Everton-Tottenham Hotspur: Goodison Park

With six players either injured, suspended or away on international duty, Everton manager, David Moyes, had a selection nightmare ahead of this crunch match against the Spurs.

This was reflected not only in the players he chose to start, but also in the formation they would have to play.

Gone was the 4-5-1 to be replaced by a more attacking, yet less secure 4-4-2.

Young Victor Anichebe got the chance to play as the second striker alongside Andrew Johnson, with the back four remaining the same. But it was the midfield that had a make shift look about it. Both Tim Cahill and Leon Osman were unavailable, so it was left to full back Leighton Baines to fill in on the left wing.

Although the starting lineup may have been a little unfamiliar, it was on the substitutes bench were the weakness of the Everton squad was highlighted. Named among the subs were Anderson Silva de France and Andy Van der Meyde.

Silva de France has spent most of his career at Everton on loan. He was brought to the club when the team was really desperate for players, but the Brazilian has never looked like a Premiership player.

Van der Meyde was going to be the answer to all Everton’s problems on the left of midfield when he joined from Italian giants Inter Milan. But he has been beset by injury and off the field problems.

Stories of his life away from football go from the heart rendering to the ridicules, and it speaks volumes that a player with an injury, and playing out of position, is preferred to Van der Meyde. It seems only a matter of time until Everton and the Dutch winger go their separate ways.

Spurs manager Juande Ramos had his own selection problems. With Ledley King a long term injury and Michael Dawson suspended, it was left to new signee Jonathan Woodgate to partner young midfielder Tom Huddlestone in the center of defence.

But what the Spurs lack at the back they more than make up for when they go forward.

Dimitar Berbatov, Robbie Keane, Aaron Lennon, Steed Malbranque, Jermaine Jenas and the promising Jamie O’Hara were all named to start in an attacking line up.

As the game got under way, on a cold winter's evening, there was a concern that Everton could find it hard going against a Spurs team that Ramos had got playing well.

With all the attacking players on the pitch for the Spurs, it was surprising that they showed so little imagination going forward. Everton wasn’t much better, but at least they could use the excuse of fielding an under strength team.

It took 20 minutes for Baines to drag a shot wide of the Spurs goal, the first real attempt of the match. This was followed by a nice bit of foot work that allowed Malbranque to try a spectacular over head kick that never troubled Howard in the Everton goal.

But this flurry of shots failed to ignite the game. It was a dire affair that was almost brought to life by Johnson. After some good work down the right, the ball was played to the little striker while he had his back to goal. One touch, a quick turn and shot almost caught out the Spurs keeper, Radek Cerny. But the shot lacked power and was easily held.

Johnson also had a shout for a penalty after he broke into the area and seemed to have his heels clipped by Huddlestone, but the referee waved away his appeals.

It was a poor first half by two teams with aspirations of progressing to the later stages of the UEFA Cup. And unfortunately the second half was no better.

Spurs started at a higher tempo, and Keane could have made Everton pay for some sloppy defending, but his shot from 15 yards out was weak.

Like the first half, the game became a punting competition with both teams lacking the creativity to fashion a scoring opportunity. It was with 30 minutes to go that Everton finally managed to present a real goal scoring threat.

Manual Fernandes, who was having a poor game by his standards, found room in the center of the Spurs half. His fine pass released Johnson who raced past Huddlestone and in to the area. The shot was powerful and low but too close to Cerny who managed to smother the ball. And that was it. The closest either team would get to a goal.

Everton continued to press forward but got nothing from a deep sitting Spurs team. As news filtered around the ground that results in other games were going our way, the crowd tried to cheer Everton on to that elusive winner, but when Everton needed to be going forward the most, they couldn’t get possession off Spurs who were happy to play keep ball for the last 10 minutes of the game.

It was a disappointing result. This was an opportunity not only to beat the Spurs, but also open up a gap in the race for forth spot in the league.

And the reason for Everton’s failing is obvious, they lack a cutting edge in front of goal. This is not entirely the striker's fault. They need to be provided with quality by the players around them. Pumping a 40 yard ball down field wasn’t working 10 years ago, and surprisingly it still isn’t working today.

At least one Everton forward scored this week. Yakubu scored the winner for Nigeria in their latest game in the African Cup of Nations. The down side is that it means both him and Yobo will be missing from Everton for at least another week, though with South Africa loosing Everton can expect to have Pienaar back in the side.

Unfortunately he won’t be back in time for Everton’s next game away to Blackburn Rovers, a real toughie. The next game I’ll be writing about will be the home match against Reading. It’ll be interesting to see if Everton will still be hanging on to that fourth spot.