 Welcome to Toffy TV. It is the final word everton 3. Dynamo, give nil a good run out for the Toffys in their final pre-season game ahead of this Saturday's start of the Premier League season against Chelsea. It was a good night. It was a good run out. It was a good occasion. The match for peace. It felt like it was your vision at times. Not a bad thing. Not a bad thing. Let's get your vision to Liverpool. That's what I say. No, it was a really good occasion. The neverton ran out a 3-nil winners off. The team that started, do you think that would be a start and line up on Saturday against Chelsea? It's hard to say. I suppose that's a good thing because we got new players in. Obviously McNeill was only there a day. He was coming in the score. Delhi Alley scored a couple in pre-season. We didn't score that. Obviously the first year game we didn't score at all. So I suppose for this one as well it was good to see us getting a few in the score sheet. Obviously different players getting in with the goals as well, which is good. Obviously, like I said, McNeill, a new player. So I have no idea what will start on Saturday. I suppose that's a good thing because Gray and Gordon obviously started last season. They've both started a few games in pre-season and they've looked basically the same as last season. They've looked okay. They've looked good on the ball, but really in the final third they need to improve massively. Obviously we've lost Michalison now, which was our top scorer. So when he plays in the scoring goals, McNeill's played one game and it's against Kiev. Not a strong Kiev side, but he's come and scored two goals already. So I don't know what will start on Saturday, but I suppose that's not a bad thing. That team that started, I think the shape will be what we start with. I think that's the shape that he likes without having someone in the midfield. A number six, obviously that we've been after all summer. I think without having that, I think three at the back does suit us. Would I want that team? Not really, no, because I don't want Michael Keane in it. I've got Jerry Meener in it. Midfield, interesting, because obviously with the talk of Idrissa Ganagai coming back, obviously Alamon's on the bench as well. He's come back a little bit slow because of an operation. You'd want maybe him in there, but there are a lot of questions. There's players there, the likes of where there's a Wobby fit into this team, where there's Deli fit into this team. There are questions to be asked. So I imagine that's the way we're going to line up with three at the back. I think it suits us. I think the two full backs, who are obviously now wing backs, it suits them. I think the way we played showed that we've obviously been working on that formation. We've seen this at the back end of that season and it was a lot more of a five then. We were getting men behind the ball and we were obviously trying to keep a lot more of a defensive shape. But I think what you saw certainly in this game, certainly in the first half was the two wing backs were trying to play high. It was more of a three, four, two, one at times, three, four, three. We want to call it that although it was never really the two behind. Dominic Cavill who never really played the high, obviously picking up the ball deep. I think we are going to look to play that way. It started well James Tarkowski strolling with the ball, played a lovely clipped ball over the top. Don reacted really well and done fantastically with the header to put it in the top corner at the park end. That was a good way to start the game, calmed everyone down. It was pretty much a full outs of gooderson as well. Loads of kids there, great to see. Loads of kids probably going to their first game. It felt like for the first time, for a long time, it felt like gooderson was back to being a hole again. You had the fan zone before the game, the teams coming out, both coming out of the tunnel. It felt like there was a bit more normality to it. It was a really good start and I think that calmed everyone down, including the players and then the players went about just trying to play how they are being asked to play basically. I think you mentioned the back five there. I don't think we quite got the right squad for four. We've mentioned the midfield, it's not quite good enough, we don't have a proper number six. We've tried a back four in preseason, I think it was Minnesota who played four, three, three, didn't mean Davies number six. Not quite effective enough, didn't quite get the ball and get it forward. I think defensively we're all over the place as well. Obviously you mentioned Michael Key in there and I don't think Jerry Meane is going to be available all seasons. I still think we'll see a lot of Michael Key and the good thing is he's got Tarkowski next to him. Having a back three you can have a three in there as well. He's got the recovery pace and that's good because like I said we don't have a natural number six. I think the good thing about a back three is it allows you to have, you know, but you've basically got, you can have your midfields going forward and you've still got that cover at the back. You've got three centre backs. If one of them's Godfrey who's, you know, he's mobile, he's okay on the ball, he still needs to improve. I thought that it's after watching Keirvin he needs to improve on the ball. It can be quite wasteful sometimes, but you can step into midfield, be a third midfielder, but then he's also, you know, he's got that recovery pace at the back of Michael Key and slips up or Tarkowski who really will because he's a good player's experience. And the good thing is well now, obviously patch them, there's not played a Premier League game yet. Defensively he needs to improve, obviously will because he's only young, but he doesn't have to get up and down the full pitch while he's adjusting