Going into this weekends important Merseyside derby, I wanted to take a look at the 2 teams and come up with the best 11 from both teams in my opinion. Many will disagree with my choices and some will disagree with my reasons, but this team would be fairly unstoppable. Looking at my side, the majority of blues are in defence and the majority of reds are in attack.
Line Up:
Tim Howard
Seamus Coleman Phil Jagielka Daniel Agger Leighton Baines
Kevin Mirallas Steven Gerrard Mauroane Fellaini Phillipe Coutinho
Daniel Sturridge Luis Suarez
Tim Howard
Goalkeeper: This was a close battle between Howard and Reina and I chose T-How mainly because Pepe hasn’t been in the best of form over the past couple of seasons. Howard at his best has one of the best reactions of any keeper in the Prem and he is only let down on the odd occasion by the odd gaffe. He makes more worldy saves than errors though, for that reason I have picked Tim.
Seamus Coleman
Rightback: Again, this was another close battle between Johnson and Coleman. In my own opinion, Coleman is one of the most important and most improved players in the Everton side. He is a rampaging right back who is starting to master the defensive art aswell. He gives the side balance, but also an attacking outlet down the right hand side which Everton haven’t had for quite a few years. Make no mistake, Johnson is a decent rightback. Is he a £17m rightback? Probably not.
Daniel Agger
Centre Back: Agger is the defender that Everton courted for quite a few years before he made his move to the darkside. He has a hammer of a left foot and is quite a commanding centre back. He is probably Liverpool’s best defender and again is having a decent season. He probably just edged out Sylvain Distin due to his technique. He does have a dodgy barnet though
Phil Jagielka
Centre Back: He is probably the best centreback on show in the derby. Jagielka is our new captain and rightly so. He leads by example and rarely makes mistakes. Jags is the man that Everton look at to keep our back 4 solid and he does that
Leighton Baines
Left Back: Leighton Baines has just been named in the Premier League team of the year above the likes of Ashley Cole, which is quite a testament to the lad, as normally Everton players get overlooked. Baines has been brilliant again this season and I don’t think anyone could argue with his inclusion in a Merseyside XI. His crossing is sublime and his engine is non stop
Kevin Mirallas
Right Wing: Kevin Mirallas is the winger that Everton fans have been dreaming of since the days of Andrei Kanchelskis. He has everything in his locker to be a top player, he is quick, very quick; he has skill to beat a man; he can dribble and he can score. Next season will probably show the real Super Kev, once he has been given time to settle in.
Steven Gerrard
Centre Midfield: Over the years Everton fans have grown a massive hate towards Stevie G, but there is a massive reason for that and it’s not because of his starfish dives….. It’s because he is an outstanding player and he ALWAYS scores against us. Although he is getting on abit and maybe can’t control the game as much as he used to, he is still a very good player. Infact, I’ll stick my neck on the line and say he is probably the best Merseyside player in the last 20 years and as an Everton fan it pains me to say that.
Marouane Fellaini
Centre Midfield: Marouane Fellaini is probably the man that Liverpool fans love to hate, in much the same way that Steven Gerrard winds us up. The big man is a threat. He is comfortable on the ball, he has some skills to pay the bills and he likes to put himself about. In likelihood, he won’t be at Everton next season, so this may be his final Merseyside Derby. Hopefully he can go out with a bang.
Phillipe Coutinho
Left Wing: The Brazilian lad has been on fire since signing in at Anfield from Inter Milan. He will go on to become a top class player and Liverpool has pulled off quite a coup with this signing. Everton will have to be on their toes to stop the little attacking midfielder. Although he hasn’t played much and maybe hasn’t justified his place just yet, I think he will over the course of the next 12 months.
Daniel Sturridge
Striker: Daniel Sturridge has probably made some bad career decisions in his time, but his loan spell to Bolton where he was a revelation probably made up his mind that he needed to leave Chelsea. Brendan Rodgers came in with a £12m move and he has been scoring goals for fun since he signed. He got 2 in the recent 6-0 thumping of Newcastle United and he will more than fill the void filled by everyones favourite Uruguayan.
Luis Suarez
Striker: Where do I start with Luis Suarez? He is a cheat. He admits he’s a cheat. He bites, he mistimes tackles, he feigns injury, he racially abuses, he dives, he handballs, he got Kenny Dalglish sacked……. The list goes on and time and time again, Liverpool fans stick up for the bloke. He can do no wrong…………. And that is probably because he is a wonderful footballer. Suarez can win a match on his own. He has everything needed to be a worldclass player. If he can stop the little niggly things he could go on to become a great. He has pace, skill, speed, wonderful ball control and goals. He would have been the best player on the park at the weekend, but Brendan Rodgers doesn’t think he has let him down. I beg to differ.
Got a different idea from me? Come and give your thoughts on our Merseyside XI thread on the Everton Forum, views from reds and blues welcome: https://www.theevertonforum.co.uk/thread6103.html
the only change to this side would be at RB, i firmy belive GJ has had an outstanding season and one of the best RB’s in the prm without a doupt, other then that completly agree with the rest..would give ANY team a run for there money.
Hi Mate, I was very close to doing so. I think GJ is a very good RB. Im a little biased, but Seamus is vitally important to the Everton team at the moment, were quite lucky he is still underrated!
last season GJ was better than Seamus ! but I read both forums and johnson has got a lot of stick on the rs forum where as coleman is highly praised. if you had 2 forwards evertons have been poor ! what about a 5th midfielder who would that be as sturridge has hardly pulled up any trees
@ Dringo
“what about a 5th midfielder who would that be as sturridge has hardly pulled up any trees”
you cant be for real? Chelski will be kicking thereselfs for letting him go for 12mil, the funny thing is he looks better without Suarez. I got a sneaky suspission that is “we” continue in the same vain for the rest of the season as we did against NFC he may just be sold (40mil is a good price)
I’m also of the opinion that 5 midfielders would make a better team, i’d go for;
Reina
Coleman Jagielka Agger Baines
Fellaini Lucas
Gerrard
Mirallas Pienaar
Suarez
Only Suarez would get in my team as the league positions prove Liverpool are average at best
coyb’s
I’m pretty sure in Johnson moved to Everton he would take Seamus Coleman’s place but other than that the team seems about right. Oh and hopefully you have just jinxed Tim Howard putting him ahead of Reina lol Because Howard always plays well against Liverpool. vacancyhub@ We’ll see after the weekend who has better players but I’m expecting Everton to just sit behind the ball and lump it to Fellaini.