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Positives in parity

6 min read
by Mat Edwards - To Dare Is To Do 1882
Mat Edwards reviews Sunday's draw away to Everton.

As Michael Oliver’s whistle sounded off inside Goodison Park, the action began with an Everton kick off, Tom Carroll deputising for the injured Mousa Dembele in the Spurs engine room.

Within 90 seconds we had claimed possession of the ball and introduced a steady tempo of calm, controlled passing play that quickly led to a sublime low whipped cross from Walker firing its way towards Dele Alli’s 5 yards from the Everton goal line, Seamus Coleman did incredibly well to slide in and disrupt the pass, preventing an Alli tap in.

On 8 minutes Harry Kane fired in a thunderbolt from distance that smashed into the Everton upright, threatening to hit the inside and find its way in the net, but instead it painfully ricocheted back across the face of the goal.

We dominated.

At 13 minutes we had maintained 61% of the possession as the travelling Yid Army belted out chorus’ of “is this the Emirates?”, doing themselves, the club and their fellow supporters proud once again, driving the team and providing the atmosphere at a usually raucous Goodison, the home fans all but silenced by our stranglehold on the game.

[linequote]Dele Alli continually found pockets of space to receive the ball, playing his part in some great passing phase[/linequote]

We continued to dominate, but our attacks dissipated on final balls or blocked shots with our pressing game still acting powerfully, claiming back the ball at any giveaway.

Walker played a slow pass to Eriksen who didn’t have time to control the ball cleanly, finding himself immediately pressed by Leighton Baines and Tom Cleverley, and losing the ball.

Cleverley played a looping pass into the box that Lukaku headed down to a former Spurs favourite that up until this point, had made no impact on the game at all.

On the 21st minute the ball bounced up to Aaron Lennon, who smashed a driving half volley into the back of our net.

It was a magnificent volley but at least he had the decency to mute his celebration, showing respect to the club he had served for 10 years before signing with Everton. Fair play Aaron, great finish.

1-0 Everton.

The Everton goal was completely against the run of play.

Such is our beautiful game.

Everton gained a brief spell of confidence from their goal and began to pose more of a threat, Lennon nutmegging Ben Davies in a charge on goal, denied by Super Jan as we regained possession, driving upfield and creating a strong effort from outside the box by Christian Eriksen, his shot deflected away for a corner.

On 26 minutes Lamela gave away a free-kick with a mistimed slide tackle, then showed total focus on winning the ball back, immediately snapping at the heels of Coleman before sliding in again, this time winning the ball back and creating a chance for Davies, who fired in a shot like an exocet missile that crashed against the crossbar, had it been 6 inches lower it would’ve been 1-1.

Dele Alli continually found pockets of space to receive the ball, playing his part in some great passing phases and posing a threat with runs in behind the defence, even finding space for a shot that was blocked in the 11th minute.

On the 45th minute, he would find himself in a lethal position.

Toby Alderweireld glanced upfield before dropping his head and firing a signature pin-point long ball from his deep in his own half, it found a charging Dele Alli, who in Zidane-esque fashion cushioned the long ball with his chest, allowing it to drop in front of him as he continued to travel at pace. He left his feet with a sideways flying volley before the ball could hit the ground, smashing it into the back of the Everton net, threatening to rip it from the sticks. Dele Alli is a very, very special player.

Everton 1 – Tottenham 1

Chants of ‘DELE ALLI’ boomed out across Goodison from the exceptional away support following the goal, merging into ‘When the Spurs go marching in’ as the whistle blew for halftime.

The singing continued as the players left the field, our support standing proud and waving our colours in the blue corner of Liverpool.

The second half started with the home side doing their best to cause us more problems, with attacking play, switching sides up and down the field, our press still looking strong.

[linequote]Chants of ‘DELE ALLI’ boomed out across Goodison from the exceptional away support following the goal, merging into ‘When the Spurs go marching in’ [/linequote]

On 51 minutes, our imposing midfield enforcer Eric Dier; who has put in another strong performance, intercepted a ball from Lennon and shot a quick pass out to Davies, who charged purposefully up the wing at pace before dropping in a precise cross to Alli, who popped his chest out to the ball, putting in a cushioned pass to Harry Kane. Kane opted to wait a millisecond too long before unleashing his shot, giving John Stones just enough time to slide in and prevent it. Kane fired wide.

Everton subbed in Deulofeu and Besic for Lennon and Kone, Lennon leaves the field to applause from both sets of supporters.

Deulofeu provides an immediate threat, with slick passing and good movement. Everton fight back, creating more phases of attacking play but nothing our boys couldn’t deal with.

The back four looked strong with Davies performing well in the absence of Danny Rose and the regular first choice trio of Walker, Toby and Jan all putting in a good shift.

Special mention for Alderweireld who has looked unbreakable throughout, putting in some fantastic interceptions and tackles, snubbing out enemy attacks and providing great ammunition for the forwards with exquisite, precise lob passes upfield.

On 78 minutes, Everton’s Besic fired in an outrageous booming volley from the edge of the box, it was going straight in the top corner until Hugo Lloris put in a world-class save, springing dynamically into the air to parry it over the crossbar. He hasn’t had much to do, but when he has acted he’s done so as we have come to expect; professionally and effectively.

On 82 minutes Alli leaves the field to chants of ‘Dele Alli’ and rapturous applause from our supporters as he is replaced by Nacer Chadli.

That was pretty much it for the talking points in the game, disappointing not to get the win but a very, very good away point earned.

The Positives:

Our travelling support was outstanding.

The performance was excellent and had it not have been for an exceptionally rare bit of quality finishing from former player Aaron Lennon, we most likely would have taken the 3 points.

[linequote]We missed Dembele and Tom Carroll will take some stick for that because he isn’t as effective as the big man, but he carried himself well and his passing stats for the game were actually pretty good[/linequote]

We missed Dembele and Tom Carroll will take some stick for that because he isn’t as effective as the big man, but he carried himself well and his passing stats for the game were actually pretty good. He needs more muscle and defensive effect if he’s going to be a viable option, I would’ve liked to see Mason or Bentaleb get a run out in his place, but the boss knows far better than me or any other person that doesn’t see the lads day in, day out.

In Poch we trust.

Alli was superb on Sunday, putting in a well deserved man of the match performance, at 19 years of age if he continues to develop at the rate he currently is, we could have a potentially world class superstar on our hands.

Wouldn’t that be good to see in a few years… Dele Alli bossing Champions League games in our shiny new state of the art stadium?

We sit fourth in the table, 6 points off the top spot.

Come On You Spurs.

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