How Spurs Drew: Away at Everton

As Toby Alderweireld said in a post-match interview, the first half of Spurs’ visit to Everton on Sunday might have been the best half the team have played all season.

He’s not wrong. This was 45 minutes of football that showed the full breadth of Spurs’ best qualities. Possession was won high up the pitch. Christian Eriksen and Dele Alli both easily found ways through, above and around Everton’s midfield and defense. Tom Carroll and Eric Dier expertly sat deep in midfield and recycled the ball forward whenever attacks broke down.

The only thing that was missing was end product. Harry Kane hit the post eight minutes into the match, and Ben Davies did the same about twenty minutes later. Otherwise Spurs only managed two shots on goal otherwise in the first half.

How can Spurs turn in such a dominant performance while also lacking penetration? The easy answer is that Everton focuses the bulk of their efforts at cutting off that final ball. John Stones and Ramiro Funes Mori had surprisingly great games, while Gareth Barry stayed deep in midfield to limit Spurs’ chances in that sweet spot right in or around the D at the top of the penalty box. It’s telling that Spurs’ only goal of the match came from a long ball from Alderweireld and not some overly elaborate build up play.

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In about every other way, Everton looked overwhelmed. Aaron Lennon’s goal in the 21st minute was their first shot of the game and one of only two shots in the entire first half. When Dele Alli got his equalizer in the 45th minute, it seemed as if it might set the tone for another exceptional half after the interval.

Except, if anything, Alli’s goal only galvanized Everton. They came back on the pitch reinvigorated in the second half, pushing forward and attempting to exploit the confidence Spurs built up in the first 45 minutes. A lot of that shift came down to Ross Barkley pushing forward from his nominal central midfield role and dribbling directly at and through Spurs’ midfield. His positioning made recycling the ball significantly more difficult on Carroll and Dier. It also opened up more avenues through which Everton sub Gerard Deulofeu could run and pass the ball.

None of which worked, at least not from a results standpoint. While Everton did see a lot more shots and passes in Spurs’ third in the second half, it didn’t actually produce another goal from them. The credit for that must go almost entirely to Hugo Lloris and the centre-back pair in front of him. They turned in a calmly competent performance, one that rivaled the quality of Spurs’ attack in the first half. As panicked as it sometimes appeared, Spurs’ defense did not look like they were going to give up another goal.

The problem was that the balance of Spurs’ efforts gradually shifted further and further back down the pitch as Everton got more desperate to find a winner. Spurs played more on the counter, but overall these efforts were not as successful as they have been in the past. Even the introduction of Heung-min Son did little to change that.

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Mauricio Pochettino might have been better served adding more bulk to the midfield, perhaps by taking Carroll off in favor of Nabil Bentaleb at some point early in the half. It’s not that Carroll was poor – far from it – just that he lacks the physicality to stop a player like Barkley from charging into attack.

In all this was about as well-rounded a display as Spurs could have produced, only dampened by the lack of a winning goal. Had Kane or Davies’ balls just been an inch or two to the right, we’d be in the midst of even more dizzying title talk right now.