Oumar Niasse spared Everton’s blushes as West Brom were held to a draw.

An early goal from Jay Rodriguez had left the Blues on the back foot before Niasse made an impact within 56 seconds of his substitute introduction.

However the game was overshadowed by an horrific double leg break suffered by James McCarthy during a challenge with Salomon Rondon.

Here were the key talking points from Goodison Park:

Allardyce missing his opportunity

 

Sam Allardyce had a chance to prove his doubters wrong at Everton.

With the best squad he’s ever worked with in arguably his biggest club job, the stage was set for him to turn public opinion around.

Unfortunately, it seems he has no desire to do it. Instead, he has stubbornly reverted back to the Allardyce model and hoped it will work.

This is evident in his baffling decision to play two defensive midfielders against a West Brom side that are the second lowest scorers in the league.

Wayne Rooney’s introduction subsequent impact only helped to prove how bad a choice that was.

Allardyce, like his team, needs to buck up their ideas because, on the current evidence, the Everton board will not be inclined to make his stay a long one.

Blues sleepwalking into trouble

 

West Brom’s opener here provided a perfect example of everything that is wrong with Everton at the moment.

Midfielders giving away possession cheaply and defenders caught sleeping meant Jay Rodriguez barely had to break a sweat to fire past Jordan Pickford.

Quite why Mason Holgate stood gaping, his arm in the air hoping for an offside call is anyone’s guess.

He and the rest of his teammates are sleepwalking through games.

Long periods of games can pass with the Blues doing nothing but pass the ball sideways.

There is an undeniable malaise hanging over this team, one that even the arrival of two new signings doesn’t appear to have lifted.

Everton must be careful; they are not far away from the bottom three to ensure that malaise doesn’t drag them back into an unwanted relegation battle.

Rooney key to Walcott flourishing

 

It had looked like a disappointing start to Theo Walcott’s Goodison Park career.

For much of the game, he had found himself chasing back as his teammates either failed to utilise him or simply weren’t on his wavelength.

Then Rooney, the man who convinced Walcott to make the move from Arsenal, entered the fray.

One superb ball over the top of the West Brom defence later and Walcott had proven why he might be a smart signing for the Blues.

His header to provide the assist for Oumar Niasse’s opener was the classiest thing Everton managed all game.

More of the same moving forward and £20 million will look like a bargain.

Schneiderlin completes his rise and fall

 

This time last year, Morgan Schneiderlin was flying high in an Everton shirt.

Over 12 months since joining from Manchester Unted and his career at Goodison Park is very much on the ropes.

In place of the dominant midfielder from the second half of last season is a player who cannot pass, cannot defend and generally looks like he doesn’t care.

His performance here included all of those things and the crowd were not happy, making the Frenchman plainly aware of what they felt about his performance.

They appear to have given up on Schneiderlin and it would not be surprising if his manager is in a similar mindset after this latest sub-par performance.