The Brilliance of Baines

An epiphany occurred over this weekend, it’s taken some time, but finally, the rest of the footballing world, ok, maybe not the world, but certainly this country has now seen how good a player Leighton Baines actually is. Ask any Everton fan and we would have told you this for probably the last 18 months, two years, if not longer, but others in the media have eventually caught onto just how good the 27 year old from Kirkby really is.

Everything about Baines is just class, both on and off the pitch. Unlike certain other left backs, it is unimaginable that you will never see Baines on Twitter, let him alone using any form social media to verbally abuse the powers that be at the FA. Even when the media were more than hinting that his so called homesickness was the reason that he was overlooked for the 2010 World Cup squad in favour of Stephen Warnock (he who is now on loan at a Championship club), Baines maintained his dignity and continued to play consistently well for Everton and only when selected for the squad for this summer’s European championships did he use his media interviews to set the story straight about the mythical homesickness stories.  

“'People who are gullible enough to believe everything they read, that's up to them. That summer I spent three weeks with Everton in Australia. I'd have much rather of spent those three or four weeks at a World Cup. It wasn't to be. But, as I say, if [homesickness] was ever an issue, I wouldn't have been away with the club that long.”

Would Mr A Cole take such an omission from the squad in quite the same, mild mannered way? Methinks not!

You won’t see Baines falling out of nightclubs at all hours of the morning, he is far happier going  to concerts, even if as Marouane Fellaini said recently he has the worst choice in music of the team!! w From what I know I don’t think he has, Leighton is our music aficionado. He is a family man too who still goes around to his mum’s for his Sunday dinner when he can. I once saw him in Starbucks by our work with his eldest lad (his mini me) and absolutely no one battered an eyelid when he walked in (apart from me, of course, took all my restraint not to go over and say hello), he was just a normal dad taking his son (named Lennon, ode to his excellent musical taste maybe?) for a drink and a cake.

On the field, he is anything but normal, he has grown into easily the best left back I’ve seen at Goodison, I saw something on Twitter about him the other day saying that he’d even fit in playing with 84-85 squad. Can’t get much more of a compliment than that really. The partnership he has struck up with Steven Pienaar is one of the best, if not the best in the Premier League.  At times their link up is so instinctive it is almost telepathic. Sitting further back in the away end at the DW on Saturday, I was pretty much in line with the left side and at times in the second half it really was a joy to watch those two play, you could see how well they really do work as a duo and not just offensively, as Pienaar doesn’t shirk when it comes to helping out Baines when we’re defending either. But going forward is when the pair are at their exciting best, the first goal in the recent game against Newcastle was a perfect example of this, not many left backs would ever be found in the opposition’s penalty area that many times a season as Baines is in most games.  Baines’ is up and down that left touchline so much during games that there mustn’t a blade of grass he hasn’t touched he could easily be classed as a left midfield. His delivery from both open play and set pieces is at times just undefendable, it is no wonder he is at the top of the chances created charts.Opponents know how much of a threat our left side is and do try to nullify that side of our team but despite this the duo have so far scored three goals between them and assisted 6 for the likes of Jelavic and Fellaini. His penalty taking ability for an Englishman is outstanding – 9 out of 9 in the Premier League now and he's not a bad free kick taker either, Chelsea in the FA Cup will always be one of my favourite goals, couldn’t have timed the goal any better or have put it in that top corner anymore perfectly, proper postage stamp job. . Unlike so many modern day attacking left or right backs, Baines can actually defend too. Many times he has got in last ditch tackles, blocks or defended the goal-line from corners; he can perform both roles of a modern day full back equally as well.

International recognition has been achieved by Baines now, long overdue in my opinion after the ridiculous homesickness stories, but he never seems to be the same player when he dons the England shirt, maybe that is because he lacks a bit of confidence, he is seen to be a quiet lad, but as my cousin’s husband said when he managed Baines for his under 14 team and appointed him captain “he was quiet compared to most, but when he spoke, the other lads listened and would do what Bainesy said” Maybe he’s read and believes the media reports on him who always seem to spell it out that he is a good cover for Cole but no more than that. If England played to his strengths by actually passing to him when he’s made one of his trademark runs forward then maybe the media would see that he is at least equal to Cole. Although to me he is much more than Cole’s equal, not just because of how he plays on the pitch but how he is off the pitch, if more players were like Leighton, maybe footballers would have a far better reputation that what they have now. England may fail to appreciate what they have in Baines, but he’s got not concerns about being unappreciated at Goodison, we know we are lucky to have the Premier League’s best left back playing for us.