West Bromwich Albion (Away)

[ForEverton2]

I'm also happy that people up top gave Galloway some love, it would have been easy to just wrap our heads around how well our forward players played in the 2nd half but Galloway was probably our best defender on the pitch today. Proud of the boys in blue today

 

I thought the chant the away support gave to Galloway was class too.

[markjazzbassist]

Just got home from work holy shit I missed a hell of a match lads. Watched highlights and I'm buzzing. Glad we got 3 points now let's go kick the shite's ass

[chalkpie]

My fuckin blood pressure must have gone up double during that second half - holy flippin shite! Can't believe we got the three points (in more than one way) on that one. Definitely pulled that one out of our asses, and that sucker wasn't even close to the bunghole - it was stuck way up there. A little bit of magic, luck, and talent - and voila - we are siting 5th in the table right now. Go you Blues!!!!!!!! Love this team. Congrats lads!!!

[Cornish Steve]

I despair of newspaper headlines. Here's the Express.

Chelsea flop Lukaku inspires Toffees as Funes Mori struggles

For how many other teams would they label top players "flops?" And Funes Mori did well.

[jofanon]

First half - agree

Second half - totally disagree - great spirit easy to give up away from home. I'm really impressed with that and Martinez needs to take some credit. Geri is a must from now on (except for a 4 on 1!)

West Brom are a insipid pile of nothing. We shouldn't be having to stage a grand come back. This should be a routine 2-0 win.

 

This is Everton I expect more.

 

Don't get me wrong I'm delighted but I'm not impressed with last night. Lukaku is the most frustrating player ever

 

Well done Geri though his crossing has come on massively

[Hafnia]

West Brom are a insipid pile of nothing. We shouldn't be having to stage a grand come back. This should be a routine 2-0 win.

 

This is Everton I expect more.

 

Don't get me wrong I'm delighted but I'm not impressed with last night. Lukaku is the most frustrating player ever

 

Well done Geri though his crossing has come on massively

 

His crossing was top quality the first time round, its just that no one took a chance on them. If he gets the ball you hit the 6 yard box because it will hit you.

 

Rom, Kone and Nais need to work with him in training to understand where he is going to drill them to froim various positions.

[barryj]

 

Wasn't it his second !

That's my point! He finished 5th in first season

[barryj]

Looking forward to the Derby. With other players coming back to the squad we are in a strong position this year.

Edited September 29, 2015 by barryj

[Elston Gunnn]

His crossing was top quality the first time round, its just that no one took a chance on them. If he gets the ball you hit the 6 yard box because it will hit you.

 

Rom, Kone and Nais need to work with him in training to understand where he is going to drill them to froim various positions.

 

Agree. Add Barkley and Mirallas, too. Whichever 3 of those 5 are on the pitch, they should be covering the box for Deulofeu's crosses. Over and over and over.

[Romey 1878]

That first half was one of the worst halves of football you're likely to see from us. You wouldn't have thought we'd had longer to recover from our last game than West Brom had had. We looked like we'd only last played the night before or something. We were so sluggish and off the pace. Apart from Naismith we pretty much had no one pressurising the West Brom players. The majority of our players were jogging round the pitch like it was a training match. We had no tempo at all and we didn't seem to have any clue how to go about attacking. I was furious to be honest. It didn't help that when we got the ball we didn't hold on to it for very long as well. It was no surprise that West Brom had more of the ball during this half. Which is a bit embarrassing against a poor side like West Brom really. It was also no surprise that we found ourselves conceding the first goal of the game. The worst thing about it, though, was that we handed the goal to them through a catalogue of errors. You can't just put it on one player and we had a few chances to make up for other errors, which is the most disappointing thing about it. The goal gave West Brom confidence and they probably could have extended their lead before half time, but fortunately for us half time wasn't far away for us and we were saved.

