VIEW FROM THE BLUE

Moyes's Problems Multiply

Everton 1-4 West Bromwich Albion

Everton's erratic and increasingly frustrating season plumbed new depths this afternoon with a 4-1 home defeat to newly-promoted West Bromwich Albion that saw the Baggies win at Goodison Park for the first time in 31 years and David Moyes lose one of his key players to a three-game suspension just as another was serving the last game of his own ban for picking up a straight red card.

12 minutes into the second half, with the Blues battling to recover from an almost unthinkable 2-0 deficit, Mikel Arteta was given his marching orders by the appallingly inconsistent Lee Mason for an apparent stamp on Gonzalo Jara, becoming the second Everton midfielder after Marouane Fellaini to pick up a red card this season.

That turned a hill that Moyes's side were attempting to climb into a mountain and though substitute Jermaine Beckford had more chances to perform heriocs and salvage the game, the Blues ended up on the wrong end of a thrashing, leaving themselves and their manager with nowhere to hide.

It's hard to know where to begin with the post-mortem on this ugly result. It seemed like business as usual when Everton started the stronger side, Sylvain Distin coming within inches of connecting with Leighton Baines' early in-swinging cross, Tim Cahill taking advantage of space to unload from 25 yards but blazing over, and Victor Anichebe, thrown straight into duty wide on the right at the expense of Seamus Coleman, producing the first of a number of impressive saves from Scott Carson all inside the first seven minutes.

But Albion scored from two of their first three attacks and all of a sudden Goodison was overcome by a seething hush punctuated by the chants of the jubilant visiting fans and increasing groans and shouts of frustration from the home faithful.

After a quarter of an hour, Phil Scharner ? of course, who else? ?easily got in front of Phil Jagielka to meet a corner from the WBA left and power a header in off the hands of Tim Howard.

Then, after Cahill had needlessly bundled Youssouf Mulumbu over in a dangerous area outside the Everton box, Chris Brunt despatched a free kick so unerringly accurate that it flew into the one area of the goal that Howard couldn't reach, despite flinging himself across his goalline and into his left-hand post in an effort to do just that.

Two efforts on target ? Brunt had earlier blasted a left-footer wide after an awful giveaway by John Heitinga in midfield ? two goals and Roberto di Matteo's men were 2-0 up.

Everton were back in the hunt four minutes before half-time, though, when Cahill rose superbly to meet Baines' corner from the left side and steer an unstoppable header back into the top corner to make it 2-1.

A second corner, this time from the other side, flashed agonisingly across the face of Carson's goal and Heitinga couldn't react quickly enough to get the vital touch top turn it home by the far post so the Blues had to be content with 2-1 going into half time.

After 10 minutes of the second half without so much as a shot on goal, Moyes finally opted for an early change to his team, making his now familiar double-switch in the 55th minute, bringing on Beckford for Heitinga and Louis Saha for Yakubu.

The Nigerian had been below his best, certainly, but he could hardly be blamed for the drought of scoring chances. Continuing his mystifyingly poor form of late, Arteta was sitting confusingly deep, leaving the abysmal Heitinga as the more advanced of the two central midfielders for much of the first 57 minutes and putting the creative burden once more on the shoulders of Steven Pienaar.

The South African had accepted the situation and, together with Anichebe, was one of the best Everton players on the pitch in the first half, that is until the pair switched flanks and everything seemed to grind to a halt.

If Arteta is carrying an injury, he'll get some time off to recuperate thanks to an ill-advised act of retribution on Jara in the 57th minute.

In a beautiful moment of precision and smooth link-up play, Pienaar had put Beckford in on goal with a perfectly-weighted, defence-splitting pass that the striker latched onto and tried to slip under the advancing Carson with a low side-foot shot. The 'keeper got a hand to it and as the ball skipped on its way to goal, Gabriel Tamas' overhead kick prevented it from crossing the line.

As Baines jumped to challenge for the clearance on the edge of the box, he was poleaxed by Jara's elbow right in front of referee Mason who didn't even blink. Play continued as Pienaar bounced off the Chilean's next robust challenge and when Jara went to ground in a third tacke on Arteta, the Everton man appeared to deliberately attempt to bring his foot down on his opponent's leg.

As a number of players squared up to each other, Mason eventually flashed Arteta a red card after consulting his assistant and the Blues were down to 10 men. Jara escaped censure altogether...

Moyes responded by withdrawing the tiring and isolated Anichebe in favour of Jack Rodwell and, with a Goodison crowd fueled by a burning sense of injustice behind them, resumed their search for the equaliser with renewed vigour.

