Spurs boss Ho looking forward to Everton return | OneFootball

Tottenham Hotspur head coach Martin Ho admits that he is excited to return to his former club when The Lilywhites travel to Everton this afternoon.

The 35-year-old was on Everton’s books as a player in his youth while he later worked at the club as an assistant coach for the women’s team.

When speaking to the media in the pre-match press conference, Ho admitted that it’ll be nice to return to Goodison Park.

“I spent a lot of time there, I have a lot of respect for the club, for a lot of the staff, people and for the leadership there because they gave me opportunities when I was younger,” Ho said.

“Being at Goodison, I’ve been part of the women’s team when we’ve played there before and to go back there will be really nice. It’ll be nice to see some familiar faces, players who are still there from when I was there.

“Everton are a wonderful team and we know it’s going to be a tough game for us but I have every confidence in the group.”

Both sides go into the game on the back of opening day wins. Spurs defeated West Ham United 1-0 while Everton recorded a 4-1 victory over Liverpool. Ho says that Spurs will have to take their defensive qualities to Everton, particularly after Toffees forward Ornella Vignola netted a hat-trick on opening day.

He said “We have to focus on what we can control and how we defend in those moments. We need to take parts of that West Ham game into this game from a defensive perspective, from how we defend the box and so on. We need to apply ourselves and our game plan on the game, putting our imprint there, knowing that they have got wonderful players and are a threat.

“[Ornella] Vignola scored a hat-trick [against Liverpool] and we are aware of her strengths and what she can bring to the team. We have to focus on what we can do defensively and use our strengths to stop her strengths.

“We know they’ll be very dynamic on the ball, very dynamic off it. They like to have the ball, they have some wonderful technical players but we have some wonderful players too. We have to make sure that we focus on us and keep an eye on the opposition. We will respect them but when we go into this game, it’ll be all about what we are going to do.”

Everton boss Brian Sørensen has done a tremendous job in keeping the team progressing across different ownership eras. Ho has huge respect for his opposite number and is pleased to see Sørensen now receiving solid financial backing.

He said “I’ve got a lot of time for Brian, we are good friends, we get on really well. When you look at last season in terms of the injuries that they had, they kind of suffered a little bit and now he’s been really backed. They’ve now got a very solid team.

“They’re competitive, they really want to control possession and he’s really demanding off the ball. We are the same and I have similar ideas of the game. It’s going to be a real tough game and both teams will leave everything on the pitch.”

Tottenham Hotspur’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture at Everton kicks-off at 2.30pm this afternoon.