 Yep. Don't like her. I think I'm pretty good. Hold on one second. I think it's something in my pocket. I don't want to have my pocket. Okay. Clear the pocket. I'm good. All right. Rock and roll. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another installment of talk VTV USA James and Ryan here as always today. We are bringing you our way too early Everton. Squad analysis following the first three matches for matches unbeaten of the campaign. Just a reminder as part of the American taffy podcast, we did do a gigantic four part squad assessment prior to the hiring of Rafa. How are we looked hours, hours and hours that goes very in depth to all of the current players in squad save some of the new faces. And so if you want to go back and check that out, you can find that on our podcast feed. Otherwise, if you haven't already subscribed to taffy TV, like this video, leave us a comment. If you enjoy it, we're going to get right into things here. I think of the squad assessment. We kind of had five key points that we were looking at. That would be key opportunities for a new manager to exploit or leverage in order to improve the current squad or options they could take in the summer window to improve the squad. And we're going to look at the first few matches of the Everton season and some stats and analysis as we so often do that sort of support some of the things that we had decided and look at what is Rafa done well, essentially. And then towards the end, we'll look at some of the remaining, let's call them opportunity areas for the manager. That's so business positive of you. Yeah. And the nice part about doing the assessment, it was a lot of work, but I felt like both of us gained a lot of knowledge in terms of what Rafa has done in the past. And while our five big things, our solutions, maybe we didn't think he was the perfect person to implement all of them. Some of the things, we thought there were about five things that we decided to come up with independent. Some are the same. Some are different that we think his tactics could could help because we're seeing a very familiar tactical base from him. You know, the 4231 is his baby defending in 442 and sometimes attacking in not really 442, more like a 4411, but we saw that in the past. So, so without further ado, kind of the five areas, the first area we thought was initially we're hoping a new manager could come in and play a little bit more of maybe possession based modern football. You know what I mean? Dominating the ball. And Rafael Benitez is not that type of person, which is fine. If you're going to not dominate the ball, he likes to dominate the space and that's okay. So, so look, my thought is, all right, he's not going to be a big possession guy, but that's okay because his concept of possession. No, he won't be big on possession, but he wants to, you know, have less possession in the defensive zone as well and move the ball very quickly up the field. He prefers long direct passing rather than carrying the ball to move it more rapidly from back to front. And we were hoping that since he brings a certain degree of attacking design to his counters, they're very well scripted typically, that will result in greater creation from open play. We hoped. Now, doing some basic analysis, I mean, I think our possession thought has wrong true because I mean, look, our total possession is down, right? We're like 19th in possession at 37.3%, but that's not really as important as maybe, you know, our degree of possession and where we're possessing the ball. Is it not? Absolutely. Most Evertonians, you know, it almost hasn't felt like the lack of possession. We haven't felt it so much watching the matches because the possession that we have had has been, as you said, with that attacking intent, with trying to get the ball forward rapidly. Yeah. And the numbers support that. So we're 19th in the league in total touches, just under 500 per match. Now you look at where those touches take place is the key part here. So in the defensive third, we're 13th in the league. In the middle third, second to last in the league again. In the attacking third, 11th in the league, 100, almost 150 touches per match. And then in the penalty area, about 23 touches per match, which puts us at 10th. So towards the bottom of the league at. Defensive possession in around the back line and then almost dead last in the middle, but really focusing on getting the ball in those dangerous areas into the attacking third and. Trying to have most of our possession there. Yeah, you can see it too. And then I mean, you can look at the passing stats versus dribbling too. I mean, we're 11th in progressive passes. And we're like 19th in total passes. You know what I mean? And that, but actually we're second in the league. You know, we did a little, little statistical calculation here. We're actually second in the league in progressive passes per pass attempt. And that's pretty impressive. So meaning as, even though we're not getting a lot of passes and a lot of possession, when we do it's going forward with some intense, you know, it's progressing us up the field, but not surprisingly, since we're playing a lot more vertical, you know, we're 19th in the league and switches in the field in terms of passes. That's not surprising, right? We're watching it. We are going direct. We're going vertical, not as much horizontal. So that