 Welcome to Toffy TV and it's the match preview Everton vs Tottenham Hotspur. I'm joined by Mike. We are in the middle of just chaotic transfer deadline day, how we found any time whatsoever and of course you know when we finished this by the end of the day who knows what our squad will look like but obviously Tottenham Hotspur never an easy game for Everton. Yeah, we tend to struggle with this one. Yeah, our past performances against the man great are they. It's going to be another difficult game and at the minute with the squad being as stretched as it is I think most games are aren't it at the moment. Good news with Ghana coming back from the African couple nations so yeah I think it's just going to be another tough game. It's going to look to keep the shape that he's been doing, keep us nice and solid and see if we can pick him off on the break I think would be the idea and the plan. Yeah well we played just over a month ago, you know we think 23rd of December. It was one of those defeats that actually made you feel alright. You know we did really well down there, we went too near down quite early in the game and we went after them obviously on to Gomez, come on and he got a goal and we were really unlucky down due with it in the barn the last minute. Again goal line technology just showing us how far away we were from getting a point and that gave us a little bit of a spring in our step. Since then it's not been as easy obviously playing Manchester City, Wolves was a real low point. Obviously we've beaten Palace but then obviously gone out the cup. But we have had a couple of draws in the Premier League and I think again on Saturday that's going to be news mentioning it there. The backbone is trying to get a clean sheet isn't it? The backbone of the side, the defence trying to get a clean sheet. Cos I'd call it like a bit of a holding pattern at the moment where we have got issues, we know that. You know obviously again Fulham nil nil on Tuesday look at the team, I can't attend to my field. We're in that position where the manager will look at it and he'll just be trying to grind out the clean sheet first and foremost and if we can make it then great. But against tough teams with a squad that's really, really decimated you are just trying to get the basics out aren't you this time just to get us through this period. Yeah I think you've done that on here. I think we're in a situation whereby we've got to look to just like you say keep 10 points taken over. We've had two clean sheets in the Premier League on this month now in January and that'll be the bedrock of it. The irony is for home games I fancies more at home against a better opposition and to do against a team who would try and look to frustrate us because we've got nothing to break them down with. So it sounds strange but I feel a little tiny a little bit more optimistic about this just with off the back of the game away at the, I was going to say White Heart Lane, the Tottenham Hotspur stadium because obviously they play a really, really high line don't they? It might give us a few opportunities in behind. So look yeah we'll set up, we'll look to frustrate them and hopefully we can hit them on a break, we can win some corners, free kicks and that sort of build a bit of pressure from there. So but look it'll be a tough game there, they're banging for them at the moment as well aren't you? Yeah I mean listen my worry for this game is that Spares give you chances but we don't take chances. They score goals, they've just come off the back of beating Bremford 3-2 and they give goals up. I mean Bremford had a few opportunities, sloppy play by Spares leading to opportunities but we're in a run of like not being able to take chances. Dominic Carvelin obviously really struggling better, missing sitters, midfield not really providing much at the moment. Obviously Jack Allison scored last week against Luton but the keeper should be doing well better. So you know you'd be looking at this thinking we'll get opportunities here. If we do get opportunities obviously we have to take them and that's what we haven't been doing. Manager will talk about exiles, about paying your back and all that kind of thing. It's going to have to pay us back if we want something in this game because Spares as you said they do play that high line, they do play with a bravery about them. Also it's not a counter-attack on football, you know I was looking at the possession, 68% possession here against Bremford and a lot of the time it looked like they were trying to play a counter-attack but they do keep the ball and if we get chances we've got to take them because I think they will and they've got the likes of Madison back now, obviously Richard Allison's on fire, they obviously haven't got Sun yet but we have got to, I know that's a stupid thing to say isn't it but we have got to take some chances. The good thing is and this is where my optimism comes a little bit more for this game than like I say than if we were playing a Luton for instance is that they will give you opportunities and obviously we know we need a lot of them to take any. And we might get a few more than we would against other teams so from that perspective I feel like we could get their goal and then we're relying on what we have been all season. We're relying on the back four to be nice and solid and for Pickford to have a good day and realistically that's what we're going to need because player for player they've got a better team than us at the moment. Dice is working with a paper thin squad so yeah look we've just got to hope that we can make it difficult for them and like you say when them chances come is that we look to take one or two with them. You know the positive was down at the ground you know