It was not a spectacular goal, a crunching tackle, or a goal-line clearance that got the place buzzing, but a surging 80m run from Micky Van de Ven that took him from one penalty area to the other in barely nine seconds.
Even once Jordan Pickford came into range, the big Dutch defender never thought about shooting but slipped the ball wide for his captain Heung Min Son to score the final goal of a 4-0 thrashing that restored Tottenham’s confidence and kept Everton pointless at the bottom of the table.
The fastest man in football’s Olympic-style sprint with the ball at his feet had the crowd buzzing long after the final whistle, and brought a glowing reference from Ange Postecoglou: “He was outstanding, a pretty special footballer.”
No wonder. Van de Ven was schooled in the Netherlands, where Johan Cruyff and Co created ‘Total Football’ in the 1970s, and it is the same fluid, inventive, and versatile style that Postecoglou is trying to imbue in his Tottenham team.
His first season in England proved he was the Premier League’s fastest player, a commanding defender, clever reader of the game, and smart finisher, with a couple of spectacular goals under his belt.
He also has a selfless team ethic that kicked in when he decided to pass to Son, the club’s leading scorer and a deadly finisher. Asked what was going on in his mind when he set off from the edge of his own penalty area, the 23-year-old said: “I was thinking ‘I’ll keep running, hopefully nobody can stop me’ and nothing happened. I knew Sonny was on my left so I kept driving and driving until I got to the centre back and then at the right moment I played it for Sonny to finish.”
Was he tempted to shoot? “No. Sonny was there and I knew he would finish it off.”
It was Van de Ven’s name the crowd sang in celebration though.
“They loved that moment, yes. When I was dribbling with the ball you could sense everyone in the stadium was getting really hyped and I was like ‘nah, now I’m going through’ and then it all went off.”
All four goals had different origins. Yves Bissouma scored the first goal after excellent teamwork, Son’s first came from relentless pressing to pounce on a Pickford error, and Cristian Romero headed home a James Maddison corner to make it 3-0. Then Van de Ven stepped up.
Postecoglou wants his team to be more flexible and multi-dimensional.
“It’s what we want to evolve into,” he said. “We had Kulusevski playing in midfield today, Sonny scored a goal through the middle, and another when he went out wide. We looked a threat from varied areas and even set pieces.
“If we’re going to turn compelling performances into consistent results, you need to have more than one avenue of attack. I thought we showed that today.”
Sean Dyche, meanwhile, has a huge task if he is to save Everton from another season battling relegation. This thrashing followed last week’s 3-0 home defeat by Brighton, and they have been hit badly by suspension and injuries but Dyche insisted: “Our fans don’t want to hear excuses.”
TOTTENHAM (4-3-3): Vicario 7; Porro 7, Romero 7, Van de Ven 8, Udogie 7 (Spence 73); Kulusevski 7 (Sarr 67), Bissouma 9 (Gray 73), Maddison 8; Johnson 6, Son 7, Odobert 7 (Richarlison 66).
EVERTON (4-5-1): Pickford 5: Dixon 6, Keane 6, Tarkowski 5, Mykolenko 6; Iroegbunam 5, Gueye 5 (Armstrong 90), Doucoure 5 (Ndiaye 57), Harrison 5 (Lindstrom 57), McNeil 6; Calvert-Lewin 6 (Beto 72).
Ref: Anthony Taylor 9/10