---
title: "Everton v Spurs – Opening Day Draw"
canonical: "https://readeverton.com/everton-v-spurs-opening-day-draw/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Alex Hives"
section: "Reports/Previews"
published: "2016-08-13T17:37:49Z"
modified: "2016-08-13T17:37:49Z"
---

# Everton v Spurs – Opening Day Draw

Satisfied? Seems to be the mood around Goodison after a hard fought point against a very strong Spurs side. Nothing was left on the pitch anyway after a magnificent first half display, and a gritty second half. So, what did we learn?

**Everton revolutionised by Goodison’s roar.**

The first half seemed like it was the ideal situation that every fan dreamt of last season as we let 2 or 3 more points slip through our hands. Where last season we were sloppy, we were succinct in our passing. Where last season we were timid, we were standing tall and flying in for 50-50 headers. The crowd fed off of Geri’s antics in the second half as he screamed at the Gwladys to get louder and louder, and louder we got. The atmosphere truly complimented the performance.

**Is the team better off without Rom?**

Don’t get me wrong, I love Romelu Lukaku and all he brings to Everton as a truly world-class striker, but today, with a nippy Gerard Deulofeu leading the line, the Blues put on a masterclass in the first half with ping-pong passes setting Goodison alight in the afternoon sun. This freedom of not wanting to launch high balls into the box on a counter-attack and instead skimming the ball to Kev’s, Geri’s or Ross’ feet proved to be a welcome change.

**Everton are versatile and voracious.**

Including pre-season games, Koeman has now experimented with 5 different set-ups in his time as boss. The usual 4-2-3-1, a 4-3-3 with Barkley leading the line, the very successful 5-3-2 against United where Deulofeu partnered Lukaku, a simple 4-4-2 (behind closed doors against Jablonec) and today, a very dynamic 5-2-3 where McCarthy would cover for Holgate and Barry for Baines. It’s very refreshing to see such versatility as opposed to the stale tactics last year.

**Ronald Koeman knows exactly what he’s talking about.**

After last year, when many of us were highly sceptical of Roberto Martinez’ silvery tongue trying to convince us that we were world beaters after we were downed at home to West Brom and the likes, Ronald Koeman’s brutal honesty has been refreshing. He’s a man who played at the absolute pinnacle of Football and experienced it all with Barcelona and Feyenoord. When he said that we were only 70% ready for the season, he wasn’t lying. Most of the squad (Not including the machine-like Gana Gueye) had blown a gasket by the 70th minute. He knows the game of Football inside out, and it’s reassuring to have such a man take us to the next level.

![Alex Morton/Getty Images Sport](https://media.readeverton.com/readeverton/2016/08/583537674.jpg)

**Could Stekelenburg save us £40m?**

On a day where midfielders took most of the limelight in a gritty battle at Goodison, Maarten Stekelenburg rolled back the years to produce an absolutely stunning performance. He could do little about the equaliser, but he made sure that it wouldn’t go any further producing two absolutely unbelievable saves to deny Vincent Janssen and Erik Lamela in the dying stages of the game.

In a week where Everton are being linked with Joe Hart for an astronomical amount of money, maybe the old veteran could truly have meant what he said about wanting that No. 1 shirt?