shouldn't be a surprise. And again, what else do we see fewer carries? I mean, our progressive carry distance, 18th in the league. And I think that's okay. You know, Rafael Benitez does not want to do that. He wants to dominate certain areas of space. And when it gets there, when it back, you know, it's trapping basically allowing the team, trapping that bang, sending it up the field as quickly as possible. And the ball moves faster, you know, without the people, you know, very, very, I think the only negative here that we see statistically is we're probably dribbling a little too much. We'll get to that in a second. But I think all of this has helped result into what was our last point. Hopefully more open play creation. And we're seeing that for sure. Absolutely. Definitely seeing an improved creation. We'll look at point number two here, which was, I mean, in our squad assessment, we thought a new right wing, a new right back. Now, obviously we did get gray and Andrews Townsend in to support wide play. We didn't get the right back. Much has been made about that. But we do have now some more options on the wing that can mix and match as Rafa likes to do with his wingers. They can switch sides. They can come cut inside or stay wide. And we're really not seeing so much of a focus on crossing and dribbling the ball, but focus creating shots and getting up and down the pitch very quickly. Yeah. And we're using the full backs a little differently too. So I mean, the wide play is different. And look, we didn't spend a lot of money, but I think we actually did a fairly cost effective job and bringing some players in that fit maybe a little bit better in the Raphael, but this Benita scheme. And you can't argue with the results. I mean, we talked about creation from open play and we're the fourth highest non penalty expected goals per 90 at 1.53. I mean, that's massive, right? But how are we doing? So the full backs are very involved. The two highest touches on the team per 90, Dean and Coleman. Look, we're not crossing that much. That's true. We didn't think he would cross that much anyway, even with Calvert Luhan or someone like Townsend who's great at crossing the ball. And as a result, we've only had 29 crosses. That's 14th in the league. But the crosses have been a lot more effective for sure. I mean, we're fourth most accurate crossing percentage, according to why scouts. And I think probably the biggest individual impact is Luca Dean because he's way down in crossing volume, but his crosses has still been very effective. Yeah. Look, Luca Dean in his time at Everton has averaged over four crosses per 90 since he's been here for three full seasons. Now he's at less than two, basically barely over one. I know per 90. So that's massive way less huge drop. And we remember how often Luca Dean would rely on his crosses as one of our sole sources of creating opportunities. But now his crossing percentage went from 33% to 50% this year. So he's connecting on half of his crosses, even though he's not taking early spending. Yeah, it's a small sample size. But I mean, I, those are notable differences, you know, and you can see it in the way he plays, you know, he's, you know, he's not just, it's not just bang and pray and hope from distance. And his creation is way up. I mean, you know, shots for created, you know, shots created action that includes not just kind of, you know, key passes shot assist, but also like the hockey assist, you know, the second assist type thing. I mean, it's over three, it's 3.33 per 90. I mean, and from open play, if this isn't coming from set pieces, I mean, it's almost a full shot per 90 more from last year. And it's the highest it's been at Everton, you know, I mean, he has eight shot created actions from live passes alone. I think the other individual that it's really benefited is that it is Damari Gray. Cause we talked about the reason why he was only, you know, 1.7 million pounds in terms of a fee. And yes, I know that was a release clause, but why would that be so low? You know, in the past, he's been somewhat in the line for being a bit of a ball hog, you know, dwelling on the ball and stuff. And historically his crossing has not been very effective. Yeah, his crossing in his career thus far until arriving at Everton, 27.2% accuracy rate. And that's with almost three and a half crosses per 90 across all of the leagues he's played in Bundesliga primarily, but he strikes the ball so well. It's almost hard to believe, right? Right. It's unbelievable. And then you look this year, he goes from 3.4 to 2.58. But again, similar to Luke Dean, the completion percentage skyrockets, 27.2%, 62.5% this season. Again, very early, but strong indication that Rafa wants guys banging crosses into dangerous areas into the six and more importantly, most importantly, knowing where players are going to be and knowing that he can find them with those crosses. Yeah, I think he's through. Benitez is doing such a good job with Damari Gray. I mean, when we watched him at Leverkus and we talked about this on the pod too. And we said, look, he's the reason why he's not a great cross or the ball is not because he can't deliver across is because, you know, his vision isn't that great. You know, sometimes he's got his head down too much. He's dwelling on the ball. So the opportunity is lost. He's sporadic. You know, there was no pattern where he puts it, but