to the Premier League. It means he can stay a bit higher at the pitch and do what he's good at which is attack him. Same with Michael Enco and the good thing with Tarkowski in there as well is that he's a leader who will talk to them and improve them. He'll talk to Michael Keane as well because even that Michael Keane's age of 28, 29, he still needs a leader next to him it seems and same with Godfrey who still needs to improve defensively. So having Tarkowski in there has been fantastic by the way. I was fantastic because Keirvin certainly is passing, obviously the pass for the first goals was excellent. I think a lot of teams now play, they play with through the centre of the park. We don't funny enough. But a lot of teams do play through the centre of the park and then they'll get it wide when they get to the edge of the box. We play slightly different than that because we don't have the midfield. A lot of teams will play two in a two midfield now to sit and then two in front of them and it allows them to play through the midfield and we've seen that quite a lot. Then the wing backs or full backs will get high on the edge of the box and I think playing having this system allows us to deal with the full backs. The opposition full backs coming up as being the width by having our wing backs and it also gives us men in the middle of the park not having that natural play to take the ball in midfield. We tried it like you said in pre-season, it just hasn't worked because and to be fair times it didn't quite, when we tried that in this game it didn't quite work, we're too quick to give the ball away. We don't have that play you can hold on to it and can create a little bit of time and space and if you haven't got that player there's no point persisting with the style of play that doesn't suit you. I mean one thing I did take out of this game is that everyone are going to have to adjust slightly. We do play wide far too much. It was one of the issues when Rafa Baleasers came, there was just too much emphasis on being wide, getting crosses in. You have to be able to go through the centre, you have to have different options. I think what playing with the wing backs does allow you is it does allow you those inside forwards, the old fashioned drive forwards and that's where the Marey Grey and Anthony Gordon were trying to use that space trying to drive forward. The problem with those two is that both of them are just a little bit unruly. The play it feels, and it might not be true, but it feels like both of them just play off the cuff too much. The dribbling for dribbling, that has to be, I don't know if you can have both of them on the pitch and this is where Dwight MacNeil might come into it and come on to him, but I just felt in that first half the pair of them were running with the ball down blind alleys and losing the ball and that was allowing Keef to get over the ball and a better team in the Premier League chain would punish it for losing that ball too easy. That's something that we definitely have to work on and having a Wobby and the Corey in the centre of the park as well was an interesting one because there's no natural defender in there so both of them are trying to get on the ball. The Corey less so and there's always that chance you're going to lose the ball that I haven't nicked off you so that's where I suppose an island or potentially a Garnagay would come in and be that player in front and allow the players, but there's definitely food for thought. I think the fact that Tarkowski can use the ball well, you know, we're getting the switches on as well. There's a lot of times when we played the ball over to Patterson who's really high up and obviously he's a tall kid and he's not going to then head at first time into the Marey Gray. So there's that out ball as well and that allows you to go wide but then come inside straight away as well. So it is good that we saw those different ways of playing. I was happy with that. You know, in the first two friendlies there was too much emphasis on the back four or the back three getting the ball and then getting it into the midfield and then the midfield trying to play through. There's far too much emphasis on that. I think I like the fact that there was a little bit more of a balance and we were trying to go back to front a little bit quicker. So that again, give me a little bit more optimism that we're not going to try and play our way through the season and not persist with something because you have to, you don't just, the manager has to play a different style. You have to try and develop it and lane but at the same time, I'm glad that there's another option where as a fellow in the first two games there wasn't another option or the other option was just bang it to Dom and Carvel doing and get him to hold it up and then lay it off. That can't always be the way. Those diagonals are sore in this game. They were definitely a lot more of a factor that worked. I think the first two games we were trying stuff wasn't it. We didn't look like scoring at all. I don't think we got enough players forward. I don't think enough players closer to Dom. But the last two games and certainly, you know, in the Blackpool game, you know, Dom didn't play. Deli Alley getting, playing inside, playing closer to the striker. Utilising that, like the Blackpool, the first goal and getting to Blackpool was perfect. One winger getting up in the pitch, going, going inside. He crosses the ball and she was a fullback at the Blackpool. I think time with the five players in the box, which is what you want to see. Obviously, Tom Dave is getting forward from midfield, which is also what you want, your midfield scoring goals. I don't think, DeMarie, Gray and Gordon, like I said before, they're both right footed aren't they? I don't think, for me, you'd have one of them playing on the left, cutting in