One of football's endearing oddities is that a side can be comprehensively outplayed both technically and tactically, yet still emerge victorious. Here was the perfect example: Spurs' performance was uninspiring and Tim Sherwood's changes were peculiar, yet Everton had only themselves to blame for not building a sizeable lead by the time Emmanuel Adebayor struck.

There will be games where teams achieve more unlikely victories when considering the statistics, but many of those will be contests between sides playing contrasting strategies – often a counterattacking underdog surprising a superior possession-based side. Here, Spurs' approach was not to be reactive or counterattacking, they simply played poorly and were overrun in the midfield zone for long periods.

Roberto Martínez sprung a surprise with his strategy, deploying deployed Steven Naismith as his lone centre-forward rather than Kevin Mirallas, instead positioned on the right wing. It proved an effective tactic because Naismith worked the channels excellently throughout the first half, making intelligent runs and linking nicely with Leon Osman – they combined for Osman's powerful 20-yard drive, the only time Hugo Lloris was forced into serious action.

Steven Naismith worked the channels effectively, opening up space for Leon Osman between the lines. Illustration: Graphic

Osman had Everton's first four attempts on goal, and played a prominent role partly because Spurs continue to leave too much space between the lines. Sherwood's dislike of holding midfielders is clear, with Nabil Bentaleb presumably seen as a distributor rather than a ball-winner, but it is inexcusable for Tottenham to be threatened by opposition No10s receiving easy passes in their natural zone. David Silva enjoyed great freedom during Manchester City's 5-1 win at White Hart Lane recently in a similar position – another match where the half-time scoreline (City were 1-0 up) didn't reflect how Spurs had been outplayed.

Sherwood's strategy was peculiar, using Mousa Dembélé in the more advanced role despite the Belgian's consistent lack of productivity in the final third, and deploying Paulinho alongside Bentaleb despite the Brazilian's most promising Spurs performances coming from a position close to the centre-forward. Those two appeared more suited to each other's roles, and as Sherwood spent the majority of the first half screaming at Dembélé to move higher up the pitch, he was clearly concerned that Adebayor was too isolated. An attacking band of three featuring both Dembélé and Aaron Lennon, who should both consider goalscoring as their major weakness, offers little threat.

The other attacking midfielder, Christian Eriksen, was uninvolved on the left flank. Sherwood's response was to replace him and introduce Andros Townsend, rather than moving the Dane into his No10 role, where he could have linked Adebayor and the midfield. Townsend, bizarrely, jogged on to the pitch before turning to ask Sherwood which flank he was supposed to be playing on, suggesting a lack of clear instruction.

Spurs' midfield did not support Adebayor any more effectively, and were solely dependent upon their lone striker for a goal – something he duly produced with a brilliant finish from a long, accurate Kyle Walker free-kick behind the Everton defence. For all Naismith's clever runs and Osman's intelligent positioning, Everton lacked anything like that clinical edge.