At their Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in North London on Saturday, Spurs handed Everton a proper thrashing in the second round of the Premier League season.
The deadlock was broken in the 14th minute when Yves Bissouma slammed into the top corner from outside the box, and in the 25th, Son Heung-min took advantage of a serious blunder by England No.1 Jordan Pickford to double his team’s lead. Cristian Romero made it three in the 71st, and Son doubled his personal tally on the night in the 77th, setting the final score to 4-0.
The teams
Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou set up his starting lineup in an extremely attacking 4-3-3 shape, with both James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski deployed in advanced midfield roles, just behind the front line of Brennan Johnson, Son, and new signing Wilson Odobert. Bissouma was tasked with sitting a bit deeper, shielding the back four of Pedro Porro, Romero, Micky van de Ven and Destiny Udogie. Guglielmo Vicario stood between the posts.
Meanwhile, Sean Dyche arranged his Everton side in a 4-2-3-1, with the quartet of Vitalii Mykolenko, Michael Keane, James Tarkowski and Roman Dixon forming the last line in front of Pickford. Idrissa Gana Gueye and Tim Iroegbunam paired up in the middle of the park, while the trio of Dwight McNeil, Abdoulaye Doucoure and Jack Harrison supported striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin up front.
The game
Since his mostly successful days as the manager of Burnley, when he managed to keep the Clarets in England’s top flight for five consecutive seasons, Dyche has been known as a coach very capable of having his team play against the odds and surprise superior opposition. His defensive setups and mostly physical approach used to frustrate teams who tried to play a fluent game against them.
It appeared the 53-year-old tried to do something of the sort in North London on Saturday, and the Toffees enjoyed no more than 29% of possession, but Spurs were simply too good not to take advantage of controlling the ball for so much time. Even before Bissouma’s opener, Postecoglou’s men threatened very seriously several times, forcing Pickford into several fine saves. And when the Everton goalkeeper lost the ball to Son in his own box and the South Korean made it 2-0, the outcome of the match seemed pretty much settled after 25 minutes.
From that point on, Everton tried to push forward more, with obviously nothing to lose, but they repeatedly failed to cause the home side any problems, aside from several relatively promising set-piece situations. The difference in shots taken between the two teams doesn’t seem too drastic at first glance (Spurs 13, Everton 10), but the Merseyside Blues only managed to hit the target once; Spurs did it seven times.
In the end, Spurs completely deserved their comfortable win.
Everton in trouble
With just two rounds played, it’s becoming clear that there’s plenty that needs fixing at Everton. They’re already firmly nailed to the bottom of the Premier League table, having lost the season opener at home to Brighton and Hove Albion the previous week. They are yet to score a goal, and they’ve now conceded seven.
A quick turnaround in results is obviously needed in what is already shaping up to be a desperate race for survival throughout 2024/25, but whether Everton are capable of getting things right before it’s too late, remains to be seen.
As for Spurs, they now have four points to their name after playing a disappointing draw against Leicester City in the first round. Postecoglou will have gotten their fans excited again after this game, but situations like the one where Jamie Vardy was allowed to score against them at the King Power Stadium will need to be cut out of their game.
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