Beaten but unbowed
A week after proclaiming that improvement does not follow a straight line, Everton’s passionate but pragmatic manager Frank Lampard admitted before this game – the first of two difficult away days in the space of five days – that a season of ‘success’ might even include more defeats that victories. This wasn’t a negative abandonment of the club’s proud ‘Nil Satis Nisi Optimum’ motto from one of the few Premier League managers who has studied Latin but a realistic assessment of just where his team find themselves as they look to regroup after the joint lowest equivalent points total in their history.
Everton once again emerge from this fixture with nothing tangible to show for their efforts but the difference between this display and the chaotic capitulation on the previous visit back in March was like night and day. Back then, the Blues were 3-0 down at half-time, 4-0 behind a minute after the restart and being beaten 5-0 with less than an hour on the clock. Here, they thwarted their gifted opponents for approximately the same time period before eventually letting them through. That chastening night when the home fans taunted Lampard by calling him a “s*** Steven Gerrard” before high-profile scribes asked the question whether Everton were “too bad to stay up” proved to be a watershed moment for the Blues boss.
As someone schooled at West Ham’s ‘Academy of football’ who went on to spend the bulk of his illustrious playing career with a hugely-successful Chelsea side, Lampard has always possessed a strong philosophy about how the game should be played. However, after that night he was smart enough to realise that Everton could not go toe-to-toe against the Premier League’s shining lights and had to show a huge dollop of pragmatism to battle their way to top flight safety.
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Here, over seven months on, he returned with a far-more resolute side who displayed the character to frustrate their high-flying opponents for a prolonged period. However, after tightening up at the back, they now need to find that extra cutting edge to take the chances that do come their way as the top teams will convert the kind of opportunities that fell to Demarai Gray and Amadou Onana.
Slim, not Rich pickings
One of Richarlison’s final acts in an Everton shirt after four years at Goodison Park was to lie prostrate, banging the turf in celebration after Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s winning goal against Crystal Palace after earlier netting the equaliser himself. Here, the Brazilian found himself back on the deck again before taking his leave on what had been an evening largely of frustration for him and the Blues can take that as some crumbs of comfort on what ultimately proved to be a cruel night for them.
Following his £60million transfer to the capital this summer, Richarlison has made a bright start at Spurs which appears to have been something of a surprise to some. His ex-manager Lampard remarked before this fixture that might be because some people don’t consider Everton to be so glamorous but it “shouldn’t be the case.”
Although the 25-year-old already has a couple of Champions League goals to his name, he is yet to break his duck for his new club domestically and many loyal but long-suffering Blues feared the former darling of the Gwladys Street would take this timely opportunity to get himself off the mark. It wasn’t to be though and although Richarlison did have chances to find the net – including when he blazed over with a volley from Harry Kane’s left-wing cross just before the break – the fact that he was largely kept quiet here has to offer a degree of encouragement.
Many wondered whether the accusations that Richarlison goes to ground easily might lead to Evertonians having a different opinion of him now that he doesn’t wear the royal blue jersey, but in that respect, he was just the same as many of his team-mates in white, going down when feeling the slightest of touches and in the most part, referee Paul Tierney was not particularly sympathetic. Richarlison’s goals last season helped to keep Everton in the Premier League but his legacy to the club might end up being his sale this summer to enable them to reshape their squad and bring in more resolute characters than he often played alongside.
Grounds for optimism
Everton aren’t just trying to play catch up with Tottenham Hotspur on the pitch and visits to the Londoners’ magnificent stadium give them a tantalising glimpse into what the future offers for them when they relocate from Goodison Park to Bramley-Moore Dock in 2024. This was the Blues’ fifth visit since the ground opened in 2019 but their first since the above ground structure of their soon-to-be home on Liverpool’s iconic waterfront started to take shape.
Coming here, to what will be the most-similar venue in the Premier League to Everton Stadium once its complete, can only whet the appetite for Blues at what will be a game-changing move for their club as they look to compete with the division’s elite. While spectators watch the matches in luxurious conditions compared to Goodison Park, with the biggest average gates in their club’s history – a position Everton will also find themselves in when they switch to the banks of the Mersey – the Spurs crowd are able to make themselves an intimidating force, especially with their huge, steep home end in front of which both goals were scored.
Everton Stadium won’t be quite as ornate – architect Dan Meis stated he was building “a Ferrari not a Bentley” – but as a venue it should breathe new life into the club in a similar manner that this switch has brought for Tottenham, who have now won 10 home games on the spin. And of course, Goodison Park’s successor will also be in a far more picturesque location.
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