The two goalkeepers made good saves especially Everton's to deny Janssen. Now I'm happy to have Vorm have a spell in the first team so that we can see what he can do over a prolonged period. I liked his signing from Swansea and for me hasn't had enough game time due to the form of Lloris. Overall fairly happy with a point. Now Palace our next opponents started well last season and went progressively poor until season's end and this time they start with a defeat so a good win should be Spurs' and woe to Palace this season.
While I was very disappointed in how Spurs played, I thought it was even more a case of Everton playing well. Through the first 50 minutes, one of two teams trained in the same school pressed harder, got their tactics right, and were first to every ball. Everton's pressing energy and organization knocked Spurs off their game. That said, Spurs reaction was awful, with the mids primarily at fault. When they needed to use space to take the sting out of the press, they lost the ball time after time by trying to dribble and dink their way through the middle. It was very neo-AVB. Lloris picked up right where he left off letting in extremely soft goals. I hate to say it, but I was relieved when he left. The game turned on its head when Janssen came in. He had a good game, but it wasn't so much him, I thought. For whatever reason, Spurs turned to the tactics which have brought them success against teams that clog the middle: they got the ball forward, down the flanks and towards the goal as quickly as possible. One of those attacks got them the equalizer, and they were unlucky not to get a second. The turn in the game may have resulted to Everton running out of gas, a problem Koeman half-predicted. Everton controlled more than half the game, could easily have gone up to two, and deserved a point at least based on the run of play. I was interested to see the premier of what appears to be a new league rule: every time Spurs have a good chance, blow the whistle. The officials did an excellent job of abiding by it for the length of the game. It was certainly an interesting afternoon of shoulder barges. When Wanyama made shoulder to shoulder contact, it resulted in the first goal. When both Kane and a defender quite deliberately knocked shoulders and the defender fell, the foul was quickly called on Kane. When Lamela passed by a defender with no contact, the whistle blew instantly. Of course, when Lamela was poleaxed in the box as the ball came to him, they played on. Very well done, Atkinson and friends. I felt Spurs needed to take a big step forward today. For a while they threatened to take a big step back. For some reason the way they came back encourages me, on balance. I don't know why. Lamela thoroughly redeemed himself today. Eriksen and Alli did not, and were extremely disappointing throughout. The big year many, including me, predicted for Lamela, seems off to a good start. I was amazed to see him score on a difficult header when he had shown all the heading prowess of Charles I in previous years. He was unlucky not to get a second. Wanyama and Dier were decent individually but the fear they offered too little as a pair going forward proved justified. It was one more game we looked like a different and considerably worse team without Dembelé. Against the press I think our best player other than Dembélé in the center is Carroll.
I spent this afternoon at Selhurst Park. I got offered a free ticket and they were honouring a friend of mine who worked there and died a couple of weeks ago. Palace were wretched. Actually WBA were wretched. Apart from the weather, it was wretched beyond my capability to explain it. If we can't beat that Palace team, then we deserve a good kicking. Goal for Defoe @ Citeh!
Fair to say today was a game of two halves. First half we were dog ****... And saying dog **** is probably sugar coating it. How on earth Hugo let that freekick in I'll never know, that is sloppy, sloppy goal keeping, the ball wasn't moving fast enough to say he was unsure if there was going to be a connection from a Spurs/ Everton touch, he was sleeping and it was very un-Hugo-like. Everton somewhat played us at our own game and we really didn't like it, they pressed well and passed quickly, despite us having two brick walls in midfield, they still found their way through a few times and could have doubled the lead. Rose's sloppy back pass was really heart in mouth, superb save from Vorm and that'll do wonders for his confidence if he's to deputise for a while if Hugo's hamstring is badly injured, though I will say it's no coincidence that Vorm looked solid having played in all of the pre-season matches, amazing what a few consecutive matches can do, eh? Second half I think the players got the hair dryer treatment, we still started a little slow but grew into it once Lamela scored from a great bit of work and cross by Walker. The introduction of Janssen really upped our tempo too, he impressed me in pre-season and he impressed me in his 30-35 mins, more of this stuff and Poch is going to have a major headache along with a possible formation change to accommodate him, I love his work rate and the fact he won't be outmuscled, he was a real handful and but for a superb save from Stekelenburg he'd have had his first Premier League goal. Lamela was so unlucky to double his tally, Stekelenburg again came to their rescue. In the end, Everton tired and we should've capitalised but a point at Goodison is no bad feat. As for individuals; Walker, Janssen, Vorm and Lamela can go home knowing they put a shift in, Rose was also OK if you exclude the poor back pass and Wanyama was much, much better in the second half, making a brilliant last ditch tackle at one point. Dier didn't really do much wrong in fairness and it was a surprise seeing him subbed, although the fact he hasn't had a proper pre-season probably played a part, Poch may have felt of the two DM's, Wanyama was the fitter to last the 90. The two CB's seemed a little rusty, especially Vertonghen but they weren't terrible and dealt with most stuff that came their way. Kane and Alli were poor, although like Dier, were probably suffering from a lack of pre-season/ Euro hangover, hopefully they'll up the levels against Palace. Eriksen was by far the worst on the pitch, his passing was crap and he lost possession numerous times, very surprised he lasted 90 minutes, would've happily seen Onomah or Winks given some time to impress. Interesting to see what Poch goes with next week at home to Palace, Wanyama and Dier need more time to gel as there will be times in the season where the two will have to partner each other post-Dembele's ban, Janssen has earned a start after an impressive pre-season and second half performance vs Everton, Eriksen done himself no favours but is one of the most naturally gifted players we have which makes it hard to drop, Kane and Alli will hopefully be much sharper in a weeks time and be ready to put their below-par performance today behind them... Good luck Poch! COYS!
