Jordan Pickford blunder gifts excellent Tottenham easy win over woeful Everton

Even with Pickford’s individual blunder, Everton looked hopelessly out of their depth in north London

They do like their history at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Up on the big screen ahead of kick off videos of glories past play on a continuous spool. But trawling that past, even the most diehard fan would be pushed to recall when Tottenham had an easier opening home match of the season than this. With goals from Yves Bissouma, Cristian Romero and two from the captain Son Heung-min, the 4-0 scoreline was not remotely an exaggeration of their evisceration of Everton.
In fact, they could easily have scored twice as many. In the last 10 minutes they were playing with the kind of keep-ball ease that usually attends practice sessions when the under-15s are invited to take on the first XI.
“The performance was excellent,” said their manager Ange Postecoglou. “We looked really threatening going forward all the time.”
Postecoglou was right to enthuse. Spurs were everything he wants them to be – fluent, fast, effervescent. But in truth they were more than a little assisted in their endeavours by an Everton side as poor as any who have represented the club. Bereft of game plan, ideas and progressive thought, their entire attacking ambition seemed to be to sling in a set-piece in the hope it might reach James Tarkowski’s head. Worse, they were entirely lacking in two characteristics usually associated with teams managed by Sean Dyche: defensive organisation and all-round fight. Watching them capitulate from first minute to last, it was easy to understand why they have not won a game away from Goodison Park throughout 2024.
And how Spurs exploited their good fortune. Before kick off, Postecoglou explained that he had restored the ill-starred Bissouma to the starting line-up after his juvenile exploits with laughing gas because of his efforts in training.
“You know what it’s like when you punish your child and they do everything right for the next two days?” Postecoglou said, neatly summing up Bissouma’s schoolboy behavioural characteristics. And the Malian more than responded to his manager here. From the start enjoying the freedom of midfield, within 14 minutes he had found himself unattended on the edge of the area as Dejan Kulusevski laid off a gilt-edged invitation to shoot. He thumped a glorious first time shot beyond Jordan Pickford, a strike he celebrated with vim. And no wonder: it was his first goal for the club across 52 appearances.
“We know Biss is a good footballer,” said Postecoglou. “It’s a good start but he’s got to do more. It’s about him being the best version of himself. Discipline is the important thing. I thought it was a disciplined performance from him.”
The rest of the Spurs team were quick to pick up Bissouma’s lead and join in the fun. Recognising that much of Everton’s threat comes from Pickford’s distribution, Postecoglou stationed Son in an advanced position with instruction to press at every opportunity. Within a couple of minutes of kick off he almost picked the keeper’s pocket, Pickford managing to scrabble away possession as the Korean lurked. The second time, however, he was not so lucky. Son was on him the moment he received a back pass from Tarkowski and, as he fumbled and panicked, quickly relieved him of the ball to tap into an empty net.
Things got no better for Everton in the second half. Dyche attempted to inject some creativity, sending on Iliman Ndiaye and Jesper Lindstrom (and almost gaining reward when the Dane rasped a shot against Guglielmo Vicario’s fingers). But they could not lift a side mired in a gloom which was exacerbated when first James Maddison swung in a corner which found Romero’s sizeable forehead and then Micky van de Ven ran the entire length of the pitch untroubled by Evertonian tackles before presenting Son with his second goal. It was as close to a one-sided match as you would see in the Premier League.
After the match, Dyche recognised the issues at hand.
“In the past, we have done well when the challenges have come our way,” he said. “Anger doesn’t change anything. What changes anything is action. I’ll be taking action.”
Frankly, he needs to. And fast. Much more of this and David Moyes’s return to the club before the first international break looks ever more plausible.