Tottenham 1-0 Everton - Monday 6th July, 2020

[Stan]

Kick-off 20.00

Live on Sky Sports

     VS     

Head to Head
Tottenham - 67
Draws - 55
Everton - 54

Reverse Fixture
Everton 1-1 Tottenham

[RandoEFC+]

Mourinho vs Ancelotti.

Hope Spurs play like they did last night but I expect an improvement. Game too far for us I think, would take a draw.

[Dr. Gonzo]

I don’t really understand what happened to Spurs and why they look so shite now. But they look shite, so I think Everton walk away from this with 3 points

[Spike]

7 hours ago, RandoEFC said:

Mourinho vs Ancelotti.

Hope Spurs play like they did last night but I expect an improvement. Game too far for us I think, would take a draw.

Both spent all their mojo at Chelsea.

[RandoEFC+]

Davies back in replacing Gordon, meaning either Sigurdsson is playing left midfield or we're changing to a more narrow shape with Iwobi playing in a number ten role.

No combination of Gomes, Sigurdsson and Davies has worked well in a midfield pairing. I think they can all flourish in a midfield three (not together probably but two of them with a faster and more defensive colleague perhaps). For this reason I hope to see a 4312 as Spurs focus a lot less of their attacking play through their full backs unlike Liverpool, Norwich and Leicester who we've played so far and it allows us to keep the two up front without having to play Iwobi and Sigurdsson out of position on the wings.

Hopefully Spurs are stale enough for this to become a bit of a scrap. Awful thing to say but a shitty match that comes down to set pieces or individual moments of quality is our best chance at a result.

[RandoEFC+]

That's annoying. We didn't deal with it well but that's the second game in a row we've conceded a ping pong goal.

[Lucas]

Just an observation here.

Correct me if I'm wrong @RandoEFC but the last two or three games (including so far tonight) I've seen involving Everton, Calvert Lewin has been starved of chances. Feel bad for him because he's scrapping away up there but getting little in chances set up for him.

It actually feels like his supply line has been cut. I thought they were doing ok at one point pre Covid when he was banging them in. What's changed? 

Didn't you used to get some success playing that Sidibe further forward?

[RandoEFC+]

1 minute ago, Lucas said:

Just an observation here.

Correct me if I'm wrong @RandoEFC but the last two or three games (including so far tonight) I've seen involving Everton, Calvert Lewin has been starved of chances. Feel bad for him because he's scrapping away up there but getting little in chances set up for him.

It actually feels like his supply line has been cut. I thought they were doing ok at one point pre Covid when he was banging them in. What's changed? 

Didn't you used to get some success playing that Sidibe further forward?

Sidibe set up more goals than Coleman is likely to. To be honest he's scored most of his goals in performances that have been a lot like this. Set pieces, random goals, and goals against teams we control more of the game against. 

This match is panning out pretty much as I feared. Our central midfield is fundamentally broken and you can only shithouse your way through so many games until you just get beaten by a better and more balanced side.

[RandoEFC+]

Definitely time to get Anthony Gordon on. Davies, Sigurdsson and Gomes are all offering the same option of I'll pass it to the other full back or go back to the centre backs. No forward runs from midfield. You'd sort of tolerate it if they were winning 50/50s in the middle but they just aren't. Iwobi is the only one that will make a forward run but he's coming from too deep because we can't push forward with the ball as a team. Our only forays forward are coming from the front two dropping in to receive it to their feet. When that's not an option we end up going for the full backs in their third who just get outnumbered and shepherded away.

I said when we played 4-4-2 for the first time and beat Chelsea that it wouldn't work long term. We don't have the midfielders for it and even if we did I don't think it's the solution. Richarlison makes it look better with his defensive work to help the midfield. The only actual benefit is having Richarlison and Calvert-Lewin playing as a front two but there's no point if we have no control over possession and territory. We need three bodies in central midfield.

[Inverted]

Ancelotti seems to be in one of those positions where he doesn't like his central midfield options much, and so plays 4-4-2 to try and get away with just having to play two of them. 

