e-Football Review: Everton 0 – 0 Tottenham

Article by Spurs Correspondent Ashley Caparelli

Defence

The unchanged back line once again put in a solid performance to ensure the Lily Whites are yet to concede to a non-London side. One statistics that really emphasises the dominance defending of Tottenham is the success rate, which in Sunday's game was 88%. This is made up of 32 clearances, 21 interceptions and 3 blocks, excluding a period of ten minuets of so from Everton in the second half, we were able to effectively break up their notoriously good play before they built a dangerous attack.

There is, however, some concern to be had when challenging for an aerial ball as we were only able to win these battles 38% of the time. Consequently Everton were able to build attacks or break down one of ours far too often causing ourselves problems which should be avoided.

Midfield

Despite the complete domination of the first half, Spurs ended, what turned out to be a very even game, having only had 49% of the ball. Majority of the game was spent between the half way line and Everton's penalty box with 12.98% however this is fairly even to the percent of the game spent in our half with 11.38%, Everton also saw more of the ball in wide areas.

In a game locked in parity, passing success from both sides was very similar with the home side finding a team mate 76% of the time compared to Spurs' 75%. Tottenham were more attacking with this possession however and were able to create 11 chances whereas the Toffees had to settle for 8.

AVB's side were able to have 7 shots from inside of the box, for a team pushing for a top four place and being tipped for a title challenge by many, to have not scored on at least two occasions in not acceptable. The problem may be due to the focus on playing centrally with two inverted wingers seeking to get on their stronger foot, this is created too much congestion in the centre of the park and therefore mean there is less room for a clean shot. More chances should have been created from wide positions with the wide-men providing only 3 crosses each, which, considering Townsend manage to fashion 5 shooting opportunities for himself, is not enough, AVB may be well advised to play at least one player on their natural wing.

Attack

The game at Goodison Park, was another were Soldado failed to find the net, in fact he only contributed 2 shots, neither were on target. This could be due players not finding him often enough having touched the ball only 36 times. Some blame must be put on his shoulders also, there is always room to be found and Soldado seems to struggle with this in the Premier League. The supporting players are yet to fully understand what Soldado is able to bring to the team, once and understanding is built they may be able to find him in positions he enjoys having the ball in and may create more scoring opportunities.

*Stats by Who Scored and Squawka

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