Gareth Barry would surely have made Everton a little more solid as Tottenham Hotspur ran riot at Goodison Park on Saturday.
Christian Eriksen was at his influential best as Tottenham Hotspur cruised to a 3-0 win against Everton at Goodison Park on Saturday afternoon.
The in-form play-maker slammed home the second goal on the stroke of half time and was a constant menace between the lines as the Toffees’ Champions League ambitions were made to look rather ambitious in the face of a rampant Spurs’ performance.
However, there are two sides to the story. While Eriksen shone, joining Niklas Bendtner as the joint-most prolific Dane in Premier League history, Ronald Koeman has a right to ask why his Everton side afforded the 25-year-old so much time and space to wreak havoc.
Despite starting two midfield scrappers in Idrissa Gueye and Morgan Schneiderlin, Eriksen still managed five shots, one key pass and a goal plus countless perfectly timed late runs into the box. Therefore, you wonder whether this was the sort of game where the experience and intelligence of a certain Gareth Barry might have come in useful.
Missing Barry?
However, while Everton have been criticised for failing to replace Romelu Lukaku, you could argue they never found a successor for Barry either. The long-serving veteran’s ability to sit in front of the back four and shield the defence would have come in very important against Spurs, perhaps restricting the supply line to Eriksen.
Schneiderlin and Gueye are both inclined to press high in order to win the ball, leaving huge gaps in behind that a team as canny as Spurs would have no trouble exploiting.
The fact that his new manager, Tony Pulis, lauded him as ‘outstanding’ despite West Brom going down 3-1 to Brighton (Birmingham Mail) suggests Barry might have had a part to play at Goodison.
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