*** OMT Tottenham Hotspur v Everton (Goodison Park, Sun 3rd Nov @ 13:30) ***

[thfcsteff]

Holtby can be a little...erm, over-enthusiastic at times, but he's also decent in defence, which is key here. When in possession, that central midfield should look like this:

-------------Sandro---------------


----------------------Holtby------
--------Eriksen-------------------

And when not in possession, it should look something like this:

---------Sandro------Holtby-------

----------------Eriksen------------


Now, playing Siggy in Holtby's spot means that he has to be defensive alongside Sandro when we don't have possession. And I'm not sure he can do that effectively.

I sort of see your point, but for me (in the side I'd play up there) I'd be looking for Paulinho to drop in alongside Sandro and shore up the DM area when we cede possession. I think one of Holtby's attributes is his enthusiastic pressing, but Sigurdsson's relationship with Soldado is the key factor for me here…I would still love to see the side below, but probably won't happen…again, all of these 'formations' basically become variants of 4-4-2 or 4-5-1 as we don't play 3 at the back (something I've dreamt we might try again - oh how great it would've been if Glenn has managed to find success with it), so effectively, you're looking at a central midfield of Sandro and Paulinho. The biggest issue with that, of course, is creativity in the artisanal sense as it ain't exactly in enormous supply. But for me tomm, away at Everton, I'd go for solid, functional and set-up to hit on the counter with speed as wide as possible from our inverted wingers. Im looking for a win tomm over any other potential ingredient ;-)…


Here's my 11 again...

Lloris

Walker Younes Daws Verts

Sandro

Lennon Paulinho Townsend

Sigurdsson

Soldado


We shall see mate, COYS!!!!!!

 

[Yiddo]

Typical Spurs moment. All we need is a win to go second and we will **** it up. This is what Spurs do.

0-2 Lukaku and a Pienaar.

 

[braineclipse]

I like that team steff. I can see it happening too. Although perhaps Holtby for Sig. Some rotation from the lads that played 120 minutes mid week could be important and Sig isn't the most athletic player in our squad. I think Paulinho can take it. Kaboul being fit would be a big boost.

 

[Mumorn]

leaving now.

COYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! see you on the other side!

 

[paxtonwolf]

leaving now.

COYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! see you on the other side!

Bring a mac, its p#ssing down

 

[milo]

Typical Spurs moment. All we need is a win to go second and we will **** it up. This is what Spurs do.

0-2 Lukaku and a Pienaar.

Have you considered that Everton are quite a good team and that this will be a tough match?

 

[Yiddo]

Have you considered that Everton are quite a good team and that this will be a tough match?

Difficult or not we should be beating these teams if we want to progress but as i said Spurs will be Spurs and we will lose.

 

[Jordinho]

Big weekend with the **** playing the ****e and us playing spurs. If things go well we could be sitting pretty come six o'clock on Sunday. Hopefully a good atmosphere and I'm sure an open game. I don't think spurs are amazing this year. More workman like this season and grinding results out. I really fancy us on Sunday. I'd keep the same starting team with Ossie to come on for Ross if need be but I think he may have something to prove on live tv and will put a peformance in.

i'm really excited for this match, i really think we can get 3 points. spurs have been winning but they haven't been dominating.

Im a bit concerned about our defensive frailties. Both Hull and Villa seemed to create countless chances against us and Im just a little concerned that against better opposition we wont get away with it, dreading the derby at this rate!

I'm actually dreading this game. Spurs have a great little side (As do we) but i'm with dunkanmckenzieismagic on this one. Their attack will take advantage of our weak defense. We will let in a goal or two so its just a question of if we are able to score more than them or not.

I think I usually have our fixtures against Spurs down as three points for whoever the home side is, with maybe the odd draw here or there. I was thinking they'd be very strong this season and probably restrict us to a draw or even a loss, but they really haven't impressed me too much this year with their open play.

If Spurs leave Goodison with a point I'll be very dissapointed.

It's a tricky one this. Although I feel more confident under RM with the lesser sides, I felt more confident under DM with the better sides..... If we can limit them to a small amount if chances, I think we have this in the bag.

Spurs have the potential to be amazing when their talented new signings gel, but they're not there yet. They're eeking out wins and I still think their defence and full-backs (the latter being the weakest part of their team) can be got at.

Spurs are actually struggling to break teams down at home right now (partly because they haven't gelled yet as we say, but the fans are also getting on their back), so they might actually prefer to come to Goodison and have a team take the game to them. What I would say is that Martinez shouldn't be too gung ho at the weekend, as Spurs can carve teams open on the break away from home - it's working through compressed space that's their problem right now.

I'm not convinced that Spurs will retain a European spot by Christmas, let alone the end of the season. So far, they've played mostly teams in the bottom half of the table - including Palace, Norwich, West Ham, Villa, and Cardiff. Most of their wins have been by just a single goal. Now you could argue that we have largely the same record, but we beat one of the top teams we played (Chelsea) and Spurs did not. Of course, we beat the Hammers away, and Spurs lost big time at home. To me, Spurs look like a work in progress, so I suspect a close game settled by a single goal.