after super but after what 10-15 minutes where we went 2-0 down and possibly could have been 4-0 down. After that I thought we looked a better team and I thought we looked to be in control and they looked like frustrated and they sort of ran out of ideas so if we can be solid and not give anything up stupid I don't know so obviously Madison come back he's the type that can unlock those situations but. He is he is makes them tick and was doing brilliantly before the injured. Let's just have a little look at the space team that beat Brentford. So as you can see there obviously Culesescu on one side Madison, Seymol Verna, with Charlottes and Ben Sirkerys, I think he's a great player in the midfield and van de Ven has been a brilliant sign for them. Vicario and goals being a great sign for them. They do get hide, the fullbacks do get hide, they push you right to the bar and that's how we basically lost both goals. Certainly the second one wasn't the first one was more of a mistake from a set piece but we're going to have to be concerned with that and I understand what you're saying. We are better when we don't have the ball so when you're playing better teams you do have the ball and you're waiting for that moment. The problem with us is it's such a lack of pace on the break as well, obviously it costs us and we are struggling at the moment with players. The manager obviously experimented last week by having Dom and Beto, it didn't really work because they're occupying the same spaces. And Dom I think, I think Dom was a lot better on Tuesday night against Fulham, he won a lot more of the aerial duels, he won 10 out of 14, that brought other people into play. I think what was a positive from the other night was Jack Harrison playing behind him, that's what the manager wants, that probably means Ashley Young is going to play right midfield. Obviously we don't know whether he'll continue with Ben Goffrey at right back, he clearly does not trust Nathan Patterson, certainly defensively and that was the job he was trying to stop them obviously on the left hand side. William has always had joy every time he's played Patterson, Robinson with his pace and maybe you'll look to do the same thing in the next couple of games with Spades and then Manchester City playing. Both of them like to get the full backs over, whatever Manchester City call their full backs. So we might continue with that and Ashley Young, I have no issue with Ashley Young playing right midfield, I think he offers such hard work that he fits the profile and that allows Jack Harrison and I do think that is the manager's back-up plan to having no decor. Because he can go left and right, he can use either foot, that's the difference, Dwight McNeill, we saw him in the centre of my field but that's the difference, I think Dwight McNeill can't play in that position because you know which way he's going to go every single time. I think for me that would be what we'll be looking to do because obviously the corey's not going to be back. I guess a guy, as you mentioned, should be back, he retains Friday and should be fit enough to slot straight in and he's professional to slot straight. Oh no, I can't see him. No, make me get a spot on the bench, mightly. Maybe, but I think that's what we'll go with and I think having a disagree on a game back just gives us that little bit of experience, knowing when to press, not when to press. And Garn, I think, shows you the night that without being flashy and doing unbelievable things, he can get round the pitch and he can put fires out and he gears mobile off to get all round the pitch as well. Yeah, no, I'd like to see that. I'd like to see Ashley Young, James Garner, Jesse Garner, McNeill on the left, Harrison behind, Calvert Loom, but I think could be something to look into obviously as the game goes on. I think Beto could actually benefit playing against a team like this more than because you'll have that space of it to run in behind and as we've seen against Newcastle, when you create that little bit of space, he's got that power of running. That's his game and we're playing him as if he's dumb and that's not his way. So almost if Calvert Loom can occupy them. So would you start Beto over Dom? No, no, I don't care. No, no, what I'm saying is I'd have Dom start and for the last 20 minutes I'd have Beto. No, I fully get what you're saying. Let's just have a look at the team, obviously, that started just to be fresh anyone's mind against Fulham. Obviously Dan Duma looks like he did pick up an injury, so I think it'll be Dwight McNeill back onto the left hand side. So there won't be too many changes. It will be interesting what we do with Ben Goffy, whether we keep Ben Goffy. I think what we showed you the night, and I think it's pace, I think if the manager's got, the manager I think wants Ashley Young playing right midfield and I think with the other injuries we've got. If he thinks Ben Goffy, Ben Goffy, it's like you give him a job to do and that's it. You let him get on with it kind of thing. And then what we've seen the other night, he was given a job to do and in tandem with Ashley Young, the nullified, the left hand side. I think that could be again the job he does. Teemo Wainer is pacey, very, very pacey. And Patterson doesn't always, he doesn't judge, he doesn't, his timing's typically off, he doesn't always cover the space well. And I think he might be thinking well Ben Goffy at least has got that recovery pace. So I could see him going for it again. The only change I'd like to see there would be a dress of Garnagay coming in for Dan Duhmer and putting Neil back on the left. That's what I would go with. I think going back to what you said about Beto, I think the only problem with Beto is that he's raw. Incredibly