Sam Allardyce would have chosen a more salubrious way to celebrate managing 1,000 games in English football, but was left to console himself with the knowledge that things should have been even worse.
Everton, bereft of confidence and any semblance of cohesion, deserved nothing against West Brom but came away with a drop of encouragement that had never seemed likely. It will do Theo Walcott’s self-esteem no harm that, on an otherwise quiet debut, he provided the headed assist from which Oumar Niasse equalised 56 seconds after arriving on the pitch. A point was saved but Everton still had a heavy cost to count.
They were struggling to mount any kind of response to Jay Rodriguez’s early goal when, on the hour, yet another sluggish passing move broke down and Salomón Rondón was presented with a chance to put the away side out of sight. He was stopped from pulling the trigger by the cleanest of recovery tackles from James McCarthy, hurtling in at full speed, who took the ball before collapsing in agony.
Allardyce said McCarthy had fractured his tibia and fibula, confirming what had seemed likely at the time. Rondón, in particular, was visibly upset by the incident and appeared to be in tears, requiring Alan Pardew to console him by the touchline as McCarthy was stretchered off.
“He’s paid a heavy price for his commitment,” Allardyce said of a player who has been blighted by injuries over the last 10 months. It did not escape him that his team had contrived the situation McCarthy had been pressed to salvage. They were sloppy from start to finish, only livening up for a brief spell after Niasse’s sharp near-post volley, and appeared not to have heeded his instructions to tighten up after last weekend’s capitulation at Tottenham.
“The performance is a big blow for me,” he continued. “The first goal, I think an under-11s team could have scored against us, the defending was that bad.”
From West Brom’s point of view, the goal came from a beautiful pass from Grzegorz Krychowiak, who had missed a good chance moments previously but sent Rodriguez clear of a hopelessly square defence with the outside of his right foot. The finish, a third goal in five games for the forward, was unerring, and for long periods thereafter Albion were untroubled.
Everton looked like strangers and that was not far from the truth. Walcott had trained at Finch Farm for the first time on Friday and this was also a home debut for Cenk Tosun, who barely had a meaningful kick. The battle on Everton’s right between Walcott and his former Arsenal team-mate Kieran Gibbs had been eagerly anticipated but, particularly in the first half, it consisted purely of the new arrival haring down blind alleys.
“Our players have to have an understanding of where Theo likes the ball and they didn’t today,” Allardyce said, although they looked equally ignorant of anyone else’s predilections. Walcott did, at least, provide what his new manager described as Everton’s only moment of quality within minutes of his far-post nod back to Niasse, stinging Ben Foster’s palms with a firm volley.
It was West Brom, though, who looked the likely winners even after their hosts’ reprieve. Rondón, who was the best player on the pitch, gathered himself to continue after Pardew’s words of encouragement and rattled the crossbar with a vicious long-range strike in added time.
He also came close with two headers in the final 10 minutes, while Krychowiak and Matt Phillips drew smart saves from Jordan Pickford with the game poised. They would have merited a win to honour the memory of Cyrille Regis, the subject of resounding applause from both sets of fans before kick-off, but with one defeat in six they are moving in the right direction.
“The feeling in the dressing room was one of disappointment,” Pardew said. “Hopefully, the signs and experience I have are that we’re looking OK.”
Allardyce, meanwhile, could only savour cold comfort. Niasse’s introduction, in Tosun’s place, was jeered by the home fans before the mood temporarily altered. Their reaction at full-time, though, showed nobody had been fooled. “It went from a boo to a cheer,” he said. “The boo at the end was well deserved but the boo on the substitution wasn’t.” It was as much of a defence as he, or Everton, could muster.
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