Ronald Koeman pleased with Everton’s spirit after holding off Tottenham surge

Tottenham travel to Goodison park tomorrow to take on Everton in their opening Premier League match of the 2016-17 season.

Despite an in-different pre-season that culminated in the sale of John Stones to Manchester City, Everton got the Koeman era off to the ideal start as Barkley’s free-kick beat Hugo Lloris – the third consecutive time that the England midfielder has netted in the first game.

In the first match of Koeman’s Goodison reign, the home side started brightly and took the lead through Ross Barkley but Spurs found their stride in the second period and after Erik Lamela’s headed equaliser after 59 minutes, it took two brilliant saves from debutant Maarten Stekelenburg to earn the Merseysiders a point.

Everton boss Ronald Koeman had said in the build-up to the contest that his players in general were only at “70 percent” of the fitness he wanted.

Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham woke up in the second half and drew level in the 59th, courtesy of Erik Lamela’s header.

Last season included two draws between these sides; the first a goalless affair, and the latter a 1-1 stalemate punctuated by two of those English talents; Aaron Lennon and Dele Alli.

“The board make that final decision but of course I want to keep all my best players. But I think there are enough good reasons to explain why we need more time”.

And Pochettino believes the lack of energy before the interval might well have been down to his players shaking off the effects of global duty during the close-season.

This is a big season for Barkley, a player whose confidence dipped badly last term as Roberto Martinez’s reign unravelled.

Tottenham’s frustrations increased in the 35th minute as they were forced to bring Lloris off for Michel Vorm, who then made a smart stop in first-half stoppage time when Gerard Deulofeu – leading the Everton line in the absence of the injured Romelu Lukaku – looked to punish a poor attempt at a backpass from Danny Rose. When you play a team playing five at the back they are going to make it hard switching the ball.

The Dutchman, who turns 34 next month, was an unheralded signing earlier this summer, as manager Ronald Koeman swooped to reunite with a player he worked with at Ajax and Southampton.

“How you assess or measure the percentage of how your team is – for me it is very hard”.

The Argentine also revealed that the after the Australia tour, when the whole squad was back together they had “a lot of meetings to talk through different things” including the end of last season, which saw Tottenham loose the title to Leicester City before finishing the season with a 5-1 defeat to Newcastle. The pair combined to fashion a chance for the Belgian on the 20th minute but the angle was too tight and Mirallas’s shot was turned behind by the goalkeeper.