The Fifth Beatle, if ever there was one.
Neil W. Blackmon
As the Landon Donovan omission story showed this week, there’s a thin line between the modern day soccer writer and the modern day soccer fan. I mention this only as a fair preempt for this piece about our #21 Player to Watch at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, England fullback Leighton Baines.
As an American soccer writer, I try to remain as objective as possible. Clearly I want the Americans to succeed– you don’t start a website after a heartbreaking Olympic loss if you have no “dog in the fight”– but I’m also quick to criticize individual players or coaches when necessary- and quick to share unpopular opinions as well. For example,Kyle Beckerman has been the preferred pairing for MB 90 on this site for two-plus years. Suddenly that view is popular. Likewise, my writing and Twitter handle have long-favored Leighton Baines as the English left back over Chelsea’s Ashley Cole- a view rather unpopular but validated by writers like Michael Cox (Zonal Marking). The Donovan story showed how thin the line was– as soccer writers, after all, we began as fans, and through education, training, practice and happenstance, became media voices. For most of us, that process took place as the arc of Landon Donovan’s career played out– and our memories of being simply fans are inextricably linked to Donovan just as our opinions of the US’ ability to succeed in Brazil without him are inextricably linked to our current role as sports writer. Sometimes, objectivity gives way to a bit of feeling.
In that vein, I write about Leighton Baines as a soccer writer diagnosing the chances of England this summer, wondering what it will take for England to do better than their Round of 16 and group runner-up designation in South Africa. But I also write as an Evertonian, a fan of the grandest club in Liverpool and perhaps more so, a fan of our dynamic left back.
Before reading on, check out how these pieces function by reading Garrett McInnis’ fine piece on Nigeria’s Victor Moses.
Number 21: Leighton Baines
Country: England
Position: Left Back
Club Team: Everton FC
American-Based Professional Sporting “Soulmate”: Freddie Freeman, 1B, Atlanta Braves
A match sent from heaven.
When NBC broadcast every game of the final weekend of the Barclay’s Premier League season on its various networks, it was altogether fitting that Everton’s finale, against Hull City, was on “Bravo.” Left for dead by most pundits after the departure of longtime “kick above our weight” manager David Moyes, Everton roared to fifth playing their most attractive football in a decade. “Our Bobby”, or St. Roberto of Martinez, as I’ve affectionately referred to him, took over for Moyes and after some astute loan deals gave the attack more teeth, utilized an attacking style of play that had Everton threatening until the second to last week to steal a Champions League spot from one of the usual suspects. Ultimately, Arsenal took the spot and Everton settled for Europa’s poisoned chalice, but it was a glorious year to be a Toffee– like making a deep run on The Voice or receiving more than one Publisher’s Clearing House letter indicating you’d won a million dollars, without any fine print attached.
Many Everton players had career years, but excepting perhaps veteran goalkeeper Tim Howard, no Evertonian continued to epitomize consistency and excellence like left back Leighton Baines. Baines’ steady play in both attack and on the flank continued to draw the attention of many opponents, which was nothing new, but this time, with attacking talents like Lukaku and Ross Barkley and Gerard Deulofeu surrounding him, the choice to key on Baines’ menacing runs forward was at the opponent’s own risk, as the Toffees finally had the versatile weapons suited to make them pay for such choices.
Baines matched a career high with five goals, again menaced with his precision free kicks, and dished out four assists all while playing defense that his manager called “world class” on the Everton left. The efforts earned Baines a lucrative four year extension at Goodison Park, cementing his status as the heart and soul of the club for the immediate future. Baines returned the praise for both his manager and club, saying Martinez ushered in an attractive and fun new style while setting a benchmark Everton can improve on in the years to come. What was more, Baines’ form finally earned him the spot he’d been due since becoming the first Everton player named to the Premier League’s Best 11 in 2012 (a feat he repeated in 2013): starting left back for his country.
Baines’ consistency has finally displaced Ashley Cole.
