The players are with Benitez.

Digne needs to get back and apologise to the group or he can be sold as far as I'm concerned...and btw Ilm a fan of his.

Well there’s two lines of speculation.

One is that his rep spoke to the athletic (they did) And he was punished for that. However, he wasn’t the only player who that applies to and one of the others played last night

Another is that he went to France without permission from the club on his day off. The team did have Saturday off so if this is the case it’s not like Digne didn’t train. could have been a misunderstanding

We won’t know unless Benitez says and I don’t know why he had to be so smug and secretive last night

 

[BlueToff]

But it is not the case that Digne does not have this opportunity. Only TAA has more crossers than Digne of rb / lb in PL. He has 1-2 fewer crossers per game than he has usually had in his Everton career. But if we adjust this for ball possession, then there is no change to talk about at all.

I also think you have to accept that Digne / Colemen in many matches will be a little less involved in attacks than e.g. under more ball possession oriented managers like SIlva. This has to do with the game model itself, not formation. Still, this change is not terribly big.

And if you were an opponent, where would you lead the game to Everton? Against Gray and Digne, or Coleman and Gordon / Iwobi?

I’m not saying he’s not been allowed at all. He has been. But there’s been times where we’ve funnelled attacks totally the wrong way.

Yes, we have been using wingers more to cross the ball and get forward that’s fine. However those wingers have regularly been playing centrally or have been out of form (or both). We need to find a way to get the best out of all of our players. 433 does that, and you can still play direct in that system

 

[BirkenheadBlue]

I am sure this Diane is fit bit Digne was rightly dropped!

Ha. Love a bit of autocorrect.

Maybe he should have been dropped, but it's about time someone got the word out to supporters about the shambles that is the running of our club at the moment.

 

[Egil Olsen]

I’m not saying he’s not been allowed at all. He has been. But there’s been times where we’ve funnelled attacks totally the wrong way.

Yes, we have been using wingers more to cross the ball and get forward that’s fine. However those wingers have regularly been playing centrally or have been out of form (or both). We need to find a way to get the best out of all of our players. 433 does that, and you can still play direct in that system

Again, so he has been told to balance more, but can still attack. Which was my original point.

My second point was - regardless of formation - the backs will generally be used less in attack, when you seek to utilize the transition phases more, and are more vertical in the orientation. Modern backs are first and foremost a concept against defense in balance to create width, and superiority in half spaces.

 

[davek]

Well there’s two lines of speculation.

One is that his rep spoke to the athletic (they did) And he was punished for that. However, he wasn’t the only player who that applies to and one of the others played last night

Another is that he went to France without permission from the club on his day off. The team did have Saturday off so if this is the case it’s not like Digne didn’t train. could have been a misunderstanding

We won’t know unless Benitez says and I don’t know why he had to be so smug and secretive last night

I'm happy to back any manager against any player.

 

[Caolam]

Thing is mate, on that ‘overall good of the team’, asking Digne not to attack while our attack instead gets channeled through Coleman and his Phil Neville tribute act crossing, that’s not for the good of the team. That’s on the manager to realise. It’s friggin stupid.

You are absolutely right that Digne needs to improve his form because he has been poor. But he’s been told to not do what he’s good at (and he’s still set up some brilliant chances even then - can think of that one v Spurs with the volley cross and then the one v Brentford for Rondon in the first half) and also been taken off set-pieces to boot; and Townsend is on them and has been dreadful too with them

So the overreaction on here is ridiculous. Whatever the reasons for him being dropped last night, that should not suddenly equate to him being flogged at any price. For one he’s 28, a very experienced and good player in a position that is crucial to most good teams, and two he’s on a long-term deal

We are in agreement up to a point. I agree that telling Digne not to attack down the wing appears to be the waste of an opportunity that we can little afford to lose. However we were hitting crosses into the opponent’s box when we have no one there which was madness. With no DCL or Richardson relying on Rondon or Iwobi to get on the end of things wasn’t happening. As we struggled to score we had to make it more difficult to score against us. Now Richarlson is back and DCL is nearing a return we need Digne playing well. Time to mend bridges.

 

[TimHowardsBeardJuice]

It's true if there are no targets for crosses then Digne's strength is wasted, but he should be doing more in attack than just crossing.

When he gets the ball out wide, I'd love to see him cut inside, just once in awhile, and have a go himself. He's skilled enough to put a decent shot on target. Lord knows half the players we have on the pitch can't shoot that well.

If for no other reason than to give the defence something else to think about. It's so predictable, here comes the cross.

 

[BlueToff]

It's true if there are no targets for crosses then Digne's strength is wasted, but he should be doing more in attack than just crossing.

When he gets the ball out wide, I'd love to see him cut inside, just once in awhile, and have a go himself. He's skilled enough to put a decent shot on target. Lord knows half the players we have on the pitch can't shoot that well.

If for no other reason than to give the defence something else to think about. It's so predictable, here comes the cross.

He needs help down that side though. There’s no surprise that his best form came for us when he had Bernard in front of him.

Now we have Gomes as an option, 433 has to be played. It doesn’t need to be Gomes starting, it could be Delph with Allan on the left side of midfield, so there’s at least someone to link up with down that side of midfield. We rely far too much on Digne to just sprint down the wing and create his own space - both under Benitez and Carlo

 

[jinkyali]

He's terrific on his day.
His delivery has been awful for months though and I feel he has lost some pace.

Still rather keep him.

 

[TimHowardsBeardJuice]

He needs help down that side though. There’s no surprise that his best form came for us when he had Bernard in front of him.

Now we have Gomes as an option, 433 has to be played. It doesn’t need to be Gomes starting, it could be Delph with Allan on the left side of midfield, so there’s at least someone to link up with down that side of midfield. We rely far too much on Digne to just sprint down the wing and create his own space - both under Benitez and Carlo

Agree, but we should be able to do better than Bernard as a playmate now

 

[Noisy noise annoys]

Who is better defensively, Ben or Lucas? That is who should be getting picked if they are not being asked to get forward

 

[Noisy noise annoys]

Agree, but we should be able to do better than Bernard as a playmate now

shudder

 

[Sheedy's right knee.]

I think we should be focusing on a new right back and working on getting Digne back to something like his best form. Dropping him for a couple of games might do him good.

 

[BlueToff]

Agree, but we should be able to do better than Bernard as a playmate now

Oh 100%. But you don’t need to have a winger, it can be the left sided player in midfield. Ultimately we need an improvement in that area by bringing a player in but it’s not impossible to play it. We now have Gomes back who can do that role as showed yesterday. And Allan is better in an advanced role and could also cover down that side - would just mean Delph or Gbamin coming into the team as a 6