Ange Postecoglu admits he felt Everton’s goal was “almost inevitable” after Tottenham failed to score a third.
Spurs boss Postecoglou admitted that that visiting sides will inevitably feel the pressure in the latter stages of games at Goodison Park Everton but still felt the disappointment that his side were denied victory by a stoppage time equaliser.
Spurs had been in the lead twice through former Blues ace Richarlison but after a first half leveller by Jack Harrison, Jarrad Branthwaite scored with a back post header in the 94th minute.
Postecoglou said: “It’s obviously a difficult place to try and come and play and dominate. For the most part I thought we handled it okay.
“In the first half we started the game really well but lost a bit of our composure to keep the ball a bit better. The second half I thought was okay, we created some good chances but probably needed a third just to kill the game off because you know what’s going to happen in the last 10 minutes and I’m really disappointed to then concede so late.”
The 58-year-old added: “It’s almost inevitable that regardless what you do, you’re going to be under pressure here. That’s kind of why we needed a little bit of a buffer.
“We had opportunities and to be fair Pickford pulled off some good saves as well which kind of kept them in the game but it’s something we’ve got to take on the chin and move on.”
The Londoners felt their Italian goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario had been fouled in the build-up to the hosts’ first goal but Postecoglou realized the futility of disputing the decision, saying: “It doesn’t really matter if I’ve got complaints. It just seems to be, maybe just with us or in general, referees are reluctant to call these now and leave it to VAR.
“I’m disappointed to concede any goal. It’s not like they’ve had two set-pieces and scored two goals.
“I think they’ve had about 30 set-pieces and it’s just stuff you’ve got to deal with. It seems at the moment like any kind of contact in the box, referees are reluctant to call and then it comes down to VAR intervention that I don’t like anyway so we’ve just got to deal with what’s in front of us and move on.”
Richarlison netted the brace for Spurs on what was his first return to Goodison Park since being sold in the summer of 2022 and his manager believes the Brazilisn can up the ante even further.
Postecoglou said: “I thought Richy was good again, not just his goals but his general play was, again, really important for us. He worked hard for the team and as I said in the week, ‘there’s more to come from Richy’, he’s working hard at his game.”