Allardyce: An under-11 team could’ve scored against us

Everton came from behind to draw 1-1 at home to West Bromwich Albion and after the game manager Sam Allardyce was displeased by the Toffees’ effort.

However, he started with confirming what we all suspected regarding midfielder James McCarthy.

“It’s a double-fracture, tibia and fibula. We’ll do it [the operation] as quick as we can, that very much depends on what the specialist or surgeon says.

“His tibia and fibula have been broken from his really brave efforts to stop West Brom with a possible scoring opportunity. He’s paid a heavy price for his commitment there.

“Obviously it’s a big blow for him and us, because he’s had so many games missed recently with not so serious which we thought we had overcome, and certainly had overcome over the last few weeks.

“Now this is one serious injury which we know will keep him out until next season at some stage, that’s a big blow.”

Speaking about the result and the Baggies’ goal, he added -

“The only good thing that came out of today was the point. The performance was well under par.

“The goal today, an under-11 team could’ve scored against us.”

He went more in-depth with where the side needs improvement.

“It’s difficult to watch that today, I think every fan in the ground is probably wondering what they were watching compared to a couple weeks ago. I see a lack of confidence due to recent results and not moving forward from where we started from, it’s my job to keep pushing the players but there were a lot of nerves out there today which caused lots of misplaced passes and I’m just pleased in the end we got a point out of it by our substitute making an impact. Some of our decisions today were not the right ones and it’s our job to sort out those decisions in the minds of the players.

”I think frustration is an understatement. I’m holding it in, the players know they didn’t perform today, there was a lack of performance and we must pick ourselves up and work hard to be more ready mentally. We need to overcome that and see the ability we saw when I first came here – we’re the only ones who can make it better and we must work hard to do that.”

He had some encouraging words about latest signing Theo Walcott who made his debut today, laying on the pass for Oumar Niasse’s equalizer.

“A great volley which he might’ve scored from and his header back to set up Niasse. Our players must understand where Theo likes to have the ball but our players didn’t pass well today, he’s a great player with plenty of talent but we have to play in the right way.”