| Match report
A pint from a game that will be
remembered less for the football than a horrific injury suffered by
Andre Gomes was the result of two teams with troubles meeting in a
match neither were determined not to lose. As it was, the
broken leg that Gomes got when his foot got stuck in the turf was an
incentive for Everton to grab a late equaliser that shared the
points.
Going into the game without
virus victim Harry Kane meant a change in personnel and first
appearances on the bench for Troy Parrott and Ryan Sessegnon. Lucas
started alone up front with Eriksen, Son and Dele behind him and at
the back Davies was in for the suspended Rose, while Ndombele
replaced Winks.
The first opportunity came in the fifth minute, with Pickford’s long
kick upfield looking for Walcott, but he wasn’t quick enough to get
close to the ball that ran through to Gazzaniga. Then Sanchez gave
the ball away on the left on halfway line, but Walcott couldn’t pass
to a team-mate and the attack was broken up. Delph got going early
with a late tackle stamping on Eriksen’s foot after putting Harry
Kane out for two months last season when playing for Manchester
City. Tottenham got forward with 12 minutes gone, with Davies
slipping the ball to Eriksen on the left corner of the box, but his
ball inside was poor and was picked off easily. It was a pass that
he would have created goals with in the past and it was
disappointing to see such a talented player not performing.
The first fifteen minutes was played out by two teams looking
desperately out of form. There was little play of quality or
any decent moves strung together. Eriksen was played the ball by
Son, but he was tackled as he dwelt on the ball, when normally, he
would move it quickly. Son then came in off the right to hit a shot,
but it was blocked by a wall of blue shirts and Aurier delivered the
cross from the loose ball straight into Pickford’s hands. Lay-offs
were not finding their target for Spurs, with Everton playing high
up the pitch to try to stop Tottenham getting in behind them.
Ndomeble’s diagonal ball was put out for a corner and although it
went o the far side, Aurier’s cross nearly caught out Pickford this
time, requiring the keeper to stretch to palm the ball out as it
looked like it might creep under his bar.
Gomes played Richarlison through the middle, but his shot was
straight at Toby Alderweireld in front of him when he might have
taken the defender on instead. A foul on Lucas 30 yards out was
played short and Davies tried to pick out Toby at the far post, but
he couldn’t get a clean header on it. Gomes had a header at
the other end when Walcott got in behind Davies, but the Portuguese
midfielder couldn’t keep it down and it sailed harmlessly over the
bar. Walcott and Eriksen swapped bookings with the former Gooner
going over the top on Ben Davies and Christian pulling back Iwobi as
he looked to break away. The ball was moved well by Everton and
Digne picked out a low ball into the box for Richarlison, who turned
on the penalty spot, but didn’t have power or direction in his shot
to beat Gazzaniga. Spurs won a throw-in at the other end and won a
corner, but Eriksen played it in too low for Alderweireld to get any
angle on his header, which went well wide.
Richarlison had a temper tantrum when he didn’t get a free-kick,
even though he was backing into Sanchez at the time. The striker
does go down easily, which undermines any good he does. He was soon
looking for another award on the edge of the box but was once more
petulant that it went against him for making a back for Eriksen to
go over. Gomes had gone down in the box, bringing a VAR review, but
Sanchez just stood his ground and the Everton midfielder ran into
him. Odd that they didn’t look back earlier in that move when
Sissoko took a hand in the face.
Richarlison got the ball at his feet in the area and turned around
Sanchez but then blazed his shot over the bar with a couple of
minutes to half-time. The only time the Everton crowd got vocal was
when Richarlison went down (and he did regularly). Boos rang out at
the half-time whistle and with only one shot on target, you could
perhaps understand that. The game was meandering, but the lack of
urgency in the Spurs side and the lack of confidence in the way we
were playing was a major concern. Some movement off the ball and
some precise passing by Spurs should have made a difference in this
match, where there were more fireworks outside the ground than
happening on the pitch.
At the start of the second half, Lucas moved to the right, with Son
replacing him through the middle. It didn’t seem to bring much joy,
as both teams toiled away. Son took on Mina and dumped him on his
arse, but the defender got two touches on Son while on the floor,
although VAR didn’t think it was worthy of a penalty. Richarlison
was trying his best to get VAR to make a decision in his favour, but
it was getting to levels of high embarrassment as he threw himself
to the floor every time a Spurs player went near him. How the
referee didn’t see his persistent simulation I don’t know. Dele
almost opened up the Everton defence with a ball over the top, where
Lucas got past two defenders but couldn’t stretch to get a decent
contact on the ball which dribbled through to the keeper.
When Iwobi presented the ball to Son thirty yards out with a wayward
pass, the ball was moved on to Dele. He came in from the left across
two defenders to a central position and put the ball back the other
way past Pickford form the edge pf the box to hand Spurs the lead
with their first shot on target. It was a really well taken goal,
seeing as how Dele took the ball back into traffic, but he kept a
cool head to slot past the keeper into the bottom left corner in the
63rd minute.
