The Mail Bag
Distin or Dunne?
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Whilst thinking about tomorrows match and the unfortunate late goal at goodison I couldn't help but muse on Distin's effectiveness since coming here.
In the early part of the season he added at times a bit of solidarity to a defense that was conceding by the bucket load but i think its fair to say he's no Jonny Heitinga.
Quick, decent in the air, strong and a real profesional yes.... but £5m for someone who next season is going to be a 34yr old 3rd or 4th choice CB?
Perhaps not Moyes' wisest investment when you consider the younger more able Dunne went to Villa for around the same amount.
Would think that a club with our limited resources would be loathe to spend more than a couple of mill for a player over 30 but i guess after Lescotts late desertment we needed a quick fix. Pity we couldn't get Senderos on loan then... we might have had £5m extra to spend on keeping Donovan this summer!
Sam Hoare, Posted 24/02/2010 at 17:15:18
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As for the other defender he bought last autum, Johnny Heitinga has impressed me very much, he looks a real class act and is a born leader. Always trying to find a pass, how great it is to see a real tough tackling, ball playing composed cen half in the blue shirt, cant wait to see him paired up with Jagielka I think they will compliment each other very well.
It is quite telling to see that now that all the players Moyes has bought over the last few years are getting fit, we are playing some real nice football, proper free flowing pass and move. I believe that DM was never a proponent of defensive dour hoofball, but had to make do and play to the strengths of the players at his disposal. And now that the players, the cultured, intelligent, hard working group of footballers Moyes has put together are all just about fit, we are seeing the fruits of DM’s philosophy which I believe has always championed the pass and move, attacking variety of the beautiful game.
I am sure there will be a few on here who disagree, and that is your right but I firmly believe that now that DM has the type of team on the pitch he has always envisioned and planned to build, bar one or two (Felli, Jags) we will continue to develop and play good on the deck football. I think next year is the really important one, because if we can keep this team together this summer, and keep all our big players settled, we can have a real go at pushing for a top four spot, defo. I know we probably said this the last two summers, but really believe next summer is going to be the most important in many a year for our great club. COYB
Having said that I think Distin is good enough cover for Jagielka when he’s back. I know Yobo is becoming increasingly unpopular but I think he is class and the quicker he wins his place back in the team the better.
I actually think Heitinga-Yobo is our best central defence. But it will be a refreshing change to see quality players fighting for a place in defence.
I personally would have preferred Michael Ball to him.
I think the only reason Moyes plumped for him was his left foot and experience in the prem.
Other than that he was certainly a"panic" buy.
I say Joey is a top defender, may well be distribution is an issue but i woulod always have him and Jonny.
Jay, I think Ball is just an example of how ever many years ago it was when we sold himo of the finances at that time. I understand he failed a medical at Wigan and guess? It was his knees which seems to be an ongoing thread.
Good luck to Jags, did really well in his career so far at EFC and as a supporter I wish him well along with the rest including Distin, who at the time of the Lescott deal struck me as good value.
I’m concerned Distin was good enough.
Distin for £6mill Lescott for £22 - £24mill happy with that .
It’s so easy to say after the fact , Distins decent Heitingas great same price so according to you shit deal for Distin great deal for Heitinga so is Moyes shit or great ? honestly some people.
RB, defensive MF or CB when he was bought, and tried. If Moyes knew he was going to be one of the best CB’s in this league (possibly ever) I award him the Mystic Meg Footy Manager Award for Eternity. A very good player - and strong personality - found his niche. And Moyes knows that.
Distin was a good buy in the circumstances, and has put in a load of good work for us. Shit happens - not always his fault. I’ll bet they work on stuff at FFarm.
As a Duffy fan, I might have questioned Senderos being brought in, but with Heitinga being ruled out by a nonsense regulation, we can at least understand what Moyes was thinking about.
For me,
Coleman Neville Distin Baines
But I know that Moyes won’t do that.
But I do know the lads will go for it, and there is so much more experience than, for instance, when we took on Villarreal, baldy and all.
COYB
Coleman Yobo Neville Baines.
Moye’s line-up won’t be that.
And as for everyone referencing his blunder in the dying moments against Sporting - i think you’ll find that it was Jack the lad who caused that mess - fizzing a ball to a back peddling centre back like that was the cause of the problem.
Ideally i too see Sylvan as cover, but i think we’re being harsh here. He’s slotted into the team with relative ease, picked up a few goals and generally seems to give it his all.
