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On a wet, messy evening on Merseyside, Spurs dropped out of the FA Cup in wildly entertaining fashion to Everton, 5-4 in extra time.
With a huge match on Sunday against league leading Manchester City, Jose Mourinho opted to start Harry Kane on the bench, with a seat beside Dele who rejoined the squad after recovering from an injury. Otherwise, it was a strong team, with Son Heung-Min at the tip of the spear and Steven Bergwijn, Erik Lamela, and Lucas Moura. Tanguy Ndombele and Pierre Hojbjerg started in the pivot, and Matt Doherty replaced the injured Serge Aurier at right back.
Key Moments
First Half
1’ — Close! Inside a minute, Lucas Moura lofted a ball into the box and Erik Lamela got a head to it, forcing a save by Olsen. Good stuff!
3’— GOAL! DAVINSON SANCHEZ! Off of a corner from Son Heung-Min, Davi leaped over everyone (including our old friend Gylfi Sigurdsson) and got his big ol’ melon on the ball. The keeper had no chance. 1-0 Spurs!
13’ — Spurs continuing to pile on the pressure. Sonny gets a half step of space at the top of the box and fires a low shot, but it’s easily collected by Olsen.
19’ — Yikes, nearly an equalizer from Everton. Calvert-Lewin tries to go near post past Lloris, but Ben Davies was there to deflect the shot off the post and out. Hugo was right there too.
27’— Ooooh! Great drag-back from Doherty in to Son inside the box, who one-touches it at goal. Olsen makes a good save and it’s out for a corner.
36’ — Goal to Everton. A rare defensive mistake from Pierre Hojbjerg gives up the ball and Calvert-Lewin hammers the ball past Lloris, who got a piece of it but couldn’t keep it out. That’s what you call against the run of play. 1-1.
37’ — Goal to Everton. Wow. Richarlison fires it into the bottom left corner. Two goals, two minutes, and Everton are in the lead. 2-1 Everton.
42’ — WHAT? Penalty given to Everton after Calvert-Lewin goes down in the box and David Coote whistles for a foul. Looked like a clear dive, I’m not sure Hojbjerg even touched him. This was as bad a call as the David Luiz penalty. Sigurdsson slots home the penalty and Everton lead 3-1.
45+2’ — GOAL! LAMELAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! Great interplay between Son and Coco and Spurs pull one back right at the cusp of halftime!
HALFTIME: Well, if nothing else that was entertaining! Spurs looked great but two quick goals and a phantom penalty find Spurs down 3-2 at halftime. Gotta think there are more goals in this.
Second Half
No changes for Spurs at halftime.
47’ — First card of the match goes to Everton after Gylfi gets flagged for holding back Lucas on a counter.
53’ — Harry comin’. Kane is Tottenham’s first substitution, and he replaces Steven Bergwijn. Sub for Everton too, as Calvert-Lewin is forced off with what looks like a hamstring tweak. Seamus Coleman replaces him.
55’ — GOAL! ANOTHER FOR DAVI! Son puts in a corner from the left and it glances off the head of a Spurs player forcing a save. But Davi is right there to bundle home the rebound, and Spurs are level! 3-3! What a wild match!
66’ — Yellow to Everton’s Yerry Mina after he raked Sonny’s Achilles tendon with his studs. He’s okay, but OUCH.
69’ — Oh nooooo. Goal to Everton. Richarlison with a great goal after timing a run into the box. Left footed past Hugo from a very acute angle. 4-3 Everton. Spurs complaining about a no-call on Tanguy in the lead up to that play.
74’ — Lamela with a rebound effort that rockets at goal... and then a half-foot over it. That would’ve been spectacular.
77’ — Sub for Spurs, and HERE COMES THE DELSTROYER! Dele’s on for Lucas.
83’ — GOALLLLLL HARRY KANE LEVELS THE MATCH! A wild sequence off a corner with a save, a block, and finally Son fires a ball to the back corner and Kane puts it in with a diving header! We’re tied 4-4!
88’ — David Coote is bad at his job. After calling a phantom penalty for Everton, Dele goes to ground trying to avoid contact and Coote gives Dele a yellow for simulation. Terrible call.
90+1’ — Yellow on Richarlison for hauling down Sonny. Free kick to Spurs in a dangerous area, but it’s wasted.
90+2’ — Yellow on Harry Kane for a hefty challenge and then Digne gets one too for some reason? IDK.
FULL TIME — we’re going to extra time here at Goodison Park. Another 30 minutes coming, hold on to your butts.
Extra Time #1
Mourinho makes a change before the first period, bringing on Harry Winks for Ndombele.
5’ — Kane through on goal (Lamela backheel in the box!) but he slips and can’t get a clean shot off. Drat.
7’ — Goal to Everton. Bernard. He was juuuust onside and hammers it past Hugo. 5-4. Toffees.
9’ — Subs for Spurs — Sissoko comes on for Matt Doherty and Carlos Vinicius is on for Lamela. Just after, Winks picks up a yellow for a LOL challenge on Bernard.
HALF TIME IN EXTRA TIME. This isn’t over.
Extra Time #2
16’ - Hugo forced into action as he makes a save to keep it a one goal match.
18’ - Another chance for Everton. Hugo dives on a headed attempt but it was wide anyway.
24’ - Free kick opportunity as Kane goes for power, but his shot is deflected by Tom Davies. It was so close to a hand ball by Sigurdsson.
27’ - Everton are in full defense mode on a wild clearance, not even bothering to cross midfield. Spurs have a few minutes left for an equalizer.
28’ - Kane gets free in the box for a header but he can’t get power on it as it goes wide.
30’ - One last set piece opportunity for Spurs as Everton pack the box....and Winks wildly mishits the ball as it comes to him on a clearance.
FULL TIME.
Reactions
- I’m still processing this match. Brain go blrlblblablblablalbalblablablblblbl
- The good news is that this is the best Spurs attack has looked in a long time!
- The bad news is that the defense was at its worst and cost Spurs a cup competition.
- Say whatever you want, but didn’t this just feel like a vintage Tottenham batshit crazy high scoring FA Cup match? This game could’ve happened under Harry Redknapp, or AVB. Whatever else happened in this match, at least it was entertaining.
- I don’t want to be the yells-at-the-ref guy but holy smokes, David Coote made some uhhhhhhhh questionable calls tonight. The phantom penalty and the stupid simulation yellow for Dele were ridiculous.
- I assume the early 2nd half Kane sub was planned, with City coming up on Sunday. Might have backfired a bit since Kane ended up getting 70 minutes on his legs, but...
- The pitch looked super slippery, with players falling all over the field all match.
- We saw Dele! He lives! And he was pretty good!
- Spurs are out of the first competition of the season. They’re still in the Carabao Cup final and Europa League.