EVERTON TOTTENHAM
2 2MICKY VAN DE VEN’S reaction when he trudged back to the Tottenham dressing room after conceding a 94th-minute equaliser said it all.
The Holland centre-half, who was excellent at Goodison Park, was not interested in putting any positive spin on this result as Spurs blew the chance to turn up the heat on the top three.
“I was just mad, I didn’t talk,” said an honest Van de Ven.
His anger, frustration and disappointment were obvious and Tottenham were just seconds away from a vital win when Everton exposed their set-piece frailties for the second time in the match.
“We’re disappointed,” he said. “We could have put pressure on the top. We didn’t do that and that’s really disappointing, but next week there’s a new game and we have to get the three points there.
“To concede in the 94th minute is killing. We just had to kill the game at the end. We needed to play in their half of the pitch, but we let them attack in the last couple of minutes. They won some free-kicks and that’s where they’re strong.
“At the end, we let them come on to us. We had to push them back and kill the game, but that didn’t happen.”
Tottenham’s weakness at set-pieces was painful and Guglielmo Vicario made a mess of Dwight Mcneil’s corner and James Tarkowski nodded it back for Jack Harrison to level on 30 minutes.
Harrison cancelled out Richarlison’s fourth-minute opener before the Brazil star restored Spurs’ lead with his 11th goal of the season four minutes before the break.
Spurs should have won only for Pedro Porro to head James Garner’s free-kick goalwards for Jarrad Branthwaite to apply the final touch on the line, with Vicario floundering, to score his first Everton goal (celebrating with Garner, below left).
Substitute Dejan Kulusevski gifted Everton a pointless freekick and Van de Ven was annoyed that Tottenham fell into the Blues’ trap by gifting them set-piece opportunities.
Van de Ven knows Spurs must be smarter, even if Everton deserve huge credit for their battling display. They have netted 13 set-piece goals this season.
“We know Everton are really good at set-pieces and scored two goals from set-pieces,” he said. “That’s not good for us and we have to watch it back to see what we can do to fix it.
“Of course, it’s not allowed to give free-kicks away at the end of the game, set-pieces where they are really strong. We had to kill it in the beginning and not give them the opportunity to win these free-kicks.”
The day should have belonged to Richarlison, who refused to celebrate scoring twice on his return to Goodison Park, and he is the first former Blue to net home and away against them in the same Premier League season.
He is enjoying the hottest scoring streak of his club career and has nine goals in his last eight Premier League games.
Van de Ven added: “Richy scored two important goals. It really hurts.”
EVERTON (4-4-1-1): Pickford 7, Godfrey 7 (Coleman 74), Tarkowski 6, Branthwaite 7, Mykolenko 6, Young 7 (Chermiti 79), Gueye 6, Garner 7, Mcneil 6 (Dobbin 84), Harrison 7, Calvert-lewin 6 (Beto 84) TOTTENHAM (4-2-3-1): Vicario 5, Porro 6, Romero 7, Van de Ven 9, Udogie 6, Hojbjerg 6 (Dragusin 88), Bentancur 6 (Sarr 63, 6), Johnson 6 (Kulusevski 63, 6), Maddison 6 (Skipp 85), Werner 7 (Gil 85), Richarlison 8