Top Six versus Everton: Player by Player

[Sona]

Must be being thick, but I can't for the life of me understand why some of our players' names are in bold, and others not!

Does it mean the bold ones would get into certain teams' squads, but the non-bold ones are deemed not good enough to displace players mentioned in the brackets?

If so, I don't see why Sigurdsson is classed as being inferior to Son, or Gueye inferior to Dier or Xhaka, or Pickford inferior to Cech, or Walcott inferior to the massively overrated Pedro.

Sorry, I should have made it a little clearer!

The names in bold are those who would be selected in one of the top six sides; the players in italics within the brackets are the players whom I believe they would be selected ahead of. (E.g. Pickford ahead of Mignolet and Cech)

RE: Sigurdsson. This was one that I was really unsure on. I think as a left midfielders, Son is better. Unfortunately, until we sign a quality left winger, Sigurdsson will be used there. But I certainly take your point that he's good enough.

Gueye v Dier or Xhaka is open to debate, but I think if you asked non-Evertonians who they'd rather, you'd be looking at the latter two.

Walcott v Pedro I can accept your comments; all depends on whether Walcott can sustain his awesome start with us. He is one player that I am genuinely excited about at Everton.

 

[Sona]

Not a single one of our players would start for a top 6 team barring some huge injury crisis.

Can people really not see just how crap our team is?

Pickford would start ahead of Mignolet at the RS.

Coleman would 100% start ahead of Alexander-Arnold at the RS.

Baines would start left back ahead of Young at United.

 

[Deckard2049]

Pickford would start ahead of Mignolet at the RS.

Coleman would 100% start ahead of Alexander-Arnold at the RS.

Baines would start left back ahead of Young at United.

Are you basing your Baines comment on a few years ago? Young has been completely solid for United and I honestly don’t think they’d swap him. Especially given his age and injuries.

No one disputes that some of the players in the squads of the top 6 have some weak links- that’s true of every side the world over. But are the differences that substantial? For instance I’m sure if the RS had Pickford they’d play him, but then the question is if Pickford is definitively so superior, why didn’t they go after him?

The fact is each manager wants certain players for their team, so objectively and relatively this is a hard discussion in general. To clarify I’ll ask these questions.. who is the better goalkeeper de Gea or Ederson? Who’s a better striker Lukaku or Firmino? Who’s a better defensive midfielder Kante or Fernandinho? Perhaps the real answer is they all do different roles for different team so it’s impossible to really say. I’d say de Gea is overall a better keeper, but Ederson suits City better. Similarly Firmino would probably be much less effective at every other top 6 team.

To bring it back to us, I honestly think Coleman is the only player who when properly fit walks into most teams in the league; except maybe Man City with Walker and all bias aside over Valencia at United who has been fantastic for a few years now. The fact is we have some good players but the differences in quality between them and their weaker counterparts in the top 6 are so marginal that it doesn’t make much of a difference. No one is knocking on our door any time soon for one of our players that’s for sure.

 

[4737carlin]

No one disputes that some of the players in the squads of the top 6 have some weak links- that’s true of every side the world over. But are the differences that substantial? For instance I’m sure if the RS had Pickford they’d play him, but then the question is if Pickford is definitively so superior, why didn’t they go after him? .

Im sure they did but he wanted to be certain he would start every week, even tho there was then games scum bag Koeman started Stek!!

 

[Carlito]

Am I right in thinking his record against 'top 6' sides is 6 goals in 50 odd games?

As @Lanolin said, his strike rate is probably not much worse than what most strikers come up with in those games, but I just find his level of performance to be quite pitiful when he's up against really good sides.

His showings at Anfield were particularly blood-boiling.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

As @Lanolin said, his strike rate is probably not much worse than what most strikers come up with in those games, but I just find his level of performance to be quite pitiful when he's up against really good sides.

His showings at Anfield were particularly blood-boiling.

I popped a link up earlier that compared his record against Vardy, Kane and Aguero, and he was quite a bit worse than all of them (roughly half as prolific as Vardy who was the worst of the three)

 

[LiamG]

Our best player is a player that only made the bench for the worst team in the top 6.

Enough said.

 

[Carlito]

I popped a link up earlier that compared his record against Vardy, Kane and Aguero, and he was quite a bit worse than all of them (roughly half as prolific as Vardy who was the worst of the three)

Must have missed that, sorry.

I think he'll eventually find himself settling at a big club in a lesser league.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Must have missed that, sorry.

I think he'll eventually find himself settling at a big club in a lesser league.

And lets be honest, we'd all love him back wouldn't we?

 

[Carlito]

And lets be honest, we'd all love him back wouldn't we?

I think most would, yeah.

Personally, I couldn't bear him. It's just a shame that the money he brought in was spent so poorly. Massive waste of a great opportunity.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

I think most would, yeah.

Personally, I couldn't bear him. It's just a shame that the money he brought in was spent so poorly. Massive waste of a great opportunity.

To be fair, that happens more often than not whenever clubs get a big windfall from selling a star player. Other clubs usually over-charge as they know you're flush. That certainly happened with Spurs (Bale) and Liverpool (Suarez). You could argue that United took the better approach by spending their Ronaldo windfall behind the scenes (paying debt down I believe).

 

[KaiserEFC]

Pickford would start ahead of Mignolet at the RS.

Coleman would 100% start ahead of Alexander-Arnold at the RS.

Baines would start left back ahead of Young at United.

Baines wouldn’t get in a top half team. Absolutely finished.

 

[marcus]

It is so important that we replace Lukaku with another quality striker.....

Goals are vital for confidence & the team....if you are not scoring or have little threat going forward the team are an easy target as when you go 1-0 down the lack of goals in your team restrict your chances of winning....

This has been our problem since Lukaku left & still is.....

The top six all score goals in abundance......speaks for it's self....

 

[Carlito]

To be fair, that happens more often than not whenever clubs get a big windfall from selling a star player. Other clubs usually over-charge as they know you're flush. That certainly happened with Spurs (Bale) and Liverpool (Suarez). You could argue that United took the better approach by spending their Ronaldo windfall behind the scenes (paying debt down I believe).

Yeah, I agree with that. I think it worked out OK in the end for Spurs due to Eriksen, who they bought in that same window for quite a small amount, now being worth even more than what Bale went for (judging by Coutinho's recent fee). Liverpool only really got value out of Lallana when you look at who came in after Suarez left.

 

[evo1878]

Arsenal literally just signed Aubameyang. Could we have done that? Financially maybe. In terms of status? What do you think? It’s a top 6 because those clubs are either competing for the top 4 or at least all in with a shout of winning a trophy or two. The sky love in is a bit OTT but it reflects the current status of the league.

Fair point that mate: hadn’t seen it from the perspective of signing players. I guess The reality is the ‘top 6’ have all played champions league between them for as long as I can remember. And they all have new or improved stadia with strong overseas commercial operations. I wonder how long it’ll stay top 6 tho like how many times do arsenal have to fail to qualify for CL until it becomes a top 5 or 4. Either way we are so far off it’s untrue.