look, you see him on set pieces. And when he has to shoot a ball, I mean, he strikes the ball so cleanly. And he's good with his left foot too. So to me, it seems very obvious. If you go back and look at every one of his crosses this year and getting small sample size, everyone is where it's all the same place. I mean, don't we think that's Rafa. Benitez very clearly saying, hey, look, let's simplify things for you. Let's get you to play more direct. And that he's got to just demand from him. You know, that's part of the scheme. We're seeing that he's giving a lot of freedom to do that. But where is every cross going? Straight to the six, right to the six. I mean, everyone is just, boom, I mean, don't get me wrong. It helps that he's totally on fire and shooting the ball. I mean, I think he's, he's fourth in the Premier League and non penalty goals versus expected goal difference. Again, he's banged in two goals with his left foot. You know, he's very right foot at a time. Yeah. So I mean, that's a good example of the wide play is different. You know, maybe we wanted it in a different way and we didn't buy the right back, but we're getting the most out of what we've got using him intelligently. So I think the third point here is one that, that I think Raphael is showing that we wanted any new manager to come in. And I think he's doing a very good job with this one. And that's that interplay between the two defensive mids or central mids in the 4231 or 442. I mean, we knew that he traditionally, we go through all the combinations in the team assessment that he's ever had. You know, typically he's got one that sits back a little bit more and the other one's a little more aggressive. Some of them are more passers like a Javi Alonzo, but most of them, you know, are energy guys with athleticism. What we saw a lot last year was some issues with shape as well too. Not only were they not involved in the attack, because what did we say in the team assessment? We need to get more out of Decore and Alon, right? But we also saw some shape issues where, whether it was the center half being too scared to go up, there's too much space behind them in the, you know, that those lines are too open. But I would say, you know, we thought Alon might struggle a little bit and Decore would probably thrive. I think Alon's adapting very quickly. And I don't think the shape's been great, but against Brighton, the shape was wonderful. And I think that was really encouraging. And I think this is where Benitez is making a big difference. So if we go through them one by one, we thought Alon might be an adjustment, right? I mean, he likes to carry the ball. He knows he has to move it quickly. I think it just shows what an intelligent player he is by starting to adapt, but his creation numbers are way up too. And that is a good news story, I think. Yeah, because he was one of the best possession based midfielders in all of Europe, perhaps the world and his time in Napoli and obviously brought in under Carlo kind of thinking he would continue to play in that mold. Yeah, not going to happen under Rafa. So he has to make the, he has to adapt if he wants to play. And obviously he's very skilled. So he can create, he can drive the ball forward, but we didn't see that at all from him really under Carlo. Now, this season so far, he's had two goal created actions already. And he, that's his matches is total from all of us here. And I remember in like the first match, he had a shot on target within the first 10 minutes. Oh my God. And he had like two all last season. So it just shows the difference. Yeah. I mean, look at his touches are up, you know, 10 touches in the final third per 90 so far up from, you know, he was under seven decor is no surprise though. Actually, what's probably surprising is that he's not getting a lot of tackles in interceptions, but everything else is way up. I mean, he's, you know, he wants to get up the field. He's played in Watford and in a silver attack, you know, and he just seemed natural and he seemed somewhat neutered last year. You know, he just, you wanted to see him do more. So he's got fewer touches overall, but he's got more in the attacking third 15 to, you know, under 13, but some of the things are shocking. He's got 16 progressive passes. He's 15th in the whole league. That's over five per 90. I mean, last year he only had 65. The whole year was averaging like 2.4. I mean, that's like twice as much. And that was the lowest in his career. I mean, he's got 39 progressive passes in the Leeds match. I mean, what an animal. You know, he didn't have more than five in any match last year. And the thing that's shocking is that his passing accuracy is still so good. So as a team, we've made the second most amount of passes under pressure of anyone else in the Premier League. And that's partially due to our opponents, right? I mean, Southampton, Bright Leeds, they pressure, right? Decori has made 39 passes under pressure. He's second in the league at doing that. Yet he's still almost at 85% from a completion rate. And look at the shots created actions are over three. He's never been close to that, his career. He is getting into the attack. Three shots on target. How many did he have all of last year? Five. So he's all right. So you're looking at guys that are almost equaling their offensive output after three games that I had all of last year, which is