Conte draws on Spurs passion as Everton denied
Att: 39,059
Tottenham Hotspur were subjected to the full Conte. Their new head coach prowled, scowled and, occasionally, howled during his first Premier League game in charge of the team. There was a lot of sound and no little fury from Antonio Conte as Spurs struggled against an Everton side determined to arrest their own slide and angered that a penalty was over-turned after a Var check.
If Everton, who finished with 10 men after substitute Mason Holgate was sent off in the 90th minute, had lost this it would have been four league defeats in a row and Rafael Benitez would have been in the cross-hairs of the managerial killing season, which claimed Daniel Farke and Dean Smith at the weekend. Instead Everton’s looming crisis is abated even if it is five games without a win.
Benitez was not far behind Conte in the touchline gesticulations – often more entertaining than the game – as he jabbed out his arms and spun on his heels in frustration but it was the Italian who was predictably the most animated as he was constantly being reminded to stay in his (admittedly tight) technical area by fourth official Anthony Taylor.
If Conte was in any doubt as to the scale of the task in hand, then it was confirmed here. Having won his first league games at Juventus, Chelsea and Inter Milan, he watched as Spurs did not even register a shot on target. After failing to do so in Nuno Espirito Santo’s final game in the previous weekend against Manchester United, it is the first time Spurs have done that in back-toback games since Opta started compiling such statistics in 2003-04.
Afterwards, hoarse from shouting, Conte professed himself happy. Well, reasonably happy. “The heart, the passion, the will, you either have it or not and my players have shown me in this aspect we are in a good position,” he said. “Today I saw the hearts of my players and their willingness to fight. It was a difficult moment for us and to see this kind of reaction makes me more confident for the future.” However, Conte understandably added that there was room for improvement. “A lot of space,” he said. “A lot of space.”
It is also clear Conte is working Spurs hard. There was a full training session involving those who did not start, with a large gaggle of coaches in attendance, after the game just as there had been following the Europa Conference League win against Vitesse Arnhem on Thursday.
But while that fixture was crazily open, this was a game of attrition; the kind of game where the standout player was Fabian Delph, even if the midfielder was substituted after an hour, and where Harry Kane never looked like scoring. Again. He worked hard but, once more, it was not happening for him. The concern grows.
Everton will feel aggrieved that they did not win after being awarded a second-half penalty, only for the decision to be overturned following a review by the Var, Jonathan Moss, with referee Chris Kavanagh going over to check the
screen. It showed that goalkeeper Hugo Lloris got a slight touch on the ball before colliding with Richarlison but Benitez did not agree.
“In the middle of the pitch it’s a foul, so in the box it has to be a foul,” he argued, forcefully. “From the bench it looked like a penalty. The fact that he [Kavanagh] went to check it gives him the option to be right.”
Kavanagh jogged over again after initially awarding Holgate a yellow card before upgrading it to a red for what appeared to be a studs-up challenge on Pierre-emile Hojbjerg. This time Benitez had no complaints.
Both incidents were briefly shown on the big screens inside Goodison Park, making a white-hot atmosphere even more fiery.
The closest Spurs came was late on when substitute Giovani Lo
Celso ran infield and beat Jordan Pickford with a left-foot shot from 25 yards only for the ball to cannon back off a post. They had more possession and did have eight efforts at goal, but none was accurate. In fact there were more cards – seven – than shots on target (just the two, both from Everton).
No one could fault the effort, though. It was tough. It was uncompromising. Challenges flew in, revealing the desperation of both sides, and opportunities were difficult to create. The composure was not there. Early on there were missed headed chances from Michael Keane and Emerson and charged-down shots from Kane and Son Heung-min.
There was also a bit of spice with Seamus Coleman leaning over into Hojbjerg after he bundled him into
touch. And the Everton captain was not checking how Hojbjerg was. Son was also booed after his involvement in the horrific leg break suffered by Andre Gomes two years ago. However, on half-time, Son won possession, held off challenges and found Kane, who crossed deep only for Sergio Reguilon to volley over as he stretched to meet it at the far post. He was unmarked.
The penalty incident with Richarlison cranked up the atmosphere even further with the Brazilian then collapsing to the turf after he was confronted by Cristian Romero.
Later Everton created their clearest opportunity as Lucas Digne’s low centre was met by Demarai Gray, who side-footed across goal and narrowly wide. It summed up a game long on endeavour and short on quality.