raw. He's a player you can tell, a started football late. He doesn't have the fundamentals in his game and you can see that. That sometimes is a good thing by the way. But I don't think we know how to use him. He knows what he wants to do. And you're right, the slip in the ball round, the back, and I think we did try against Luton, but he got caught up too many times jostling with the centre back. Maybe he hasn't got that base couple of yards of pace that get you away from the centre back. Sometimes I think he's running with the fridge on his back. It's like he can't get going on the cartoon with the old ones of the T-Shain, he's like giving it all that. It's the first couple of yards, but I think if we can get him into better areas by releasing him earlier, but it is those fundamentals for me that I think you learn when you, if you get into football younger. As I said, that's not always the deal. And then though kids who come in and don't get those fundamentals sometimes, you can play off the cuff a little bit. You can play off the cuff when we see that. We're seeing that a lot more. Excuse me. But you can see that he comes to football a little bit late. So yeah, I agree with you there. I think if you can stay in the game, you know, and Carvelin can occupy them, get the defence, obviously a little bit tired there. Just sort of a bit like the Newcastle situation where better then comes on and they're still pushing to try and win the game. The spacing behind for them to run into where he's not necessarily like you say trying to pull away from the defender, but he's starting from a position of space already to run into. He's got that running power then once he gets going. He's fast, if you know what I mean. But yeah, it's the first couple of yards, but the first couple of yards are normally the most important because they get you away from the player. If you, once you pick up the ball, you can't get away from the player because obviously they're running without it. Unless you drive mechnir, you can run faster with the ball than you can without the ball, oddly, which is just weird. It's just science. It is somewhat logistics as well. Let's have a little look at the stat pack for the game on Saturday. This Saturday, 12.30pm, kick-off at Goodersham Park. Everton take on Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League. Everton have played Tottenham a total of 63 times in the Premier League, but only a total of 9 wins go into the Toffees, 24 draws and 30 wins to Tottenham. Everton haven't beaten Tottenham in the Premier League since the 13th of September 2020, a 1-0 win at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Over five this season, Everton have won eight games, drawn four and lost ten. Spurs have won 13, drawn four and lost five. Everton set 18th in the league after a 10 point introduction, while Spurs sit fourth. Everton's biggest win this season was a win over Newcastle 3-0. Tottenham's biggest win this season was a way at Burnley 5-2. Tottenham's top scorer this season is Huming Son, although we won't be playing this Saturday as he's at the Asian Cup. The former Everton player of Charleston is currently on eight goals. Everton's top scorer is still Abdelai Decorate, who is on six goals. Pedro Porro tops the assist chart with seven assists, followed by James Madison with five assists this season. Jordan Pickford is currently the goalkeeper with the most clean sheets in the Premier League with eight clean sheets. Tottenham have five clean sheets this season. There you go. In the stat pack there with Charleston doing really well. Let's have a look at his numbers. Nineteen games, eight goals, XG 6.92, three assists and an XA of 1.06. As you can see his heat map there predominantly on the left hand side but all over the pitch. This is a player that I think for us obviously as Evertonians we've secretly hoped he failed at Spare so we could get him back. But I also think that some people are a bit like that now going see if he told you. We told you he was a good player. We were the Evertonians aren't we? Some of our ex-players we want them to do well to prove that they were good at our club. I think Rich Charleston is one of them for all the grief that people around Jim Carragher gave him while he was at Everton. I think a few of us are quite happy he's doing well because he proved that he is a good player and he did do well for us. He's putting the ball in the back of the net and of course he scored against us at Tottenham hot players. But we don't want him to do well on Saturday because we're seeing that he is a good player and he does work hard. I also think that when he went to Spares I think he was injured and I think he's played for a year and a half with an injury. But he didn't want to stop because that's the kind of person he is. He went to the World Cup. He's the kind of fella that just wants to play, wants to run through big walls for you. And that injury getting that operation that he got I think now you're seeing the real Rich Charleston that we had play without any issues. And he's obviously got out of the shadow of Harry Kane and he's scoring goals and he's given them exactly what he wants. And we're going to have to work hard to stop him because he picks up the score, seeing the goal he scored against Brimford. Keeper saves it and he's there and he puts it in the back of the net and we're used to that. He's good in the air as well and he's going to be difficult to stop. It's just frustrating isn't it? It's frustrating. He's one of the few players in recent history where the fans have had a real connection with us. So it's a difficult one but you hope that obviously on Saturday he doesn't have his best game. And then when we're clapping him at the end they're clapping