Another week and another game, this time our Lilywhites take on 5th placed Everton in match day 13. Tottenham was looking to bounce back after defeats to Chelsea and Villa. The last time these two teams faced off was was in September when Everton won by a goal with a second-half Izzy Christiansen goal.
This is Everton’s first return to the Hive since that fabulous performance by our Lilywhites last season when goals by Angela Addison and Emma Mitchell inspired a comeback by our 10 women to earn Tottenham a point against an inform Everton team.
Contract extensions.
This week Tottenham announced that forward Jessica Naz has signed a contract extension with Tottenham keeping her at the Club until June 2022. Jessica Naz came through the Tottenham youth ranks and returned to the club in 2018 after spending some time at Arsenal. Naz made her WSL debut in the 3-1 win against Aston Villa in December 2020 having spent all of Tottenham’s debut 2019-20 WSL season out injured with an ACL injury. Jessica has made 25 appearances for the club scoring 4 goals and will be a great asset in the Tottenham front line. More information on Jessica’s extension can be found on the following link https://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/news/2021/february/new-deal-for-jessica-naz/
In some more fantastic news, Tottenham also announced a contract extension for Angela Addison. Addison has signed an extension that keeps her at the club until June 2022. Addison joined Tottenham in 2018 from C&K Basildon scoring 11 goals for our Lilywhites in 41 appearances. More information on Angela’s extension can be found at the following link https://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/news/2021/february/angela-addison-signs-new-contract/
Line ups.
Tottenham went for a 4-2-3-1 with Mikalsen in goal, Percival at right-back, Zadorsky and McManus in the centre of defense with Harrop in at left-back. Kennedy and Davison as holding midfielders with Addison down the left-wing, Morgan made her senior debut in the centre with Graham down the right-wing with Ayane in the number 9 position.
Everton lined up in a 4-3-3 with Maclver in goal, Wold in at right-back with Finnigan and Sevecke in the centre of defense with Turner in at left-back. The Everton midfield was made up of Christiansen, Scott and Stringer while the front three for the Toffee were made up by Emslie down the right, Morgan down the left with Gauvin in the centre of the Everton attack.
Match Report.
Both teams came out from the start looking for a goal, Tottenham’s first chance of the game came in the 4th minute when Percival started a Tottenham attack after an Everton corner with a long ball finding Angela Addison but her effort was blocked by Dan Turner just as Addison pulled the trigger. 3 minutes later Tottenham found themselves a goal down when Emslie headed a Sørensen cross and the ball hit Harrop in the arm. Gauvin scored the penalty to put the toffee’s one up, both teams continued to attack one another looking for goals as most of the play took place in midfield due to both sets of midfielder’s giving the ball away cheaply. Things went from bad to worse for Tottenham in the 17th minute when Everton was awarded another penalty with Harrop again the offender for grabbing Rikke Sevecke in the area during an Everton Corner, Gauvin again stepped up and scored sending Mikalsen the wrong way. Tottenham’s kept looking to get themselves into the game but were missing that final ball in the final third to threaten Maclver’s goal. Everton Could have had a third on the 24th minute when after a great run by Moe Wold, her cross was met by Gauvin but her header went just over Mikalsen’s bar. Tottenham kept pushing to get themselves back into the game and 4 minutes later a great pass by Graham found Kennedy whose effort was blocked on the line by Maclver to deny Tottenham. With both teams not sitting back Tottenham finally got their reward in the 35th minute when Kit Graham found Addison with a great pass on the left, Addison waited for Maclever to come to her before chipping the ball over the keeper to pull one back for Tottenham. 6 minutes later Tottenham continued their push for an equaliser when Harrop played a long ball finding Ayane but Ayanes’s chip was rushed and went wide of Maclver’s left-hand post.
Second Half.
