The first half was excellent from us and it is a measure to me of how well Everton played despite our level of performance that we only just edged the first 45 minutes. We should just about have been ahead based on the first half. Second half we never quite matched our quality of the first half, and Everton's subs changed the game whereas ours didn't, we had no real response to them of any quality. Draw was fair enough all told really even though we hit the underside of the crossbar, the inside of the post, and had a few occasions in and around the box in the second half where I thought we might nick a goal. Ref was good throughout I thought. I thought Carroll was actually pretty good, he plays good passes and links up well with important players like Eriksen and Kane, and he tries physically even if he simply isn't of really physical stature or hugely quick - he does his fair share of chasing back and pressing, I think he even won the ball off Lukaku once or twice as Everton broke after our corners and he was aware enough to foul Barkley when he had to as well on a breakaway. Speaking of Eriksen, as others have said his performances over the last month or so have not been up to his usual high standards, as we have a number of players coming back into those 3 positions (Son etc.) I think it might be time for his to be given a break - he was against Watford actually wasn't he, and may well have been benched again if Dembele or Mason had been fit this week. Chadli looked well off the pace to me, wasn't quick in possession or snapping into the press and challenges when he came on. Could be a lack of sharpness, could be attitude, lets hope the former. Son is gradually getting better though, so if we're going to drop Eriksen and Dembele isn't fit then I'd play Son. The game underlines to me the need for striking reinforcements in this transfer window to reinforce Kane, and that Pochettino also needs to find more variants on his formula going forwards. 3 at the back against Watford was an interesting experiment that was successful after a fashion, and we played a little differently today and I actually thought it was extremely effective for a time. Whether we will ever see more extreme changes, or just more gentle variations on his theme we will see, but at least he is experimenting a bit with some success. A good transfer window and we could really make in impact in 3 competitions this season. Over to you Levy, Mitchell and Pochettino.
With respect I must disagree a draw was "fair enough". Did Everton hit the bar and post, have more than half the number of chances we did, pass for a long period to anything like the quality we did? So why is a draw fair?
Perhaps I'm being swayed towards that view because they ended very well and their subs changed the game in their favour whereas ours didn't counteract that, which isn't necessarily reflective of the progress of the whole game up to that point. In terms of halves we were better in the first and Everton in the second IMO, hence we can't be too aggravated at a draw. That said in the first half the shot ratio was something like 13:3 to us, and we have only ourselves to blame for not getting more than one goal when we dominated, and Everton scored against us with pretty much their first shot of the game. Our closest moments, Kane and Davies hitting the inside of the woodwork, came at key points (would have been 1-0 and 1-1 respectively if they had gone in) and we had a good few other chances where we nearly made more of the situations as well. But, given that we didn't make the best of our opportunities, and that Everton put in a very strong performance all round, I think a draw was fair at the end of the day. Frustrating that we could have won it though, looking back.
For me the next 2 league games are absolutely critical we better Arsenals results. We have Leicester and Sunderland at home and they have Liverpool and Stoke away. If they better our points haul in these matches then I can't see us catching them.
All this stuff re: Tom Carroll, the guy has vision, he's as good as any player in the current Liverpool side, although that's not saying much, however, he is still young and will improve. He may be a little lightweight but a good high protein diet plus lots of stamina building exercise should sort that out. Send him to a boxing gym. We would be mad to get rid of him. Yesterday we played the best team from Liverpool, and should have beaten them easily based on the first half performance. Martinez clearly give them a mouthful at half time because they came out a different side. Having said that, we stuck to our guns and defended really well. Lukaku didn't ever look like he was going to score, it's just a shame the woodwork got in the way in the first half. Great game though, both teams should be proud.
I thought the referee was just about OK, no glaringly bad errors but he did book Lamela for an accidental hand in the face and gave a free kick to Everton when Son put his hand on Stones (when Stones was trying to be Messi in his own box towards the end of the game), both were extremely harsh decisions in my opinion.
He also failed to book Barkley for a blatant shirt-pull in the same incident that he booked Coleman for a handball. That was poor consistency. Didn't have a bad game overall, though. Not great, but not awful.
The Stones decision was just bizarre. It was as if the 4th official whispered in his ear 'Don't let Stones embarass himself. The media will lynch you for besmirching England's messiah. Blow the whistle as soon as Son touches him.' Stones is a bright prospect, but his inexperience is galringly obvious at times. Jagielka back from injury will help him immeasurably. I was also quite impressed by this Funes Mori or whatever the hell he's called. Despite being an unheard of summer signing who looks like he'd rather be modelling hair products than playing football, he was actually quite calm and composed. A bit like Fazio, just calm and composed.
Yeah, that's about right. I was yelling at the screen on the Son "foul" on Stones. It reminded me of when the ref decided he needed to step in and put a stop to those nice middle class Spanish boys being harrassed by those tough Chileans a couple of world cups ago. But even given that howler, if every game was officiated to the standard of the Spurs Everton game, it would be a big improvement. The officials didn't, for the most part, call fouls on our players merely because they seemed to be winning the ball a lot, for one thing.
I thought it was just me that was highly irritated with that Son 'foul' on Stones. It's a game played by ****s nowadays.
First half we were fantastic but got pegged by that counter from Everton which Lennon inevitably had to be the one to finish. Davies hitting the bar, Kane the post, plus other chances where we could/ should have put the game to bed in that 45. Great finish by Alli, a similar move against WBA with Toby hitting a pin-point long ball. Second half was a bit more even, Everton came at us more and Hugo had to make that one important save but we still deserved the three points after the final whistle so a shame we only ended up with the one.
