A generous assessment of Everton’s efforts on an afternoon when Jordan Pickford accidentally turned into one of Tottenham’s most inventive players is that there was a brief period when they vaguely resembled a functioning team.
The only problem with trying to stay positive, though, was that they were already heading for another thrashing by the time they started to string a few passes together. The direction of travel was obvious after a first goal in Spurs colours for Yves Bissouma, who was on his best behaviour after being removed from the naughty step by Ange Postecoglou. Any sense of Everton fighting to repair an awful start had to be tempered by them not even picking up a booking despite being clobbered 4-0.
