West Bromwich Albion 1-1 Everton: Roller Coaster

The result of Everton’s match today is second fiddle to our concern for James McCarthy, who suffered a serious leg injury in a 50/50 clash with Salomon Rondon.

The Irishman went in for the ball, and Rondon attempted a shot that resulted in his leg coming through the back of McCarthy’s. The Venezuelan was left in tears by the severity of the injury and McCarthy exited on a stretcher. All the best, James.

Everton would go on to take a point from the match after Oumar Niasse scored fairly late on.

• Everton’s first shot on target in 21 days - 251 minutes of league football - came from Jonjoe Kenny, outside the box, on his off foot. Sure.
• While the Blues’ attack mostly misfired, Theo Walcott acquitted himself well. A deft header into the path of substitute Oumar Niasse allowed the Senegalese striker to level the match, and Walcott nearly won it late with a vicious volley that was saved by Ben Foster. Everton’s new right winger was likely their man of the match on the day.
• Meanwhile, Cenk Tosun was largely silent, but through no fault of his own. Everton had trouble working the ball through the midfield and Nikola Vlasic provided a pretty poor outlet down the left. Tosun clearly has an excellent first touch and shows a good understanding of the game. He’ll be fine.
• It’s time to abandon the pairing of Mason Holgate and Ashley Williams. Phil Jagielka and Michael Keane are simply better players. On Jay Rodriguez’s opening goal, Williams left Holgate stranded in acres of space and the youngster pleaded with the linesman for offside rather than tracking Rodriguez. Messy.
• Everton played one of their worst halves of the season in the first 45’, but Sam Allardyce got his substitutions exactly right. Wayne Rooney provided more expansive passing in the midfield, while Yannick Bolasie and Oumar Niasse were far more willing runners than Vlasic or Tosun.
• Morgan Schneiderlin will be criticized in some spaces, but not this one. It’s very difficult for the Frenchman to find progressive passes when the movement from the attackers is nonexistent. You’d hope that once Sigurdsson, Walcott, Tosun, and Bolasie have played together more often, the movement will improve.

About 60 minutes of crap, and about 30 minutes of intrigue. Which, I suppose, is better than the 90 minutes of crap last weekend. A draw is better than a loss. Hooray for progress.