Blues' boast in box crumbles in 45 minutes

STRENGTH AT SET-PIECES GOES MISSING WHILST LACK OF KILLER TOUCH BECOMING A PROBLEM

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David Moyes was blunt about Everton's set pieces last season when he came back to the club, describing them as “rubbish”.

But when it came to keeping them out at the other end this term, the Blues were the last man standing as it were.

Perhaps employing a former Liverpool player as set-piece coach was always going to be troublesome, like the club's ill-fated appointment of Rafael Benitez, the man who petulantly described Everton as a “small club” after a goalless Merseyside Derby stalemate at Anfield during Moyes' first spell in charge.

But it would be unfair to pin all their woes on Charlie Adam and the efforts he put in during the second half of 2024/25 alongside a staff containing fellow Scots, Moyes, Alan Irvine and Billy McKinlay.

While the ex-Red has now moved on, the Blues have at least been standing firm when defending them in 2025/26, even without the presence of their colossus at the back, Jarrad Branthwaite who now faces a prolonged period on the sidelines after undergoing an operation for a hamstring injury this week having undergone a major setback.

But just as Everton's praises were being sung for being the only Premier League team who had not been breached by a set-piece, lightning struck twice in the same place against Tottenham Hotspur whose captain Micky van de Ven headed in from a brace of corners. T

To add insult to injury, the Blues were of course denied an equaliser in between from one of their own as Jake O'Brien's header was ruled out after Craig Pawson checked the pitchside monitor and deemed that Iliman Ndiaye and Jack Grealish, standing in offside positions, were impeding opposition goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario.

The doom-mongers have waxed lyrical about the increase in set-piece goals, long throws - we're told Spurs take the longest in the division to despatch their ones - and even goal kicks going back to being launched upfield.