Everton vs Tottenham action blasted as ‘truly terrible’ by talkSPORT reporter
The draw between Everton and Tottenham was blasted as “truly terrible” by talkSPORT’s Alex Crook before it exploded to life.
A spirited first hour was lacking in quality but was played at a high tempo, and the Toffees were more than holding their own against a side that came into the game 13 places higher up the Premier League table.
There was plenty of late drama to come but with the score goalless Crook couldn’t hide his distain for what he was watching unfold at Goodison Park on Monday (3 April).
Posting on Twitter early in the second half the talkSPORT reporter wrote: “This game is truly terrible”.
Within minutes of him providing that opinion Abdoulaye Doucouré was shown a straight for shoving Harry Kane in the face, before the England captain soon scored from the spot.
All of Everton’s hard work looked to have been thrown away in a moment of madness by the midfielder, but the home team were the better side for the rest of the match and made it count via a stunning 90th-minute equaliser from Michael Keane after Lucas Moura had also been sent off.
Harsh
It was a lack of real quality that had kept the scoreline goalless but it wasn’t a boring game by any means, even before the last half an hour.
And the displays of Keane, James Tarkowski and Amadou Onana were anything but terrible at any point, with the three appearing to cover virtually every part of the pitch between them and the visitors unable to pull off anything without one of the trio flying into a challenge or getting in the way.
Honourable mention in that regard also has to go to Dwight McNeil who did a huge amount of diligent defensive work down his flank.
And when Keane broke forward in the 90th minute and let fly it would be difficult for anyone to describe that as “truly terrible”, as his strike whistled inside the post to secure another point for this resurgent Everton side.
Sean Dyche has now secured draws from losing positions against two of the traditional ‘Big Six’ in back-to-back games, while going four games unbeaten.
A win over the likely Premier League champions and a record of just three defeats in nine since he arrived is some uplift from the defeated team he took over.
What he could be achieving if he had any of Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Anthony Gordon, Richarlison, or the list of targets the club failed to attract in January at his disposal fans can now only dream of, but even without all of those options he has certainly got this Everton side fighting for their lives.