Passion.

Hope Levy has'nt put the cheque book away just yet.

My take on it, is that Dier was undercooked much like the rest of the team. At least Wanyama has had a full pre-season compared to Dier.

Looks like being away on international duty and a lack of pre-season action has affected the first XI. Not sure what Eriksen's excuse was though.

I'm not keen on seeing a midfield two of Dier and Wanyama again, as they did nothing going forward.

A decent point and an ok performance after a gift of a goal and poor first half. Looking ahead though, the subs bench didn't look great.

Agreed. Dier and Wanyama starting is so negative that it really stifles our attacking intent. And a bench of Vorm, Mason, Janssen, Winks, Onomah, Davies, Carter-Vickers is just not good enough.

I think the takeaway for me is Janssen means we can now impose ourselves when before we 'couldn't break down' the opposition, or didn't have a 'plan B' when trying to turn one point into three (not necessary correct but not at all correct now) - at least vs. mid-table level opposition.

Koeman set his team up pretty ambitiously and his strategy would absolutely have worked had Poch not had Jannsen available. It was a game of 60 mins and 30 as Everton struggled for a change (once we changed tactics) with their limited squad resources.

Fwiw, I was surprised he took the Everton job but you can see he's relishing the challenge, and it really is one.

Poch must be furious at Wanymana conceding at least 2 free kicks in stupid positions but what can you do on a debut with a player so determined to prove himself. Just a bloody shame really.

Looking forward to Dembele returning, in the mean time perhaps Mason (God help us) might work better vs. Palace at home.

I thought Janssen's chance was a classic example of what would have been a goal in the league he came from not quite being enough in the Prem - that will stick in his mind and we know he trains well.

Quite a few teams might find Koeman's Everton awkward at home, esp. as time passes and they become even more organised.

The Dier substitution seemed a strange one at the time because he had only just made a number of crucial tackles & headed clearances, as well as others earlier in the match. He was our MOM for me up to that point. But as mentioned Wanyama has had more of a pre-season, so it made sense if Dier was going to be unable to keep up that level of performance for the rest of the match.

Janssen looked good when he came on, unlucky not to score and finally we do have another option when Kane isnt quite on it - I didnt even hear his name mentioned on the commentary for the final 30 minutes.

I do think this is going to be Lamelas season. He looked up for it pre-season and looked really good. He carried on with that today with the goal, and showed great passion after scoring.

Sonny was right up in the refs face after being knocked out against Honduras who did wasted a ton of time. Dont think itd affect us, but do they do retrospective action in the Olympics?

I'd be surprised if they do.

I suppose he'll be able to slot back in to the squad relatively easily as he's completed the bulk of pre-season training with the rest of them already. He might get a bit of time off, but i can't imagine he'll miss that many games.

Not that I can see him getting many actual starts going forward though.

It'll probably have worked out well for him to be honest, he will have picked up a lot more match sharpness and fitness than if he had stayed and been on our subs bench.

Good point.

Eriksen has responded to the current stories about him wanting a pay rise. Quite subtle i think

https://twitter.com/ChrisEriksen8/st...61771810156545

I'm sure I read that his agent has also responded as well and has largely shot down the rumours that he's asking for that much.

Well done Laura Trott on her 3rd gold medal (she's a Spurs fan). The whole team was amazing last night.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/...53_306x423.jpg

We don't half struggle against teams that play like us. When we're pressed, and we play a pressing game the game just cancels itself out.

Last season Liverpool, west ham away, the home game against saints and the Everton games.

A bit like 2 southpaws boxers unable to breech defence's.

I'm glad he changed it early, having 2 attackers asked different questions.

A couple of observations. Eriksen was flat again. Wanyamma seemed a bit reckless to me. He didn't need to give away that free kick.

Why was Lloris taken off? Should he have come out to deal with the Barkley free kick. I'm sure that was a cross and not an attempt at goal

Hugo did his hamstring and will be assessed tomorrow apparently. Hopefully taking him off was more of a precaution than anything, although Vorm did well.

Ryan Sessegnon.

Arsenal booed off, makes the weekend a whole lot brighter !

Our bench was telling on Saturday, looked very tame other than Janssen. Sonny away at the Olympics, N'Jie and Chadli excluded because of potential off-loading, we definitely need another AM or wide man.

Kane apparently said after the match that "a lot of us are still getting our fitness" and admitted that he isn't 100% either, so on one level I suppose it does explain the lacklustre first half, but i suppose it does also highlight how disruptive these international tournaments can be as well.

I'm sure there are a few things Poch will want to fix for the next game. We certainly don't need two DMs on the pitch together but I'd still like to see if Wanyama & Dier as a centre midfield pairing are capable of more positive play by pivoting more.

Because of my own doubts about the strength of our current squad I always felt a draw was the most likely result against Everton. I firmly believe that what our game lacks is unpredictability, we always line up the same way and our opposition now know to press us high and that there'll be acres of space in our fullback areas. Koeman knew that if he could outnumber us in midfield they'd have a good chance of stifling our natural passing game and in the first half his team succeeded in that.

At least Pochettino acknowledged it this time by making a quick change in 2H and going with Janssen's more physical presence up top and Kane dropping into a F9. We gave Everton much more to think about and I was particularly pleased to see that we had 4 players all attacking the box when Lamela scored. Last season we didn't always get enough players into the opposition's box.

So, a few areas I hope Pochettino will work on but I hope it doesn't become his only Plan B. I do think though that the Dier / Wanyama pairing will be his starting point in most away games and that for home games when we will expect to be the more attacking side, he'll drop one to the bench and put a box to box mf in, whether it be Mason, Winks, Onomah or AN Other. The other DM will then come on later to help protect any lead we may have.

On a side note, it was good to see Walker finally deliver a decent cross into the danger area and we benefit from it. He (and Rose) need to do that on a much more consistent basis and especially when Janssen is on as he seems like a real poacher.

I suspect the plan was for Wanyama to play 5-10 yards ahead of Dier but he just didn't execute - it wouldn't make sense for them to occupy the same role and space. At least his tackling settled down after half an hour.

Tbf, he was probably a little lost yesterday.

Another surprise was Alderweirald's poor passing.

Based on data, Eriken was easily our MoM - it's a pretty decent player who can operate that high up a pitch, be that busy and return 89% on pass accuracy. It's difficult to not like Lamela's enthusiasm and randomness..

I wonder if we're going to see a pattern with Harry of him not coming alive until around late October/early November; one more season of this and it'll look like a pattern ...

Transfer news - Lazio are interested in Bentaleb though it may be a loan deal with buy option. Hull & Derby have both made offers for Yedlin.

I can certainly see a Bentaleb loan as the only way he'll move on. Apparently, L’Equipe are still maintaining that Nkoudou could still sign for us as he's said to be still in London.

Yes. not seen any announcement that the deal is dead so perhaps there is still hope. The fact that Clinton is not even making the bench despite Sonny being on Olympic football duty may be an another indicator. I guess as the window draws close it will force things one way or another.

I guess the one main issue will be his fitness. Unless we've provided him with a fitness routine under the assumption he was about to join, he's going to take a good few weeks to get up to Poch's required level of fitness if he's basically been living out of a hotel and not doing any form of training.

But then if he's as handy as he looks, I suppose it might be worth the wait.

I see Citeh are playing tonight in a CL qualifier in Bucharest - at least they played on a Saturday this week.

Shades of squad rotation to come ..