by Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou has accepted responsibility for his embarrassing first-half performance at Everton, which led to a 3-2 defeat and left the club floundering in 15th place.
A 12th league defeat of the season was made only marginally better by two goals scored by Dejan Kulusevski and former Toffees striker Richarlison in the final 13 minutes.
Before that, Spurs, who have now taken just four points from the last 27 available, were ranked second by the Premier League’s worst scorers, who found themselves 3-0 down at home at half-time for the first time in almost eight years thanks to Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Iliman Ndiaye and an own goal from Archie Gray.
“It wasn’t a good first half. I guess the majority of this is on me. I changed the team and changed the structure (towards a three-man defense),” Postecoglou said.
“We had a few setbacks in terms of player availability and struggled to take control of the game and allow Everton to take advantage.
“Obviously at halftime we had a mountain to climb. Fair play to the players, they held on until the end but ultimately failed.
“I have responsibility for the group of players. I have to try to get through this and that’s what I have to focus on.
“For me, to focus on anything else is to abstain from the responsibility that I have. I’m just determined to get us out of here.
Tottenham’s injury list stood at 10 before kick-off after the latest knock saw Dominic Solanke pick up a knee injury during Saturday’s training session with Radu Dragusin not coming off in the second half after suffering a cut to the head.
Asked if he might address the issue in the final weeks of the transfer market, the Spurs boss added: “As far as I know, at the moment there is nothing imminent .
“I guess between now and the end of the window, hopefully something will happen.
“I’m parting ways with it. The club is doing its best (but it’s) more to help the players than to help me because it’s from them that massive jobs are asked.
“We had a 17-year-old kid trying to win football games for us.”
On Solanke’s injury, Postecoglou said: “We don’t think it’s serious, but probably a few weeks (of absence) at this point, from what I’ve heard.”
Returning David Moyes celebrated his first win as Everton manager just under 12 years after his previous one to give the Toffees the survival boost they were hoping for when he was brought in to replace Sean Dyche as they moved away from four of the final three.
“I’m really, really happy to give the fans something to shout about,” he said.
“We scored three and had a few more chances, the goalkeeper saved one off the post and the first half performance was excellent. The objective was to get the fourth goal.
Calvert-Lewin’s third goal of the season was his first in 17 appearances, but in the two games under Moyes he has looked a rejuvenated player.
“Everyone will know we used Dominic as an example. He had three chances in midweek and today he scored and probably could have had more,” Moyes added.
“The goal will give him great confidence, but the whole team looked different today and played very well, passed it well, but we also gave it a lot, mainly in the second half.
“We have to try to eradicate the fact that we give the ball away cheaply when sometimes we don’t need it.”
