A new era for Everton began with a creditable 1-1 draw against Tottenham Hotspur though Ronald Koeman’s team had to dig deep for it in the face of a strong second-half fightback by the visitors.
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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. They had two big opportunities and Maarten Stekelenburg made two great saves, but at least what we showed what we like to see, and the mental resilience and the reaction of the crowd was fantastic.
“I am very happy with my squad and the players we have added – Victor Wanyama and Vincent Janssen – and with the young players who have showed a lot of quality in the one or two months they have been involved with the first team”. It was my first game since my injury at the Euros.
Although Koeman’s charges ended the first half strongly and almost doubled their lead just before the break, but Vorm produced fine save to deny Gerard Deulofeu in a one on one situation.
“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”. The fans like the energy and it starts with this, not by playing football.
“We conceded the goal very early in the game and it was a big thing for us to manage that and hard to recover the game”.
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 a year ago.
“I thought Vincent was excellent”, Pochettino added.
That was only to be followed by England’s toothless display at the European Championship in France, when they were eventually knocked out by minnows Iceland in the round of 16. “We just had to be quicker switching the ball and I thought we did that in the second half”. We have brought in a couple of really good signings who are going to make a difference this year.
Phil Jagielka is available after recovering from a hamstring problem but Koeman will hand late fitness tests to Romelu Lukaku [heel] and Seamus Coleman [ankle].
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However, despite Chelsea’s long-standing interest in Lukaku and Sunderland manager David Moyes’ admiration for defender Jagielka, Koeman insists he will not be selling any more key players. All you need to do is pick seven teams each week, one being your banker, five being teams you expect to win and one you believe will draw.