crazy. And then you look at his defensive numbers. Like you said, he's not getting as many tackles and interceptions, but the recoveries are way up. So he's kind of just like cleaning up the junk. He's got 14.3 recoveries per 90, which is his best since 17, 18 interceptions and tackles are down. So not being quite as aggressive, going to win the ball, but he's really cleaning up all the mess is winning loose balls, knowing where to be and anticipating when guys are going to disrupt play so that he can be there to pick up the scraps and progressing it up the field. You know, and that's what he needs. And we're seeing that. So, so the fourth point was pressure. You know, we were hoping maybe of a more modern high pressure system, we're not seeing the high pressure. And maybe it's the opponents a little bit here. I don't think our numbers going to be this high all year. But look, once opponents get to a point, we're going to control that space. It's an active low block. It's at times it's been higher than that this year so far, but this isn't Carlo Ancelotti parking the bus. There is some activity. Once I get to a point in a space, we own that space and we go after him. And our pressure numbers, I think are indicative of that. I mean, our pressures total were six in the league, but where the pressures are happening or not really a surprise, even though I think that total is going to go down because we didn't anticipate to depress high a lot. And I think the numbers indicate that as well. Yeah, it's kind of the opposite of what we see where our touches are coming in possession. We're seeing we're seventh in the league and pressures in our own defensive third drops a little bit to ninth in the league. When you talk about the middle third and then in the attacking third, we drop down to 11th. Yeah. Yeah. And it's probably not going to be that high all year, you know, and then you see things tackle same thing. You know, mostly in the defensive third, I think he'd like us to see us tackle a little bit better. And we've got more, more times dribble past than anyone else in the league, but we also have the most tackle attempts, you know, but it's all, you know, kind of in the defensive third, but look, you know, that's okay. You know, I like that percentage to be higher, but that'll come as you get familiar and once you get familiar with the tactic, you can be more aggressive with it. You know what I mean? So I think, you know, we talked about a couple of people to our fifth point, which is the most important one. Last year, we wanted to just say play the attacking players, you know, or just use the existing personnel better is probably the more universal thought process behind it. So look to Corey much better along much better. Gray simplified his game. He looks just absolutely amazing right now. One guy we have not talked about, which is probably a shock to everyone that we haven't even mentioned his name so far yet. And we're what, you know, 15 minutes in is Alex a woby. Now look, I think we knew this was coming a little bit. Let's be honest. We've talked enough about Alex a woby and what he's capable of and frankly, you know, we've championed the potential that he has on the show a lot last season in news. I think what we've seen thus far in this campaign is that you use a guy where he's most effective, you're going to see results from that. Yeah, right. I would argue actually he still played a little too defensively against Leeds, but that's okay. But that's kind of been a right side so far this year, you know what I mean? Coleman's putting up amazing defensive numbers. He said help from Townsend and a woby did a good job in that match. But look, the key to his game is what we've always said is touches in the penalty area. When he gets the ball and he can carry into there too, you know, he doesn't have to do that. Doesn't have to receive a pass in there. He's not limited in that way. When he gets in there, he creates havoc. You know, and Arsenal, he averaged almost six per 90 in Everton, both prior years under three. Like that's half as many. That's doesn't mean that's just utilizing a guy in a strange way this year. He's back around six. He's over six. And look at Arsenal, he put up massive shot created in creation numbers open, you know, exist, you know, a shot created actions. We mentioned he was almost four. His last two years per 90. I mean, that's like top of the league this year. He's over five. Now it's small sample. It's lower minutes. Maybe we should play him some more, especially in the middle, but that number is fifth in the Premier League. And he's third from open play in terms of shot created actions. Again, you know, same thing with go created actions already got two in the Premier League at five last year in the two year before, and we haven't even talked about his cup performance. And guess what? He's also still taking the balls past accuracy is like third on the team at, you know, over 85%. So and his progression is still up. So, so look, the bottom line is we're getting more out of a woby, I think, because we're using him to his, to his benefit. One person we haven't really even talked about too much is Pickford. I think he's probably little energized playing with Rafa. I mean, he feels like he's more engaged. He can release the ball quickly. He's playing great. You know, it's his, you know, post shot expected goal differential versus