 

In the second half I still didn't think we were anywhere near as good as we can be for large chunks of time to be honest, but we were better than in the first half. We couldn't have been much worse than we were in the first half though, could we?! That being said the half didn't get off to the best starts for us! Less than ten minutes in and we found ourselves two behind. Again due to our own incompetence. Barkley with some very flimsy marking when he lost his man completely and then Jags ended up looking like a bit of a muppet too. I'll be honest; I gave the game up at that point. We'd barely looked capable of getting one goal, never mind two or three, and Pulis sides are usually very solid defensively. Fortunately for us our players didn't give it up and instantly got a goal back. The ball into the box by Del Boy was spectacular. The more I watch that delivery the more impressed I am with it. And Rom showed his aerial ability to put the cross away. From that point on we never looked back really. While we didn't exactly hit top gear, we did discover a much improved tempo and found an intent to our attacking play. Then our superior quality and class showed. The real change in our fortunes came with the introduction of Kone, though. When he came on our best players found themselves with more room to maneuver and show their undoubted quality. I'm talking about the likes of Deulofeu and Lukaku. So it's no surprise that the pair of them went on to pick up two assists and another goal between them from that point on. It didn't take long for Kone to have a direct impact on game though. Three minutes after coming on he was getting the equalising goal from a Lukaku through ball. I love through balls. Just saying! From then on it just looked inevitable that we'd get another goal, and the players duly complied. It was the same combo as with our first goal; Deulofeu feeding Lukaku with a lovely delivery into the box (can he take over from Barkley's shit corners please?). Now the only question was whether we'd fuck it up and throw away the three points. We didn't. The three points were ours and so was fifth place in the league.

 

 

Howard - Couldn't have done a thing about either goal and I don't recall him having much to do during the game at all.

 

 

Browning - I thought he was very disappointing. His defending wasn't great at all and he was never going to make up for that in attack. Coleman can't come back soon enough for me.

 

Jagielka - The high standard he's set for this season slipped last night I reckon. I think he could have done better for both West Brom goals IMO. For the first goal he just casually jogs back like he hasn't got a care in the world when I think if he'd put a bit more effort in he could've done something. For the second goal I know it wasn't his man but he can see the danger and ends up getting twisted inside out and then falls on his arse. I'm confident we'll have the solid Jags back on Sunday though.

 

Funes Mori - Before his mess up for the opener I thought he was having a solid game. We made sure we gave him plenty of early touches of the ball, which seemed to help him. He looked comfortable on the ball and used it fairly well. After his mess up he looked a bit shaky for a little bit, and probably spent the rest of the game a little too eager to make up for his error, but he showed just how good he is in the air by winning everything. All in all, there were more positives than negatives to take out of his PL debut.

 

Galloway - This lad is going from strength to strength. I thought it was his best performance for us last night. He doesn't offer much going forward but he more than makes up for that with just how good he is defensively. The tackle he got in on Berahino was absolutely class. You won't see many recovering tackles better than that. He had no right whatsoever to get back to make that tackle. He showed amazing reading of the game and superb determination to stop an almost certain goal. He was also incredibly assured in his play. I can't wait to see him in his natural position. We definitely have a gem on our hands.

 

 

Deulofeu - He cut a very frustrated figure in the first half. He was obviously our only game plan but we rarely managed to get the ball out to him. And then on one of the very few occasions we did manage to and he weaved some of his magic Barkley fluffed a guilt-edged opportunity. In the second half we managed to get the ball to him in better positions and more often and he inflicted damage on West Brom by setting up two of our goals, one of them being the winner! The way he puts the ball into the box is absolutely insane, the cross comes out of nowhere, there's no warning. It must be so hard for our players to know when the ball is coming in, never mind the opposition players knowing when to put a block in. Yes, often he ran into trouble but as long as he's doing that when he's trying to make something happen then it's fine. He also worked incredibly hard defensively too. I didn't know whether to be amused or alarmed that he was on Browning's back about his defending throughout the game . I absolutely loved the passion he showed at various points as well; he's a blue for sure! My MOTM; Harry Potter wishes he was as magical as our Geri.

