IT'S THE SAME OLD STORY FOR SPURS AS STELLINI MAKES CAUTIOUS START

“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.

- Dan Kilpatrick

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.