Everton vs Tottenham Hotspur

Surprise, surprise – yet another bogey team of ours, lol.

That's almost as bad a record as the one we have against the Red shower.

I sincerely hope Everton can emulate Spurs and perhaps have a team in two or three seasons time that can get back to a level playing field which we were about six to seven years ago.

I expect a very comfortable Spurs win here. 0-2.

With the ongoing uncertainty over their Manager, some of their star footballers may well be considering their own futures and that could leave a door open for a dip in form.

Mina or Keane to play alongside Zouma. Calvert-Lewin has to pay up front with Richarlison alongside him.

As a second winger has been a bit hit and miss so far this season, why not play Baines as a wide left?

I hope their manager stays put, snubs Man Utd, and sneaks past the Red Shite to win the league...

I think Zouma has to play too, as they have pace up font with Kane, Alli and Son, to name but three. I have a fairly good feeling about this game, if we play as we should.

I can't see his choice of manager has improved much as I regard Silva as just another Martinez (plays it pretty but not much to show for it).

But I'm prepared, nay, I want to be surprised... so I shall have a small wager on a Blues victory!

It was only three weeks ago that we played Liverpool on an equal footing at Anfield, and would have got a result but for a random cock-up. At that time, we looked like we could get a result against any opponent.

I can see this game going any way, depending on our form. We could beat them with style if we show the form of a month ago, but could get twatted if we have the more recent form.

We certainly missed his tackling in midfield against Watford. We don't seem to have got back our confidence after the defeat to the other lot; the amount of times we slump after being beaten by them is alarming.

A win tomorrow would see the confidence come back, and hopefully put together a run of unbeaten games.

They're a far better side than us. No win against them since 2012? Only Everton could have two bogey sides. If I'm honest, I'm really expecting nothing from tomorrow's game.

The agents will be thinking it's time to cash in on their assets.

Tottenham are everything that I want Everton to be. They have big, strong, athletic, skilful, clinical players, a squad that can replace one quality player with another. Most importantly though, they have big players that turn up in the big games and they seem to take glee from being the Top Dog in North London.

Contrast that with our big players who seldom show up in the big games and still can't get over a psychological hurdle of trying to beat Liverpool to something even in a one-off match.

We can speak of transition but transition should see each season being a massive improvement on the last, not just better playing styles, but results wise and league position wise.

Tottenham have done this every year since 2014-15 and that's what Everton Football Club must strive to do.

As poor as we were, from the 55th minute, after going 2-0 down and Silva reverted to a flat back four and more numbers in midfield (as we've played all season), we markedly improved and, all too fleetingly with Calvert-Lewin's goal, even had a sniff of salvaging something from the game.

Spurs is an excellent team, especially away from home. We will have to be at our very best to get something from this game.

Yes, it will be a challenge. But isn't that what a professional athlete craves for? To compete with and beat the best?

And with four fixtures in 10 days, there has to be rotation and changes made to the starting XI.

Same outlook for tomorrow. One or two starting to panic a little. Posts along the lines of "we have get to get tighter against the big teams" ... "he is too attack minded"...

No thanks, I have had years of watching shit house, scared football. Keep it going, Marco. No-fear football, please.

Except for the fact that Spurs were 6 points ahead of us after 17 matches in 2014 and ended that season in 5h place, 17 points ahead of Everton.

The season before that, you have a point as Everton finished the campaign 3 points ahead of Spurs. In 2012, Spurs ended up in the final Champions League spot — a place that Everton haven't achieved since 2005.

So far this season we've competed against these "big teams" and been let down only by poor finishing and naive defending. The change in mindset, however, is vital to any long-term success.

That said, we'll need to sort out those issues sooner than later if we are to beat Spurs who looked decent in their cup win against Arsenal the other day.

At the end of the 2013/14 campaign we finished 5th, above Tottenham.

From that perspective we were a club that throughout 2014 looked to be better placed to move on to the next step but as I say, they have left us behind very quickly.

Praising Silva and his merry band but with the caveat of 'if only' is the like of what we have been doing for nearly a quarter of a century. And what will you say when he plays his ressies in the FA Cup???

A lot depends on the fitness of Gana, with McCarthy there if fit... but it would be a big ask given his lack of game-time.

But I'm with the posters who say bin the shithouse football and go for it.

Surely attacking and defending is what the game is all about?

Maybe you are right — if we keep the ball in the centre-circle, we can"t get beat.

Actions always speak louder than words and, with four games in ten days, it's imperative that Silva starts to use his squad, no matter if he thinks they're good enough or not, because we are only going to end up treading water if he doesn't.

It might actually give us a chance of winning if we don’t keep spooning chances every game and stop using transition as an excuse for not doing their job right.

