Everton 3 Tottenham 2: Pressure heats up on Postecoglou as comeback bid falls short after first-half horror-show

OH, mate.

Just when things looked like they could not get much worse for Ange Postecoglou, his side go and produce a first 45 like this.

Not just the poorest Spurs half of this nightmare of a campaign, but perhaps in recent memory.

Postecoglou’s men scored twice after the break to add some late drama.

But it did not mask over a pathetic opening period which left serious question marks over whether the relatable Aussie can survive in his role – injuries or no injuries, cup runs or no cup runs.

Shotshy Everton had failed to score in five of their last six league games before Big Ange’s fragile side came to town.

But the Toffees sensed blood and turned from toothless to ruthless, smashing in three goals before half-time.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who could have had a hat-trick, got the ball rolling, before an Iliman Ndiaye stunner and an Archie Gray own goal in stoppage time.

As the Spurs fans self-deprecatingly say whenever their side somehow loses to a team woefully out of form, ‘Dr Tottenham will see you now’. 

But the first half was worse than a painful GP appointment and led to the humiliated North Londoners adding a 12th defeat out of their 22 Prem fixtures, having won just one of their last ten.

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Dejan Kulusevski, Spurs’ best player this season by a country mile, barely registered a reaction when his clever chip reduced the deficit after the break.

Everton old-boy Richarlison snuck one in stoppage time but in the end it just put a more flattering look to the scoreline, and did not stop Spurs’ winless run to six Prem games.

The last time they did that came in January 2009, a few months on from the infamous ‘two points from eight games’ start that saw Juande Ramos given the tin tack.

Remember, Ramos remains the last boss to win Spurs a trophy, having clinched the League Cup in February 2008.

That success did not save the Spaniard, nor did reaching the same competition’s final 13 years on for a certain Jose Mourinho.

So Postecoglou will have no illusions that his own feat of making the Carabao Cup semi-final, in which they hold a 1-0 lead over Liverpool going into next month’s second leg, will guarantee his safety.

Injuries have decimated his team – and here they had Dominic Solanke, Brennan Johnson and Yves Bissouma added to the casualty list before kick-off.

But pinning their hopeless form and this particularly bad display purely on crocks will not wash with fed-up fans, and he knows it.

Especially when other teams have their own injury issues, such as Bournemouth who managed to wallop in-form Newcastle with nine players out on Saturday lunchtime.

Postecoglou batted away a question about his side being in a relegation scrap on Friday.

But there is no denying they are showing relegation form with their first-half display a Championship-level offering.

David Moyes, who faced Postecoglou in his first-ever Spurs game as West Ham boss in Perth for a pre-season friendly in July 2023, had taken the ex-Celtic chief’s tag as the Premier League’s oldest manager when re-taking the reins at Everton this month.

And the wily Scot used all his experience to exploit every vulnerability in Postecoglou’s patched-up side to pulverise them in the first 45.

Long balls exposed the visitors’ high line, while the hybrid back three they used – a rare formation tweak from Postecoglou – did not work.

While the inclusion of man mountain Jake O’Brien at right-back helped Moyes’ side tower over Spurs at set-pieces.

It was 3-0 by the break, but it should have been five.

Calvert-Lewin took his first brilliantly, tying Gray in knots with some twinkle-toe touches before slotting the ball in at the near post.

Watching that strike, observers – which included England boss Thomas Tuchel – would never have guessed the forward had not netted in his previous 17 league games.

The way Calvert-Lewin messed up a great opportunity soon after provided more of an insight to his recent struggles, though.

Jarrad Branthwaite’s simple ball over the top left Spurs’ defence all at sea, but Calvert-Lewin’s second touch when trying to control it bounced off his knee.

It allowed a timely intervention from goalie Antonin Kinsky, who also turned an Orel Mangala shot onto the post shortly after.

Just before then, Spurs had a super chance to level but captain Son Heung-min had no conviction in his strike after being teed up by Kulusevski.

Postecoglou had urged his experienced players to step up ahead of his game but the South Korean let him down with his finish here.

Everton scored twice at home in a league game for the first time since February 2022 when Ndiaye took centre-stage.

The ex-Sheffield United man ran almost from his halfway line, ghosted past Radu Dragusin and thumped it high into the net.

Embarrassment was ensured when the unlucky Gray steered in a Calvert-Lewin flick after James Tarkowski’s knock-down with seven minutes of first-half injury-time on the clock.

Spurs did improve after the break, they had to, and managed to net when Kulusevski expertly dinked the ball over four Everton defenders with Jordan Pickford out of his goal.

Richarlison squirmed home a great cross from fellow sub Mikey Moore in injury time.

Yet the abominable first half had already done the damage, with Spurs’ chairman Daniel Levy will have noted in the director’s box.