him because we've beaten them. But the interesting battle between him and Tarkovsky because they've had a lot of history over the years. Even when Tarkovsky was obviously a bit in there as well and they seem to always have a few run-ins and stuff. So look he's going to be obviously the man in form for them. He's going to be the one to watch. But again defensively we're looking solid but we need to just stick to our principles with that and make sure we keep them quiet as possible. Stopping the source isn't it? Yeah that's it isn't it? That's where we suffer from down there and that's maybe why Ben Godfrey might stay in it right back to prevent that. Michael Encoe is doing really well on the other side and it will be hard work. We'll be trying to stop them with the pace they've got in Madison drops into those areas. Makes it difficult and that's why I haven't gone a gaze. Good coming back because he's always one of his biggest strengths. He's always knowing just where to be at the right time. People can talk about his passing or giving it away, whatever they want. It's always that just being there in the right place and of course as he's got older that's become more difficult but he's still a really important play for the squad. Even more so when you don't have any midfielders. Obviously Jordan Pickford who's doing brilliantly that save the other night was unbelievable wasn't he? And we'll need him at his best again. Obviously didn't play a lot in January because it didn't feel like he played a lot. Played a couple of Premier League games but that save again on Tuesday night illustrated how important he is to us and why he's number one. What I would say is prior to January and obviously getting left out for the Cup games I think he needed it. I would say for the best part of two years he's been absolutely excellent. Probably haven't won. I'll give you evidence best player. But I saw the last few weeks before January at the end of December and he started to show tendencies to what he'd done the couple of years before. He looked a little bit erratic. I actually thought the manager had done well taking him out of the team and he looks refreshed again. He's got his head back in the game. And like you said I thought he was excellent the other night. But we all know how valuable and how important he is to this team. For evidence to get out of the position we need Jordan Pickford far on and on. It's not wrong with a bit of competition isn't it? You know what I mean? Jalfa James has come in. He's had three really good games and a stake decline. Maybe not to be the number one but to just keep Pickford on his toes and to say I'm here if you do slip up. And the manager himself is saying well normally I would never rest here but now I'm prepared to rest here. So you better stay on it and I think that's huge. I think for him it's all about mental exhaustion for him. He's just got to stay mentally strong and it's difficult for him obviously to stay that focus. So I just thought like taking him out was perfect and if we can see the best of him from the running between now and the end of the season he'll be a massive player. December was a hugely mentally draining time for the players and the fans. So many games coming off the back of the 10 point deduction and you're on it every three days. You know how bad it is having to prepare yourself as a fan. But having to prepare yourself as a player and take on as soon as the games finish you're like right well I've got to need to get on it for the next game and I need to get myself up to speed on who's playing, who does what. And it must be hard. I know Janu has been a little bit lighter but it is difficult. You're absolutely right people don't always factor in mental fatigue. It's always physical fatigue but mental fatigue as a footballer. In that position as well. Yeah and certainly for someone who's illustrated in the past that he didn't always deal with it. He's been brilliant. He's worked on it. He's been brilliant, worked on it. And yeah just so and again you know most clean sheets we need to keep that going and make sure. Cos I think the most important thing is we stopped the rot in terms of the Premier League. Okay it hasn't been pretty two nil nil draws but we stopped the rot if we could get something out of this game. You know ahead of the Manchester City game we're mentally you know what are you thinking? We're not winning that. Only yet he had with the Manchester City team that is fully clicked with Harland and the Bronwyn. Beautiful flown locks. So you're mentally thinking we've already lost that you know. We all will. So if you can make sure that's a one off rod and oh no we've lost X amount of games in a row. So yeah big games that. I think we can get something out of it. I do yeah. I think we can get something out of it. Get in there and just make sure we get a clean sheet and listen Spares never done well in Spares recently. Got a Michael Keane turned up last year. We were down to 10 men. Michael Keane smashes one in. Still the club's best finisher. He smashes one in and you know it got us a really important point. So let's do that again on Saturday. Let us know your thoughts in the comments on this one. Are you confident? Are you worried? Are you worried about Charleston? Or just all that other good players? Let us know your thoughts in the comments. Make sure to give this video a like. Subscribe if you haven't already. And join us over on Toffy TV Premier where we do daily live exclusives. Also no adverts on any of the videos or the podcasts. So if you get annoyed by all the adverts that pop up on YouTube and on your podcast feed. There's none over there so that's well worth it. Links in the description, QR codes coming up on screen now. See you later.