What other place of work would you use six months of transition excuses for making mistakes and manage to keep the job?

Football is not rocket science, when you get a glorious chance then bloody score it.

What a result for Crystal Palace. It sickens me to say this but I think it's the Dark Side's year, though I do really hope I'm wrong.

Big test for the players tomorrow. We need to play like we did at Anfield, Old Trafford, Stamford Bridge, Anfield... And take our chances!

I'd like this squad to start convincing me they're more than honourable losers.

Chelsea and Manchester City are better than Leicester and Crystal Palace respectively but look at today's results.

If we carry on with the belief and mentality that every time we play a top six side that they are better than us then we will probably never beat one of them again.

It's a game of football, eleven men v eleven men and today's shock results should prove to us that, every time we set foot on the pitch against a top side, we CAN beat them.

I don't want to see pats on backs when we lose narrowly after competing. Hey listen, my old Sunday league team would have gone on the pitch and competed against a Premier League side.

Save the pats on the back and the nicey nicey remarks from Pep or Jurgen and Co — I want to get right in their faces and beat them; let's see the pats on the back after that.

Other than Man City, we've matched the teams above us, without taking the chances to win the games. More of the same, while taking our chances, will get us results.

Pickford
Kenny Keane Zouma Digne
Gueye Gomes Bernard
Calvert-Lewin Richarlison Lookman

JS @39 - that's the team I'd go with, especially as Mina will find Kane even more of an arial threat than that block of flats Raheem Sterling was. No more 3 at the back nonsense. I'm afraid Spurs will focus everything on Coleman as our new weak link and it might be better trying either Lookman or Bernard in Sigurdsson's place. Our Icelandic volcano has now been lying dormant for too many matches for me.

And, even though Everton are (at times) playing better football than last season, even though Everton had managers last season who fell well below the accepted standard, Everton are not that much better off with points compared to the same time last season.

Yet, Silva has already spent at least £90 million so far this season, while having a squad of players that's getting larger with only promises of taking some of them on loan or are already on loan, ready to return to Everton next season.

What would be your starting eleven tomorrow?

Prove me wrong, Everton, else it is getting more and more likely that we don't win at all in December.

I agree, Sigurdsson has been off the boil but he's one of the few players in our team who has a bit of physical strength outside of our defence; so, if we are to win ugly, then we will need to be physical tomorrow...

I’ve got loads of lunatic mates, and when we are all together, one of them is constantly giving Pat Van Den Hauwe loads, saying that he would have destroyed him in a 50/50.

He asks me to back him up, and because there are saner people in broadmoor, it’s hard explaining the difference between the levels both of these men have played at!

Our squad is just not good enough, but we will all still be there hoping for a change in fortune, but how many of us really think we are going to beat Spurs?

I think the few games will really test Silva’s mettle. If we cannot beat the top six at home we need to start winning away from home against the teams below us. With only three away wins in the last 12 months we can be far from confident our team will do that.

Still, like City fell today, Spurs aren’t invincible, and if we can get in their faces and stick at it, plus convert chances made, we can break the win drought.

Time to rally and stand and fight for a much needed win. Finishing and no give away Chrimbo presents is key, as the last month, these two issues and a few line up formations have done us, but finishing this season, has been a killer, that’s, the lack of finishing.

All The Very Best Evertonians of The Seasons Greetings, And please say a prayer for my recently deceased Uncle, whom was a Top Evertonian, Top fella, superb non league footballer, Top Uncle, and friend, after a long illness.

Thank you.

I thought Spurs would be shaky but they destroyed Arsenal the other night.

They have the feel of our 80s side with tough physical characters and goals from a number of different players – something we can only dream of now. However, superior teams can be done with good tactics, proper organisation and working harder than them.

In what has become an urgent 3-pointer if we are to stay the best of the rest, we must up our game. I would bring Zouma back for Mina and see how the rest of the usual suspects perform but, if Seamus, Walcott or Bernard (to name but three) are not doing it, I would have their replacements ready to step in.

A clean sheet should be the first order of the day and a sneaky 1-0 win the objective.

COYB

Please don't make another Christmas miserable.

Merry Xmas to all fellow Blues

Tomorrow's match does not give much optimism after being mauled by Man City but they were beaten by Palace. Something Everton can't do with the present regime.

Unfortunately I feel that Spurs will be far too strong for us to cope with. I hope I am wrong.

Any mistakes we make will probably get the full treatment, we will have to be at our best and maybe a bit more to get a win. In some games this season I have watched, I have seen the potential for us to step up and beat teams like Spurs at Goodison. We will see if we can rise to it, or are still taking shelter in the 'work in progress' hut for top 6 wanabees.