with his right, creating that space for Michelin to go down the left. And the same on the right hand side, I'd have a left footed player. I think that's what McNeill offers you, he can play inside. So are there any made foot for his goal coming inside and obviously shooting as well? I think what happened in the first half was because we couldn't, first 20 minutes I thought we were fine and then after that we just started to lose the ball really cheaply. Just trying to almost play on the counter attack at times and then DeMarie, Gray and Gordon were supposed to be the players who were going to take her up the field, kept on losing it cheaply. There were times when Michelin Co wasn't giving an option. He was staying back too much and you've got to have those wingbacks going to work. They have to be going past the players on the ball. They have to be given and they have to always be an option in outball and maybe that's why we've brought in Venegrate over there, maybe again someone else, another option. We haven't got too much on the right hand side at the moment. They have to always be and what I've seen of Paterson when he plays for Scotland certainly, he's always willing to get forward. So they have to be that outball if the likes of Gray and Gordon get on the ball and we're trying to counter attack. But what kept on happening, we kept on breaking down, we kept on a woby sometimes, Gordon, sometimes DeMarie, Gray kept on breaking down and allowed them to start getting on the ball. Wasn't their first thing, they played in the Champions League on the Wednesday and they got through. They started getting on the ball and started to make some dangerous moments where in the Premier League you'll get punished. So we certainly have to get better at that. There has to be an outball rather than just on the up front. There has to be somebody bombing down the left and someone bombing down the right. That's got to be your wingbacks. When they had a few moments, obviously there was the free kick right on our time. But there was just little moments that because it wasn't their first team or they were in a sharp, we managed to block out. It was one attack house, he nearly took the lad into the stand, he cut him in half, which was good. But we have to just be wary of that if having that outball, if we're taking the ball and we're running with it, there has to be someone. Even if it's just to take a player away so that Gordon has only got one man to beat O'Damari Gray, but they have to be better as well. They definitely have to be sharper and a little bit better. But we got to our time, they had the moments, as I said, the last 15 minutes of the first half, they picked up a lot. But coming out second half, certainly when we brought Dwight McNeill on and we brought him on the right of the two, it suddenly gave us that little bit more impetus, I thought. I thought he was a lot more direct and obviously we saw that with the goal, which was great. But that would be just, you know, his first game with Gullison Park, only being signed a day before and he's thinking might have got him impressed. But what I liked was about it is he run into the space, he didn't run at people, he run into the space, it's something that footballers do this too much where they want to take on players, where instead of hit the space, run into the space, it's going to give you a couple of extra seconds or you know. I think he was looking to get, I think the difference with him in playing like O'Damari Gray. O'Damari Gray gets a player and wants to run down the line like a player on. O'Damari McNeill, he saw the space. Well he run into the space and I don't know whether that's a big part of his game because where he was playing for Burnley, be a difference, but certainly coming in on the right hand side and cutting across onto your left, that to me is exactly what we need. He was a lot more direct and I think that showed where the manager certainly wants him and why he's different because obviously he's left footed. He can come across, he's different from the other two. To me it's not about taking on players but it's not about dribbling, it's about using your little bit of pace. Obviously it's his first game. I'm not going to build them up. I've seen a lot of people going, oh see this and see that. It's his first game, leave him. He's got a good goal and then he's gone and got a second goal. But the second goal as well, I think it's a corner. We keep it alive. We get another corner on the other side taking short. Van Agri had come on as well. He just put a lovely ball into the box, that reminiscent of Dean. He's got a player in front of him. He almost uses him as a shield. Get into a great area and it's an easy one for Dwight MacNeill. But that's exactly what I liked about those two signs when I saw them was they were different. Dwight MacNeill was different from the other two players we've got in there. Van Agri was different from what we've seen from Michael Enco, who doesn't always want to put the ball in first time. That disappointed me actually. There was a lot of opportunity sitting in the first half for Michael Enco to just put a ball across the box, put it into the danger area, zipper across and see what happens. He wouldn't eat chech and I think that's something he's definitely got to improve. But something that Van Agri straight away saw, Gray Cross, just part of his game and very quickly you've gone from being 1-0 up to 2-3. Very, very quickly and you've tucked the game away and I think it's those little moments that are going to be key. Having plays were different from what you've already got. Well obviously Van Agri's came in and I was always on your loan and it's not such a stopping Michael Enco's development to develop Van Agri. You can push Michael Enco now. Van Agri is a very good attacking player. Michael Enco might be better defensively but