Everton vs. Tottenham Hotspur: Final score 0-0, plenty of action but no goals

Tottenham Hotspur continue to struggle in front of goal, but it's tough to be mad about the end result of Saturday's game. Spurs stifled a very good Everton side who is excellent at home, denying them clear chances throughout the game en route to a 0-0 draw.

The first half featured Spurs' controlling the game and denying Everton any decent half-chances, but Spurs weren't able to create much of their own. Their best chance came in the 19th minute, when Kyle Walker forced Tim Howard to punch a powerful free kick away. Sandro also caught Howard off guard with an early shot, but it never looked like it had a chance of hitting the back of the net.

Everton were much better in the second half, and got a boost when Andre Villas-Boas made a sub around the hour mark. Whether it was for fitness or tactical reasons, Spurs brought on Mousa Dembele for Sandro in the 61st minute and struggled to contain Romelu Lukaku afterwards.

Spurs experienced a scary moment in the 76th minute, when an accidental knee from Romelu Lukaku caught Hugo Lloris flush on the chin, causing his head to snap back violently. He appeared to be concussed and was urged to exit the match, but argued to stay on and was allowed to. After a delay of nearly eight minutes, the match continued.

The final minutes after Lloris' injury were wild, but ultimately resulted in no goals for either side.

Notes:

- This feels disappointing because of all the possession we had and all the chances we didn't take, but it's not a bad result. I'm happy with a point at Goodison Park. Everton are clearly one of the top 8 sides in the country and they're excellent at home.

- Hugo Lloris should have come off. I don't care if he passes a concussion test tonight. If there's any question whether or not a player has a concussion, they should come off. End of. No exceptions.

- Lewis Holtby was great. I want to see Eriksen start ahead of him at home and against lesser sides, but his work rate, pressing and willingness to drop deep to find the ball are good things on the road against good teams.

- I'm getting annoyed with Andros Townsend. He looks dangerous, sure, but he doesn't pick his head up or make early passes. There are guys making runs off the ball, Andros. Look for them and pass to them.

- And it would be unfair to pick on Andros today, though he's the most consistent offender in this department. Everyone was slow to make decisions with the ball. We're horrible at moving the ball quickly. It's why we're boring and don't score goals. We don't try shit, and when we do try shit, we do it after dwelling on the ball for 30 seconds.

- Andre's decision to sub Sandro for Dembele was horrible if Sandro was fit. If he was hurt ... whatever.