Tottenham Hotspur were held to a goalless draw by Everton at Goodison Park in the weekend Premier League fixture.
The game also marked Antonio Conte‘s debut as Spurs manager in the Premier League, but the Italian wouldn’t have been pleased with the result.
The Toffees were the better side, showing more intention in the second half, but they lacked the precision in the final third. They almost had their breakthrough moment when they were awarded a penalty, but it was overturned by VAR in the end.
Conte’s Spurs spent much time off the ball and tried to pounce on counterattacks, but their efforts were to no avail.
Toffees defender Mason Holgate saw a red card in the additional time as the game ended in a stalemate.
Conte’s dull start in the Premier League
The Italian gaffer successfully saw off Vitesse in his managerial debut at Spurs in Conference League and there were plenty of expectations on his first game in the Premier League. However, he failed to get things done against an impressive Toffees’ side today. Perhaps, the North Londoners failed to get a shot on target and were feeling the pressure throughout the game. Spurs had a great chance to leapfrog Manchester United to get near the top-four in the table but that wasn’t the case in the end.
Conte faces an uphill task at Spurs
For a manager like Conte, who has established himself as one of Europe’s finest coaches, many might have thought that he would hit the ground running at Spurs. During his last stint in the Premier League, he led Chelsea to the league title in 2017. Furthermore, he inspired Inter Milan to Scudetto last season and broke Juventus’ dominance in the Italian top-flight. Conte’s success, say at Juve, Chelsea and Inter, has a lot to do with the players, who fitted right into his plans. He may have the likes of Harry Kane and Son Heung-min at his disposal at Spurs, but it looks like he needs some time to gel with the entire squad. All eyes would be on how the Italian gaffer would approach the upcoming transfer windows while it has been recently reported that he would have the backing of Spurs’ hierarchy in the transfer market.