ultimately he's playing wing back, so we need a better output going forward. We saw that in the first half. Michael Enco was stopping and then crossing. The play is getting the block off. I think that one with Van Agri, that was Michael Enco, we had to stop and give it back to the winger or the midfielder. With Van Agri obviously, the play standing up, he's stuck him on, beat him and got the ball, ultimately he's come to a goal. We need to see Michael Enco doing that more, be a bit more direct, trying to take plays on and getting the ball and getting across him. Michael Enco, if that's what the manager wants and that's what this kids does, then you'll have to look at it and go, well I need to do more than that. Or you're training together, the manager is asking you to do certain things, it becomes habit. Michael Enco, I've seen him put crosses in like that for Ukraine, it's not that he can't do it, it's just that he might be doubting himself or it might even be sometimes instruction. If the ball's not on, don't give it away cheaply, come back and we'll start again. We'll have to find that balance, that sweet spot, but obviously as the game went on, they made changes and that suited us more where it owned. We had a bit of a header seam second half, but we started to win the ball in the right area, win it higher up and that's where Dwight MacNeill's goal came from, winning it higher. It was a Warbyw, wasn't it, in midfield, which impressed me because it's not his normal game, breaking up play, but he got stuck in a Warbyw. It shows that he can be available in midfield, I know we've got the link with players coming in midfield, but it shows that he will be. Like I said, we've got Vinagre out there, we can play left wing back and challenge Michael Enco, we haven't really got that on the right. Cormin's not really going to get up and down like Paterson can now, so it shows that Warbyw can play that role and he can play in midfield as well. It shows that Warbyw's got something more to offer. Yeah, listen, it's not the teams. The teams don't better in the last two weeks since they've come back from America. It looks sharper, it looks like it's a more cohesive unit. The back line looks better and it's got options. A Warbyw might end up filling in on the right wing back if some games, if they're worried about maybe Paterson's defensive, Nauch rather than ability more, it's Nauch more if he's switched on to seeing things. You need that cover, you need more options. We've spoken about it there, we still don't have a player who can go into the midfield and take the ball off the back three or the back four if we play back four. You need different options. I just think that for the three at the back, I thought there was a little bit more cohesion. It's about the transition, it's about how you get it through the midfield to the forward areas. That was the only disappointment in the first half. Far too many times that was breaking down, that something's going to have to be improved on. That comes down to individual letters for me, players not doing the simple thing or players trying to do too much, Gordon and Damari, great, trying to take on players. Hopefully that'll come with sharpness and certainly for Gordon, hopefully he's very much still learning this moment in the game. We had a great opportunity in the first half, second half sorry, I think before we got the second goal where he's picked the ball up on the edge of the area and he's been confronted with two on his right foot, so he's tried to go on the outside with his left foot. Sometimes that'll come off for you or sometimes maybe if you go on your right and take a quick snapshot, you might get it but he's getting his, you know, he needs the start just developing that little extra thing, I think of not always just going for the dribble or going for the shot or going for the cross, sometimes he needs to just maybe go, no I'll put my foot on it and start again, but then like I was saying before, that's where you need, that's where you need Michael Enghub based and past and more of what was playing on that left hand side, created the space. That'll all come but once I was a lot more, we looked more of a team, we looked more, there was more cohesion, you know, defensively and going forward, there's a lot more. They seem to be putting more patterns of play together, there's one in the second half pattern, some picks it up but the energy has got incredible, he plays it give and go with it while being nice bit of football and he makes that run down the right, but we didn't get really get a lot of the common last season. It's trust isn't it as well, it's trust of knowing what the players can do, you know, patterns are used a lot of time for that out ball heading it inside, sometimes it came off, sometimes it didn't. You've got to have that trust factor, if I give you the ball, can I, will you give me a back? Or if I give you the ball, if you've got the ability to sprint past the full back, if I put it inside for you, that's going to take a little bit of time I think, and I think that's where cooler heads, just a couple more, that's where if Ghana does come in I think you'll be massive for the midfield because if you're going to play it too then you've got options. I think if Ghana was to come in and listen if he is either saying Ghana but if he does come in, can you put on a wobie in there and have that extra man, in there that extra bit of creativity? You'll work hard for you but as you've got that extra bit of creativity, oh yeah, you know, there's questions about where, you know, where will, you know, deli alley came on in the second half and I thought every time he was on the ball he felt like something, he was going to make something happen. You know, where is he going to play? Is he going to be a replacement for Don? You know, in terms of if Don goes off, is he going to come on