LB - Left Back - Leighton Baines the best/world class?

[balggy]

Ashley Cole is the only genuine world class player in the England squad. Forget what the papers say about the media darlings of Gerrard and Rooney, he is the only player who could play in any team in the world and not look out of place. Baines is just unlucky that he is up against that quality of a player like him for a place in the team.

 

[Azzurri]

Ashley Cole is the only genuine world class player in the England squad. Forget what the papers say about the media darlings of Gerrard and Rooney, he is the only player who could play in any team in the world and not look out of place. Baines is just unlucky that he is up against that quality of a player like him for a place in the team.

Joe Hart wouldn't look out of place anywhere and Rooney is better than Sanchez, Pedro, Di Maria, Higuain for Madrid & Barca.

 

[Only-Blue-toffees]

If Baines was playing for any of the top 4 for the past 3 years, i reckon he would be ahead of Cole. Baines is a better player than Cole now, 3-4 years ago type Cole maybe a different story. People don't like change, you only gotta look at the England squad it still has players in there that could be replaced by far better ones who are inform. Reputation is always ahead of form and personally i think thats wrong.

When Baines has played for England, they don't play him to his advantage, look when Gerrard is on the pitch Baines is open god knows how many times on the left and could whip in a beauty of a cross but no, Baines is the last person he wants to pass to, then loses the ball lol. I was watching Baines the other night and the positions he got in to were great, sadly no one hardly saw him there, he did play well though. Obviously the team they were playing were crap like.

Cole can't cross, got no skill, can't take free kicks or corners never mind banging in a penalty, yes he is a good defender and thats what the job is at the end of the day but if you look at the stats Baines out scores him there too, Baines hasn't been dribbled past yet this year and has won all air battles. Everyone has their own opinion i suppose on the Baines vs Cole debate but i personally think Baines is better.

 

[paulbefc]

No one has watched enough of cole to really know ffs. So much expression of uneducated opinion as fact in this thread.

 

[Allezfan]

No one has watched enough of cole to really know ffs. So much expression of uneducated opinion as fact in this thread.

It's not like he plays non league football, I've watched him for england, in the CL, against us twice a year, when chelsea are playing on a sunday and no one else is on and on match of the day every week.

 

[paulbefc]

It's not like he plays non league football, I've watched him for england, in the CL, against us twice a year, when chelsea are playing on a sunday and no one else is on and on match of the day every week.

When you add up the amount of England games you watch that Cole happens to appear in, the amount of CL games you happen to watch involving Chelsea, the two Everton games and the other random Chelsea games, it's still a fraction of the amount of games we see Baines play a year. Add to that the fact that we're all biased as we're Evertonians and many perceive Cole to be a massive weapon and you aren't in a great position to pass judgement.

I'm not having a go at anyone btw, but if I only watched Cole in the CL last year, I'd say he's on another planet to Baines, defensively, and probably shades it overall. In the same way, if I'd only seen Baines play for England, I wouldn't rate him as highly as Cole. As it happens, I rate Baines higher currently, but I could be massively wrong as I probably watched Cole in no more than 10 games last year and not particularly closely. He could have racked up 15 MoM performances in other Premier league games last year for all I know.

I also know the media couldn't fap over his ability any more than they already do so it's hard to gauge whether he's playing well or not so well from them when they often take several years to notice a player's form has changed a la Neville, Cahill etc. It's impossible to tell how he's really doing without watching him every game.

 

[Allezfan]

When you add up the amount of England games you watch that Cole happens to appear in, the amount of CL games you happen to watch involving Chelsea, the two Everton games and the other random Chelsea games, it's still a fraction of the amount of games we see Baines play a year. Add to that the fact that we're all biased as we're Evertonians and many perceive Cole to be a massive weapon and you aren't in a great position to pass judgement.

I'm not having a go at anyone btw, but if I only watched Cole in the CL last year, I'd say he's on another planet to Baines, defensively, and probably shades it overall. In the same way, if I'd only seen Baines play for England, I wouldn't rate him as highly as Cole. As it happens, I rate Baines higher currently, but I could be massively wrong as I probably watched Cole in no more than 10 games last year and not particularly closely. He could have racked up 15 MoM performances in other Premier league games last year for all I know.

I also know the media couldn't fap over his ability any more than they already do so it's hard to gauge whether he's playing well or not so well from them when they often take several years to notice a player's form has changed a la Neville, Cahill etc. It's impossible to tell how he's really doing without watching him every game.

That's fair enough like I probably saw Baines in four times as many games as I saw Cole.

I think that's why people rely on stats to get a feeling about players they don't see every week.

 

[paulbefc]

That's fair enough like I probably saw Baines in four times as many games as I saw Cole.

I think that's why people rely on stats to get a feeling about players they don't see every week.

Stats are the only facts we have to go on that can paint a picture of how a player's performed over a year, like. But then again, stats can mislead. Joe Allen will top many a chart at the end of the year for his position, so those stats will be several lightyears from the truth. The stats, according to Brennan, suggest that Baines is the superior defender to Cole. Again my opinion is uneducated at best but I'm never having that. Cole's performances against Barca were a masterclass in defensive full back play. I've never seen Baines hit those heights yet, tbh.

 

[wandyr79]

No one has watched enough of cole to really know ffs. So much expression of uneducated opinion as fact in this thread.

I think over the course of 10+ years there are some that have watched enough of Cole to base an opinion on his talents.

There were some games where Cole was sublime, especially in the Champions League but Baines just has an air of consistency. He has come on so far over the last 18 months that I honestly believe (puts down blue tinted glasses) that he is the best full back playing in the Prem at the moment.

 

[Foot Long Hot Dog]

Coles is the better defender, Baines offers much, much more than him going forwards. It depends what you want from a full back I suppose.

 

[Kurt.]

Is this still getting debated ???? wow, some people don't know when to just give in......... Cole is better, end of.

 

[kenada_blue]

There's also the question of... Does Baines work better with a wing partner? When that winger isn't there, would he be as good?
Cole has showed he can do both.

Not banging on to say who's better, but in the context of the national team, there's no real partnership's on the wing, especially the left. Cole doesn't rely on who's in front of him and gets forward and back well.

 

[Bigmaclad]

Lads, I explained this last night, Andy Sandell is the man.

 

[wandyr79]

Is this still getting debated ???? wow, some people don't know when to just give in......... Cole is better, end of.

Baines is better.....FACT

I win

 

[stevietoffee]

think baines is probably the best left back in england , over 30 goal scoring chances he has created this season so far more than any other player in the prem or in fact Europe .i think he is pretty irreplaceable if im honest because of what he brings to the team and his understanding with pienaar . tht undertstanding he has with pienaar cannot be under valued as pienaar creates so much space for baines to run forward and attack . hence the reason he not quite the same player with england as they dont have a player of pienaar quality on the left .