🎙ToffeeWeb Podcast: “Pity Party”

Good points made in the discussion about our defensive woes, about the poverty of our set pieces and about the burden on Anthony Gordon as the only player who seems to care.

Following Monday night's debacle, we seem now to have a consensus among supporters about the need for the team to be more compact away from home. Before the Spurs game, people were still talking about wanting the players to grab the game by the scruff of the neck and ‘have a go'.

One of the reasons we are in such a mess is because the managers and players have approached so many matches this season assuming they have the quality to take the game to the opposition instead of ensuring we make ourselves hard to beat. The away defeats at Brentford and Norwich are obvious cases in point.

Without James, the quiet Icelander, and now Digne, we lack anyone who can consistently deliver a decent free kick or corner. For a struggling team lacking pace and finesse in open play, it is a major gap in our armoury and certainly surprising it wasn't addressed in January.

In most teams, Anthony Gordon, a player still learning about the game at this level, would not have been expected to carry the fight to the opposition as much as he has. Owing to injuries and poor form of others, he has been thrust into the front line when ideally he would have been phased into the team for certain matches and rested for others.

The risk is that he burns himself out while being blamed by some for the absence of enough end product in goals and assists. I hope that doesn't happen before this campaign finishes because we will really need him on top form in the final weeks.

Really, really enjoy the podcast, so thanks a lot, gents.

Last week, we were lamenting the atrocious refereeing decisions vs Man City and this week we're lamenting the awful team set-up and performance v Spurs. We need a win to talk about please Everton!!!

We need Frank to set us up properly. I understand the calls to drop Calvert-Lewin but he does have the ability to hold the ball up and get us up the pitch – granted he failed to do that v Spurs but an extra week's training should help.

Adam was an excellent addition: he offered some really thoughtful insights. Lyndon, excellent as usual. Thanks, gents.