West Bromwich Albion 1 - Everton 1

Date:	Monday 20th January 2014
Competition:	Barclays Premier League
WBA: 6.9	(4-4-2) Foster 6.8, Reid 6.5, Lugano 6.8, Olsson 7.7, Ridgewell 6.4, Gera 4.7 (Mulumbu, 60 6.7), Yacob 7.6, Morrison 7.3, Brunt 6.9, Vydra 6.1 (Anichebe, 46 7.1), Anelka 6.9 (Berahino, 76 6.2) Unused subs: Myhill, Amalfitano, Jones, Sessegnon Manager: Pepe Mel 7.6
Everton: 6.6	(4-2-3-1) Howard, Coleman (Stones, 79), Jagielka, Distin, Baines, Barry, McCarthy, Oviedo (McGeady, 80), Mirallas, Osman (Naismith, 89), Lukaku Unused subs: Robles, Hibbert, Heitinga, Vellios
Scorers:	Lugano (75)
Referee:	Michael Oliver (Northumberland) 5.0
Attendance:	24,184 Home Fans 6.8 Away Fans 6.2

Summary:

Albion may not have marked Pepe Mel's first game in charge with a victory, but they did get a deserved share of the spoils thanks to a much more energetic and lively performance than of late. With Gareth McAuley and Billy Jones both injured, Diego Lugano and Steven Reid were given starting places and Zoltan Gera, Claudio Yacob and Matej Vydra joined them.

After a first half in which they seriously outnumbered their hosts in terms of shots on and off target, Everton took the lead just before half time when Kevin Mirallas converted a pass from former loanee Romelu Lukaku.

Mel replaced Vydra with Victor Anichebe at half time and brought on Youssouf Mulumbu for the flagging Gera fifteen minutes later. With a quarter of an hour left, Albion won a corner and Lugano was still up front when the ball was cleared and put back in for Morrison to cross, and the big Uruguayan buried a perfect header past Tim Howard.

Everton managed to get the ball in the net in the last few minutes through Sylvain Distin, but he was correctly ruled offside. The point lifts Albion into thirteenth place, level with Stoke but a better goal difference. Onwards and upwards!

Mark Koppel:

This game proved why Clarke had to be sacked.

Pepe Mel's first game admittedly but a significant improvement on Clarke's "tactics" against a very competent Everton Team.

His English is actually better than we were led to believe but does now need the Chairman to back him in the January transfer market, first with a striker.

Foster 7 - Looked more secure today and most of kicking was back to normal standard.
Reid 7- Great tackle to set up the equaliser, still looks a bit slow for PL now, but possibly more secure in defence than Billy Jones.
Ridgewell 6 - Probably his best game this season and actually kicked the ball with his right foot once today.
Olsson 8- Immense again today. Put in two fantastic last ditch stops in the first 20 mins to stop their strikers going straight in on goal.
Lugano 6- Still too slow for PL, as shown by their goal, but made up for this with plenty of effort and that equaliser!
Morrison 8 - Starting to rediscover form of 2 years ago. Remains our main creative threat in midfield.
Yacob- 7 Plenty of tackles again and rarely gave the ball away when in possession. Pity he lacks the required pace at this level. Very unlucky to get booked as well.
Anelka 6 - Showed class and creativity on the ball but why did he drop so deep in the second half?
Brunt 6- A more disciplined performance from him tonight. Put in some good crosses. Can he keep it going for Pepe Mel?
Vydra 6 - At first I thought he was unlucky to go off but Sky Sports showed he wasn't really getting into the danger area.
Gera 4- Many of his passes went astray again tonight just like in the FA Cup. Needs to look where he passes to.

Subs:

Berahino 6 - Introduced too late again to have the time to make real impact.
Mulumbu 5- Looked up for it although little impact.
Anichebe 7- Unlikely to get us the goals we probably need but made it more uncomfortable for their defence and got in their box more than Anelka or Vydra.

oshawabaggie:

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the 'new West Brom' often looked very much like the old one, but by the end you had to admire their fighting spirit and the effort they put in to try and implement Senhor Mel's pressing style. Albion looked the better team for most of the second half and made a strong Everton side look quite ordinary.

Lugano, the villain on Evertons goal, became the hero with his heroic header to equalize.

Gera, who was frequently caught in possession, should have been subbed earlier. Mulumbu was a huge improvement. I was disappointed to see Vydra subbed, but Anichebe actually did a better job of holding the ball up, ponderous as he is. I'm not a big Anelka fan, but I thought he looked sharper tonight than usual. On Anelka, he is the only person who knows whether his sign was meant to be anti-semitic or not, and he says it wasn't, so it will be interesting to see how the FA intend to arrive at their decision. Regardless, some groups, including Zoopla, are already preparing the gallows.

But, on the whole, not a bad first night for Pepe. Bring on Villa.

Boing boing.

Paul Gainham:

Allef******lujah. Wow, what a difference a coach makes!

I am going to sound all Thatcheresque now but where there was lethargy, there was energy, where there was disharmony, there was a team, where there was quiet, there was atmosphere and finally where there was despair, there is now hope!

I am not getting carried away but I like Mel already. Why? Well he has had a week at the club and you could see in the high tempo, pressing and aggressive football we played last night that he has got his message over very early to the players who responded really well. Plus I love to see coaches who are animated on the sidelines, living every pass, every tackle and he did just that. Of course it?s not perfect and there are still areas we need to improve in but last night was night and day different from the sterile, defensive minded performances we saw from Clarke and Downing.

Firstly a word on Everton ? a really attractive team with Mirallas at the heart of most of the good they did ? Martinez has them playing a really attractive, high tempo pass and move game that will see them challenge for a top 4 place this season so Mel?s introductory test could not have been much tougher. Maybe Everton?s style and approach is what Mel aspires to?

What was most interesting about our performance was the ?re-birth? of some of our players under the umbrella of Mel?s high intensity approach. Brunt, Morrison, Anelka. Our midfield were on the whole, excellent and took the early game to Everton. Yes they had a number of chances in the first half which is to be expected but we were not afraid to have a go ? how many times have we been able to say that this year?

My biggest worry was that we would tire in the second half, unable to sustain that kind of pressure. A couple of our players were jaded towards the end but by them they really had done a nights work. Surely further fitness work will bring them up to the level needed to sustain this kind of football.

So, a great introduction to the Premier League for Mel, thank you for restoring some pride and faith in our team and club and please, please, please keep it going.

Player Marks

Foster 7 Really did not have that much to do
Reid 8 Solid and got forward well
Olsson 9 Immense, best game for some time, both for what he did on the ball and off it
Lugano 7 Caught out for pace for their goal, but what an equaliser!
Ridgewell 7 Limited at times but got forward well to support Brunt
Gera 5 Not his night, maybe being played out of position
Morrison 9 MOTM (just) Excellent return to form, at the heart of most good things last night
Yacob 8 Solid against a very good Everton Midfield
Brunt 9 Excellent performance only shaded for MOTM by Morrison. Great wing play, excellent balls into the box we failed to capitalise on
Anelka 9 Probably his best game in an Albion shirt, great link up play, great movement and touch
Vydra 7 Did not get the service he really needed

Subs

Mulumbu 7 Better from him, got involved immediately in the game
Anichebe 8 Wow, finally looked like a striker ? can he keep this up?
Berahino 7 Tried hard, again probably out of position

Coach 10 If there is a god, this guy will turn this club around