“We are going to train hard again this week and be ready for next Saturday”.
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The Blues, playing without injured duo Romelu Lukaku and Seamus Coleman, got off to the ideal start when Kevin Mirallas was fouled by Victor Wanyama in a unsafe area outside the Spurs box and Barkley bounced a wicked shot off the resulting free kick beyond the reach of Hugo Lloris with less than five minutes gone. But they rallied after the break and equalised through Erik Lamela’s header.
Vincent Janssen’s movement made a difference for Spurs when he came off the bench, and he would have netted the victor for his team had it not been for a great save from Maarten Stekelenburg, who denied the forward from six yards out and minutes later tipped Lamela’s cross over the bar.
Tottenham were a different proposition in the second half and they started the second half purposefully, their options then bolstered by the introduction of new signing Vincent Janssen.
Everton started the second half on the front foot and Tottenham’s Eric Dier had to make two crucial interventions, first to block Deulofeu’s path to goal with a sliding tackle and then to head the resulting corner over his own crossbar.
“I am very happy with the way that we handled the game, how we managed it and how we finished it”, he said. The ‘keeper has pulled off a couple of very good saves.
“To move on the team, to achieve another level, it is here that we need to improve”.
“But we will work on it, and you saw Ross in the second half working hard for the team”.
Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino said he wanted to “kill” his players and himself after Spurs picked up two points from their final four matches of last term, culminating in a humiliating 5-1 defeat at relegated Newcastle, to slip behind rivals Arsenal for the 19th consecutive campaign.
He played a lone attacking role for 56 minutes and hardly had a sniff of the ball, which was partly due to poor service and partly due to brilliant closing down by Everton. “We are very open, it is not easy to bring in players who can help us but we are trying”.
He also had good things to say about three players who were all making their Everton full team debuts – Gueye, Stekelenburg and defender Mason Holgate.
The 23-year-old was expected to be Englands star man at Euro 2016 over the summer but failed to score in four appearances in France.
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‘It was a disappointing end to what was a great season. Hugo Lloris got injured and that was a big impact on us.
