Venue: Goodison Park
Attendance: 34,494
Goals: Ross Barkley (5), Erik Lamela (59)
Things got worse for Spurs after thirty-five minutes when Lloris had to leave the field due to a hamstring injury. The Frenchman's replacement, Michel Vorm, was made a telling impact shortly after coming on, saving well from Gerard Deulofeu on the stroke of half time. The Spaniards chance had been entirely of our own making, with a stray pass form Danny Rose putting him clean through on goal.
Article by Chris Duncan @coach_chris83
With the 5-1 defeat against Newcastle United on the final day of last season still fresh in many people's mind, we headed to Goodison Park to face Everton on the opening day of the 2016/2017 hoping to put that result to bed with an opening day win.
There were no surprises in Mauricio Pochettino's line up with summer signing Victor Wanyama making his debut in place of the suspended Moussa Dembélé,p. Our other summer acquisition, Vincent Janssen, was named amongst the substitutes.
Things rarely work out the way you want them to when you support Spurs, and the season got off to the worst possible start when Ross Barkley opened the scoring for the hosts with a mere five minutes on the clock. There was an element of fortune in Barkley's goal, as his free kick was a cross missed by everyone. Phil Jagielka did attempt to attack the ball and his doing so may have deceived Hugo Lloris, who dived late, with some questioning our captains positioning.
With Everton on top, Lloris was again called into action to deny Jagielka from another Barkley freekick, reacting well to tip the England defenders header over the bar. Our only shot of note in the first half followed shortly afterwards, with Christian Eriksen shooting straight at Maarten Stekelenburg, who was making his debut in the Everton goal.
Mauricio must had said something at halftime as were much improved after the break. Poch decided to go with two up top shortly after the re-start, with Vincent Janssen coming on to make his debut in place of Eric Dier. Two minutes after the Dutchman's introduction we were level through Érik Lamela, our standout player in preseason. Player-of-the-year Toby Alderweireld was heavily involved in the build up. After exchanging passes with Kyle Walker and Christian Eriksen, Alderweireld fed the ball to Kyle Walker on the right and his cross was met by Lamela, with the Argentine beating Mason Holgate to the ball and glancing a header beautifully in to Stekelenburg's bottom right hand corner, giving the keeper no chance.
Janssen had looked impressive since coming on and should have capped his debut with the winning goal after eighty-four minutes. Danny Rose had an effort blocked by Everton's James McCarthy following a corner. The rebound fell kindly to Janssen six yards out, but the strikers shot was close to his countryman, who got down quickly to save well. Janssen's effort proved to be the last of note for either side and the match ended all square.
My View
Although I would have naturally preferred us to have started with a win, a draw away at Everton is not a bad result. The players did look rusty in the first half, which is understandable considering many of them took part in the summers European Championships. The fact that we improved as the game progressed was pleasing to see, and, if truth be told, Vincent Janssen should have won us the game. Of our debutant's I thought Wanyama was quiet, but I know from his time at Southampton and Celtic, that we have an exceptional player in the Kenyan. Vincent Janssen looked lively, and although he should have scored, I believe he has the qualities to succeed in the Premier League. Hugo Lloris' injury is a blow, but Michel Vorm looked solid yesterday and is a more than able deputy. Bring on Crystal Palace! COYS
© e-Media Group 2016 All rights reserved no part of this document or this website may be reproduced without consent of @e_media_group
0 comments:
Post a Comment
Please keep all comments:
1-Clean (non-offensive)
2-Spurs related
3-Interesting