Tottenham lose lead, show fight, fall short again at Everton

Tottenham Hotspur took a lead only to not take away three points with it for not the first time this season. While the Spurs again lost the lead, they did show some fight and were able to claw back and leave Goodison Park with a point. The point may not be enough to keep the team’s top-four hopes alive, it did show that the players have not quit on the club or coach.

Tottenham again take the lead

In 20 of 32 matches in the Premier League, this season Tottenham Hotspur has managed to score first. Given Spurs’ struggles with coming back this season that is a very good thing. Of course, those 20 leads have not led to 20 wins, not enough close.

Whereas Tottenham has lost several leads late this season, they only held the lead against Everton for a few brief minutes. It was less than five minutes after Harry Kane had given the visitors the lead that Michael Oliver did what Michael Oliver does, call a penalty.

Oliver has awarded 16 penalties in 25 matches this season, six more than Anthony Taylor and twice as many as Andrew Marriner in third, according to transfermarkt.com. Replay after replay showed James Rodriguez kick the ground then get bungled over by Sergio Reguilon. At a minimum, Oliver should have looked at the video but it never happened.

It was the league-leading 8th penalty conceded by Tottenham this season. Not exactly a statistic to be excited about, but quite telling as seven of those eight goals, including Friday on Merseyside, cost Tottenham points. It was sloppy refereeing and sloppy defense and the referees will always win that game.

Ultimately, the first half was one to forget for Tottenham outside the Kane goal, as Everton had more and better chances. Tottenham was poor on the ball. There are numerous bad first touches, which led to poor passes, which resulted in giveaways and turnovers. If not for the heroics of Hugo Lloris, Tottenham likely would have been dead and buried at the half. Instead, their captain came up big and kept the team in the match.

Tottenham did not sleepwalk through the second half

Tottenham was never really good at any point on the day, as the team just never looked fluid and struggled to string multiple forward passes together. Backward passes are okay, forward passes, a very different story.

Spurs did start the second half brightly and likely Son should have scored. However, things quickly turned in Everton’s favor and Tottenham was pinned in their own end. Fortunately, Everton failed to capitalize with more than one goal during their period of dominance. After Mourinho made a double change things picked up for Spurs.

Lucas Moura and Erik Lamela are always going to bring energy and they both brought it on Friday. Moura and Lamela both picked up the ball near midfield on more than one occasion and looked to push toward the Everton goal.

The industry paid off and Moura’s cross was misplayed to Kane for the equalizer. Lamela had a couple of opportunities as the game wore on but was unable to find that final ball whether a shot or a pass.

Possibly worse than not finding the winner for Tottenham as Harry Kane coming off before the final whistle with an apparent injury. With the growing importance of the Carabao Cup, Spurs fans will be praying Kane is okay. In the end, Tottenham fought hard but it wasn’t enough.