Tottenham would have secured all three points if not for two marvellous saves from Maarten Stekelenburg late on, but overall Pochettino was pleased with his side’s performance and the result, especially considering they were second-best in the first half, with only Everton’s wastefulness in front of goal stopping them falling further behind.
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“We tried to correct the problems we had in the first half”.
Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham had offered little up to then but drew level in the 59th minute courtesy of Erik Lamela’s header, and it subsequently took two superb late saves by Stekelenburg on his competitive Everton debut to ensure Spurs did not complete a turnaround as he denied substitute Vincent Janssen and Lamela.
The hosts ought to have doubled their lead in first-half stoppage-time, when Deulofeu seized on a poor backpass from Danny Rose and raced clear of Jan Vertonghen, but was denied by a smart save from Vorm. “He brought energy and is a different option to play with”.
Pochettino introduced pre-season signing Vincent Janssen to the fray 13 minutes into the second half and the striker created an opening immediately when he drifted out wide, collected possession and crossed for Dele Alli.
Meanwhile, a key concern from the match for Pochettino, who is looking to build on his side’s title push last term, will be the condition of their goalkeeper Hugo Lloris after he had to come off in the first half.
“The first half was hard for us and we did not play well.
We were unlucky. I was happy with the performance and now we need to follow up”.
“We had a big, big chance close to half-time with Gerard Deulofeu”.
“But at least we showed what we like to see, and you could see the reaction of the fans, really supporting the team, and that is good to show today”.
“I think Stekelenburg was man of the match and that speaks a lot about how it was in the last 45 minutes”.
And when asked if he had had strong words with the team at half-time in this game, Pochettino said: “Yes, but this is what happens with all the managers when we are not happy”. And players like him and Kevin [Mirallas], I like the players, but they need to work hard, and they did which is sometimes hard because those type of creative players are sometimes sloppy in that area.
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Koeman had said in the build-up to the contest that his players in general were only at “70 per cent” of the fitness he wanted.
