Tottenham Hotspur will be without Ella Morris for 10-12 weeks after she suffered an MCL injury while on international duty with the England U23s. Manager Robert Vilahamn confirmed the news when speaking to the media ahead of his team’s WSL clash with Everton on Sunday.
LuanaBühler is also a doubt, but the Swede confirmed she is back training on the grass. Elsewhere, there has been some sickness within the Spurs squad, but the manager expects to field a strong side against the Toffees.
Vilahamn’s side are looking to build on their 1-0 win over Aston Villa prior to the international break. He praised his team’s first clean sheet in nine games and is hoping for more of the same at Brisbane Road.
“We conceded a lot of goals in the games before that, so it’s really nice to see how we nailed the high press, the low defence. To see Eleanor Heeps’ game have a clean sheet, it was really nice to see. I think in the build up, we were much braver. I think we created some really good chances. Obviously, we scored one amazing goal, but we need to be even sharper when we try to finish more goals.”
Robert Vilahamn wants to return to playing brave football
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Spurs head into Sunday’s game in seventh position, with seven points from eight games. As for Everton, they are one point and two places below Vilahamn’s side, meaning they could leapfrog them with a win. Despite heading into the match as favourites, the Swede recognises the threat that Brian Sørensen’s team pose.
“Absolutely, we are the team that should be expected to have a good game and try to win. If you look at where we are and what we’ve done, it’s an important game to get a good result. On the other hand, it’s actually how we can improve our play and how we can make sure we take steps, winning or losing. We need to get back to the brave football, the high press and everything, and make sure we take steps.
“We need to make sure we play a certain type of football to win the game. The players are ready for this game and I think we have a good game plan. I think we are ready to try and go and beat Everton. We played them last season, and they had two games where they found a draw against us. We need to be sharp and make sure we do everything correct because otherwise we’re not going to win this game. It’s not that easy in this league, actually, but we have a good chance to get to a good result.”
Tottenham will prioritise attack over defence against Everton
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Tottenham head into the game with the worst defensive record in the WSL, having conceded 21 goals. However, Vilahamn made it clear that his side would prioritise attack over defence on Sunday.
“If you look at how we prioritise, I want to score a lot of goals, and then I want to have a clean sheet. We’re going to look at how we can score many goals and win the game, and then we’re going to have some really good defensive work. I’m not going into this game to try to have a clean sheet. Hopefully, we score a goal, so the mindset will be to play attacking football with a high press.
“I think it’s a mixture of some mistakes, some things where we don’t nail the press, and some too easy goals to concede. Then, you build bad self-confidence with tough games in a row. I think when you look at the expected goals conceded, we have 1.3, but we conceded 2.6 goals. If you use that data, it means that we concede easy goals that we shouldn’t do. We need to make sure we defend better, and that’s both individually and tactically.”
Tottenham will be aiming for only their second win against Everton, having only beaten them once in 10 meetings. Given Vilahamn’s offensive approach, Spurs will be hoping to cook up a storm amid Darragh’s fury.
Alex Charlton
Alex spent seven years as a primary school teacher and one as a head of year before travelling around Latin America. With a keen interest in football, tennis and darts, he currently works as an EFL and Sunderland club writer for Football League World. Alex loves telling a story and is relishing the opportunity to write about key issues.
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