For a player who played only 30 minutes, the feisty Bosnian certainly made an impact in the time he had.
Everton’s midfield had been run ragged in the first half and that was where Tottenham had the most of their joy, playing a pass and running off the ball to take it round Tom Cleverley and Gareth Barry and run at the defence.
Not only did Besic plug the gap in the middle, he gave the Everton something which they hadn’t had prior, a bit of bite. Similar to McCarthy, the 23-year-old is a tough tackler and both Barry and Cleverley are more technically gifted than they are tackling wise, so bringing Mo into the team allows us to win the ball back a lot more often and gives us more of an opportunity to create chances.
In terms of his individual performance, the Bosnian was able to dribble past Spurs players before looking forward for the pass and did so encouragingly on several occasions.
The midfielder also had a great opportunity to win the game when he struck a sweet effort goalwards but unfortunately Lloris was equal to it and made a miraculous save to deny him his first Everton goal.
The Bosnian also had a few chances to play in Romelu Lukaku but his through ball’s were overhit and the chances went begging. Although the execution wasn’t quite there, the vision to try and pick out Lukaku is positive.
Lee Carsley spoke prior to the game about the desire for Everton to not be afraid to get their hands dirty, and Besic did just that today. Hard in the tackle, composed on the ball and overall a good performance that might see him on the pitch more often.
Will that be good enough for him to nail down a permanent spot in the team? I’m not so sure, but he has really given Roberto Martinez something to think about prior to the Manchester City game in midweek.