 

McCarthy - Anything good he did was spoilt for me by his pathetic dive. That's all I have to say about him.

 

Barry - Looked a bit tired and made a few errors, but I don't think he had a terrible game by any stretch of the imagination. Hopefully he can get a good recovery in between now and the derby.

 

Naismith - I appreciated his effort and work ethic in the first half while others were strolling around the pitch, but he didn't actually contribute all that much so I was glad to see him go off.

 

 

Barkley - His first 45 minutes were an absolute disgrace in my eyes. He spent almost the entire first half waddling around the pitch while West Brom players sprinted past him. I actually wondered whether he was carrying an injury but then, surprise surprise, he found his sprinting boots when we had a rare attack and the ball came to him, so it was just pure laziness on his part. Then you add in his terrible attempt after having a chance put on a plate for him, and him losing his man for their second goal. He was slightly more active in the second half but he had a disappointing night I'd say.

 

 

Lukaku - He's on the list with Barkley for his first half performance, if you could call it that! He just wandered around, not really doing anything. He didn't have any service and I realise it's hard to occupy an entire defence on your own, but he did himself absolutely no favours in that period of the game. That being said, his second half showing made up for it. I think it's so unfair that he's often labelled as only being a goalscorer and that it's all about him, and the second half showed it. Twice he put lovely through balls in for others - one resulted in our equaliser after showing good strength, and the other resulted in McCarthy being an absolute tit. And he got himself another two goals, with one of them being the winning goal. I think I read that he had two attempts on goal in the entire game, and he scored them both!

 

 

Kone - I don't usually mention the subs but he really deserves it. He hasn't looked great the past few games but when he came on last night he looked so refreshed, and he put the game even more in our favour. He had an instant impact on the game by getting the equaliser and his introduction allowed our other players to find more room to work in. It was a great cameo from him, and is probably going to be the best way to use him with the odd start thrown in.

[Hafnia]

Glad the man Kone is getting the plaudits he deserves. Proper team player - did I say how strong he is? Absolute beast, no one knocks him off the ball. He hits a pass with conviction too - not a bad footballer at all.

 

At £6m - him, Jela or Vic? The Kone every time for me.

 

I would play him against Liverpool - they dont like physical strikers. Kone and Rom could be a line upo that will work.

[Btay]

Glad the man Kone is getting the plaudits he deserves. Proper team player - did I say how strong he is? Absolute beast, no one knocks him off the ball. He hits a pass with conviction too - not a bad footballer at all.

 

At £6m - him, Jela or Vic? The Kone every time for me.

 

I would play him against Liverpool - they dont like physical strikers. Kone and Rom could be a line upo that will work.

Im liking Kone this season, but he does fuck up his fair share of simple passes ?

[Matt]

Im liking Kone this season, but he does fuck up his fair share of simple passes ?

far too often for me

[JoeQuince]

I would play him against Liverpool - they dont like physical strikers. Kone and Rom could be a line upo that will work.

There are two reasons I want this to happen. For one, I think a front three of Kone, Lukaku and Deulofeu is the best option we have. Three very different players, with unique skill sets, who can function symbiotically. It gives us a certain dynamism. We saw this on Monday. Second, I'd rather Kone start, so that we can use Lennon and Naisy when they are best used. If Lennon starts with Gerry, we are likely to see Gerry come off first. I don't want that. I don't want Naisy starting either, as we saw how that worked out on Monday. But, Naisy and Lennon coming on to defend a lead and frustrate the shit out of the Shite... I can go for that!

 

They are more beatable now than I can remember them being for years. All of our bogey players are gone, too. Let's take the game to them and force them into a meltdown. Then we can dance on their corpses and enjoy the rest of our Sunday.

[Guest rusty747]

Novel experience for me - I watched most of the second half, live, on board an aeroplane. Very happy with the fighback and the three points but we must stop digging ourselves into a hole before we start playing. We got away with it at West Brom but better teams would have ripped us a new one.