“I am different,” promised Cristian Stellini on being faced with the cameras on his arrival at Goodison Park and, for a little while, Tottenham supporters could afford to wonder if the acting head coach’s interregnum would be a welcome change from the rest of their joyless season under Antonio Conte.
With an hour gone, Spurs were heading into third place, leading Everton through Harry Kane’s penalty and with an extra man, after Abdoulaye Doucoure struck the England captain in the face.
By the end of Stellini’s first game in charge, however, any suggestions that he might be radically different from his former mentor had been dampened, as Spurs deservedly conceded a 90th-minute equaliser for the second game running in familiar fashion.
Just as they did at rock-bottom Southampton 16 days earlier and in Conte’s final game in charge, Spurs squandered a position of control against a relegation-threatened side by dropping their intensity and coasting towards the final whistle.
The draw at St Mary’s led to Conte’s now much-debated rant about the togetherness, character and professionalism of his players, but the way they meekly sat off Everton in the final 20 minutes, despite being a goal and a man to the good, went some way to justifying his comments. Both Stellini and captain Hugo Lloris echoed Conte’s rhetoric in much milder tones in their post-match analysis, suggesting the former head coach was not alone in believing the players’ mentalities are a key factor in Spurs’s difficult season.
“[Personality] is something we have to improve,” Stellini said. “It’s something we have to work on. It’s not an easy thing to do because, obviously, you need time to do it. It’s a long process, but we have to continue the process we had before.”
Lloris, back in the side for the first time since February 5 and powerless to stop Michael Keane’s brilliant 25-yard equaliser, suggested the team lacked “intensity” and “effort” in the final 20 minutes.
Stellini had hinted before the game that he was prepared to deviate from Conte’s rigid approach, but if Spurs fans were hoping for a back four or four forwards on the pitch, they would have been disappointed as soon as the line-ups were announced.
Stellini struck with Conte’s 3-4-3 system and named surely the same XI the former head coach would have picked, with just three changes from Southampton and all effectively enforced (Ben Davies and Richarlison were injured, while Lloris was fit again).
Admittedly, Stellini had few genuine options to mix it up, given the injuries to full-backs Davies, Ryan Sessegnon and Emerson Royal, but Lloris afterwards suggested that the 47-year-old is not about to rip up Conte’s style of play.
“Cristian knows the players very well and the club very well,” Lloris said. “He’s just here to give continuity and try to finish the job as good as we can. He gives continuity to the style of play we have had in the last 18 months.”
When Stellini took charge of six games during Conte’s recovery from gallbladder surgery, Conte continued to make decisions from his sickbed, even deciding on substitutions as he watched from Italy.
You could have been forgiven for thinking Conte was still pulling the strings, given the second-half introductions of Davinson Sanchez and Lucas Moura, who was sent off minutes before Keane’s equaliser for a rash foul on the defender. They felt like the exact changes Conte would have made.
There was no call for Arnaut Danjuma, a former Everton target, who might have given the Toffees something fresh to be concerned with in the final third, nor Pape Matar Sarr to add an element of composure to the midfield.
To give Stellini and Ryan Mason their dues, Spurs pressed well in the first half and looked to bravely play out from the back at every opportunity.
It is still early days for Stellini, who has had just a week in charge and spent the majority with the bulk of his squad who were away on international duty.
He may yet prove to be a breath of fresh air, but last night’s result bore the hallmarks of continuity rather than change for Spurs.