In the 2013 campaign, there were whispers Baines couldn’t be far from displacing longtime England left back Ashley Cole as the resident starter for country. After all, no player in that campaign- not Messi, not Ronaldo, not Gareth Bale, Xavi or Iniesta– created more chances for his teammates than did fullback Leighton Baines, who created 116 for Everton. While that certainly said something about how much Moyes leaned on Baines in the absence of elite talent at forward- something Martinez had at his disposal in 2013-14– it also speaks for itself about how dangerous the speedy fullback is getting down the field and from set pieces. Still, Cole retained his starting spot, partly because the longtime knock on Baines was that he wasn’t nearly the one v. one defender Cole is and partly because, well, Ashley Cole had started for England since just after the Battle of London. Martinez’s open lobbying for Baines didn’t hurt, but neither did his overwhelmingly consistent play, an advantage he’s now held over Cole for three years running. After being snubbed by Fabio Capello, Baines was overlooked no more by England’s Roy Hodgson.
So what does Baines offer England as they attempt to navigate “Group of Death B” next month in Brazil? Something different than Cole, for starters. It’s true that Cole, even moving towards the twilight of his career, is still likely a better positional defender and one v. one defender, particularly on the turn, than Baines. The key for Baines is that the gap has closed. That diminishing gap tips the scales towards Baines’ ambitious and lethal attacking skill set, as well as his ability on set pieces- something not overlooked in the choice by Hodgson.
Baines, to his credit, has admitted he can’t be Ashley Cole, still a well-respected figure in England footballing culture. He told The Guardian:
“He could have picked any pairing and no one would have really questioned it. The fact that he has chosen me and Luke is a great vote of confidence because you know what Ash brings to the table. He is phenomenal and has had a great club and international career. I always enjoyed Ash’s company when we were in the squad, so in that respect I’ll miss him. I saw he had some nice words to say and dealt with it really well and dignified. Knowing Ash, I wouldn’t have expected anything different.”
The time had come to turn a new leaf. For England, like for Everton, Baines will play the attacking left back role. Like many left backs in the game today, Baines began as a left winger.. His game is about energy and pace, marauding forward and crossing the ball, because he possesses one of the finest left-footed deliveries in the modern game. He strikes the ball superbly and with great variety. He can deliver a cross or free kick with touch or power; he can curl the ball in multiple directions better than any England player since Beckham. If you were forced to pick a single set-piece taker from the Barclay’s Premier League, for outswinging and inswinging corners, plus crossed free-kicks and direct attempts on goal, Baines would first choice.
It’s been that way for ages– even before he earned Best 11 Premier League honors, writers like Michael Cox (of ESPN and Zonal Marking fame) felt he’d outpaced Cole on the left as the Premier League’s finest fullback. Not all of this is on-ball skill, either. Baines is highly intelligent, both on and off the field, and his understanding with his teammates- whether it be current Red Bulls man Tim Cahill or his current attacking crop of players, Lukaku, Barkley, Mirallas and Naismath, Baines is the perfect fit for teams with powerful aerial targets. In some ways, this generates questions about how he’ll do with England– there isn’t really a Jelavic, Lukaku, or Cahill in the group to dominate with the head– and England’s pacier, more technical forwards as well as central mids may not be ideal for a menacing overlapper– the English could suffer from a lack of cover. Still, it’s a risk Hodgson seems willing to take, and it’s a role, through qualifying, Baines looked increasingly comfortable in. Statistically, Baines is the most creative player in England– and on a team that is in a group where finding goals from nothing will be at a premium– he’s a must have.
Baines prefers coffee shops and indie bands to the lavish life of most footballers.
Regardless of the different technical and tactical challenges playing for England will present for the Everton man, one thing Baines won’t suffer from is fan and teammate support. Baines is perhaps the most affable, genuine, and likable player in the Premier League. Soft-spoken and quiet, Baines is often mistaken for an introvert. He’s more likely to be seen at a Liverpool coffee shop talking about music (he posts musical recommendations on the Everton website, where he has a fascinating blog, frequently during the season) than out at a night club enjoying the spoils of his lavish contract. Baines’ hairstyles are straight out of England’s indie-rock scene or an old Beatles video, and he’s been called “The Fifth Beatle” by the UK publication False Nine, who hailed “Baino” as one of the world’s finest hipster footballers.
