i think Jags can be our best RB but he loses the ball often. i thought he was good against Derby though.
IfJags plays well in the coming games (birmingham, chelsea) then i think he will be first choice for most of the season! i wouldnt buy a RB in january. but if all 3 havnt peformed i would in the summer

I’m hoping your just trying to be nice but how can you say Tony Hibbert - "A very good defender" I am already on a now personal mission to dispel the rumour the he is a good tackler, another load of shite. He is a hard tackler, but very rarely comes away with the ball and he dives in ALL THE FUCKING TIME!! so how he is a ’good’ tackler is beyond me. To now say he is a ’very good defender’ is ridiculous, absolute shite. I wont get on the lads back when he plays, cos I dont believe in that but in discussions with friends or on net I’ll keep calling it as I see it & he my friends is shite

Since when is that cheating shite Gerrard diving once he arrived in the box a mistake from Hibbert?

I dont think that highly of phil Neville to be honest. He came in and done a job but as we look to progress his deficiancies are shown on a regular basis. And these two people (Nev & Hibbert) are two of the worst culprits of the long, drifted, aimless ball that gets played to our strikers too regularly (Hoofball I believe it is called ha ha)

Jags will do a decent enough job there but eventually we need to buy a left back who is comfortable with ball to attack but also defend to a high level. You only have to look over to our left side to see that being done by Leighton Baines & Joleon Lescott, who is a fucking centre half no less (I love that fella!!)

Thats my two bobs worth anyway lid

Good shout Nick, I was that angry about Hibbert being called a ’very good defender’ that I never saw that comment.

I’m happy with Jagielka or Neville at right back and would rather spend big money on a creative central midfielder.

sell hibbo and neville and with the proceeds sign chimbonda

I’ve probably commented far too much on this thread, but how can you be ’happy’ with them. The fullbacks see more of the ball than all other players on the pitch and its an area we need to strengthen/improve in. Top clubs (arsenal/chelsea) realise the importance of full backs and thier the type of teams we have to aim for, we shouldnt aim to fucking make do!!!

I also agree we need improvement in other areas but to disregard the problem right back position just shows me how much you dont really know what your talking about. Just one of them people who thinks getting glory players in will sort everything.

Absolute shite mate

Nick - Gerrard Dived, i agree. I was in the Park end right in front of him as he went down like a new born foal. BUT hibbert did create that situation by:
1) Being too far forward when we were attacking and he was the last defender
2) Not winning the header on the half way line to prevent the breakaway - well actually not even going for the header.
3) after making the previous two mistakes he then followed Gerrard into the box when he clearly could have tackled outside the box.

How people can continue to defend him is beyond me. Dont get me wrong, i’m sure he is a crackin lad, same with Phil Neville, but you have to call it as you see it.

It might have been a Hibbert mistake but it was no penalty! The offence was outside the area. Gerrard made a good job of falling 17 yards inside the area!.
(Or thereabouts)

Seamus; basically I think you can sum that goal up like this:

Hibbo isn’t very good. Hence he is in a bad position, hence he has to commit a foul to stop the attack. What he should have done is absolutely clattered Voronin and given away a free kick in the centre circle. But again, he’s not very good so he ran around indecisively and then had to chase back and make a last ditch attempt to stop the goal.

Ben! another way of looking at it is that after gifting Gerrard 5 yards Hibbert managed to track back quickly and effectively enough to stop Gerrard scoring and force him into diving to win a pen.

If Gerrard doesn’t act like the cheating skid mark that he is then Hibbert has done his job and successfully defended our goal. End of argument.

Gavin i dont think we want 2 sell neville hes a great player and we all know that centre midfield is his strong position, Hibbert shoud be sold i don’t think that hes good enough for a team like us, but i was told that Arsenal want AJ and will trade eboue +5 mill so maybe that could be our soloution but do we really wany 2 sell AJ??

all this talk of right fulls makes me think a little.do we just accept the 3 average players we have at the moment or do we cut our losses and go for somebody who ticks all the boxes.employ jags at rb or cm when stuck,otherwise he is cover at cb.employ neville at rb and if really stuck in cm,full stop.tony hibbert,i have a lot of time for this homegrown lad,committed,honest and loyal but no longer good enough.so who else is out there realistically?my opinon is alan hutton from rangers.he is young,pacy,aggresive and likes to bomb forward.ive seen him against barcelona ,lyon,celtic,france,ukraine and every time he has impressed me.wouldnt cost too much so moysie keep an eye on him.

We need a top class right back as soon as possible, because we do not get enough quilty ball ,and back up to Arteta,sell hibbert and neville .i belive Sunderland are very keen on neville,keep jags as a spare for three differnt positions

Listening to the commentary last night Barry Horne said Jagielka was having a stinker and getting the run round by a journeyman lower division winger which you would not expect to happen to a guy who cost 4.5m.
I dont know about Jagielka I am not a great fan of a player who is used to plug holes and doesnt have a natural position. Neville I think is the better right back as he can get in crosses.