But I don't think Everton really have wide midfielders who suit the system massively. Southampton for example have Armstrong and Redmond who make quite a nice balance on the sides of a 4-4-2. 

[Storts]

We are so boring.

So are Everton 

[Cicero]

17 minutes ago, Storts said:

We are so boring.

So are Everton 

Two past it managers

[Storts]

Just horrifically dull. Don’t enjoy it, even if you win you don’t feel good about it 

[RandoEFC+]

I don't want to keep repeating myself but that middle third of the pitch is a dumpster fire as far as we're concerned. Can we fuck off with the Davies/Sigurdsson starting out wide while two of Iwobi, Bernard and Gordon sit on the bench. I'd even play Baines on the left wing ffs. We need to stick to Gomes and Davies in midfield for me. Sigurdsson isn't a central midfielder in a 442, you might as well play Stekelenburg in there. He doesn't make tackles and he doesn't make runs to support the attack. Richarlison and Calvert-Lewin hung out to dry.

Even saying they should play together, Davies is completely average and Gomes was a liability tonight. Made about 6 fouls, all of them pointless, and barely completed a forward pass.

Neville was bang on about our attitude throughout the game. We looked totally happy to lose 1-0 to a slightly unlucky goal. We need someone in the middle of the pitch who can actually run.

Hardly that impressive from Spurs but it didn't need to be. You can see the main difference being the number of players they've got who can keep the ball by dribbling past an opponent or two. None of our starting midfield did that once. Gordon and Kean at least tried when they came on.

I can accept the fact that our midfield is entirely square pegs in round holes but I can't accept the unwillingness to stand up and be counted by taking some risks.

Don't really have a problem with our defence. Hopefully we give Jonjoe Kenny a season to see what he's got instead of signing Sidibe. Sign a left footed centre back, doesn't necessarily have to be straight into the first team, keep Digne at all costs, buy a midfielder who can complement Gomes like Gueye did and play with a functioning formation. Sacrifice the Richarlison and Calvert-Lewin front two if needs be. I can see why we're playing that way for the rest of this season but we won't get top 6 playing 4-4-2 I'm afraid.

[Lucas]

Tough tough watch. 

As they said on commentary, if Harry Kane appears more in his own box than the oppositions, that's worrying.

And If Everton don't really show any kind of enterprise till near the end when they punt it forward, that's worrying.

Two old school teams in the league that have been in the top flight for many years but sadly, playing two old school attitudes. Ok, both have taken over mid season so need time but surely it's got to be better than that?

It's just a blessing in disguise for the fans that they aren't paying to watch that right now.

[Storts]

8 minutes ago, Lucas said:

Tough tough watch. 

As they said on commentary, if Harry Kane appears more in his own box than the oppositions, that's worrying.

And If Everton don't really show any kind of enterprise till near the end when they punt it forward, that's worrying.

Two old school teams in the league that have been in the top flight for many years but sadly, playing two old school attitudes. Ok, both have taken over mid season so need time but surely it's got to be better than that?

It's just a blessing in disguise for the fans that they aren't paying to watch that right now.

On the flip side there’s no way we could play that badly if the fans were there. No chance the atmosphere wouldn’t have forced them to lift it a bit 

[Lucas]

1 hour ago, Storts said:

On the flip side there’s no way we could play that badly if the fans were there. No chance the atmosphere wouldn’t have forced them to lift it a bit 

Yep, fair point.

Although you could also say that the lack of ideas going forward could create more moans, groans and frustrations that transmit onto the pitch towards the team.

Unfortunately for you, I don't think Spurs are necessarily the kind of club to make a cut throat decision like losing Mourinho at the end of the season for the sake of forward thinking. I think they will persevere and back him because it would look such a poor decision otherwise to give it him in the first place.

It's just sad that the longer they stick with him, the more I worry for you. It's just sucking the life out your club and you probably feel on repeat a bit right now but it is sad from the outside to see a club regress like that when they had built such a platform for success.