“It is normal. We were very close to winning the game”.
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“I was very unhappy [at half-time], but I think in the second half we played much better”. It’s the first game of the season and we had a lot of players involved in the Euros.
Oh really Andrew, you haven’t followed our history, I say white he says black, read the the thread of the match, he’s one of the only posters that was negative about our performance. the first post was tongue in cheek but obviously you and him are too fucking stupid to understand that. Now we’ve learned a lesson and we’ll improve on our mistakes.
Pochettino has added Kenya midfielder Victor Wanyama, an £11 million capture from Southampton, and Netherlands forward Vincent Janssen, who cost £17 million from AZ Alkmaar, to his playing pool.
But France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris is already a doubt for that game after limping off before half-time with a hamstring problem that was due to be assessed on Sunday.
Spurs trailed after four minutes at Goodison Park following Ross Barkley’s fortuitous free kick.
“I am very happy with the way that we handled the game, how we managed it and how we finished it”, he said. I think we are stronger than last season, so I think we can.
“We had a lot of players involved in the Euros so it is hard to be fit and ready, but we can take a lot of positives from today”.
Despite the hosts going in front, it was all Spurs in the opening 20 minutes of the first half, although they struggled to carve out any clear-cut openings. Barkley was one of only two outfield players not used in England’s sorry Euro 2016 campaign yet he had a spring in his step here and his next delivery did meet Jagielka’s head, drawing a flying save from Lloris. I feel we had a good pre-season, not only judging by the results but the defensive organisation is a big thing at the moment.
“Sometimes it’s hard because that kind of creative player sometimes is a little bit more sloppy in that aspect but we will work on it”.
After Everton allowed Tim Howard to move back to the United States with MLS side Colorado Rapids, Koeman clearly felt that he needed another experienced goalkeeper in his place – and Stekelenburg was snapped up from Fulham with little hype or furore around his signature after a nomadic couple of years.
Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino: “Football is tactical, physical, technical, but it is also mental”.
“It was good for Gerard against Tottenham because they like to play with a high line defensively and there’s a lot of space”, Koeman said.
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But ahead of his first competitive game in charge, Koeman has emphasised it is not a quick-fix job.