Everton started the brightest in the 2nd half with the first chance falling to Gauvin in the 49th minute, but her header went over Mikalsen’s bar. Tottenham got back into the game in the 56th minute after a wonderful solo run by Davison from the halfway line, beating 3 Everton players and slotting past Maclver to pull Tottenham level. Unfortunately Tottenham found themselves behind again in the 60th minute when Emslie found Jill Scott with her corner who headed past Mikalsen to give Everton the lead. Tottenham made their first change of the game in the 62nd minute when Naz came on for Davison. Tottenham kept pushing again for an equaliser but Everton caught Tottenham on the counter in the 68th minute with Christensen shooting from the left but her effort went wide of Mikalsen’s left-hand post. Tottenham made a double substitution on the 74th minute with Dean and Quinn coming on for Ayane and Addison. As Tottenham looked to expose Everton’s defence, the Toffee’s midfield became more physical, coming in strong with challenges and committing more fouls on Tottenham players. Everton tried to put the game to bed and in the 74th minute, Raso came close with a shot from outside the box after a quick counter caught Tottenham short at the back but her effort was well saved by Mikalsen. Tottenham came right back at Everton and a Kit Graham corner found Zadorsky but her effort hit the post as Everton were let off the hook. Everton could have sealed the 3 points in the 88th minute when Magill intercepted a Tottenham free-kick but she rushed her shot from distance and the ball went wide. Things went from bad to worse for Tottenham in the 93rd minute when Jessica Naz had to be replaced after picking up and injury as Everton played out the final few minutes to hold on for the three points.
Player of the match.
A few players stood out today Captain Zadorsky, Angela Addison and Kit Graham. We feel while Zadorsky was solid in defence and Addison created most of the threat and scored a wonderful goal, our player of the match goes to Kit Graham. Kit was at the creator of most of Tottenham’s chances and set up Addison and Ayane on numerous occasion as well as tracking back to help out in defence during Everton attacks.
Post match analysis.
It is now 3 defeats in a row for our Lilywhites but sometimes the result does not reflect what happened on the pitch. The first two Everton goals were bad luck, how many times have we seen accidental handballs not given, and how many times have we seen shirt pulling and players grabbed in the area during corners. Credit to the officials for spotting these but on another day these would not be given. What’s done is done, the clock can’t be turned back now and the players must learn from these mistakes. Player must work on keeping their arms down in the area as this is not the first penalty that has been given against Tottenham for this offence and the players must be more aware of holding players in the area.
Like last year Tottenham found themselves 2 down against a strong Everton side and once again our Lilywhites showed their never die attitude. Like last year Angela Addison started the come back with a wonderful goal to get Tottenham back into the game and then Gemma Davison scored the goal of the match with a wonderful solo goal to draw our Lilywhites level before Jill Scott restored Everton’s lead earning the toffee’s all 3 points.
Tottenham showed some real fighting spirit but they must stop missing chances, and finding themselves down from avoidable errors like handballs and pulling players. The biggest issue facing Tottenham remains our striker. We need to sign a forward next season if the coach is not going to count on Dean because Ayane is not the solution. We don’t know how well players train but we see what players do on the pitch and Ayane does not offer anything that Quinn or Dean can’t offer. Ayane’s speed is ineffective is she does not know how to use ball possession. Ayane loses the ball too easy, protests a lot and has no positive effect on the game. Another player that Tottenham need to be rid of is Gemma Davison, Yes Davison scored a wonderful solo goal but she seems to be lazy on the pitch. Unless the ball is played to her feet she will not put in the effort to chase the ball and I find with these two players on the pitch it’s like our Lilywhites are playing with 9 players in every match.
I think Skinner has brought some needed confidence to the team, she just needs to work on those errors which are costing us goals and work on finding the right player to play alongside Addison and Graham because Naz, Davison and Ayane are not the solutions and we need to start winning games and if Ayane and Naz need to build on their confidence then they need to be benchwarmer that come on when the game is won to get that experience rather than starting matches which are costing us points. We trust the process and have absolute trust in Rehanne Skinner and understand that she inherited this team and needs time to assemble her own team but for now Naz, Ayane and Davison need to remain benchwarmers if we want to win any more games this season.
Next match.
Our next match takes place Sunday March 7th at 14:00 against Brighton, the game can be watched live on the FA Player COYS!!!
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Brighton vs Tottenham
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