And they made a pretty decent fist of it for the next 15 minutes, with Beckford, for better or worse, in the thick of the action. He dragged a decent chance badly wide from 18 yards in the 63rd minute and after Cahill had bounced an ambitious half-volley a yard the wrong side of the post, Beckford looked to be in on another slide-rule Pienaar pass but it was slightly overhit and Cardson swept it clear.

Two minutes later, Beckford tried to go it alone despite plenty of support either side of him and just one defender for company and wasted a great chance before he spurned one more gilt-edged opportunity in the 72nd minute. Tony Hibbert chipped a peach of a ball to the far post which Beckford met but he skied it embarrassingly over the bar from close range. Full marks for movement, for anticipation and for being in the right place time after time, but the new boy's profligacy would prove costly.

That's because WBA, having absorbed that spell of pressure from their hosts, suddenly took a grip of proceedings and killed Everton off with two excellent goals. First, with Hibbert backing five yards off him, substitute Somen Tchoyi turned inside, fooled both defenders in front of him with a shimmy before curling an impressive shot around Howard and inside the far post to restore Albion's two-goal lead.

The Cameroonian then skinned Hibbert again two minutes later but could only belt it straight at the 'keeper from a tight angle as the Blues wobbled.

Still, though, after Mulumbu had somehow escaped a yellow card for chopping down Pienaar with his umpteenth foul and Beckford had been booked for dissent, Everton could have halved the Baggies' lead again with six minutes to go. Beckford was on hand to collect Saha's flick-on into the box but, with no one around him, he over-elaborated with the finish, electing a scissor-kick that flew wide rather than a dinked shot over the advanced 'keeper.

Three minutes later, it was all over. Back at the other end, Tchoyi tormented Hibbert one last time, handed it off to Mulumbu who collected a one-two from the Cameroonian winger before clipping a shot in off Distin's chest to make it 4-1. The Congolose was finally booked for an over-elaborate celebration and was sent off 30 seconds later for a second bookable offence when he caught Beckford in full flight.

That was cold comfort for Everton who had played over half an hour with ten men and ended up being soundly beaten on home turf for the third time this season, their second home defeat to newly-promoted opposition this season.

Beckford's chances aside, it's quite possible they would have lost anyway even without Arteta's dimissal. The Spaniard had offered little to the game up to that point and where the Blues were again struggling to keep the ball and to make the final pass tell, Di Matteo's charges looked, on balance, sharper, fitter, stronger, faster and hungrier.

Albion chased everything that moved for the most of the game and Everton were eclipsed by individual brilliance while their own players, Cahill aside, failed to produce in front of goal. Where Baines and Arteta failed from direct free kick attempts in the first half ? Baines put his over and Carson acrobatically palmed Arteta's second kick away ? Brunt was inch perfect; and while Anichebe and Pienaar played well enough, they couldn't unlock the opposition defence with such devastating efficiency as Tchoyi did.

And that was the difference. With the same personnel as last season, Everton remain perplexing ineffective, the answers to their malaise seemingly as intangible as the form that lit up much of the second half of last season.

Moyes's team selection was sound enough; Hibbert was disappointing but Coleman may have been torn apart by Tchoyi in the same manner had he replaced Phil Neville at right back; Anichebe was energetic and a handful for the first half hour and forced a great save from Carson; and Cahill proved that he deserves his place in whatever formation you call it with yet another headed goal, though the attacking threat was clearly amplifed with Beckford's introduction, perhaps making a strong case for two out-and-out strikers at home, with Cahill accommodated somehow in midfield.

Chelsea away next and an equally daunting trip to Eastlands to face Man City on the horizon with a home game against fellow strugglers Wigan in between, the challenges are going to be coming thick and fast for Everton as the festive season approaches. Moyes has shown resilience and surprising powers of recovery in the past but there is a worrying sense this time around that this season is running away from him and that he doesn't have the answers to his team's current malaise.

Fellaini returns next week, an obvious straight replacement for Arteta, but it's in the penalty area at both ends that the real problems lie right now ? a shortage of goals and a shortage of clean sheets are turning a chase for Europe into a battle to avoid a relegation dogfight... with no transfer funds to provide fresh blood to a stale-looking side.

Player Ratings:
Howard 6, Hibbert 6, Jagielka 6, Distin 8, Baines 7, Arteta 5, Heitinga 5 (Beckford 6), Anichebe 7 (Rodwell 6), Pienaar 8*, Cahill 7, Yakubu 6 (Saha 6)

Reader Comments

Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer

Add Your Comments

In order to post a comment to Column articles, you need to be logged in as a registered user of the site.

Log in now

Or Sign up as a ToffeeWeb Member — it's free, takes just a few minutes and will allow you to post your comments on articles and MailBag submissions across the site.