Report and free match highlights as Everton suffer back-to-back heavy defeats to start new PL season; Yves Bissouma's stunner followed by a Jordan Pickford howler; Cristian Romero headed home on his 100th Spurs appearance; Heung-Min Son scored twice to give Spurs first win of new campaign
Sunday 25 August 2024 07:21, UK
Everton’s miserable start to the new season continued after a 4-0 defeat at Tottenham, which saw goalkeeper Jordan Pickford make a huge error.
After a 3-0 home defeat to Brighton on the opening weekend, Sean Dyche's side have now conceded seven goals from their first two games and sit bottom of the Premier League without scoring.
Spurs' opener at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was unstoppable, however, as Yves Bissouma thundered home from just outside the edge of the box off the underside of the bar in the 14th minute to put his laughing gas incident behind him.
Then came Pickford's blunder as England's number one dallied on James Tarkowski's backpass to allow Heung-Min Son to nick the ball off him and finish into an empty net in the 25th minute.
Pickford's embarrassment summed up a poor first half from the visitors, whose only shot on target came in the 58th minute when substitute and debutant Jesper Lindstrom saw an effort saved by Guglielmo Vicario.
But just as Everton began to get a foothold in the second half, the Toffees were undone at a corner in the 71st minute as Cristian Romero headed home on his 100th Spurs appearance.
More misery came just six minutes later for Everton as a wonderful surging run from Spurs centre-back Micky van de Ven saw him tee up Son, who finished low from a tight angle for his second of the game.
While Spurs' season is now up and running with their first victory of the new season after Monday's 1-1 draw at newly-promoted Leicester, Everton's concerns will only have deepened. They have now lost their opening two Premier League matches for the third consecutive season and remain without an away league victory in 2024.
Everton boss Sean Dyche speaking at his post-match press conference:
"It's difficult here and we are stretched and all the rest of it, I don't like making excuses, but we are, that's a fact. It's a strange situation here and it has been here for a number of years, but in my 19 months we kind of build something and then we have to go back down the hill again to then remind ourselves of the challenge and then we all pull together and we do it again.
He added: "The second [Pickford's mistake] obviously, it's impossible to legislate for so you're 2-0 down and when you're 2-0 down at a place like this, anywhere in the Premier League, it's tough against good sides and they are a good side and then you're on that risk or reward of opening up, trying to affect the game in a positive manner, knowing that clubs like this with these type of players who they've brought in, they can hurt you and of course they did, they opened us up and that's the risk or reward of life in the Premier League."
Asked why they started poorly at Spurs: "Yeah, because they're Tottenham and they [Everton players] look around and go where are all of our players? Where are all of the usual players? So there's a human reaction to that.
"We've done well when the challenges have come our way, whether it's been injuries or skinny squads or no money or noise around the outside, we've done great, we've really pulled together and gone right, let's just take it on.
"So I reminded them of that afterwards, I said look, we'll knock the first two games of the season, there are many reasons why - players missing, pre-season injuries and all the rest of it, but remind ourselves that this has been round before. It's not our first rodeo, so therefore let's take it on, let's grow with that mentality. And yet again, we're written off immediately, so I said in a weird way, we seem to be good at that, we get written off and then everyone pulls together and we start changing the story again. I mean, it's a head-scratcher, but it's tough."
Tottenham boss Ange Postecolgou to Sky Sports:
"The performance was good, it was good last week. We limited them to what they're good at - set pieces - which we dealt with well. It's really encouraging for us.
"I also felt, as long as we keep performing and creating chances, those kind of things [scoring that second goal] take their turn. Good pressing on Jordan [Pickford] by Sonny and he got his rewards.
"We want to keep improving. Last week was a strong performance as well, we dominated the game, but we have to close it out. When we do dominate a game, we have to make it count and we did that today."
On Yves Bissouma's goal following his one-game suspension for his laughing gas incident: "It's a start. But he still has work to do.
"There's no doubting his quality. But we want to make him the best version of himself, that starts with off-field as much as on-field."
Tottenham midfielder James Maddison speaking to Sky Sports:
"The scoreline was quite devastating when you look at 4-0, but it was thoroughly deserved. We put away the chances we didn't put away on Monday night [against Leicester], that normally means three points.
"It was nice to take the criticism from the manager of being more ruthless and the next game we've put it into practice."
It was fitting that Wilson Odobert's debut came as a surprise following his shock £30m arrival from Burnley.
Barely a week into life at Spurs, the Frenchman was thrown straight into the team as he started on the left wing and then delivered an exciting display that got the Spurs fans out of their seats.
The 19-year-old was electric in the first half and caused Everton plenty of problems. The numbers proved his threat as he made the most dribbles (7) and had the most touches in the opposition box (7) of any player.
Odobert is still raw as he gave away a loose pass in the second half that nearly resulted in Everton scoring, but his debut was "really exciting" according to Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou.
The Australian also had praise for Micky van de Ven as he labelled him "a special footballer" after he delivered yet another exceptional performance. He is a real fans' favourite now.
The Dutchman's lightning speed makes him a cheat code as he helped unlock Spurs' fourth goal with a fabulous surging assist from his own box for Son to score.
There were major fears when the 23-year-old looked seriously injured in the first half as the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium held its breath, but he was quickly back up and running - as are Spurs now after that disappointing opening draw at Leicester.
Just two games into the new Premier League season and Everton are already in a world of pain.
Zero points, zero goals scored and seven goals conceded leave Sean Dyche's side rock bottom of the table after thrashings by Brighton and Tottenham.
The Toffees are making unwanted history having lost their first two games in a top-flight season by three or more goals for the first time. At the other end of the pitch, they have only had two shots on target so far - one in each of the defeats.
The alarm bells are already ringing at Goodison Park - their last season at the ground before they make the move to the new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock. The club cannot begin life there with Championship football, which brings extra added pressure to this campaign.
If this dismal form continues, though, then second-tier football could well become a reality, with a belief the promoted teams this year are stronger than last season's.
However, Dyche remained defiant and upbeat in his post-match press conference that his side can turn things around with key players still to return.
But what Dyche does not need is his leading stars making silly mistakes, as goalkeeper Jordan Pickford did for Spurs' second with an embarrassing blunder.
It was an error that sums up Everton right now.
