Evra v Baines: Does Moyes really need to splash money on a left-back?
Patrice Evra has been impressive for Manchester United this season
If David Moyes had painted over Patrice Evra‘s parking space at United’s training ground and decided to promote Alexander Buttner to the first team, he couldn’t have made it any more obvious that he doesn’t rate the Reds’ vice-captain.
The United boss’ pursuit of Leighton Baines, pretty much as soon as he was allowed to use the Old Trafford phone, not to mention a hilarious last-minute attempt to sign Fabio Coentrao, illustrates just how little Moyes thinks of his current left-back.
United’s pursuit of Baines looks set to resume in January with rumours beginning to circulate indicating Moyes may even be willing to let Wilfried Zaha move over to Merseyside as part of the deal.
One of the main criticisms levelled at Patrice Evra is that he doesn’t offer enough defensively, especially when compared with his performances a few years ago. With United reliant on their full backs getting forward as much as possible, Evra’s detractors claim he doesn’t track back quickly enough following a marauding run. This seems a tad harsh, particularly this season where the United left back has done more than his fair share of defending and if Moyes thinks Baines offers a better option defensively then he’s somewhat mistaken.
While Evra may have silenced some of his critics when it comes to defending, Baines is always going to be a bigger threat going forward, creating chances far more regularly than his Old Trafford counterpart – or so you would think.
The Everton left back has an impressive eleven key passes in just ten games, a stat most attacking players would be proud of and one that shows just how vital Baines is to the Toffees forward play. Rather than casting envious glances over at the number of chances Baines has created, Patrice Evra actually puts the England international in the shade, having created five more chances, two of which have resulted in goals- despite playing one game less.
All this may make you wonder why on earth Moyes would be so keen to bring Baines to Old Trafford but it is worth noting that the Evertonian does offer something that Evra doesn’t, mainly in the form of goals.
Baines’ brace of free kicks against West Ham prove he is a threat at set pieces, while as a life long Red I cannot recall a single time Evra has even stood menacingly near a dead ball, let alone taken one. Baines also has the edge in duels won, winning more of his tackles and taking on more players than Evra, although the United man is slightly more effective in the air.
The main reason that Moyes seems so set on replacing Evra is at the age of 32 father time is catching up with him. The puzzling thing for some Reds is that rather than being a long-term option, at 29, Baines merely seems like a stop-gap replacement who may find his abilities declining as he reaches the wrong side of 30 next season. Baines may have the slight edge over Evra but is it enough to justify what could prove to be a costly endeavour?