goals against his eighth again, small sample size, 70% save percentage is eight. So for right now, I feel good about that. You know, you never know when he's going to have a lull and it looks like he's taking things seriously. So that's a lot of positives. Do we see any issues here? There were some signs of concern or things that maybe just haven't caught up to what Raphael wants to do yet. Yeah, I think we're still sort of searching for that attacking combination that Rafa like so much and has had success with in the past. And that is of course playing with a big number nine, a big target striker and then someone behind him, usually not a second striker, though you could call it that, a more creative player who is more versatile, perhaps. And it seems like he thus far has wanted to use Richard listen in that role. But I think Ryan, you have, and I also have some questions about how well he seems to be suited for that role and if it makes sense to really place him there. Yeah, I think he's a poor fit for just from in terms of what his skills are and what he excels in. You know, he tends to dwell on the ball a little much. He's one of our best players, but I want him in a space where he can take a little time, beat someone off the dribble and create his own shot. He's not able to do that. I mean that player needs to, there's no player in a Raphael Benita setup that can dwell on the ball. He has to move it quickly. And I think that's hard in the middle of the field. I mean, that is a really important player in his scheme. You know, whether it's, you know, Amar at Valencia with a bigger player like Mista, you know, a center forward. And we saw it initially at Liverpool too with Luis Garcia where he took a converted right wing and made him into more of this kind of dynamic vertical playmaker though, even though a lot of goals too, with teaming up with like Nieland Baruch, you know, that's a good example. Eventually Gerard played in their retories, but like all these guys moving the ball quickly, you know, there's no slow down like like Juan Mati. Juan Mati scored like 11 goals for Chelsea in his first year with Raphael Benita. I think nine in the league. I mean, that's, he's not a swift player. You know, he's not a big physical guy like where Charleston, but but he's thoughtfully smart. He has vision. He could move the ball quickly and find the guy Wesley Schneider at Inter. And God knows what that team would have been like if Malito was healthier. Ato had in the head by that guy. Right. But those are the combinations, you know, in Madrid, people keep bringing up. Gareth Bale is like, well, he's kind of like Gareth Bale. No. When Gareth Bale played that position, which was really odd, he played Gareth Bale in that position and Ham is right. Right. That was strange. I think, you know, in Isco, some left and it was a bad combination. I thought at times, but Bale was like a one touch player then, you know, he was not dwelling on the ball. And that's what we don't see from where Charleston. I just, I don't think he has tremendous vision as a player, not bad vision. His first touch is a little sloppy, but not out of expediency. It's because he's physical and he can hold people off. I don't think that's the demand in that role. And I think he's slowing down our counter. You know what I mean? And, and like Newcastle's last one, I OZ Perez kind of roamed around and got rid of the ball quickly. So, so like, I just don't see that combination when I look at all those comps. You know what I mean? I just don't see anyone over there that says, oh, yeah, that's where Charleston. So maybe he could adapt. But right now, I mean, people are saying, what are you talking about? His creation numbers are up. His creation numbers are up a little bit, but the turnovers, I mean, he is giving the ball away more than anyone else in the league. And I mean, I, I think it's because I think it is very obvious to watch that it's a problem. I don't know how you feel the numbers are pretty damning for sure. Yeah, I think it's pretty obvious that he's struggled. He's, he's hasn't been as effective. It's a new role. It's a new role though. I mean, a lot of people think, well, no, he's been a second center forward, but, but this is different. Right. I mean, I'm trying to emphasize this is not just throw two center forwards up like Carlo would do. This is a very distinct role working off a target guy that he's not done a whole lot of in his career. Really. Right. And you want Richard listen. I think we do particularly, as you said, wide being able to run it guys. When he's in that central position, he tends to it affects his decision making. He's a little too slow and you look at he's just he's just trying to do a little bit too much himself, particularly dribbling. He's, he's eighth in the league and dribbles per 90, but under 40% and can are a little under 50% and can success rate, which Rafa's not going to really like, especially when that's such a key focal position for moving the ball quickly and he's actually instigating attack is actually 38.5%. I mean, he's way down. You know what I mean? Like fifth in league and it's only 13. But like, and none of those guys that have dribbled that much is really, really, you know, no one on the team is even more than seven too. So we're not dribbling anymore, especially not in that role. So I think you said, what you said is right, you know, I