Premier League 2020/21: Everton vs Tottenham Hotspur – tactical analysis | OneFootball

Everton’s first assignment of the new Premier League campaign saw them travel to London to face Tottenham Hotspur. The Toffees had made a few smart signings over the summer – particularly in midfield where Allan, Abdoulaye Doucouré and James Rodríguez had been brought in. Pundits were intrigued to see Everton’s tactics and how they would fit all of those players into one team. There were high hopes for Carlo Ancelotti’s men, and the first match against José Mourinho’s Spurs was set to be a real challenge.

After an exciting encounter, Everton emerged 1-0 winners thanks to Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s goal. Here, we take a look at how they were set up and analyse some actions from the match in this tactical analysis.

Lineup

Spurs’ Lazy Pressure

Everton were never hurried on the ball, as Spurs’ frontmen refrained from pressing them too much. José Mourinho called it the ‘lazy press’, but in truth, it was a very non-existent press.

In this instance, Spurs’ front four – Harry Kane, Lucas Moura, Dele Alli and Son Heung-min are nowhere near the ball and don’t look like they’re going to trouble Everton in any away. In fact, the Toffees have five players in an area around the ball where Tottenham have none.

This allowed Everton to settle in possession, regroup if they had lost their shape and then work spaces to start an attacking move. They did so thanks to the fluidity in their midfield.

Everton’s Attacking Movements and Positioning

Allan would stay back to screen the defence, while Gomes and Doucouré moved up and down the midfield third depending on the position of the ball.

Everton moved the ball quickly thereafter, and reached this position:

Coleman did overlap on certain occasions though.

In other cases, Doucouré drifted to the right and let James operate centrally.

Everton’s pressing and defensive shape

Everton changed their formation quickly when Spurs found a way to break the press.

After scoring the goal, Everton were keen to protect the lead, and they did so with another slight change in formation.

Everton were well-disciplined and held their shape throughout the match, deservedly winning the three points.

Set-Pieces

Everton held an interesting line when defending wide free-kicks.

Spurs, on the other hand, held a significantly higher line.

Against a less physical side like Tottenham, this lower line might do the trick for Everton, but against a bunch of bullies like Burnley, they may have to reconsider this.

Conclusion

It’s always hard and unwise to read into a side’s first game and decide their fate for the rest of the season, but the signs were certainly encouraging for Everton. Carlo Ancelotti’s new-look midfield was very good, as James already seemed to start controlling proceedings from the right, Allan bossed Spurs’ attackers in front of the defence and Doucouré brought energy to the match with his box-to-box running.

Evertonians shouldn’t get too far ahead of themselves, but this could be the start of something good for the Blue side of Merseyside.