As the only man since the late Sir Bobby Robson to gatecrash the “big four”, David Moyes knows better than anyone what is required for an outsider to qualify for the Champions League.
The Everton manager tipped Tottenham Hotspur to do just that in his programme notes yesterday, but may be questioning his judgment this morning after his side came from two goals down to snatch a point. Occasionally, even football managers enjoy being proved wrong.
This was a match that Tottenham should have won and the type of game that must yield three points in the future if they are to maintain a Champions League challenge, given their modest record against the competition’s established entrants.
The visiting team dominated possession, created more chances and held a two-goal lead until the final 12 minutes, before being given one final opportunity that was spurned by Jermain Defoe’s last-minute penalty miss. Chants of “USA, USA” echoed around Goodison Park after Tim Howard had saved from the spot with his feet, which even in the “republic of Merseyside” are unlikely to be repeated if there is a similar outcome in England’s World Cup opener in Rustenburg on June 12.
Defoe’s poorly struck penalty will command most attention, but more worrying for Harry Redknapp, and indeed Fabio Capello, was the earlier chances missed from open play. Defoe and Peter Crouch were culpable on several occasions in a show of profligacy that explains Capello’s continuing reluctance to play either from the start.
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Redknapp admitted as much afterwards, when he could drag his eyes away from a muted television screen, that is. The Tottenham manager appeared so haunted at what must have felt like a defeat that he spent several minutes staring at a graphical representation of the goal by Louis Saha that triggered Everton’s fightback, with his usually flushed cheeks white with shock.
“It was game over at 2-0,” Redknapp said. “There was no way they were going to get back in the game and it was more likely we’d score again. We gave a sloppy goal away and were left ruing chances missed.
“Robbie [Keane] takes penalties when he plays, but you’d fancy the little man to score, the form he’s in. He’s obviously disappointed, but it happens. Frank [Lampard] missed a penalty yesterday — when does he ever miss?
“At 2-0 you couldn’t see any danger. It’s two points gone and a great opportunity thrown away.”
Moyes’s analysis was similar, with the only matter preventing the Scot’s face broadening into a rare smile being the hamstring injury that caused Joseph Yobo to limp off inside 15 minutes.
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Seamus Coleman’s performance on his home debut as Yobo’s replacement, but at right back, was a revelation, but the vulnerability of Tony Hibbert and Lucas Neill as makeshift centre halves suggests Everton’s defensive problems will remain until the return of Phil Jagielka, Sylvain Distin and Johnny Heitinga.
“I thought it would be worse, but credit to the boys and we got something out of it,” Moyes said. “The players are beginning to see that we’ll have to work very hard this season. When you’ve got spirit, there’s always hope.”
A compelling encounter sparked into life with an ugly confrontation between Benoît Assou-Ekotto and Marouane Fellaini late in the first half, which led to both players being booked, before Tottenham appeared to extinguish Everton’s fire with two goals in the space of 12 minutes at the start of the second.
Defoe provided some encouragement for Capello by opening the scoring with a near-post volley from Aaron Lennon’s cross, with his thirteenth goal of the season followed by Michael Dawson’s second in three games with a diving header. Both finishes were superb, but Hibbert and Neill, the reluctant markers, will not enjoy watching the video of this match any more than Redknapp. Assou-Ekotto did not return for the second half after his running battle with the far larger Fellaini and the home side also appeared to have gone missing, until Moyes gambled with the double-introduction of Saha and Yakubu Ayegbeni.
Moyes’s enforced replacement of Yobo with Coleman had given Everton a brief lift in the first half and the substitutes combined to bring their side back into the game in the 78th minute. If he could cast off his natural conservatism to play two strikers from the start — as Redknapp always does, even away from home — then Everton would surely have managed more than 19 goals in 15 Barclays Premier League matches.
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Coleman’s surging run down the right was too much for Gareth Bale, whose defending remains suspect, and his cross was converted by Saha at the far post. On only his fourth appearance, Coleman was also intimately involved in the equaliser nine minutes later, with his cross from the right being directed back across goal by Leighton Baines, for Tim Cahill to head in from close range.
Tottenham were given one final chance to make amends for such slack defending after the hapless Hibbert clattered into Wilson Palacios to send the Honduran to hospital with bruised ribs, but Howard was in no mood to be beaten again. The American’s penalty saves took his side to last season’s FA Cup Final after a semi-final shoot-out victory over Manchester United and could kick-start this stuttering campaign.
“At this moment, I wouldn’t swap him with any goalkeeper in the country,” Moyes said. “He’s carrying the team because we’ve got a lot of injuries in front of him.
“It was a vital save, as the players had worked incredibly hard and stuck at it. He’s very quick, agile and lively, so has a chance of saving penalties. Maybe it was all the Scotsmen in the crowd singing, ‘USA’.”
Given Howard’s record, it may be just as well that England will face him in a group game, without the risk of a penalty shoot-out.
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Everton (4-4-1-1): T Howard 7 L Neill 6 A Hibbert 5 J Yobo 5 L Baines 6 S Pienaar 6 M Fellaini 6 J Rodwell 6 D Bilyaletdinov 5 T Cahill 6 Jô 6. Substitutes: S Coleman 7 (for Yobo, 15min), L Saha 6 (for Jô, 63), Yakubu Ayegbeni 6 (for Rodwell, 63). Not used: C Nash, S Duffy, K Agard, J Baxter Next: Chelsea (a).
Tottenham (4-4-2): H Gomes 6 V Corluka 6 M Dawson 6 S Bassong 6 B Assou-Ekotto 6 A Lennon 7 W Palacios 7 T Huddlestone 6 N Kranjcar 6 P Crouch 5 J Defoe 6. Substitutes: G Bale 5 (for Assou-Ekotto, 46min), J Jenas (for Kranjcar, 87), A Hutton (for Palacios, 90). Not used: B Alnwick, D Bentley, R Pavlyuchenko, R Keane. Next: Wolverhampton Wanderers (h).