To be honest, I hadn’t seen enough of him at the time and it would have made more sense to me to sign an established top class Premier League defender in Richard Dunne.
Sylvan has undoubted qualities but I find him a bit clumsy and unpredictable. Like our team in the 90s.
On the subject of Heitinga, if we go through tonight and Athletico Madrid are knocked out (they drew 1-1 with Galatasary at home in the first round), is Heitinga still cup tied for the next round?
As for tonight. Reckon we’ll see: Neville Yobo Senderos Baines
Would love to see Coleman come in and neville switched to CB but something tells me Moyes doesn’t trust Coleman yet unless he has to.
Either way COYB!!!
I think he’s done ok and his purchase has to be seen in the context of the Lescott deal.I’m more worried about Yobo’s form.In a year he’s gone from first choice centre half to fourth choice.Big chance for him tonight to show us what we know he’s capable of.
Also £5m is nothing these days for an experienced CB. Distin has a long history of good performance in the Prem League, £5m for that in today’s (or at least last year’s) market is good value.
It’s a fair point that maybe Dunne would have been as good or better, but maybe Dunne didn’t want to come, knowing he’d likely end up as backup? I imagine that at his age Distin would have been more comfortable coming in as a squad player. In any case it’s got to be a close decision, not really worth getting on Moyes’ back about.
We got £24M for him, and to be brutally honest he hasnt really set the world alight at City, in any case I don't think he is as good as he was Everton and he certainly has been scoring at the rate he was here either.
I’d be pissed off if I was a City fan with that piece of business — I feel we faired very well out of that deal — getting Heitinga and Distin. John looks like he could formal a lethal partnership with Jags and Distin provides top knotch cover. He hasn't been great but hes been pretty solid and ive got no complaints. If Lescott is £24M, Distin is defo £5M.
How the hell Michael Ball even gets a mention is a mystery too... these are former EFC players who are now well past their best days and if I was one of the EFC youngsters it would p..s me off good style if these has beens were ever brought back.
We have some very good youngsters coming through and I would definitely prefer to see them make the grade without buying stop gaps.
Distin unfortunately was needed due to the injury to Jags,the off loading of Lescott and Joey going to the African cup....but now we dont need any more ’make weights’ we need to buy players who can IMPROVE our squad, not just add bodies to it.
We’ve jumped on the back of Ossie, Hibbert, Cahill, Fellaini, Howard, Baines, Yak, Billy, Neville, Peanuts, Yobo. I’ve also read critisism of Donovan on here for not being able to last the full 90.
Lets add all that slagging off to the Moyes and Kenwright slaughtering that goes on here daily and anyone dropping in for the first time would understandably see this site as anti-Everton.
And before anybody throws that stupid tired old line at that "it’s about opinions", let me just say that it’s about negativity, it’s about moaning, it’s about undermining our club and it’s about time that minor mistakes were not magnified to the point that people start to lose confidence in players that go out there and try bloody hard to make our club a success.
Distin, if you’re reading this... Well done for your important goals, well done for keeping the world’s most in form striker in your pocket, thank you for all the last ditch tackles and thank you for stepping up and being a driving force for us ealier this season when out of form players and injured players couldn’t quite get there.
However I'm never happy to see threads that hurl abuse at one individual and not the collective poor performance of the team.
Richard Dunne is error strewn, slow, and is the most sent off player since the Premier League began.
Distin has played well in some big games recently and its unfair some people are getting on his back especially in the middle of a good run for the team when everyone has excelled.
Let’s hope we’ll see him in Europe next year!
It was an odd one, Distin is a bit suspect and a hoofer in my book.
He played against Chelsea, Utd, Man City and we wond those games and if i am not mistaken none of the goals conceded were his fault.
He played against the shite and the whole team were crap.
Ok the sporting game was mental and he was clumsy but he was entirely to blame.
In effect in his last 6 or so perfomrances wehave lost once.
Every defender makes mistakes but if we are winning games what does it matter as long as the team help each other out.
As for Yobo im sorry but people who think he is crap are blind. He has been solid over the years.
Yes, he is prone to an error or two but like I said, who isnt?
Also if your main reason for hating or disliking a CB is his forward distribution then your are being petty. His job is to defend not pass the ball around... that's why we have full backs and midfield players
Rio Ferdinard passes the ball around a lot and he looks like a tool and gives it away quite a bit.
Back in Sep/Oct we were all crowing about how great Distin looked vs Lescott and how dodgy Heitinga was in midfield - we’re a fickle bunch sometimes!
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1 Posted 24/02/2010 at 21:20:31
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