Just got back from the game and how very, very frustrating. I haven't seen any of the game on tv, so this is just my impression from where I was sat. My eyesight is as poor as the Ref's as well, so I may get some of the names wrong!
I'm going to start with the positives:
- We were the dominant team in that we looked better defensively and we created the most chances;
- Dier looks like a proper defensive midfielder. He was tify in posession, cut out their options and was just a nuisance for them;
- Rose has cemented his place as first choice left back. Kone was a bit of a handful but Rose stayed calm and assured and actually offered something in attack. He had one chance which he skied, but he's not in the team for his goal scoring exploits;
- Mason looked quite good first half and then his influence just vanished as soon as he was moved to the right;
- Vertonghen started doing something in the second half that I wanted him to do all match and that was move forward and draw one of their players to him. It was so frustrating at times in the first half where the defence either Jan or Toby just stood still and waited for one of the midfielders to drop so they could give the easy ball. No! Draw one of the Everton players to you or just dribble into their box!; and
- The crowd got really loud. Still the odd grumble here and there, but that's Spurs fans!
And the things to work on:
- Finishing!! It just didn't work for Kane, Mason or Chadli. Last season I would have put a lot of money on Kane scoring that 1 on 1. But I suppose the positive is that they were getting in those positions in the first place;
- Directness. It seems like we need some nasty tackles to wake us up and make us want to be more direct. As soon as Naismith came on he was being an angry scottish scrote, but it seemed to make us want to punish him for it. I thought Alli tried to do this when he came on but I think it didn't work as well mainly because he needs more time playing with Kane;
- They need to work on passing AND moving. We were sometimes stationary making it hard to get the ball to them;
- We started very, very slowly. My heart was sinking in the first 10 minutes because we couldn't do anything with the ball or without it;
- We desperately need some pace to trouble the opposition. I hope that Poch works with the team as to how to incorporate our new signings. I want to see our players driving towards goal every time they get the ball, not passing it back to the defenders and then have one of the midfielders drop off to pick it up from them; and
- Kane needs to stop coming in so deep or the inside forwards need to provide him with options when he does. If he's not careful I think he will suffer from Rooney syndrome. His best play was when he was playing off the last man and took a gamble. When he drops deep, no one else goes ahead of him so the pass inevitably goes sideways or backwards.
I thought Everton only came to defend and spoil. If Lukaku is £25m plus, then so is Ade. Naismith came on to spoil some more. McCarthy I thought was really good and I can see why we were interested in him. Mirallas I hope was a smokescreen from us. I don't think he will offer us anything different. Barkley looked average.
Overall, I thought we were much the better team. With more incisiveness and pace I think we can be very dangerous. We're nearly there and are certainly not woeful. The ref made some questionable decisions. Kane got mullered by Stones I think and there was no foul?