‘Dr Tottenham’ cures Everton – but Postecoglou desperately needs a tonic

Everton are the latest crisis club to seek a cure for its problems under the care of “Dr. Tottenham” and manager Ange Postecoglou, and they leave feeling reenergized and revitalized.

With a 3-2 victory over Everton, David Moyes’ team won the game’s first game, but Spurs’ postecoglou’s position will be under even greater scrutiny after posting a seventh defeat in ten Premier League games.

The latest cruel jibe directed at Spurs is called “Dr. Tottenham,” with the idea that if a team or manager in desperate need of a tonic, they should look no further than the surgery in north London.

Crystal Palace and Ipswich Town, both of whom had desperately needed first league victories against Postecoglou’s side, are just two of the satisfied clients this season.

After the 61-year-old Scot’s first game ended in a home defeat against Aston Villa, Everton may have had a new (or old) manager in Moyes, but they took a list of ailments as long as your arm into Sunday’s game.

Spurs were the ideal opponents because of injuries, which they must admit are in desperately reduced circumstances.

Everton had only scored five goals in nine of their previous 11 Premier League games at the time of kick-off, including two own goals from Craig Dawson, a Wolverhampton Wanderers defender.

They had scored a miserly 15 in their previous 20 league games this season, mustering just 66 shots on target from 226 attempts.

The league’s top scorer, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who had not scored in 16 games since the 3-2 defeat at Aston Villa on September 14th, was at the center of that struggle. He had missed three good chances against those same opponents on Wednesday.

Spurs? No problem.

After 13 minutes, he put his neat, clinical finishing touches on Archie Gray and Antonin Kinsky before getting off the hook.

Everton were transformed by their stodgy appearance this season, which Spurs were once again far too easy to play against, racking up 12 shots and six on target. “Dr. Tottenham” had written out the perfect prescription.

These were almost unheard-of riches.

After a truly abominable first half from Spurs, Everton took the medicine that was offered to them, going 3-0 up at half-time. It would be delusional for Postecoglou or anyone else to be deceived by the late goals from Dejan Kulusevski and Richarlison, who gave the scoreline a subpar appearance.

It all turns up the heat on Postecoglou, with Spurs 15th in the table – only four points ahead of Everton, who have a game in hand.

After losing Yves Bissouma to a knock and Yves Solanke to a knee injury after the midweek derby at Arsenal, Postecoglou is currently dealing with injury issues.

When Spurs strung together, they yelled “ole” and sarcastic “ole” at chairman Daniel Levy. The elation of Everton’s supporters enjoying only a fourth league win of the season was met with: “You’re nothing special, we lose every week”.

The two late strikes, which set up a tense conclusion of sorts, only slightly improved the situation and the half-time whistle, which received pure vitriol.

Spurs got what they deserved: nothing.

Although Postecoglou insisted that this was just an attempt to find a structure with the personnel at his disposal, his switch to a three-at-back defensive strategy was disastrous.

Although the Spurs manager clearly has issues, Andoni Iraola’s performance at Bournemouth is in stark contrast.

He made just 39 starts on Saturday against Newcastle United, compared to the home team’s 979, and he was without eight players.

With a 4-1 victory, Iraola still managed to create a tactical masterclass, leaving the Cherries just one point off the top 11 games in all competitions.

Spurs and Postecoglou find this comparison to be harsh and unflattering.

When Levy is the primary target for noisy discontent, not the man in the technical area, all eyes will become more and more focused on him. He is not known for his patience or lengthening the tenure of struggling managers.

Under his rule, the manager never enjoyed the full anti-Levy songsheet the Spurs fans read.

The straightforward part is that Postecoglou is being sacked. Finding a reliable partner is now the difficult part. Change for change’s sake is rarely a good solution.

Spurs and Postecoglou will cling to the hope that Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven will be back in action after winning the Carabao Cup semi-final second leg at Liverpool, but Solanke will be a doubt due to his likely several weeks without action.

For that hope to not vanish very quickly, they will have to play many levels above what they showed at Everton.

Postecoglou did not attempt to duck the issue, saying: “I have the responsibility of the group of players. I do need to try to get us through this, but that’s what I need to concentrate on.

The statement, “I’m abstaining from the responsibility I have,” means for me to concentrate on anything else.

And he remained defiant, adding:” My belief doesn’t waver.

“We are in a pretty extreme situation with injuries. If you look at the situation we’re in, it will eventually dissipate. I sincerely hope and think it will.

We’ll give ourselves the opportunity to achieve consistency in results and performance. The players showed in the second half that they haven’t lost their faith or resolve to turn things around, and I have.

Spurs will now travel to Hoffenheim in the Europa League before hosting Leicester City, another Premier League struggler, at home on Sunday.