Premier League, Everton-Tottenham 1-1, Stellini dry

Tottenham have done it again: they imploded. Like Antonio Conte’s last before the break, Cristian Stellini’s first is an equal straight away from a comeback, a 1-1 draw at Everton playing for half an hour with the extra man. Harry Kane’s penalty in the 68th minute was not enough, ten minutes after Doucouré’s red card: the hosts equalized in the 90th minute through Keane, after crushing Tottenham in their own half, who had remained in the 10 in the meantime for the ‘expulsion that Lucas Moura deserves just 5’ after entering the field. However, the draw takes Spurs to third place, at 50 points like Newcastle and Manchester United who, however, have played two games less. But it is the umpteenth harakiri, the umpteenth implosion of a team that has long ago lost the belief in its own abilities that not even a change of coach has brought them back.

The keys

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As with Southampton, Tottenham have only themselves to blame for their sixth consecutive away game without a win. The Spurs caressed her until the 90th minute, but after scoring they stopped playing, struggling to do the simplest things, with Stellini unable to find counter moves on the bench. It is evidently a mental problem, as Conte argued before leaving by slamming the door, a problem that Stellini must quickly figure out how to solve if he wants to take Tottenham to the promised land of qualifying for the Champions League, what the club is asking of him. His first Spurs as head coach are a mirror of what they were with Conte, clinging to Kane’s talent and a game that should develop on the outside, where Pedro Porro and Ivan Perisic stand out as long as they have energy, but they run out soon . And the technician in that fundamental role has no alternatives due to injuries. But it’s the ghosts in the players’ heads that are the real enemy Tottenham have to fight against. Those that Everton took advantage of to straighten out a game that seemed haunted, in which the hosts created more, deserving the draw (and the fourth useful result in a row) which brings them to 27 points in 29 days and momentarily out of trouble and dreaming of victory until the end. Dyche’s team has what Tottenham lacks: the belief in their own abilities, that of believing in them until the end. The one that Spurs lost along the way.

The match

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Sparkling first half, with Tottenham more determined and dangerous on the outside than in the last few outings and Everton always compact and ready to hurt on the counterattack. However, the goal didn’t arrive and it started again from 0-0, but the match changed in the 58th minute, when Doucouré lost his head and was kicked out after the clash with Kane. Ten minutes later Tottenham pass: Keane naively spreads Romero in the area, from the penalty spot Kane displaces his international teammate Pickford for the 1-0. Everton didn’t get depressed, on the contrary they took control of the match by taking advantage of Tottenham’s difficulties in building from defence. Lloris had to perform a miracle on Gueye in the 75th minute and was attentive immediately after Keane’s header. In the 82nd minute Stellini inserts Moura in place of Son, but the Brazilian 5′ is already in the shower, leaving him in 10 for a useless foul on Keane. It was the prelude to Everton’s draw: Keane signed it in the 90th minute, with a sensational right-footed shot from 25 meters on which Lloris was unable to do anything. The hosts in the final look for victory, but have to settle for a draw. The same result that brings Tottenham back in comparison with those ghosts with which Conte could no longer live.