please log in to view this image Sunday 7th November 2pm Premier League Goodison Park Antonio Conte's debut is out of the way and it was fun, wasn't it? No, not fun. Mental. That's it. ****ing mental. 5 goals, 3 red cards and quite a lot to take in on top of that. It's a short turnover to his Premier League debut though, so we don't have a lot of time to dwell on it. We've just got time for a trip to Merseyside before the internationals piss everyone off, again. Can Espirito Santo's replacement pick up another win or will Rafa Benitez flatten the new manager bounce? Last season was supposed to be the start of something special for Everton. Their dubious owners forked out for an ambitious managerial appointment and some big name players. Ex-Chelsea and Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti had joined halfway through the previous campaign. He was joined by James Rodriguez, Allan, Doucoure, Josh King and Ben Godfrey. With around £100m spent and little lost from the squad, it was seen as a bright new dawn for the club. We've all seen how those generally go for us though and so it proved for the blue part of Merseyside. A fantastic start saw them hit the top of the table after four matches, then see-saw through the rest of it. A final day 5-0 loss at The Etihad saw them drop to their lowest position of the lot, finishing in 10th. They bowed out of the quarter-finals of both domestic cups at home to the Manchester sides, too. Just to add insult to injury, Ancelotti's old Spanish side took him back in the summer. The owners decided to bring a familiar face back to replace him, but it wasn't a popular appointment. Rafa Benitez had done great things in Liverpool before, just with the Red ****e, as Evertonians call them. Rodriguez basically retired to Qatar and there was little money for replacements. Andros Townsend and Demarai Gray came in and have done very well, though. Another good start has gone a little wrong in the meantime and they currently sit in 10th. Our trip up there last time was Mourinho's last at the helm and it largely showed. An unusual 3-4-1-2 did take the lead in the first half, as both sides huffed and puffed, as Kane hit home. It didn't last long, as Michael Oliver awarded a penalty to the hosts, for no apparent reason. Sigurdsson put it away and added a second after the break, before being arrested and disappearing. Kane equalised from more shambolic defending and then hit the woodwork, but neither side could win it: The home game opened the season and it was clear that a number of our players weren't back yet. A very flat, tired performance got the reward that it deserved, yet it was still controversial. Shocking, eh? The visitors' new players all had an impact and Rodriguez was very influential throughout. It was Calvert-Lewin that scored the only goal of the game though, coming from another dodgy set-piece. We never looked like levelling it up and that was how it remained: Gil and Sessegnon probably still out for this one. Doucoure, Calvert-Lewin, Mina and Gomes out for the hosts. Neither side has any suspensions. Spurs: Lloris; Royal, Romero, Dier, Davies; Hojbjerg, Skipp; Moura, Lo Celso, Son; Kane. Subs: Gollini, Doherty, Tanganga, Rodon, Sanchez, Reguilon, Ndombele, Alli, Bergwijn. League form: LLWWLL. Everton: Pickford; Coleman, Holgate, Keane, Godfrey; Allan, Gbamin; Townsend, Iwobi, Gray; Richarlison. Subs: Begovic, Lonergan, Kenny, Welch, Davies, Delph, Gordon, Rondon, Tosun. League form: LWDLLL. Ref: Chris Kavanagh. VAR: Jonathan Moss. TV: Not televised. How would you like to line up for this one? Would you stick with much of the same lineup from the Vitesse, tinker a little or change it completely? Which system and tactics would you use and what are you expecting Everton to go with?
I think Sanchez has earned a spot over Dier, who somehow seemingly gets a large amount of last chances. Whilst I wouldn't mind Ndombele coming in for Lucas and us going 352 but realistically I can't see either happening as I reckon Conte will go with the same XI as Thursday.
Dier is apparently a good leader in the dressing room, similar to what was said about Sissoko a few times in recent years Would be nice if that ever transitioned onto the pitch...
If Benitez loses this he is pretty much at the same stage with the Everton fans as Nuno was with THFC after the Arsenal/Chelsea losses. Looking at Everton's fixtures, it could be curtains for Benitez.
On the bright side for Benitez: 1. He's known as a technically astute manager and faces a team that was all over the shop in their last match. 2. Spurs are very good at getting managers sacked, but only their own. They tend to keep other managers in the job a bit longer.
we are massively unfit. The majority of our team were knackered by ht on Thursday. Think Conte needs at least 5 or 6 weeks to make us hard to beat, especially away from home. Our stats this season are truly shocking. We have only scored 9 goals in the league in 10 games. 1 was a penalty, one was a fluke and 1 was an own goal. Three were against toon ffs! We average an attempt on goal evey 9 mins and just 4 attempts on target per game. We have a goal difference of -7 ... only Newcastle and Norwich have worse. We run the least of all 20 premier league teams and are in the bottom 5 for xg stats, goals scored, goals conceded, chances created, clean sheets kept and tackles won. Dier is considered one of the first names on the team sheet and we ain't kept a clean sheet in 7 Premier league games. we havent had a shot on target in 140 minutes of premier league football. we haven't scored in over 240 mins of Premier league football. Our first 11 all played on Thursday and we played the last 30 mins with 10 men. If rafa loses to us then he deserves the sack ... fakht!
No space for Rodon on the bench… I can only presume he’s a terrible trainer or he’s just the unluckiest bloke at the club. Unchanged XI from Thursday which I think we expected albeit had half hoped there’d be a change or two. Anyway, let’s go Antonio!
No Rodon and why Tanganga and Doherty , Japhet could cover both roles if needed, obviously they see and know more than me so Rodon must be on his way out in January unless he's got an injury
If anything I'd ask why both Sanchez and Tanganga are on the bench as they play the same role on the right of the back three
Without Mina, Doucoure and DCL we’re ****ing hopeless. You’ll pick up 3 points today at a gloomy and largely silent Goodison.
Don’t matter mate. Kane always scores against us, new manager effect, a nervous home crowd, a spineless team, you’ll canter past us.
