Last October, no one could have known the cruelty of football more than Roy Hodgson. Deflecting a barrage of pointed questions in the press lounge at Goodison Park having just watched his Liverpool side crumble 2-0 in the Merseyside derby, he knew it was time to go, he would have been well within his rights to stay gone.
Whether he will ever again have it that tough is unlikely, but is moments like these, taking his end of season applause from 20,000 grateful Brummies, which the ever contemplative manager will recall the next time times get hard.
His side’s straightforward one goal dismissal of Everton at the Hawthorns, the last game this stadium will see this season, signalled closure for Hodgson. He has turned his fortunes around from being a mistrusted and maligned manager on Merseyside, to being the safe pair of hands who ensured that football in this part of the Black Country remained top flight.
For David Moyes, the result too had a full-circle feel. His team have reverted to type in recent weeks, unfortunately for the Scot, that type is toothless, short of ideas and lacking in any real goal threat.
That, combined with a penchant for ceding possession in important areas and giving away poor goals means that Everton are an imitation of their early season selves, one that Moyes has worked tirelessly to banish.
The Blues’ boss may have his scouts abroad in search of the answer to Everton’s season long striker crisis, but after watching a West Brom livewire terrorise his most dependable centre half for all of the ninety minutes, he could’ve called them all back.
Peter Odemwingie’s show of strength, speed and persistence was enough to demonstrate why the accolade of Premier League player of the month has come his way twice this season. It will have been salt in the wounds of Moyes who looks no closer landing a striker in the same class as the Baggies’ no. 26.
Odemwingie could have opened the scoring inside ten minutes when Sylvain Distin allowed a long Mulumbu ball to drop over his shoulder where the Nigerian, with an injection of pace, picked up possession and fired a low shot into the side netting.
The next time Distin hesitated there was no reprieve. The pacey forward collected the ball in-behind once more after his marker had dawdled, forced wide by the bounce, he chose the right option in picking out Youssouf Mulumbu who had strolled unmarked into the area, he tapped in for the opener.
Everton should have struck back when Victor Anichebe used his strength to shake of Jonas Olsson and surge into a one on one position with Scott Carson. The chance had added significance for the youngster whose season has turned into a personal battle to win over the boo boys. But his finish, which lacked conviction and was easily saved by Scott Carson, will have done little to win him that fight.
David Moyes asked his side to force the issue in the second half, but he can’t have expected his enigmatic Russian Diniyar Bilyaletdinov to have taken his orders so literally. Barely on the pitch for five minutes after being introduced in place of Phil Neville, he slid in recklessly on James Morrison for what should have been a yellow card.
When he got to his feet it was red being brandished and Anthony Taylor, a decision that incensed all in the Everton camp, especially Bilyaletdinov who gave the baying a crowd a hand gesture which evidently has the same meaning in Russian as it does in English.
That horrible piece of impulsive refereeing could be one of the reasons David Moyes refused to speak to the press after the game, his reaction certainly suggested that an honest version of his thoughts on it, could have seen him banned.
Roy Hodson was reasoned in his critique of the tackle, but no more impressed by the decision.
He said: “I thought it was harsh, it gives me no satisfaction to see players get sent off for those.
“I’m always sad when those tackles produce red cards because I’m 100% certain that Bilyaletdinov didn’t mean to produce a bad tackle.
“I know one of those will go against us one day so I get no satisfaction from seeing it, personally I thought it was very harsh.”
For Everton now all that remains is Chelsea at home which will give Moyes one final look at a team which is in bad need of inspiration.
The frustration felt by the manager, and the inference of his displeasure after this game gives serious cause for concern about whether the Scot still has desire to start again after a decade of development.
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West Brom (4-5-1): Carson, Olsson, Shorey, Tamas, Brunt (Fortune 90+3), Reid, Thomas(Tchoyi 78), Mulumbu, Scharner, Odemwingie, Cox (Morrison 67)
Subs: Myhill, Meite, Jara, Tchoyi, Morrison, Miller, Fortune
Everton (4-4-1-1): Howard, Hibbert, Baines, Jagielka, Distin, Heitinga, Arteta, Neville (Bilyaletdinov 72), Osman, Coleman (Beckford 62), Anichebe (Rodwell 80)
Subs: Mucha, Bilyaletdinov, Rodwell, Beckford, Gueye, Vellios, Baxter
Ref: A Taylor
Att: 25,838
BY Aaron Sharp @ The Hawthorns
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