Everton 1-1 SpursHome team scorersRoss Barkley 5
Away team scorersErik Lamela 59
Att 39494Tottenham should have won this game and they know it.
Everton were the most obliging of opponents, slightly fortunate to take an early lead and positively delusional if they imagined they would be able to hang on to it for 85 minutes. In the end they were glad of a point, so small was their share of the game and so limited their attacking efforts, while Spurs will be satisfied with the result but acutely aware they could have done better.
Everton paraded Ashley Williams on the pitch before kick-off though the new signing from Swansea was deemed too short of match practice to make his debut in Ronald Koeman’s new-look back three. Mason Holgate, a member of that trio, was also one of three players making their first Everton starts, the other two being goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg and defensive midfielder Idrissa Gana Gueye.
The change Everton found most difficult to get used to, however, was the absence of Romelu Lukaku as an outlet up front. The Belgian is widely believed to be on his way out of the club anyway but he needed stitches in a foot injury in last week’s friendly against Espanyol and was not risked.
That meant the home side played without a recognised striker, with Gerard Deulofeu only a notional front runner, and though Everton took the lead inside five minutes it was significant the goal came from a deadball situation, Ross Barkley’s free-kick finding its way past Hugo Lloris without Phil Jagielka or Ramiro Funes Mori managing to get a touch to help it on. Also significant was the fact Everton spent much of the rest of the first period on the back foot and in their own half.
Without anyone to aim for in attack and no one capable of holding possession in advanced positions Everton found the ball kept coming back towards them. They defended well, with Gueye in particular winning applause for his neat interventions and efficient distribution, though Tottenham are not the sort of team you want camped on the edge of your penalty area.
That said, Harry Kane was not being brought into the game regularly enough from a Spurs point of view, and when the striker took matters into his own hands and dumped Funes Mori on his backside with a meaty shoulder charge he was rather harshly pulled up for a foul.
All that Spurs actually managed by way of attempts in a first half they dominated was a Christian Eriksen shot straight at Stekelenburg, while Jagielka forced a save from Lloris at the other end with a header from another free-kick. Spurs had to change goalkeepers before the interval when Lloris pulled up with a hamstring strain.
Unfortunately Michel Vorm was alert enough to deal with a Deulofeu chance right on the stroke of half-time when an attempted Danny Rose backpass sold his goalkeeper short. The former Barcelona player was on to the ball in a flash, and though Vorm did well to close down his options the finish lacked composure.
Mauricio Pochettino decided a little more attacking threat was necessary in the second half and sent on Vincent Janssen to accompany Kane up front. With his first touch of the ball the £17m striker set up a shooting chance that Dele Alli fired over the bar, and two minutes later Spurs were level.
Janssen was not directly involved this time but Everton had more offensive players to worry about when Kyle Walker swung over a cross from the right, and Érik Lamela nipped in ahead of Holgate to place a header past Stekelenburg. Everton could hardly say they had not been asking for trouble.
The game was delicately poised in the final quarter, with Arouna Koné coming on for Deulofeu to give Everton a slightly more orthodox presence up front, though it seemed a pity the Spaniard could not be shifted to the wing as some of his runs were causing Spurs problems.
Again the home side lived dangerously by allowing Spurs to keep passing and probing along the edge of their area, the visitors were virtually queuing up to take pot shots in the last 10 minutes and in one hectic goalmouth scramble a good save by Stekelenburg was needed to prevent a debut goal for Janssen from the six-yard line. A late Lamela effort was deflected on to the bar by the combined efforts of Holgate and the goalkeeper but somehow Everton held on.
They will not have to play teams as relentlessly muscular as Spurs every week, but Everton will have to cross the halfway line every now and again if the optimism engendered by Koeman’s arrival is to amount to anything positive.
Guardian