Pochettino’s press conference before the match had seen him reveal he had wanted to “kill” his players over the final day of last season, when they lost 5-1 at Newcastle and dropped to a third-place finish in the table.
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Lamela equalised in the 59th minute after Everton had claimed a deserved lead through Ross Barkley’s early goal.
“It will be a very interesting Premier League this year”.
Despite an in-different pre-season that culminated in the sale of John Stones to Manchester City, Everton got the Koeman era off to the ideal start as Barkley’s free-kick beat Hugo Lloris – the third consecutive time that the England midfielder has netted in the first game.
– Gareth Barry has now appeared in his 20th Premier League season – only Ryan Giggs (22) has played in more, while only Rio Ferdinand & Frank Lampard (20) have played in as many. “We just had to be quicker switching the ball and I thought we did that in the second half”.
“Obviously, we did not start very well, going behind early like that, and we were not at our normal tempo”, Kane said. We are training hard, getting fitter every week, so I’m looking forward to the games ahead.
First Stekelenburg flung himself low to his left to keep out a shot by Spurs substitute Vincent Janssen, then he turned a deflected Lamela shot on the crossbar.
“We’re not at the level we need to be in terms of the players’ physical state”, said Koeman.
Wanyama, who joined Spurs from Southampton this summer, is likely to start at Goodison Park as fellow midfielder Mousa Dembele remains suspended. A tilt at the title for Spurs came crashing down as they were pipped to second by Arsenal, but Pochettino will want to prove that securing Champions League football was no fluke.
“In the first half, I think we did very well”.
Spurs’ manager Mauricio Pochettino sees the opening game as a chance to hit the ground and show that they can build on their exploits from past year. “We need to improve”. It was hard, especially the way they play – with lots of running. We pressed them, did not give any chances away and I think we had to win. We have been through it together and learned from that experience together.
Drawing the best out of a squad which has yet to fulfill its potential is the kind of task which perfectly suits Koeman and he should bring steel to the club, while producing the best from the throng of talented players. “Because you never know – certain managers play poker”.
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‘We know what we did wrong, we have to work on that for this season and hopefully we will do that and do well’.