Sorry guys, I haven’t had time to go through all the responses but that lead article needs some comment. Hibbert is NOT, I repeat NOT, a good defender. This is a myth that seems to have come about due to the fact that he can’t play football yet stays in the team. He is indecisive and his positioning is poor. He is ’feisty’ and puts in a good slide tackle every now and then but this just shows his positional weakness. How often do Yobo and Lescott make slide tackles? Not very often, because good defenders don’t need to. Liverpool’s first penalty would have been cut out on the half way line by any other defender, but Hibbert turned a hopeful clearnance into a match winning through ball.

In contrast, Phil Neville is a much better defender, he is calm, composed and knows where to be, as well as being stronger in the air. When he plays right back he also looks far more comfortable on the ball and suddenly does a decent impression of a footballer, something he can’t manage in the middle of midfield with things going on for 360 degrees around him. Phil Neville is the obvious choice to be our right back, and really that’s the only position he’s ever been suited to. His career and reputation have suffered from playing left back and midfield far too often.

Phil Jagielka I haven’t seen playing right back regularly, only against Albania for England ’B’. He looked okay but I would still opt for the experience of Neville, seeing Jagielka as cover for either right back or centre back, where Stubbs’ total lack of pace affects the whole make up of the team, as has been mentioned before, particularly in response to the Kharkiv game.

"Gavin i dont think we want 2 sell neville hes a great player and we all know that centre midfield is his strong position, Hibbert shoud be sold i don?t think that hes good enough for a team like us, but i was told that Arsenal want AJ and will trade eboue +5 mill so maybe that could be our soloution but do we really wany 2 sell AJ??" Jack Daou what planet do you currently watch football from? If Phil Neville is a midfielder then I’m not watching the same games as you! Phil is atrocious he has a poor touch, his distribution is woeful, watch the next time he’s playing in midfield and see if he passes to the opposition more times than he does another blue shirt? If he does pass to another blue shirt it will be a back pass more often than not. He cannot tackle that well either giving away lots of free kicks generally around our own area. A good midfielder needs at LEAST all of the above traits plus a helping of natural pace and skill comes in handy which again seem to have eluded ’our captain’!

If you look at Phil Nevilles carrer at Man Utd he was primarily used as cover for either right or left back when they were down to bare bones. So the lack of a creative bone in his body meant that Sir Alex Ferguson who could quite clearly see him for what he was meant that if Phil Neville ever started or came on as a sub in midfield it was because there were no other options.
Last season at right back Phil did a good job and if you can be bothered to look at the statistics then you will find that when he started at right back Everton actually won most of their games and he actually provided quite a few assists from crosses whipped in from the by-line. Unfortunately for Evertonians everywhere and most can see it as it is that when Phil Neville plays in midfield Everton generally play poorly as the position taken by Phil means that a better suited player is usually sat on the bench because Moysie refuses to drop his ’captain marvel’. In midfield at present with players coming back from injuries means that we have more options than earlier in the season so if Everton are going to play anybody in the ’holding role’ then it has to be Lee Carsely. On the right or left at present they have got either Piennar or Mikky. Ossie has looked much better suited in the middle in the games against Larissa and Derby, Cahill just behind the front man who could be any one of five depending on who the opposition is. The 4-5-1 or 4-1-3-1-1 or 4-1-4-1 formation whichever you want to call it has been proven to be the best formation with Everton in recent seasons. Without two proper out & out wingers then Everton will not be able to play 4-4-2 effectively IMO as natural wingers give any side much needed balance.
My best 11 and bench are as follows:
GK: HOWARD
LB: BAINES
LCB: LESCOTT
RCB: YOBO
RB: NEVILLE
SWEEPER: CARSLEY
CM: GRAVESEN
LM: PIENNAR
RM: ARTETA
AM: CAHILL
CF: YAKUBU

BENCH:
WESSELS
JAGIELKA
OSMAN
JOHNSON(RAW LATENT PACE)
VAUGHAN(IMPACT PLAYER)

The reason for starting Yakubu up front is that he is the most naturally gifted forward we have on the books, the best finisher by a ong way. You would have Vaughan to come on as sub if you needed to have more presence in the air,along with his pace and harrying he does. Johnson to stretch the tired and weary legs at the back later on in the game. Jags if needed can cover most defensive positions and Leon can cover most midfield positions. Come on Davie see the light will ya fella and let us Evertonians at least watch something vergeing on the boundary of entertainment. COYB!

Phil Neville is not a centre midfielder I think his performances show that he isnt.
He should be played at right back.
As for Hibberts defending any deep crosses from the opposition right wing you can bet your mortgage that Hibbert will be outjumped at the far post for a goal, I have lost count of how many times that has happened to us, at least with Neville and Jagielka you have a better chance of them winning the header.
Coming forward Hibbert cant attack and cant cross, he like Stubbs resorts to hoofing it to AJ or Yakubu neither of whom are target men, Yakubu for all his size doesnt hold the ball up.
I think in all honesty Hibbert is a Championship standard fullback who now that we are starting to assemble a decent squad should move on.

I don’t think Hibbert would do that well in the Championship.