My post 2 pints of mulled wine prediction is an early Chrimbo pressie for bluenoses: Everton 2-1 Spurs.

I was in my playing 'heyday' back in the 80s and often wondered how 'out of place' or otherwise I would have looked in that Everton side. I was a left back so would have had to compete with 'Psycho' for that area of the pitch.

Sorry - that's nothing to do with the Spurs game but it got me thinking .

I still think our main weakness is in the final third. Not just personnel, but a coaching weakness. Silva has to do something to address our weak right flank. Tottenham will be attacking down it.

Crystal Palace beat Man City 3-2 at the Ethiad;
Leicester beat Chelsea at the Bridge;
Last week, Southampton beat Arsenal at St Marys.

All teams which we would expect to be ahead of in the Premier League have beaten teams in the so-called top six (of which we were a member in the much-maligned David Moyes era).

Our record against such teams makes dismal reading so today will be a crucial indicator of where we can place our expectations for this season; anything less than a victory will mean our expectations are at best staying in the top half of the table.

Crystal Palace are on a bit of a survival run, and will be boosted by their result against Man City yesterday, so Wan- Bissaka won't be easy to pry away.

Which leaves Vardy, who is reported to not like the way Puel organises his team, but yesterday's result again against Chelsea and Vardy's performance may just have them re-thinking.

We will get someone in, but doubt (hope I'm wrong) that any of the 3 you mentioned will be amongst any new recruits.

Over to you, Mr Brands!

Also, it is sad that we are contemplating the right-back slot but, if we could get Wan-Bissaka in, it would be a bit of a coup and be great for the club long-term. Could Marcel pull that one off, though? There will be resistance from Crystal Palace and competition for him.

I said the summer we sold Lukaku that we should have offered everything we possibly could to bring Jamie Vardy to this club.

Instead of that, we spent a month waiting for Giroud's wife to decide where she wanted to do her shopping and then ended up stuck with Niasse (whose cult status is more about his comedy than ability) and then wasted £27 million on the Turkish version of a poor man's Charlie Austin.

Vardy would have been excellent for Everton and I can tell you now the fans would have absolutely loved him. We all love a worker and I think he'd have been a new fan favourite in the Tim Cahill mould.

Today is the reality check for EFC, and will show what this squad is made of. It's a game where we cant afford to lose, and I hope we learn from the sham of last season's game v Spurs.

All The Best, Evertonians.

Spurs will be bitterly disappointed if they can't beat the mishmash that is our current squad.

This window is the final throw of the dice for this season. Where they finish has financial implications. Maybe that'll be a wake-up call.

Let's just hope that we can nick a win and build confidence, and go on a run.

Yes, they have done okay, but to all those saying they are the finished article, have a word with yourselves. They still bottle it, they still haven't won anything, especially the league. Yeah they did ok beating Arsenal in the cup but didn't they get thumped couple of weeks ago by the same opponents after having led 2-0?

We can bleat on about mistakes over the last few years or we can get behind the new regime. The players brought in to date have been good. No, we haven't bought a striker but not everything can be done at once.

It's not Silva and Brands fault the mess that was left for them. We have improved immeasurably since last season and we have performed well for most part. Yes we have had a dip but that just seems to have brought out all the "I told you we were crap" brigade.

As for the brigade extolling Palace and Leicester results, well all that goes to show is that if you're off your game then you get beat. Reading some posts you'd think Leicester and Palace are trailblazers. Except, we beat both of those teams, are we still that crap?

Doesn't matter how impatient we are, bottom line is that we are in transition. We have a decent first eleven and not much else. It will improve. We will have peaks and troughs while we look for consistency but how long do we punish the current regime for the sins of the past? We are more than capable of beating Spurs especially at home. Spurs are still quite a way behind Liverpool and Man City so why can't we beat them?

After going through the shite that we have been through over the last few years I'm quite prepared to give Silva and Brands some time. It won't all fall into place overnight like some think it ought to. I just hope all those negative posters give the lads some support if you're going today and not jump on their backs at the first opportunity.

Nobody wants success more than me, I've sat through mediocre to shite for more years than I care to remember and would like nothing more than to have a trophy if only to shut the gobshites up for a while, but give this regime a chance. It's only been less than half a season. We have played decent football and in only 1 game, against Man City, have we been second best. Better times are ahead.

I would also bring Deulofeu back as I think we were mad to let him go. In this system, he would be immense.

Worst decision made in a long long time. I appreciate the buy-back element of the deal with Barca but I'm very sure we could've sorted that.

This is the first time we have faced one of the top teams at Goodison so let's see how we get on with home advantage. For me, I would only play two centre-backs, Keane and Zouma look the more solid together.

