LONDON -- Tottenham strained, they struggled and they pushed but the great goal blockage remains stubbornly unbroken. For all that Tottenham might have got right with their four hundred million dollars of summer expenditure, this is still not a team that is flowing all the way from one end to the other. With Jan Paul van Hecke and Mateus Fernandes in the side, advancing the ball up the field is no longer the agonising battle through the midfield trenches it once was.
There is verve on the flanks too, while, a wobble with the ball at Antonin Kinsky's feet notwithstanding, Tottenham looked far less vulnerable without possession than they did for most of the last two seasons. "In Italy I would be the best coach," laughed Roberto De Zerbi. "Two games [following on from the draw at Nottingham Forest], two clean sheets." On the balance of what happened outside both boxes, they were good value for more than the point they got from this 0-0 draw at home to Everton.
Unfortunately for De Zerbi, very few Premier League matches are won outside the penalty areas. It is what happens when you have the whites of the goalkeeper's eyes in view that matters. And that is where Tottenham look, well, ermmm as their manager put it, a bit backed up.
"There is a word in Italian that literally translates, if we unblock ourselves, I think the team is extremely strong. We can score goals and we can win games. "I came last season when the shit was like this, you know?
I've always been not positive, but realistic. Now I explain, I'm sorry for the results, but the improvement is not immediate. It's not immediate to make a team." Nor was it immediate to get a decent shot away.
Not until Lucas Bergvall nearly bent an 89th-minute shot into the bottom corner could Tottenham say they had really tested Jordan Pickford and even that opening was handed to them by England's No.1. Spurs' pursuit of their first goal of the Premier League season was agonising and not just for those on the pitch. "Please score a goal" read a placard held aloft after the final whistle.
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