for him? Is he going to play on that left hand side and Dwight McNeill maybe plays on the right hand side of the two behind? You know, suddenly you've got options and it's not all about, say this all the time, it's not about your best 11, it's about having different options. You know, some days you might be playing against a really high line and think, well, if we play Damari Gray and Anthony Gordon here, we could expose that but then some days you'll be playing against a team who sit back and you've got lots of space between you and them because they're sitting on the 18-yard box and you need players like deli alley to start Unlocking it and pulling holes in it or being that player that you pull it back in these days and knocking it in so more options the better, the more players, you know, Frank Lampard said that after the game he wants more players. And he knows that, we know that, you know, Ghana would be a start, another forward, whether it be Broger or someone else. And that number six, it's still elusive, you know, we know that's what Frank Lampard wanted from the off. That number six that allows you to play a back four takes someone who takes the ball and opens up the field because I still think we're far too dependent on the wide areas. But if you have got it, watch Dwight MacDeele's show in this game, you do have someone who's left footed who can stay in the width of the goal post, you know, you've got those two behind the centre forward and one's on one goal post and one's on the other. And teams know because he's left footed, he's going to be coming inside looking to shoot which opens up that space for Paterson to run into and Paterson will be knocking one into that space. So it does feel like it's a bit more cohesive, it does feel like there's a plan, you know, we'll see what happens, it's a long season. I do think we'll be going into the season playing a back three. I do think out of this game what we need is, you mentioned Ghana coming in there, I think what Ghana gives you is a bit of a discipline, certainly in your own half. Too many times we've had a corner or a free kick or something and we got back on the ball and just give it straight back to them and being wasteful. So a bit more discipline in our own half, a bit more quality midfield as well to get the ball from back. Yeah, listen, we're still miles off, we're talking about I'm some of being a little bit more optimistic in loose teams, just seeing a team that's not just putting five behind the ball and hoping for the best almost. We're building something out, maybe we've got Paterson and not even. I can see what we're trying to do, whether it works or not, that's going to take quality, that's going to take plays improving, I think it's going to take more people coming into the squad. It's going to take more people coming in the squad than obviously getting rid of some people so that the drop-off in quality isn't the same, you know what I mean? For me it's, I don't mean bad sport this last week but if you've got, you do have a garner and you have an Allen on the bench then there's this similar skill set there. You're not laching from one thing to another, of course there's still, you've got the coring, you don't really have anyone to replace them but you've got similar skill sets there. Gordon and Demarie Gray are similar, I'm not sure both of them can play in this team but certainly one can replace the other without a massive drop-off in knowing what they do. And I think in the last year or so that's been the big issue for me, you lose a player and the player replacing them is nowhere near the same kind of player. So, and again when people last week come out, you know, when Van Agri come in and scratching the red, it's like well now you've got two players you can play left back or left wing back. That may be similar qualities, okay? We haven't got that on the right but a world we could probably fill in for the time being. But it's about finding those players where when the squads may be depleted, you know, the drop-off's not massive. It's not a meaner and Keane comes in for them, it's not, mean is well better than Keane. But in terms of style of play, the simle, so I think that's important. And hopefully we get, you know, listen there's a month left of the window open, hopefully we get a couple more that fill those roles. Overall, do you think it's been a good pre-season? I think obviously it's developed obviously better. It's been productive hasn't it? The games in America, the games I don't think were particularly good. But I think you learn a lot from those games? I think you learn, but also just the training, the day-to-day training, the facilities, you know, probably, you know, I imagine we're top class and we're brilliant for them. Being out in that heat it was incredible. Coming back, they've won the two games, you know, and that's it. Now it gives you that confidence going into the season. Listen, we start with a really tough game and we go from there. And yeah, it's built, it's developed. And let's see where we are and let's see where there are a couple more players where we can get to. But it does feel a bit more positive. So I'm a bit more positive about the season. I'm a bit more positive that, you know, we can hold that on and hopefully give a good account to ourselves this season. We definitely need some more players. So there you go. Let us know your thoughts in the comments on this one. How are you feeling going into the season? Are you optimistic that we can do something this season? Are you more optimistic than you were a couple of weeks ago? Let us know your thoughts in the comments. Make sure to give this video a like. Subscribe if you haven't already. Make sure, if you want daily live exclusive shows to join us over on Toffy TV Premier. The link is in the description and it will be on the screen right now. See you later.