I said to the other mods yesterday before he scored, I think we've got a job on our hands replacing him when he packs in.
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Everton 1878 NSNO
Player Valuation: £750k
really pleased to see a change when it wasn't going right, stek in the nets has really impressed me, making top class saves and contributing to the points we have. Bolasie I was unsure of when bought but looks like delivering on the price if others can now put away his crosses. Gueye has been excellent seems to be everywhere and not just making challenges but stopping play and finding a pass afterwards. Holgate has been excellent same as gueye and already getting into the box for shots and crisp passing and defending with no fear. Finishing off is still an issue and when we are leading a game we are dropping off and when we are losing we then play with more motivation, we need to have the same tempo and play regardless as I hate that it takes for us to be a goal down to spring into life. early day I know but it is a pattern of previous teams. lets try going in front and scoring many haha, obvious I know. Others need to step up their game but the new guys have placed themselves ahead of the usuals, will be interesting to see how it goes but it looks good so far. By the way I love when Everton win and Liverpool lose, great saturday
DownOnTheUpside
Player Valuation: £30m
Happy Hawthorns awayday.
West Brom 1 - 2 Everton
Sporting the newly unveiled third kit, Ronald Koeman went with the same starting line-up as faced Tottenham as the Blues began their away campaign at the highest ground in the UK, the Hawthorns.
Everton lined up: Stekelenburg, Baines, Funes Mori, Jagielka, Holgate, Barry, Gana Gueye, McCarthy, Mirallas, Barkley and Deulofeu, with a very strong bench that included new signings Ashley Williams and Yannick Bolasie together with Romelu Lukaku, Aaron Lennon, Bryan Oviedo and Tom Cleverley.
Tony Pulis lined his Albion side up in a 4-4-2 formation: Foster in goal; Dawson, McAuley, Olsson, Evans as the back line; Phillips, Fletcher, Yacob, Gardner in the midfield with Berahino and Rondon as the dual strike force.
Everton seemed to settle quickly with Deulofeu in the same free role up front as last week and Gareth Barry in charge of the middle of the park. And it was a great through ball from the veteran midfielder that nearly brought the first meaningful shot as Gerard tried to set up Ross who was tackled and the danger cleared.
Albion took the lead slightly against the run of play on nine minutes as RFM failed to deal adequately with Rondon forcing Stekelenburg into conceding a corner. Gardner swung it in to the back post where McAuley climbed highest for an annoyingly simple - and all too familiar - back post header.
Everton were having far more possession without unduly worrying the home defence and Foster made his first save from a Barry side-footer. Barry was in the thick of things and suffered an ugly looking challenge from Berahino that saw the Albion forward quite rightly booked by referee Neil Swarbrick.
Ronald Koeman was spot on in making an early tactical change when he withdrew James McCarthy from the right side of the midfield on 37 minutes in favour of fit-again Romelu Lukaku so as to give the forward line a focal point.
And the switch paid dividends in first half stoppage time as with West Brom marshalling the big Belgian, Everton put together a move of precision passing started by Mirallas. He found Gareth Barry, he found Ross and his return into the path of Kevin Mirallas was dispatched for a 1-1 half-time score line.
West Brom nearly regained the lead in the opening minutes of the second half as a poor clearance from RFM cannoned into the path of Fletcher who’d escaped Baines and Maarten Stekelenburg did well to save with his legs.
Everton responded with another surging rush forward by Mason Holgate and he forced a corner after a neat interchange of passes with Deulofeu and Lukaku. Gerard was denied at the back post and the home side cleared the second corner kick.
A somewhat rash challenge by Jags led to an Albion free kick just outside the penalty area, but Gardner curled it a yard wide.
Olsson was booked for a foul on Mirallas and from the free kick RFM sent in a superb header that Foster turned away for a corner… and the Blues capitalised, taking the lead as Gareth Barry bravely finished at the back post from a Holgate mishit on the hour mark.
Ronald Koeman immediately made a second change as he gave Yannick Bolasie his debut replacing the mercurial Deulofeu while Pulis made a double change three minutes later bringing on McClean and Leko from Gardner and Phillips respectively.
Having taken the lead, Everton looked much better for it and with Kevin Mirallas resurgent on the left flank and roared on by the usual sold-out travelling support, they looked to stamp some authority on the game. And it should have been 3-1 when a right flank cross from Yannick Bolasie was headed just wide by Ross when it seemed easier to score.
No Tony Pulis side simply lies down though and the Baggies almost inevitably looked for a more direct approach as the game entered the final quarter hour with ex-RS forward Rickie Lambert replacing Berahino.
A good challenge by RFM denied Lambert from a McClean cross and Ronald Koeman reacted to the introduction of Lambert by bringing on Ashley Williams for Mirallas to help shore up the defence. The Welsh captain took up station between Jags on the right and RFM on the left with Baines and Holgate operating as defensive wingbacks ready to break forward given the chance.
Everton really should have put the game to bed as a break saw a marvellous pass from Ross set Bolasie free and he unselfishly fed Lukaku whose first time effort was denied by Foster. Albion countered quickly and it took superb defending from Jags to deny McClean.
With four additional minutes signalled, Mason Holgate again pushed forward to link with Ross and Rom, but Foster wasn’t unduly tested by a weak Lukaku shot. Evans brought down Bolasie and was booked for his transgression and a hand ball against Holgate gave the home side a last-ditch chance that saw Foster swing the last kick of the game wide.
Not the most polished performance from Everton it has to be said, but three points is three points and the tactical awareness and willingness of Ronald Koeman to change things quicker than we’ve been used too proved the difference. The introduction of Romelu Lukaku gave the home side something to think about and in so doing, opened up space for Kevin Mirallas to exploit.
As for a Man of the Match, I’ll offer three suggestions…
Mason Holgate for a calm, assured and confident display,
Gareth Barry for always being available, always looking to go forward and adding the bonus of netting the winner, and
Kevin Mirallas who took his goal well and played with energy and purpose... and the poll this week should allow multiple votes
Yeovil up next in the League Cup, see you Tuesday.
Its a toss up between holgate and kev for me
Nice review but you missed out the foul that went unpunished and lead to their goal
Referee has the fault for that one as without the foul by berahino stekkers saves that
DownOnTheUpside
Player Valuation: £30m
Do you all watch the matches together in leighton baines' mod pod?
Of course we do.
AndyC
Player Valuation: £70m
With luncheon of prawn, cucumber and cress, and smoked salmon sandwiches... washed down with Dubonnet, Pimms or the occasional brown ale
DownOnTheUpside
Player Valuation: £30m
Wheres the server money bill
Just in case you missed it..I havn't seen the match so well in to Blockhead for the review, which is a damned sight better than any I might have read anywhere else.
Despite not seeing the game I've given my MOTM to Jags and Barry, mainly to annoy their haters.
Not sure I'm in favour of multiple choices for this @AndyC, it smacks of fence sitting and suggests Chico has influenced your thought process in some way
People keep writing off Jags and Gaz Baz, people are morons and yes, I include myself in that, I honestly thought both were done a few years ago, but they just keep going.
Tbf Jags can have phases where he gets all introspective due to a bad patch, after the world cup for instance, and it can take a few games for him to get his confidence back up. But in a way it is one of the things I like most about him, he genuinely seems to care that he does a good job for the fans and his teammates.
Barry's really bad patch came just after he returned from that awful ankle injury that saw him stretchered off (Sunderland?), think he was rushed back whilst still injured and was too much of a professional to cry off as we already had Gibson/McCarthy out. Just took the criticism on that fabulous chin and soldiered on!
Woolly Blue
Player Valuation: £80m
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