like him wide too. If he's going to be in the middle as his goal score, that's fine. But you saw what happened in bright when Dom went down. I thought we functioned very well with him as the center forward and that may be his best position, but I don't like it doesn't. So look to stats that that FB ref keeps track of his miscontrols and dispositions, you know, miscontrol is a bad touch. I mean, he's got 12. He's fourth in the premier league. Don has 10, but you expect that from him. You know, he's a target guy. Yeah, he's been dispossessed 12 times to that second. No one else on the team has more than six. And look, I mean, you take those, that's four per 90 on both sides, eight in total. It's the worst in the league. So if you add miscontrols to dispossession, just call it turnovers to use an American term. He's worse than the league. That's a league that has Wilfrid Zaha in it. You know, so, but to me, like that's twice as worse and much worse than he was last year where he was at under two on one and just over two on the other means 200% up. You know, that is not good. He needs to move the ball. He needs to expedient. It's just to me, it's not working. It's slowing us down. It'll be interesting to see when and how Rafa may make a decision. Maybe we're catering too much to him. He really wants to play central, but there's no reason he couldn't play the gray role as well with the freedom he has and get inside when it matters. And someone else can play that position and get him the ball in dangerous places. I think that's what we'd like to see. I can think of a player or two that could play that position despite not being used at Real Madrid that way. No, I'm not talking to Alex Wolby. Although I think Alex Wolby is very better suited for that position, frankly, than. Yes. And I think we're Charleston would benefit getting the ball from those types of guys. Maybe that hurts gray. Maybe you move gray to the right, you know, whatever. But I'm talking about obviously about Hamas Rodriguez. And well, he's back. Still a lot of narratives around this. And we kind of knew some of this drama would happen the second we hired Rafael Benitez. Did we not? Yeah, it seemed inevitable. Look, it was questionable. It was questionable from at least after Rafa was hired. Questionable whether how committed Hamas would be to Everton following the departure of Carlo Rancho. I think it was pretty much accepted that that was the reason that he came here in the first place. Not to say that he didn't have any interest in sticking around. Had we brought in a manager with some different ideas who wanted to use Hamas as a focal point of the team, he could have been persuaded. Now it seems everyone's hands been forced in the situation. Hamas is not going to get a move away. People were saying, you know, oh, he wants to move away. He's talking about leaving on Twitch all the time and anything. Are we overblowing some of these Twitch comments? Did he ever say on Twitch that he wanted to leave on Twitch? I don't think he ever said that. No, never once. So he said, he said, I don't know what's going on with my future. Things change in football. Of course. Things you would expect someone in his position to probably say. Yeah. I mean, look, he has a big audience. He has people. He's going to talk to him. He's got, you know, his Instagram flash is like 55 million. It's going to happen. And look, he's smart. He knows what he's saying. He's not going to even if he felt that way, he wouldn't say it. But the evidence that he wants away. And look, I don't think he's passionate about Everton, but I also don't think he's like I hate it here. I think he's just kind of, you know, it's where he is. And he's okay with it. That's that's the vibe I get from him. But everyone points to, well, his agent Mendez was, you know, pushing him around and offering around other clubs. Well, he's the guy who brought him there was leaving. Like, is that an unnatural thing? And do we not know who Mendez is? I mean, is that does that any evidence to you not? Is that evidence to you that he suddenly just wants out? Or is this just an agent being an agent, especially him? If agent shopping players around to other clubs means the players want out, then probably like 90% of the squad wants out of Everton because that's just what agents do. They want to get themselves another payday. They do that by securing moves to other teams. And so I think the reaction and the negative sort of attitude that's that's been curated against Thomas is probably a little overblown. I still think he's arguably our best and most talented technical player and sure steams perfect, almost a perfect fit or really good fit for that kind of second striker or creative player. Look, he may not have the same type of attributes that Rafa typically looks for. But there's no question the guy can create shots. And if you get him in that central area where he typically thrives with those with that pace and with those guys around him, I think good things could probably come from it. It's just a question of can these two make amends? Can these two get over this? And what does Hamas really wanted? Does he want to get back in a Colombian squad with the World Cup approaching? Like all these sorts of outside factors, but it seems like it makes perfect sense to slot Hamas in at that number 10 position. I think it's the most natural position for him to play