The hosts went ahead in the fifth minute when Ross Barkley’s free-kick, possibly intended as a cross, bounced straight in, and they put in very encouraging, organised performance for the rest of the first half under their new manager.
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Spurs were dealt a big blow after 35 minutes when first choice goalkeeper, Hugo Lloris picked up an injury and had to be replaced by Michel Vorm.
Pochettino tried to shake things up just over 10 minutes into the second half, bringing on new striker Janssen for Eric Dier – and three minutes later Tottenham were level as Lamela converted Kyle Walker’s fine cross. Spurs are hoping to take another step forward after a strong campaign last season saw them finally qualify for the Champions League again, but the more interesting story here might be that of Everton. I think this was key in the last few games in last season. “In the end we need to take a lot of positives”. We were a young team so that’s good for us. The half-time team-talk [from Pochettino] didn’t work because he had to change it, and he brought on Janssen and went two up front. “And after the game, when you have played badly, you have played badly, and you need to be honest – I try to be honest”.
Tottenham took control of the final 15 minutes of the match as they forced Everton into their own half in pursuit of a victor, but the Toffees continued to look threatening on the break. Our aim is top four and whatever is better is better.
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“The first goal was a weird one to give away from a Spurs point of view”.
Vertonghen said: “He is right”.
“It’s true we were all disappointed with the way we finished the Premier League”.
Mauricio Pochettino wants to banish the demons of last season’s Premier League finale and focus on how his Tottenham side can improve. “We just had to be quicker switching the ball and I thought we did that in the second half”.
Kane’s domestic disappointment was only to be followed by England’s toothless display at the European Championship in France, where they were knocked out by underdogs Iceland in the round of 16. That is what they did.
In the end they were glad to draw 1-1 and get a point, so small was their share of the game and so limited were their attacking efforts. “If one team was going to win it was us”.
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Jan Verthonghen has recovered from an ankle injury picked up at Euro 2016 with Belgium, and he partners Toby Aldwerweireld in defence.