Sigurdsson seems to be doing well this season from what I've seen of Spurs games. I think he had two games in a row where I was just mind blown by his ability when he put the ball in the net.

We have the potential to take second place for at least a week tomorrow! I never feel comfotable playing Spurs though, but Martinez is impressing so far along with all of our new signings.

I doubt much will be changed tomorrow from the last match, maybe he will give naismith a start as he is a more defense minded player and spurs look to have a really talented squad going forward (however on the other hand we are at home and should go for it!), and on top of that Mirallas hasnt been the play I thought he would be this season.

Lukaku to score 12 goals and probably knighted post-match.

.

 

[Spurs7891]

Everton used to be our fortress away from home. We had such a great record there that their players and fans used to hate playing us. But all that changed when Moyed took over Everton. He not only improved their record against us but have made us hard to beat them since then. We have failed to win in our last 6 matches there, losing the last 3 matches. But with Moyes joining ManU, it is time for us to get back our good record there. They have done well under Martinez so far but we have the quality to beat them as long as we perform to our best.

Our lack of goals from the strikers have been our main problem this season. Soldado may have scored 4 goals but 3 of them have been penalties. In contrast Defoe has not even scored a league goal despite scoring 8 goals in the Cup competitions. Our record signing Lamela has not scored any goals while Adebayor has not even played at all. We really need more goals from our strikers, especially Soldado and Defoe. But they are not being helped by our midfield lacking in creativity. Soldado does looks sharp in front of goal but he is not getting many chances to score. AVB should tell the mdfield to supply the ball to Soldado more instead of trying to score themselves.

I think having too many options in midfield is actually affecting our balance. We can't seem to come up with a settled midfield, always having to change the players around. Still not sure which is our best midfield combination. But for their part, all the midfielders have been inconsistent as well. Paulhino started well with some goals and assists but he has gone off the boil lately. Sandro is still trying to get back his old form after his injury problems. Dembele still has not shown his form of last season. Of all the players, I have been most disappointed with Eriksen. Thought he will be our playmaker but he has been very poor after his first 2 matches. His replacement Holty has done much any better either. Both Towensend and Lennon are still lacking in finishing touches despite having brilliant dribbling skills and pace. Sigurdsson did well to score that wonder goal against Hull. Won't mind if the midfield contribute to our goals but will prefer them to create the chances for our attacks. We can only hope all those midfielders will come good in this match. No doubt we will look brilliant if they do play to their best.

It was annoying to lose at Everton last season, conceding 2 goals in the last 2 minutes. Caulker was the main cause of the defeat making that stupid mistake at the crucial moment. Hope our defence would learn from that. We need to be alert all the time until the match is over. Hope Rose is fit for this match. If not, Vertonghen will do well in his place. A bit worried about Walker, Dawson and Chiriches. They tend to make mistakes when under pressure. Hope they can avoid any silly mistakes. It will be difficult but it will be great if we can keep a clean sheet in this match.

We have a chance to move up to 2nd place in the league table if we win. Hope we will turn up with the right mentality, avoid any silly mistakes and get the all-important win.

 

[braineclipse]

Difficult or not we should be beating these teams if we want to progress but as i said Spurs will be Spurs and we will lose.

"These teams"? We're talking about a top 6 contender away from home, not relegation fodder.

Not sure how long you've been a Spurs fan for. I remember too vividly the '90s and early '00s where being within a win against Everton from being second in the league at this stage of the season would have sounded like a fairytale.

I really dislike this "we will lose because we're Spurs" attitude. Could go well into a rant, but I'll contain myself.

 

[paxtonwolf]

Difficult or not we should be beating these teams if we want to progress but as i said Spurs will be Spurs and we will lose.

Chelsea didnt, for a good reason, Everton are a very good team at home. Defeat to them today would be no disgrace (losing 3-0 at home to West Ham was).
Draw would be a decent result. A win would be immense

 

[Jordinho]

Daniel Wynne @danielwynnethfc

A win today will be our 6th successive away win in all comps for the first time since a club record 10 wins between April & Oct 1960

 

[paxtonwolf]

Daniel Wynne @danielwynnethfc

A win today will be our 6th successive away win in all comps for the first time since a club record 10 wins between April & Oct 1960

Impressive, the opponents havent been the best in the world. Still, 5 consecutive wins on the road is not be to sniffedf at. Lets make it 6

 

[Yiddo]

"These teams"? We're talking about a top 6 contender away from home, not relegation fodder.

Not sure how long you've been a Spurs fan for. I remember too vividly the '90s and early '00s where being within a win against Everton from being second in the league at this stage of the season would have sounded like a fairytale.

I really dislike this "we will lose because we're Spurs" attitude. Could go well into a rant, but I'll contain myself.

But we are not in the 90's anymore, we have spent over 100M and should be beating Everton away. We have been in this situation a number of times and have ****ed it up most of the time so i have the right to have this attitude until something changes. Everton are the best of the rest and are on par with the mid table fodder. the reason they are a top 6 side is because Liverpool have dropped off a little over the years. They have no Moyes now and even though they have had a half decent start to the season they have not looked amazing.

