It was a sunny, bright afternoon at the Goodison. And it got even brighter as Ronald Koeman stepped out on the pitch, looking around to take in the warm congeniality cascading down from the stands. Everton have proper European credence at the helm in the Dutchman, who has been tutored by the very best in the game in his time at Ajax, PSV and Barcelona. The gaffer with the ferocious countenance of a Care Bear, means business, and his team’s imbued competency against Tottenham showed enough evidence to hearten Everton supporters, that these bright sunny days may come to be a regular fixture on the Blue half of Merseyside.
Tactical Talking Points
#1 Making Tottenham’s Best Players Useless
The first-half display was a masterclass in negation. Tottenham’s best players play through the middle, and what Koeman did was rather, ingeniously simple. Making Mirallas and Deulofeu and the focal point of release, Everton repeatedly bypassed the crowded Tottenham midfield, every opportunity they regained possession. Taking into consideration that Pochettino, usually demands his full-backs to be higher up the pitch, for width and verticality, the wily Dutchman exploited Kyle Walker and Danny Rose’s front-foot inclination, by punching first-time balls out to the wide areas.
Such was the effectiveness, the Tottenham midfield had to hold a low-defensive line in order to compensate the gaping spaces that presented themselves, when the defence was being stretched.
#2 Ross Barkley Can Be a Jack In the Box
It’s a nugget of wisdom passed on from manager to player, to manager to player – in the same manner as those Shaolin movies, where the student takes on the helm and the lessons of the master. Play your best player closest to goal and good things will follow.
Ross Barkley operated, on occasions, as a false nine – something unprecedented on this side of Merseyside. While he may have to build on the tactical astuteness and physical bullishness to survive long-term in that role, he has shown enterprise in his movement to always be on the loo out for a ball coming in, and completed his incisiveness by running the channels.
His goal may have been a bit fortunate, but it was no less than what he deserved in his industrious team-performance. Ronald Koeman, who has had a long history of nurturing talents to their full potential, would be delighted by the application of his new pet-project. Expect his overall game to shoot up by leaps and bound through the course of the season.
#3 Welcome back, Good ol’ Everton
For all his promised style, Bobby Martinez glaringly lacked the substance to win over the knowledgeable Everton fandom. The defensive resoluteness and organisation, which was a marked character for many years under David Moyes, has in its little way been resuscitated by Ronald Koeman – if The Ev’s dogged second-half display was anything to go by. After being pegged by perhaps the only telling lapse of concentration in the back-line, the equalising goal from the marauding Lamela, Everton players collectively clenched-teeth and pulled up their socks – a response that almost seem alien the past season.
Pulling upon the lessons learned from his vast continental footballing tapestry, the understanding of the space and lack thereof, and how to defend it as a unit, will only get better under Koeman. If you are an Everton fan who is reading this (elementarily), you have a lot to look forward to.
