Tottenham: José Mourinho’s team lacks ideas against Everton | Football news

Adam Bate

Comment and analysis @ghostgoal

Tottenham’s 1-0 home loss to Everton in which they were outscored was a worrying start to the season for José Mourinho

Harry Kane sees an opportunity pass for Tottenham in the opening period

Talking about a crisis in the opening weekend of a Premier League season often feels over the top, but when that team has become the focus of a new documentary drama series, perhaps that is appropriate. The cameras were on as Tottenham began their campaign on Sunday, but they let Everton provide the action as they fell in a 1-0 home loss.

Statistically, the Spurs were beaten and beaten, beaten in shooting and scoring. But the easiest way to sum up this performance is to say that they were outmatched. Carlo Ancelotti’s team had a coherent plan and played positively. Tottenham, damned, ran out of ideas.

But what was that idea anyway?

The summer transfers of Matt Doherty and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg weren’t spectacular, but they were considered sensible acquisitions. The former seems well suited to the advanced role of the right that Mourinho has favored since he took office. The latter has the ability to add steel in the hopes that it will provide a platform for those in front of him to play.

But the Spurs need the ball for that to work and had trouble seeing much of it for the first half hour. “I haven’t seen anything from Hojbjerg and Winks in midfield from a possession standpoint,” Gary Neville said. Sky sports. “They haven’t gotten into the ball at all.”

The second half was even worse. At least Dele Alli and Doherty had forced smart saves from Jordan Pickford before the break. After that, Tottenham was abject. Indeed, it was alarming how quickly any belief seemed to fade after Everton’s goal in the 55th minute.

“No white shirt press,” Neville said. “They look so flat.”

It’s not a good sign when the team is being accused of sulking for less than an hour in a new season.

2:55

FREE TO SEE: Highlights from Everton’s win over Tottenham in the Premier League

The frustration for fans is that many of the stated limitations are well known.

Despite all the talk of wanting to rebuild his career behind, it was Eric Dier who was beaten to the ball by Dominic Calvert-Lewin for what turned out to be the winning goal.

Despite all the talk of a revamped midfield, there was Winks again, struggling to prevail over the opposition while proving incapable of asking enough questions for himself.

For the second half, he was joined by Moussa Sissoko, whose effort cannot always hide the fact that his close control is not that of an elite midfielder.

These are all too familiar flaws.

Ben Davies shows his frustration at Tottenham’s defeat

Mourinho knew it. Coupled with the club’s injury crisis earlier in the year and the fact that it was able to fight its way to sixth place with a draw at Crystal Palace on the final day of the season, it ensured that a ‘job done’ mood prevailed. ‘given the circumstances.

New season, new beginning.

So it is a bit worrying that he is already lamenting the lack of a preseason in which to prepare his players. Even despite time constraints and the fact that players like Doherty did not appear completely fit, this should have been the true presentation of Mourinho’s Spurs.

How long can you point out an inherited situation? Not much if he continues to make substitutions like the one he saw Sissoko introduce for Alli midway.

It seemed designed to restrict opponents who hadn’t won against one of the big six in 60 attempts. It was not entirely clear how much thought was put into focusing instead on Tottenham’s ability to cause trouble for themselves. Harry Kane was left adrift.

That has happened too often with Mourinho.

Kane didn’t get his first touch into the opposition penalty area until the 78th minute of the game, and that was a header under pressure from the right corner from Heung-Min Son.

At least it avoided the possibility of Kane playing a full game without touching the ball in opposition for the second time in three months, something that had happened only twice in Kane’s entire Premier League career prior to that. Service to the forward is a concern.

For much of Mauricio Pochettino’s time at Tottenham, pressing football was the means by which these players were able to find the ball in the last third of the field.

The absence of that pressure – attributed to Mourinho’s laziness after the game – is a recurring theme of the aforementioned behind-the-scenes documentary.

It is a curious focus of his criticism since it is not a quality that is especially associated with Mourinho. Certainly the underlying data suggests that he has had little success in implementing that style of play since his arrival at Tottenham last November.

They handled far fewer pressure sequences than the five teams that finished above them last season, allowing far more opposition passes per defensive action than those sides as well.

5:08

Mourinho talks to Sky Sports after 1-0 loss to Everton

Based on this evidence, that doesn’t seem to change. Tottenham is not playing a game of possession and it is not playing a game of pressure. Is there any hope for a solution?

The only absentee likely to turn things around for Spurs is Giovani Lo Celso, the Argentine playmaker. Has the imagination in its wake that could unlock a defense Son and Doherty’s off-the-ball run was futile without teammates who could pick them.

Others will hope that Tanguy Ndombele can become the type of midfielder fans thought his club was buying a year ago. They could be waiting in vain.

The search for answers seems more likely to fall to the manager and a group of players who looked so devoid of ideas against Everton. Too early for a crisis, perhaps. But it was too late in Mourinho’s reign to justify excuses for performances like this.

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