Everton are still waiting for their first point or goal of the new Premier League season after they suffered a 4-0 thrashing at Tottenham Hotspur. The north London outfit were dominant throughout and had already forced Jordan Pickford into a trio of smart saves early on before Yves Bissouma opened the scoring on 14 minutes with a shot that crashed in off the crossbar.
Pickford’s earlier heroics were undone though when he made a glaring error to gift Spurs a second goal on 25 minutes as his loose first touch from a James Tarkowski back pass enabled Heung-Min Son to rob him of possession and score. A further two goals followed after the break as Cristian Romero headed in a third on 71 minutes before Son struck again with an angled drive six minutes later to complete the rout.
Jordan Pickford 3
Guilty of an absolute howler – which he owned up to – to gift Son Spurs’ second goal caused by a loose first touch on the wet surface when receiving a back pass from James Tarkowki after earlier making a hat-trick of impressive saves to deny the home captain plus Cristian Romero and James Maddison before Yves Bissouma opened the scoring.
Roman Dixon 6
Repaid Sean Dyche’s faith in him in what was a baptism of fire on his Premier League debut but while his team were pinned back, he showed decent flashes, pushing forward with intent and putting a strong slide tackle in on Wilson Odobert and was unfortunate in rushing to try and get the ball off Micky van de Ven in the build-up to the fourth, he left Son unmarked.
Vitalii Mykolenko 5
Saved Everton further punishment when he made a crucial challenge on Brennan Johnson early in the second half but a drop of the shoulder from the same Spurs player took him out of the game in the build-up to the opener and he was mostly on the back foot.
James Tarkowski 4
Not his usual dominant self, he was beaten in the air by Romero for the third goal, it was also the captain’s back p]ass that played Pickford into trouble for Spurs’ second, but you can’t say there was too much wrong with his delivery with what is a well-rehearsed routine.
Michael Keane 4
Romero got between him and Tarkowksi to head in Spurs’ third and a combination of balls over the top as well as slick passing cut through his attempts to adopt a physical approach.
Idrissa Gueye 4
Tried to kick Spurs’ dangermen when he could but the problem was he couldn’t always get close enough and while he attempted to make a challenge on Johnson in the build-up to the opener, he failed to make contact and was unable to provide his usual shield for the defence.
Tim Iroegbunam 6
Tried to be positive when he was given the chance but Everton’s brightest spark against Brighton & Hove Albion was much quieter here with few opportunities to push forwards or play a progressive pass.
Abdoulaye Doucoure 5
Hooked relatively early for the second straight week, he had a close range effort blocked by Maddison in first half stoppage time but while nominally still occupying that link role between midfield and attack but in reality he was pegged back with the rest of his colleagues, struggling to have any real attacking impact.
Jack Harrison 5
Made way for Jesper Lindstrom, who managed something in seconds he’d failed to do in almost an hour by having a shot on target, the on-loan Leeds United man spurned a decent opportunity at the back post shortly after Spurs went ahead as he scuffed a shot wide and didn’t get much change out of the home defence.
Dwight McNeil 5
Gave the ball away on the edge of Spurs’ area in the build-up to the devastating counter-attack for the fourth goal, he earlier delivered the inswinging cross from the right that Harrison should have done better with but while he worked hard, often cutting inside again, he needed to be more artisan than artist.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin 5
A miserable outing, let’s hope it’s not his last for Everton in the Premier League such is his importance to how they play, he ploughed the lone furrow and looked particularly isolated so far from his team-mates with an almost non-existent service and hardly a sniff of a chance.
Jesper Lindstrom (on 57 for Harrison) 7
Brought a smart stop out of Guglielmo Vicario just seconds after coming on but the early promise was soon snuffed out.
Iliman Ndiaye (on 57 for Doucoure) 6
Like Lindstrom, he brought an injection of pace and fresh ideas into the side – for a few minutes at least anyway – with his dribbling and twinkling toes.
Beto (on 72 for Calvert-Lewin) 5
Brought off the bench to offer an alternative threat up front after there had been no way through for Calvert-Lewin but also had to feed off scraps.
Harrison Armstrong (90 for Gueye)
Stoppage time senior debut for the 17-year-old Scouse midfielder who produced a spirited cameo.