Spurs (h) Nowhere Man
Injuries meant a 7 man bench & 2 keepers, no James, Gomes, Delph or Allan. Josh King was cup-tied, it really was bare bones. Godfrey preferred at RB to Holgate, who was benched alongside Coleman, Bernard being our only real forward option.
The standard slow Goodison start saw Olsen save down low from a Lamela header on 2 mins, the alarm bells hadn’t rang loud enough to wake Everton up as on 3 mins a Spurs corner was headed in by Sanchez who had freed himself from Sigurdsson, who wasn’t looking interested in the challenge. Awful & uncharacteristic defending. 0-1
How would Everton react to this, especially after Saturday night? Your first thought goes to ‘it’s better being 1 down with 3 mins gone, than with 3 mins to go’ but all the same it was going to be hard work. But that’s the Jekyll & Hyde nature of this Everton team, when it looks on it’s arse, it can make a fool of you in the blink of an eye. As such, Godfrey went close then Dom hitting the post.
Davies & Hojbjerg were messing about trying to play a triangle out of the corner when the Dane got dispossessed after some great pressing & Sigurdsson played in Dom, the balll was bouncing about knee height but he managed to get some power behind the shot & Lloris could only parry it into the goal 1-1. We were off the hook.
2 mins later Digne on the left pushing right up passed to Dom just outside the D, & his split second back heel found Richarlison running off of him & he rifled a shot through Alderweireld’s legs & passed Lloris into the corner 2-1. Everton, awake & sharp now.
5 mins later, the ball again down the left side is played into the box for Dom to run on to, he’s tripped by Hojbjerg & the ref gives the penalty. “Was the contact in the box?” was the question from the gantry!! Let me help you out Ian & Glenn... it was so far into the box, it was almost in the goal mouth!!!! Paid up clowns.
Gylfi squares up, looks one way, sends Lloris the other way 3-1. Deserved after the previous 9 mins.
Hold it all down now & what a turn around to go in 3-1 up, but it’s not the done thing at home this season & some horrific defending by Mina allowed Lamela to get passed him & best Olsen on a tight angle for 3-2. Team talk now completely different to 30 seconds ago. Mina & Keane choosing to have their worst night on Everton’s most important night.
We were really lucky during this game to have a minute by minute update on Kane & Dele Alli, it’s a rarity that broadcasters offer inplay coverage of the subs bench, but it’s quite innovative... how redundant Ian & Glenn must have felt when Kane came on, they’d have to talk about the game now over the latest rendition of “Come on you Spurs”.... but Everton are playing at home?
Kane was on & Spurs were showing desperation to get back into the game, on 57mins they had another corner. Same result as on 3 mins, a disinterested Sigurdsson letting Sanchez have a free chance, 3-3. Hard to take, but of our own doing.
Dom had gone off with a hamstring tweak, Coleman on to cover the right, Iwobi moved to the left. The dynamics of the team completely different, how would this work against such an attacking Spurs? Enter Tom Davies & Abdoulaye Doucoure...
On 68 mins Davies wins a header in midfield sets Sigurdsson off and his ball in behind allows Richarlison to spin Sanchez & beat Lloris from the same angle as Lamela, but with real venom!! Smiles from the pigeon at last 4-3. Surely we shut up shop now!!
Ian on comms had been reminding us about Kane, a little less than when he was on the bench, also the goalscoring record of all the Spurs players vs Everton over their careers, & Hojbjerg choosing Spurs over Everton in the summer, whilst the audio team queued up the latest rendition of “Oh when the Spurs go marching in”... Ian was delighted on 83 mins when another Spurs corner caused chaos, half cleared, back to Son who’s cross was headed in by an unmarked Kane at the far post. Inexplicably Mina had him, then left him. What were we watching?
FT4-4 and extra time
Bernard had come on for Iwobi late into the second half & was quiet, but the man who seemed to have no future at the club would provide the last & most telling contribution to the game. On 97 mins he & Sigurdsson played a one-two of sorts that had Bernard running a diagonal from outside in, Sigurdsson spinning Alli & lifting the ball over the Spurs defence. Bernard let the ball bounce on the corner of the 6 yard box & then smashed it in. 5-4!!! Bernard from absolutely out of nowhere.
Abdoulaye Doucoure now took over, he didn’t just cover miles, he covered air miles. He was box to box on repeat. Spurs had no answer to him, even with the fresh legs of Winks & Sissoko. Tom Davies showed immense maturity to anchor the midfield to allow Doucoure’s heroics, Bernard will get the headlines, but it was these 2 that won the game for Everton.
A Mina block from a Kane shot, a Kane freekick that came to nothing & a few Spurs corners that were finally & properly dealt with were all Everton had to deal with for the remainder of the game. What a game! What a story for Bernard. FT 5-4 aet, into the hat!!!
The wonderful thing about a BT Sport production is the comedy value it brings whilst trying so desperately to be a serious broadcaster. The company that has invested so much money into buying rights to multiple sports & lavish sets, yet has pound shop presenters & analysts. And it also extends to there audio team too, “Come on you Spurs” & “When the Spurs go marching in” was our soundtrack... well at least it was drowning out the school children they normally serve us up with. If only they could find something to drown out McManaman & Keown, ah yes BT Sport, that would be something called unemployment!! They can take Hoddle with them too. Dreadful.
Ball number 6 in the draw Thursday tea-time, then
onto Sunday, you’d forgive them if they were tired, wouldn’t you?
COYB, UTFT💙
