‘Seemed to drop off the pace’ – Ex-Spurs Scout: Five things I learned from Tottenham win against Everton
Tottenham News is delighted to welcome aboard our brilliant new columnist Bryan King, the former goalkeeper who spent six years as a senior scout at Spurs and 28 years in total in first-team scouting roles. Bryan also spent eight years on Everton’s recruitment team and 11 years scouting at Aston Villa across two different spells.
Tottenham recorded their third consecutive Premier League win with a 2-1 home victory over Everton at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday 23 December.
Richarlison netted against his former side to score his fourth goal in three games and open the scoring against the Toffees after just nine minutes.
Son Heung-min rounded off a lightning-quick start for the hosts when he doubled their lead in the 18th minute. However, it was a nervy end to the match for Ange Postecoglou’s men as Andre Gomes halved the deficit in the 82nd minute before Everton piled on the pressure in the closing stages.
In the end, Spurs held on, and the three points mean they will spend Christmas day in fourth place, although Cristian Romero’s half-time substitution after a suspected injury put a sour note on what was an otherwise positive afternoon in north London.
Ex-Spurs scout Bryan King was watching on for Tottenham News and has detailed five things he learned from the victory.
An unconvincing win
Tottenham played really well for the first half an hour, and then they just seemed to drop off the pace. They dropped deep, they let Everton have the ball and play, and if Everton had scored before half-time it might have been a different story, Spurs could have been in real trouble.
Spurs were defending too far back and leaving too much space behind Pedro Porro. In the end, Tottenham were hanging on after not offering Everton a kick during the first half an hour. I am not sure why they allowed Everton to control the game so much.
Sean Dyche will be disappointed because considering the way his side played, they arguably deserved to leave with at least a point.
Romero’s injury is a warning
Tottenham need to address the depth of their squad in January. It seems as if the club have 18 Premier League players and that is about it. They need to enter the transfer market.
Romero could be seen sitting on the bench with ice on the back of his thigh, so it appears that he has an issue with his hamstring. Hopefully, it is not too serious, but you never know with these things. They have only just got Romero back, and they will be hoping it is not as serious as it could be.
Romero is so important, he recovers well and he is deceptively quick. They will need him for the game against Brighton because that won’t be an easy match.
Guglielmo Vicario incredible once again
Vicario kept Spurs in the game with some great saves in the first and second half. He made another remarkable goalline clearance, which seems to be becoming a trademark for him. It was very similar to the save against Nottingham Forest, the ball came off the crossbar and off his thigh and away from danger.
He was far more impressive than Jordan Pickford, who is meant to be England’s number one.
Richarlison growing in confidence
It was a fantastic finish, and it was a great bit of football all around. Pape Matar Sarr’s ball in behind the full-back was impressive, it was a great run from Brennan Johnson and Richarlison had timed his run to perfection. A one-touch finish, it was brilliant.
He looked sharp and he worked hard throughout. He is on a great run, with four goals in his last three games, anyone who is doing that in the Premier League should be applauded. Now that his confidence is high, he seems to be rising to the occasion. His movement has been good, and he seems to now be showing a willingness to get his head down and work hard.
Emerson Royal impressive
Emerson did well, he had a really strong run in the first half when he was brought down by Amadou Onana, I thought if he was able to continue his run we could have had a promising two-on-one situation. It was a great run from a defensive position.
In other Tottenham news, a 96 per cent Spurs ace has proven to be a steal after a “Premier League’s best” verdict has emerged.