You have to aim high and if we can't beat Everton away then we won't have much chance against alot better teams in the champions league.

 

[Hotshot-Tottenham]

This is a huge match — win, we go second / lose we are seventh.

My team would be:

----------Lloris---------
Walker-Vlad-Daws-Jan
---Pauly----Sandro-----
Andros--CE----Holtby
-------Soldado--------

We will need to keep possession of the ball at a place like Goodison and can have no passengers. Though Siggurdson and Lamela are bigger goal threats than Lewis, I think he needs to be in there to hold the ball, put a foot in, and keep it moving. Got a good feeling about this one. COYS

Conversely, that's also the reason that it's not such a huge match: we're still in the stage of the season where one result can catapult a team 4 or 5 places as they're so bunched up.

Mistakes at this stage aren't fatal and positions in the table - right now - don't mean a whole lot. It's more about close proximity in terms of the number of points.

Of course, that's not to say that winning isn't good and wouldn't help, but it's not the be all and end all today.

That said, COYMFS.

 

[Hotshot-Tottenham]

But we are not in the 90's anymore, we have spent over 100M and should be beating Everton away. We have been in this situation a number of times and have ****ed it up most of the time so i have the right to have this attitude until something changes. Everton are the best of the rest and are on par with the mid table fodder. the reason they are a top 6 side is because Liverpool have dropped off a little over the years. They have no Moyes now and even though they have had a half decent start to the season they have not looked amazing.

You have to aim high and if we can't beat Everton away then we won't have much chance against alot better teams in the champions league.

Sorry mate, gotta call BS on a lot of this.

Yep, we spent £100m and also sold £100m. I think we've improved overall but it's clear we're still settling in.

Best of rest? Arguably so are we in finishing 4-5-4-5. There's no way Everton are mid-table fodder mate. They're a good solid team with two or three stand out players and a well respected manager.

If we can't beat them at theirs then right now, that puts us in the same company as a lot teams this season. We have no divine right to beat anyone.

I'd be content with a draw today, just keeping picking up those points and see where it takes us.

A win? 2.2 average ppg, 6 away wins in a row, best ever start? Yep, same old Spurs isn't it.

 

[braineclipse]

But we are not in the 90's anymore, we have spent over 100M and should be beating Everton away. We have been in this situation a number of times and have ****ed it up most of the time so i have the right to have this attitude until something changes. Everton are the best of the rest and are on par with the mid table fodder. the reason they are a top 6 side is because Liverpool have dropped off a little over the years. They have no Moyes now and even though they have had a half decent start to the season they have not looked amazing.

You have to aim high and if we can't beat Everton away then we won't have much chance against alot better teams in the champions league.

I suppose the same is true for Chelsea then? No chance in the CL considering they couldn't beat Everton away...

Keep underestimating our opponents and expect what the unrealistic and keep being disappointed as the self fulfilling prophecy of us sooner or later not being able to continuously reach the levels you expect.

Fans demanding/expecting short term results that seem unrealistic from an objective viewpoint is not the same as the club aiming high by the way.

 

[Spurs7891]

Any official team news yet ?

Feel very nervous about this match. Really hate these Sunday matches when all the other teams have played on Saturday. It puts undue pressure on us having known the other results. Hope we can just concentrate on this match and win.

 

[Jordinho]

Everton have won their last 3 home matches against Tottenham in all competitions.

Everton are 3-3-0 against us in the last 6 Premier League meetings at Goodison.

Everton have won 9 and drawn 1 of their last 10 home matches in the Premier League.

I can certainly see how this should be a walkover for us.

 

[SteveAWOL]

• Everton have taken 28 points from their last 10 Premier League home games.
• Tottenham have won four games by one goal to nil in the Premier League this season, equalling their total from last season.
• Tottenham lost only two of their first 15 Premier League games at Goodison Park but have won none of the last six (D3 L3).
• Spurs last scored more than twice at Goodison Park in a league game back in August 1984 (W 4-1). They have played 28 games there since.
• Andros Townsend has had 22 shots from outside the box this season, only one fewer than Hull City have in total.
• Spurs have scored more penalties than any other side in the top-flight this season (3).
• No player has assisted more Premier League goals than Kevin Mirallas (4) this season.
• Tottenham have played more long passes than any Premier League side this season (557).
• Everton have made more last-man tackles (7) than any other side.
• Romelu Lukaku has five goals and one assist in five Premier League appearances for Everton.
• Tottenham are yet to concede a goal to a non-London side in the Premier League this season.

Two Iberian coaches who encourage flowing football, Martinez and Villas-Boas games are usually entertaining. Last season the Spaniard’s Wigan took four points from Spurs as his high pressing game harassed AVB’s men into errors. Now, with better players under his command, expect more of the same on Sunday.

Read more at http://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/fourfourtwo-preview-everton-vs-tottenham