Three things to takeaway from Everton 0 Tottenham 0

Everton managed to secure a much-needed point at the weekend against Spurs and so what are the three things that most stood out in yesterday’s draw?

1. Everton can thrive again on Goodison vibe

As we all know, the Grand Old Lady can be a difficult place for Everton sides, especially if the team are struggling and fans frustration and anxiety with previous failures (such as those dreadful games against Watford and Wolves) can sometimes seem to further affect the performance of the players at Goodison Park, creating a sort of negative spiral.

I was concerned that might happen again yesterday, particularly if the Toffees started badly again and conceded an early goal. Fortunately that didn’t happen and while there were nervous moments the Blues’ held firm and showed the much-needed desire to consistently compete.

When you get the angry but still largly positive vibe that we saw on Sunday it can help to drive the players on to rediscover their willingness to fight and battle for each other and the shirt.

The feeling yesterday was that while fans were really fed up with the past two performances, they were still ultimately behind the players (some of them at least!) and the manager and their ire was also mainly focused on the referee who again like so many of these officials in the Premier League, had another bizarre and erratic game.

He made decisions that had little consistency, were often pedantic in the extreme and of course went largely against the home team. What has happened to Premier League refs, they seem to be getting more and more eccentric and uncertain in their performances every week?

While these sorts of things are very frustrating, having that focus on officiating can perhaps actually help the fans and players come together and strive for a positive result, against the odds as it were. Given past history we’re certainly likely to see more of this as the season continues.

Last season results at home were awful and the absence of supporters obviously affected the team and led to some terrible displays and a succession of defeats that cost Everton a chance to qualify for Europe.

Let’s hope that now fans are back, Goodison Park can return to being that fortress it has been at times in the past when opponents hated playing there.