Baines seems to thoroughly enjoy his quiet, more subdued, coffee shop culture life off the pitch. And it’s a perfect fit for Everton, a club that has tremendous support but is forever overshadowed in the English press by the giants outside of Liverpool and the red team that plays across Merseyside. In that respect, Baines has been hailed as “underrated” by many, and viewed as one of England’s less scouted or well-known players globally. In an excellent piece, Four Four Two asked: “Does the man on the Street in Rio know Leighton Baines” and answered “no”, but concluded rather quickly that in Brazil, that could be an advantage. It’s not often one of the world’s most productive attacking players, especially one who plays fullback, is a man of subdued repute. But this is precisely the space in the soccer universe Baines occupies, that of the star who is only perceived as such in English soccer circles.
Hugs in a sport that has always been machismo trendsetting.
And it’s this brilliant off-the-field and quiet and pensive off it personality that aligns Baines with Atlanta Braves star Freddie Freeman.
When talismanic figure Chipper Jones retired after the 2012 season, the Braves leadership baton turned over to catcher Brian McCann, a multiple time All-Star and the Braves longest tenured position player, behind Jones. The Braves promptly won the division title for the first time in eight seasons in 2013, only to see McCann leave for the Yankees as a free agent this past winter. The common question after McCann’s departure was “Who would fill the leadership void?”
Enter Freddie Freeman. In many ways, Freeman was an unlikely candidate. In a sport that invented the high five, the dap, the chest bump and featured iconic figures like “The Bash Brothers”, Freeman prefers to dish out hugs. His trademark hug of a teammate who gets a big hit or makes a great defensive play features its own Tumblr account– a must view here.
Not an outspoken locker room guy, Freeman has grabbed the leadership role in the locker room vacated by McCann despite a soft-spoken personality that prefers silliness to serious and example to extrovert. He said in spring training in Orlando this year he’d prefer to lead by example or by giving a laugh- something he’s quite good at it, judging by these 1970’s dance moves, complete with (actually prescribed) Buddy Holly glasses, at Dan Uggla’s wedding last winter. Freeman is more likely to be caught helpless in an Atlanta snowstorm (and rescued by none other than Chipper Jones) than he is to be seen at any of Atlanta’s night spots- but on the field, he’s a terror.
Freeman’s value to Atlanta is immeasurable.
Freeman has improved statistically every season in the big leagues, and now sports a career .287 batting average with an on-base percentage of .361. His defense is above-average at first base, and his range ratings defensively, like Baines’ one on one defending, have improved with each season. For his talents, the Braves rewarded him with a huge eight year extension this winter, around the time Baines received his at Everton. Both will be the face of their club/franchise in the years to come.
Freeman made his first All-Star team last year, at 24, a year younger than Baines was when he received Barclay’s Premier League “Best 11” honors. Widely acknowledged in high-level baseball circles as the most prodigious talent of the Braves young corps of Jason Heyward, Julio Teheran, Craig Kimbrel and Andrelton Simmons– Freeman remains, nonetheless, mostly an afterthought in nationwide discussions about the “best young players in baseball.” Names like Mike Trout are appropriately rated above Freeman– but so are names like Bryce Harper, Jose Fernandez, Sonny Gray and Stephen Strasburg, despite evidence that Freeman is thus far more productive and GM arguments that Freeman should be valued above even the likes of Miami’s prize possession, Jose Fernandez, recently lost to the season to an elbow injury.
In Atlanta, where fans adore Freeman in a way similar to how Evertonians adore Baines, Freeman’s place in the national discussion doesn’t matter. In fact, many Atlanta fans wouldn’t mind keeping their young star’s value quiet. All the better that teams continually underestimate him, even if educated writers and general managers don’t (as evidenced by his fifth place finish in the MVP voting last season). The sky is the limit for Freeman, who like Baines, will be content to quietly specialize in excellence.
The difference, of course, is if Baines and England have a massive World Cup– the secret on Everton’s quiet start will be secret no more.
Neil W. Blackmon is Co-Founder and Co-Editor of The Yanks Are Coming. Follow him on Twitter at @nwb_usmnt.