I thought we looked a little too open considering we had Wanyama AND Dier in midfield and we weren't so good going forwards without Dembele. Given how we turned it on in the second half I'm willing to put the first 45 minutes down to early-season rustiness and blowing away the cobwebs - some of the players had only had a couple of weeks of pre-season to be fair. That said we drew way too many games we should have won last season, if we'd killed off a few of them off then nobody would be talking about an end-of-season collapse. I hope we do learn that lesson and that we're now up to speed for the new season. Everton looked good under Koeman. Their forwards can be tricky when they're on song, that lad they signed from Villa looks busy in midfield, and the defence will potentially be quite solid. That said Everton have always been a team who can beat anyone on their day so Koeman really needs to work on their consistency. Their defence and keeper hardly gave us a peep until we really started turning the screw but next week they could ship 5 with the same players.
Brilliant analysis of the game that mate. I thought Wanyama looked a bit lead legged at times and Gueye (who's debut was superb imo) simply out worked him. Until Jansen came on you'd offered virtually nothing, but he made the difference as we didn't cope with him down our left side. Once you'd got level there looked like only one winner tbh, and it wasn't us. Overall I'd have taken a point before kickoff as we were missing the big man up top and I fully expect our side will have a few new additions in the coming weeks, so it bodes well. A massive improvement in terms of effort and work rate over the Martinez era already. Good luck for the rest of the season
Considering the general low level of performance in the first half, the pick up in the 2nd - maybe helped by Everton tiring - was a positive. I thought Dier had a good game, as did Walker and Janssen also looked useful, but our bacon was saved by Vorm. We certainly would not have come back from 2-0. Vorm looks in good form, very composed and has better distribution, so I am not worried if Lloris should be sidelined for a few games. Wanyama looked promising, but was occasionally a bit out of sync with some of his teammates, but that's only to be expected after a few weeks at the club. I don't think he was helped by Eriksen, who was dreadful and considering he had the summer off AND is allegedly holding out for silly money on his contract, I would have expected better. Overall, we probably deserved a point and could have sneaked it in the end, so things could be a lot worse. And if Everton can build on that first half performance and keep Lukaku I reckon they will have a very decent season and we may look back positively on a point at Goodison.
Spurs did more pre season miles than anybody else which I thought was stupidly far too much, I hope it won't drain the players too soon which I thought may have been the cause of the lacklustre first half.
We do need to rethink our pre-season strategy, as our first team seem to spend more time in departure lounges than actually getting some minutes on the pitch.
How much pre-season did our attacking 4-5 play together? Not much as far as I could tell. Lamela went on a world tour but the others stayed at home. Lamela looked by far the most ready. So for me it's more a lack of pre-season than the miles. The miles might come into play an a while but they weren't the issue yesterday. We can blame the euros for that. Poch had to walk a tightrope. Take them all and he's over working them, leave them and they're under prepared. Not an issue next summer
I mean, obviously touring Australia pre-season is dumb and it meant the squad was split meaning not a lot of game time together but it wasn't the miles traveled that was the issue as Lamela proved
I've seen suggestions online (which is your cue to grab a couple of handfuls of salt to take the rest of this comment with...) that Lloris has been carrying an injury since the Euros, which obviously got aggravated yesterday. Not sure where this information came from, since I don't recall Lloris getting clattered at the Euros and he's hardly featured in what constituted as our pre-season, but I thought I'd just plonk it on here.
I got the impression he injured himself with his first save (early on) when he clashed quite heavily with the post. He carried on for a while but decided he was not up to it and called to be subbed.
The greater likelihood is that Lloris has been carrying chronically low self-confidence since conceding (quite softly) the goal that lost his country the European title in the dying moments of a monumentally forgetful game. I'm more than happy for Vorm to get a decent run in the team and perhaps play himself into the #1 slot. I'm also quite happy for someone - anyone - else to wear the armband for a bit.
He actually hurt himself on the post in the Euro final and was still feeling the effects of it when the shot beat him. There's a video of it floating round the internet. Maybe someone who's not on their phone could post it. It couldn't be the continued effects of that, could it? Would seem odd.
He hit the post again today (quite hard) with his very first save, he could have made the damage worse.
Great. The last thing he needs is to be more afraid of his near post. No wonder he's a sweeper-keeper - that bloody goal frame is a menace! Get away from it!
