The ONE great player Everton cannot live without

Everton are far from a one-man team and when you consider how little David Moyes has had to spend on the squad that is some feat, compared to other teams and managers around him who have had a lot more to spend and only have one or two top-drawer performers.

The question as to who is the one player your team could not live without is a pretty difficult one to answer; if I am honest, I look at the team and can only see a couple of weaknesses.

Keeper Tim Howard is very good – he’s an international, he has won things at Manchester United and, in all honesty, watching him every week I do wonder why Alex Ferguson let him go. Could we live without him? I don’t know – if he went I think we would miss him and we would need to spend big to replace him with someone as good.

Tony Hibbert at right-back? We could live without him.

Joleon Lescott at left-back? This lad has to be up there with Moyes’ best signings. We paid something like £2.5million for him and it rises to £4.5million on appearances. In today’s market, when you look at what Manchester United paid for Rio Ferdinand, then Lescott looks a snip. Could we live without him? He is one of the players I would have to say maybe we couldn’t do without.

Phil Jagielka? When he first arrived he was played in midfield or right-back and it wasn’t until he was put at centre-half that he showed his true worth. He is so important to us now that he is actually keeping Lescott out of the centre-half slot. Could we live without him? Possibly not.

Joseph Yobo – he has been our best centre-half for a while, but since the arrival of Lescott and Jagielka he has been overshadowed by them. Could we live without him? Yes.

Mikel Arteta – a top player and someone who I cannot understand has not got his international call-up yet. He is a very important part of Moyes’ team and can play in three positions. Could we live without him? I don’t think so.

Tim Cahill – Despite how important he has been, and his goals come to that, we have missed him for a lot of the season, and we have only won 38 per cent of those games without him, but we are forced to play one up front with him in the team and it limits us sometimes. Can we live without him? Possibly not.

Lee Carsley is an unsung hero in the Everton ranks. He allows players like Arteta and Cahill top get forward and not worry too much, he is lacking pace but makes up for most of that with his reading of the game. Can we live without him? Yes.

Phil Neville has the slowest feet in football and he seems to spend more time waving at the crowd to get them going. Moyes loves him and has made him his captain. Can we live without him? If you asked Moyes, I know he would say no, but I would say yes.

Yakubu – The Yak as he is known – is our top buy at the best part of £12million, but he has paid us back in spades. When he arrived, he had a reputation of being lazy and I must admit after the first three or four games I could see why, but Moyes has waved his magic wand again and this lad looks the complete striker. He is closing in on his 20th goal of the season for us in something like 26 games. He wasn’t signed until three weeks into the season and we lost him for four weeks to the African Nations and yet he has still slotted consistently for us. Can we live without him? I don’t think so.

Finally, Andy Johnson. He looked a bit lost at the beginning of the season, before we signed The Yak, and Moyes dropped him for about four games, then he had an injury, but since his comeback he has been playing second fiddle to The Yak and he has improved a lot. I’m not sure it’s with the pressure on him as the main man, but his partnership with Yakubu looks promising. He needs to score more goals, though. Can we live without him? Even after all that, yes.

So far I have gotten it down to Howard, Lescott, Jagielka, Arteta, Cahill and Yakubu – all players I feel we might struggle to replace and live without. I think, if I’m honest, we could get by without Howard and even Jagielka, plus I would take good money if it was offered for Cahill and Arteta.

So we have our final two of Lescott and Yakubu.

Considering we have cover at left-back in Nuno Valente and despite the fact that Lescott is one of the best players I have seen in a blue shirt in a long time, I would have to say if there is one player I think Everton couldn’t live without now it would have to be Yakubu. His goals and his presence have been so important for us and I think he can take us on to better things.