Once we get the striker issue sorted in January, those big teams all have to come to Goodison.

I would not be to worried just yet and expect a surprise from Everton today on home soil, provided we put our chances away.

Just a shame we are looking to loan out McCarthy, he could have done a job in the busy Xmas period. When fit, a midfield of Gueye, McCarthy and Gomes would be class with Sigurdsson played in a further advanced Number 10 role.

Don’t even go there mate!

It doesn’t stop lesser teams going away to the top six and winning.

Best put the top back on the bottle and get my coat.

I was just being facetious about your pointing out our shortcomings in defense and attack @20. I do agree with you about us changing our mindset.

How about defeat is not an option, and the players to win their own personal battles on the pitch. All for one and one for all attitude on the pitch.

What this team needs is an Alan Ball and Billy Bremner; the rest will follow.

Have you taken what is written in the stars into account?

His summer spend of £90M did little to convince me that he and Brands were a great improvement on those they replaced and my gut feeling is that, footballwise, Moshiri is no more than Randy Lerner Mk 2. A fool and his money... et al.

But let's just hope my messages of doom will be choking me come 6-ish tonight!

Talking about players coming in. I'd snap Danny Ings up tomorrow.

Our main problem remains our profligacy in front of goal; if we can sort that out quickly we will soon move forward.

It will be interesting to see how we perform against a team that comes to win at Goodison Park.

So far only really Brighton have played a more open style and I thought that was our best home performance. I know West Ham gave us a lesson but that was as much down our being poor than them being good. As I say, it will be interesting.

Let's just hope we are not talking about missed chances again after today's game.

Not seen enough of Mina to judge the guy yet, as for Bernard, the guy helps both in attack and defence, gets unfair stick for me.

I would say Gomes, Richarlison and Digne were three excellent purchases, assuming we can nail a deal for Gomes.

You cannot tell me Keane and Sigurdsson have not improved this season under the new manager either.

Also Zouma; so I''m baffled how you do not think those players are a greater improvement.

Posts above mention how we went toe-to-toe with Liverpool, Man Utd, Arsenal etc and either missed our chances or were undone by defensive naivety etc.

We must also remember how we have salvaged draws and won games narrowly this season... fine margins too. Almost every game in the Premier League is settled by these fine margins.

After today's game we could be languishing in 10th or looking back upwards with hopes of 6th rekindled. A little bit of luck here and there is all we need to restore some of the belief in this team.

We and Spurs have the most congested Xmas programme and we will have to give some squad players some more game time. However, today I would stick to a back four, drop Mina, and keep Siggi and Lookman in the eleven.

I would consider bringing Bernard on for Siggi in the ten role, if things need changing, instead of the usual like-for-like, winger-for-winger that Silva tends to opt for.

I am very hopeful today and can see us getting a point but, with a little bit of belief and a touch of good fortune, we could invigorate our season.

No point saying anything. You have perfectly summed up everything in your post. Positive and an example of how we should be reacting, and not overreacting, to what we have seen this season.

Still a way to go in results before we return to the 'guaranteed' level under even Moyes, top-six games apart.

If we can land Gomes and keep Gueye, we have options on the flanks, the final third in the middle is where we are lacking and if we can address that, it will make a huge difference.

Either Vardy, Dzeko, or Michy Bats — any of those three would give us goals short-term with either Calvert-Lewin or Lookman learning from them.

I think it's fair to say that we have better individual players than in recent years but we can't seem to translate that into wins!

Some fans of Manchester City and Chelsea, will have attended The Etihad and Stamford Bridge yesterday believing that their teams would face an easy task in beating Crystal Palace, and Leicester City respectively.

I don't recall the exact moment when I realised that football doesn't quite work like that, but I now approach each game with an open mind, with the exception of the 'derby games,' when I know that, no matter how well Everton play, there will be the disputed penalty, the offside goal, and – as in this season's game – the monumental mistake that will haunt Jordan Pickford and us forever.

A recognition of the situation that the club and its fans need a result to go with the performance. Several posts make reference to playing okay but getting beat at the top ‘6’. Damning with faint praise perhaps?

Teams need to believe in themselves and under this manager we must get a seminal result to inject that belief.

The results yesterday do, in part, put that need into sharper relief. Palace, Southampton and Leicester are poor sides, we beat them all!

Spurs are on a great run but are listing, only one fit centre half, Ben Davies playing there twice in a week.

I want to see Everton exploit that. Alderweirald has been played into the ground too.

A front foot, physical and direct shoot first effort from Everton. Get in front and we’ll win.

But personally I really need to see Silva’s team walk the walk today.