Everton FC 1 West Brom 4 - shocking home defeat for Blues

29 November 2010 00:00
IN THE words of those irritating Marks & Spencer food ads - this wasn't just any defeat.[LNB]This was a home thumping, captain sent off, desperate, demoralising, impossible to fathom, 4-1 defeat.[LNB]So bad was the overall manner of Everton's grisly display on Saturday, that the drinking dens of Walton and beyond echoed to an unfamiliar sound afterwards - rank discontent.[LNB]It might have been almost freezing temperatures for the watching supporters at 3pm, but their red-hot fury at the final whistle was matched only by the raging intensity in David Moyes' gaze as his players trudged off the Goodison pitch.[LNB] The Blues now sit just two points off the relegation zone, with little prospect of new life being injected into the squad via the January transfer market.[LNB]It should not need it. This is the same squad which moved the Toffees boss to insist in the summer that he did not need to bring anyone in. Yet, only half of the team, at best, are performing in any given Premier League fixture.[LNB]Suddenly, established, dependable players are struggling badly for form, and oppositions are rarely failing to take advantage of the whiff of vulnerability Everton seem to exude.[LNB]Even David Beckham's white knight heroics would be hard pressed to save the day.[LNB]A team that seemed set for a campaign that would live long in the memory is sleep-walking towards mediocrity.[LNB]It must improve, and it surely will. Everton under Moyes' stoic guidance have proven time and time again to be kings of the second half of the season revival.[LNB]Yet now the Scot needs a conjuring trick to better even the upturn in form last time around after the New Year, when the Blues went unbeaten for so long.

Source: Liverpool_Echo