Everton vs Tottenham: Erik Lamela cancels out Ross Barkley opener as Maarten Stekelenburg denies Spurs
Everton 1 Tottenham 1: Ross Barkley put Everton into an early lead before Lamela levelled as Spurs dominated the closing stages
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Your support makes all the difference.As the first signing of the Ronald Koeman era at Everton, Maarten Stekelenburg was hardly an arrival to set pulses racing in the blue half of Merseyside.
Yet the 33-year-old Dutch goalkeeper did as much as anybody to ensure Everton took a hard-earned point from their opening fixture against Tottenham Hotspur, producing two brilliant late saves to thwart the visitors.
Subdued in the first half when Ross Barkley struck for Everton, Tottenham swarmed all over the hosts after Erik Lamela’s headed equaliser and would have won the game but for Stekelenburg, a £500,000 signing from Fulham.
“Incredible” was Koeman’s verdict on his compatriot’s first save, as he flung himself low to his left to keep out a shot by Spurs substitute Vincent Janssen from the edge of the six-yard box. His second stop, to turn a deflected Lamela shot on the crossbar, was almost as good.
Koeman had said before this match that his team were not physically ready for the Premier League season and so it proved. There are grand plans at Everton given their investment in a manager of Koeman’s calibre but just as the projected makeover of Goodison – due to be swathed in a smart exterior cladding in the coming weeks – has yet to begin, so this is an Everton side in an embryonic stage, with more transfers expected to follow in the next week.
“It was really excellent,” said Koeman of their first-half display. “We put in a lot of energy and were very dangerous.” The problem was they were unable to sustain it as Spurs came to life following the introduction of Janssen, a £17m recruit from AZ Alkmaar, early in the second period. He led the line with power and purpose as the disappointing Harry Kane dropped deeper. “The second half we played much better, we looked like the team we were last season,” said Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino.
Everton had begun brightly, finding a fifth-minute breakthrough through Barkley who whipped in a free-kick from the left which evaded Phil Jagielka but, crucially, also escaped Hugo Lloris and nestled inside the far post. This is a big season for Barkley, a player whose confidence dipped badly last term as Roberto Martinez’s reign unravelled. He had a spring in his step here and his next delivery did meet Jagielka’s head, drawing a flying save from Lloris.
Koeman’s declared wish is for Everton to be better without the ball and they did well closing Spurs players down in the first half, nobody more so than Idrissa Gana Gueye. The Senegal midfielder, signed from Aston Villa, was a tigerish presence, nicking the ball of Spurs toes and knitting play. “He is aggressive, he wins second balls and he can play good football,” said Koeman.
Given that the absences of Ashley Williams and Romelu Lukaku had made for a makeshift-looking home XI with a teenage debutant in their back three – Mason Holgate – and Gerard Deulofeu leading the attack, this was encouraging stuff from Everton. Indeed Deulofeu should have doubled their lead just before half-time when latching on to a wayward Danny Rose back-pass. However he failed to beat Michel Vorm, by now deputising for Lloris, who had pulled up with a hamstring problem.
Pochettino had spoken this week of wanting to kill his players for their late-season collapse last spring and he admitted he had a few choice words at half-time here after Tottenham’s lethargic first-half showing. “I was tough with them,” said the Argentinian whose introduction of the muscular Janssen helped change the game. Janssen provided an immediate warning when teeing up Dele Alli to shoot over from 15 yards. The equaliser soon followed as Kyle Walker put a terrific cross into the box and Lamela, timing his run to perfection, stepped in front of Holgate and buried a header into the corner.
Teams
Everton (3-4-3): Stekelenburg; Holgate, Jagielka, Funes Mori; McCarthy, Barry (Cleverley, 85), Gueye, Baines; Barkley, Deulofeu (Kone, 68), Mirallas (Lennon, 76).
Tottenham (4-2-3-1): Lloris (Vorm, 35); Walker, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Rose; Dier (Janssen, 56), Wanyama; Lamela, Alli, Eriksen; Kane.
Match rating: 6/10
Man of match: Stekelenburg (Everton)
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