Everton-Spurs Preview
To misquote bowtie-wearing monorail shyster, Lyle Lanley:
‘You know, Everton with money’s a little like the mule with a spinning wheel. No one knows how they got it, and danged if they knows how to use it!’
Indeed, with the famous Merseyside club’s newfound affluence, and the Premier League landscape in another state of flux, Everton fans will have sensed an opportunity to manoeuvre into a position of power this summer.
There’s still nearly three weeks for things to change either way, of course, but for every positive you can draw from the bold upgrade of manager and success in keeping the majority of star players on the payroll— for now— there must be a marked pang of disappointment at their club’s unambitious quest to recruit players.
With a new, energy-rich British-Iranian shareholder and a healthy dump of television cash, this ought to have been the season in which Everton attempted a leap above their station. For a team of their pedigree, some cunning moves in the transfer market would’ve been just the dose of ammonium this sleeping giant needed.
But, as potential targets Axel Witsel and Marko Arnautović are downgraded to links to Robbie Brady and Sunderland’s Lamine Kone, it’s not exactly screaming of great enterprise. Even the pursuit of £30m-rated Yannick Bolasie seems like too little, too late and for too much. A wildly inconsistent firebox of tricks, who’s 27, yet still plays like a talented but capriciously raw teenager.
Meanwhile John Stones has finally fled to City, for a not-too-bad-if-you-can-get-it £47.5m; a portion of which, Everton have already re-invested in Wales captain, Ashley Williams. We’re now in an age where £12m for a 31-year-old is considred genuinely good value. He’ll knock the vestiges of Roberto Martinez’s ‘defence’ into shape, you can be sure of that.
With Everton seemingly on the ropes, then, we can almost guarantee a tough encounter for Spurs on Saturday afternoon. Goodison is a notoriously challenging away fixture for the North London club and Ronald Koeman has a history of working minor miracles under constraints.
Southampton were earmarked as relegation candidates following a supposedly cataclysmic transfer window in 2014, which saw them lose all of their best players and Dejan Lovren to Liverpool, only for Koeman to prove the naysayers wrong and pilot the Saints to a record-breaking Premier League finish.
For Tottenham it’s been a steady summer; a couple of reasonably under-the-radar purchases, offset with the promotion of some exciting talent from the Development Squad, who’ve featured heavily in Spurs’ preseason, to varying degrees of success. Continuity looks to be the key for Pochettino, with none of their main cast looking likely to leave and most of the new faces coming into the fold youth products who’re au fait with the Argentine’s demands.
Expect a familiar line-up to the one that rattled Inter for six last weekend. With perhaps Kevin Wimmer coming in for the inexperienced Cameron Carter-Vickers and Hugo Lloris in for Michel Vorm.