Ben Davies did well to deflect a shot from that took the ball wide.
From an Everton corner, substitute Tosun caused some panic, but as
Mina went up for it, Dele went with him, but an arm went up and this
brought a long stoppage as VAR took forever to look at whether it
was a penalty. It looked it but the VAR said no. VAR didn’t
get a look in when Son took an arm in the face from Gomes which
seemed worthy of a review. It has got to the stage where not many
people are aware why and when VAR is used. I don’t know if it
was VAR who was responsible for getting Son sent off, but his
challenge on Gomes was rightly judged to be a booking for the
Korean, but the momentum took Gomes into a collision with Aurier and
he was left with his leg at entirely the wrong angle that it should
have been. If it was VAR, then the intervention wasn’t really
necessary, as it was an unfortunate accident and not a leg-breaker
from Son.
There was a long delay as Gomes received treatment and the
distraught Son was dismissed, but when play did restart, Everton had
made two substitutions, one of which was Calvert-Lewin, who won a
far post header from a ball in from the right but put it over from a
narrow angle. Everything was set for a final ten minutes plus
a huge amount of stoppage time with Everton fancying their chances
against ten men. Foyth replaced Aurier to add fresh legs and let the
shocked defender leave the field. The fourth official held up the
board showing 12 added minutes. A loose return pass to Foyth
from a throw-in by Sissoko saw Mina make a lumbering move up front
and you had the feeling that an aerial bombardment would be on the
cards. Lo Celso didn’t look like he had just come on, with no effort
to close people down, which we needed being a man short. He did hold
the ball well enough though and Delph couldn’t help himself in
fouling him. That bought a little time, but the ball kept
coming back. Lo Celso didn’t pick up Digne behind him and a
long ball over his head saw it played in on the volley and Tosun got
in at the near post to head past Gazzaniga and there was still six
minutes left.
Richarlison nearly pinched
the ball off Sanchez but went down as Davinson tried to play the
ball. Once more, Richarlison cheats. A foul on Delph handed
Everton a free-kick 30 yards out on the left and Sessegnon’s
first touch as a substitute was to head the ball away. Lucas won the
ball outside the box, played it to Dele and then Davies took it on
to keep the ball away from their own goal, running time out to keep
hold of a point that jumped Spurs up two places, with Everton down
in 17th.
There were empty blue seats
at the start of the match. By the end there were many more as they
laboured despite the numerical advantage. Many missed the equaliser
and those who remained were content with abusing the referee rather
than looking closer at home to where the real problems lie. Ndombele
had a mixed game. His passes were good and bad in equal measure.
Handing the ball to Everton in midfield put the team under pressure
and when he did play some good passes, the pressure was on the home
team. He is still coming to terms with playing in the Premier
League, but we need him to perform to get the team moving. Eriksen
still looks half the player he was, Lo Celso looks lost and needs to
get involved more. Dele looked better today, getting around the
pitch better and taking his chance very well, but the defence stood
firm until deep into added time that came from the massive amount of
time that VAR is taking out of the game. Sanchez did very well
against the diving Richarlison, Davies put in a captain’s
performance and Aurier had a sound match, with Alderweireld winning
a lot of ball. Best wishes go to Andre Gomes for a full recovery,
but the response of the Everton players and most ex-players to the
decision and the Premier League’s statement that Son was sent off
for “endangering a player’s safety” shows what little understanding
of playing the game the ruling body have. Atkinson went straight for
a yellow card until he saw what had happened to Gomes and the
reaction of some of the players and the crowd. What actually caused
Gomes’ injury was the pitch. Are the Premier League going to
take action against the Everton ground-staff ?
If the outcome of this is
that any challenge that ends in a serious injury becomes a red card,
then the game becomes a non-contact sport. VAR has enough problems
deciding what a handball is and what isn’t, so making
interpretations of what might cause a player’s safety to be
endangered is one they should leave well alone. Every elbow that was
flung in this game, every slide tackle, every shoulder charge, every
challenge for a header is a definite red card. Was Gary Cahill red
carded when he clashed heads with Ryan Mason ? No. It was a hugely
accidental collision that ended a player’s career. Referees have
never been able to tell what endangering a player’s safety is. Where
were they when Danny Thomas’ and Gary Stevens’ careers were brought
to an end ? Different times, but back then it was said to be all
part of the game. What is happening now is taking the game apart and
what part tackling has in it is questionable.
This should not distract from the fact that a player has been very
seriously injured, which is unusual these days and perhaps that is
why the referee produced a reaction to it. But for the second
time in six months, Son’s red card has not been merited.
So, a point each helps neither side and the game itself was quite
forgettable other than the injury and the controversy. A draw was
probably the fairest outcome in the end, but with eleven, we might
have held out for the win.
It might end up a watershed
day for the game. Whether it will be a watershed day for either of
the clubs will
be seen in the coming weeks.
STAN CHUN |