regardless of how Rafa used him at Real Madrid. I mean, this isn't Real Madrid. We don't have that kind of position. I mean, Benzema or Ronaldo up top today. You know, it's kind of a different level. Solomon Ronda. We called it. We called it. No, I think, look, I think likely what happened was that, you know, Mendez shot them around because that's what he does. And I think when Benitez was announced, I'm sure Hamas is like, you know, we don't get along. And I think that's obvious. It was a very public spat in Madrid. And, you know, so I understand some willingness to look at offers. But look, where do we think this narrative comes from that he can't play that kind of second striker attacking central midfield thing? I mean, number one, he doesn't work on defense. Well, okay. I mean, maybe he's not killing himself sometimes, but I don't think the defensive responsibilities in that role are that brutal. I mean, he's smart enough clear to the prevent passes from going into a six. You know, he's not running around pressing like a maniac here. You know what I mean? Will he be as good defensively as for Charleston? No, but if you move for Charleston into a wide space, and I don't think he has a single tackle this year, but you know what I mean? Like he's really valuable as a defensive player in the wide spaces. And certainly if you're going to put Hamas in the middle and move for Charleston, say over right or left and kick Andrus Townsend out of the starting lineup, that is a massive upgrade. No offense to Andrus Townsend. And you could say, well, we lack athleticism with Hamas. This just in Townsend ain't that quick either. So I don't know. I mean, I personally think that he would fit best in that role and would be effective. Maybe he's only there for 60 minutes and a woby can come in and spell him. And we've seen how good Alex is running around with the ball like a maniac against tired legs. So I just think you've got him. You've got to use him. I think that's the role he naturally has to play. I even think Charleston may even be better if Don's hurt and spelling him a set of Rondon. I think there are a lot of combinations we have there. But anyway, I think overall though, I think, you know, with the exception of a little struggling with the new role and Don maybe not finishing that great. I mean, honestly, I think things are massively improved. I mean, I think the team, again, it's three games. You know, and the opponents were not. I mean, they aren't top six clubs. But I think things are improved. I see more intent from Rafael Benitez. And I think some players are getting a result, you know, a bump. And I think we're seeing a better unit already and certainly a more, more actively managed team. And I think we're benefiting as a result. I think the actively managed thing is so key. And though a lot's been made, I think Carlos time at Everton has been kind of distilled down to like the offhand just play comment that was allegedly made. Spirit. More spirit. Obviously there was more done off the pitch than that. But I do think it's clear that, that Rafa having a very rigid system does benefit certain guys in this squad who do need that sort of specific instruction. And we're seeing some members of the squad read the benefits. And I think given enough time and given enough diversity of opponents, for example, obviously the Burnley match will be a very interesting change of pace for the squad because the three teams we've played are sort of mid table contenders who all play a very similar style. The interesting to see what Rafa has up his sleeve for some of these different tactical approaches within the Premier League and elsewhere. Yeah. He's creating some freedom for the people that need it and it's rigid in every other way. And we're seeing some of the benefits of that. I'm really the center mid play in particular, I think in Brighton really made me feel good. That was a very well played game. We were terrific. But on the very different tests coming up on Monday. But either way, I think both of us say thumbs up so far. I think Rafael Benitez is doing a good job. He has, whether it's his fault of his own, overcome the biggest challenge we thought, which was keeping his talented players here. Would have been nice to get a right back, but we'll see how it plays out. But I think after three games, it's safe to say there's some good trends here. I think we're seeing the Benitez that we thought we would with the tweak or two. And hopefully you as an audience, if this helped at least understand what we're seeing, maybe you agree. Feedback, we always welcome it. And we always appreciate the opportunity to come in here and talk shop on toffee TV. 100%. Yes. Thank you everyone for listening. We hope that you enjoyed it. If you agreed, if you disagree, leave us a comment below. We'd love to read them. Otherwise. Thank you again so much. If you want to find all of our content on the American toffee podcast, you can find all of our links to social media, all the podcast platforms at link tr dot ee slash USA toffee pod. That's L I N K T R dot ee slash USA toffee pod. Give us a subscribe on your podcast platform of choice. Hope you check us out. We appreciate everyone listening. And as Ryan said, always grateful and honored to be a part of toffee TV. This concludes our this episode of toffee TV USA. Thanks to everyone again. And until next time up the toffees cut.