West Bromwich Albion 4 - Everton 0

Date:	Saturday 19th November 2005
Competition:	Barclays Premiership
WBA: 8.0	Kuszczak 6.5, Watson 7.1, Davies 7.1, Clement 7.1, Albrechtsen 6.6, Greening 6.7, Wallwork 6.5, Inamoto 8.7, Kamara 6.5 (Carter, 63 6.9), Horsfield 5.6 (Kanu, 36 8.5), Ellington 7.7 (Earnshaw, 86 7.1) Unused subs: Hoult, Moore Manager: Bryan Robson 7.6
Everton: 3.7
Scorers:	Ellington (45 pen, 69), Clement (50), Earnshaw (90)
Referee:	Dermot Gallagher 4.9
Attendance:	24,784 Home Fans 7.2 Away Fans 4.8

Dave Watkin:

Albion secured a comfortable victory over admittedly a poor Everton side, to jump two places up the Premiership table.

The Baggies shaded the first half in terms of possession and chances, but it was the arrival of Kanu that provided the added guile to break down a stubborn Everton defence. He was involved in the build-up to each of the first three goals and by the end he and Inamoto were dictating play in the centre of the park. For his all-action display I've awarded Inamoto man-of-the-match, but Kanu and double goalscorer Ellington run him close. It was great to see all three grow in confidence as the match progressed.

Bryan Robson deserves credit for his determination to turn Inamoto into a more complete midfield player before giving him an extended run in the first team (if only Koumas had been prepared to take similar advice from two Albion managers). Hopefully Kanu and Ellington are now close to full fitness and can play more games.

I would like to see yesterday's team, boosted by the return of Chris Kirkland and Paul Robinson and with Kanu in the starting line-up rather than Horsfield, beginning the majority of games up until Christmas.

TEAM NEWS

Albion made just two changes, both to the strike force. Geoff Horsfield and Nathan Ellington were selected as straight replacements for Kanu and Rob Earnshaw.

HIGHLIGHTS

Albion appeared the more eager to score in the opening quarter-of-an-hour and Everton were lucky to survive a penalty appeal when a Geoff Horsfield cross-shot struck Phil Neville on the arm. Soon afterwards Junichi Inamoto fed Nathan Ellington on the edge of the box, but his shot on the turn was comfortably fielded by goalkeeper Martyn.

The Toffeemen seemed content to allow Albion most of the ball and rarely threatened. Their only notable goal attempt, a fierce shot from Kilbane, was bravely blocked by Steve Watson. With around ten minutes of the half remaining Kanu came on for Horsfield, who had obviously taken a knock.

As the game entered first half stoppage time, Kanu threaded a ball out to Ellington and as he skipped past a defender he was clipped on the heel and went down. From my vantage point it looked a penalty and this was also the referee's decision, but TV replays show that the offence was committed just outside the area. Nevertheless NATHAN ELLINGTON picked himself up and from the spot, netted with the coolest of sidefoot finishes.

Kanu was having a growing influence on the game and in the 51st minute gained a corner with a determined run into the box which was thwarted by a timely tackle. Kamara swung the ball in and NEIL CLEMENT netted with a powerful downward header.

Everton continued to look ineffective up front, but they could have been back in the game if the officials had penalised Kuszczak, when he appeared to grab an innocuous through ball, whilst it was outside his penalty area. Then when Clement attempted to head a centre clear, his header looped goalwards and dropped onto the top of the net. They came closest to scoring, when a free kick flicked off the top of Inamoto's head and forced Kuszczak to make a fine diving save to push the ball around the post.

Just after the hour Bryan Robson brought on Darren Carter for Kamara and then in the 69th minute Albion scored a third. Kanu held the ball up wide left and fed NATHAN ELLINGTON on the edge of the box. With a marker between him and goal, the obvious ball was out right to the overlapping Greening. However he cut back inside and curled a left footed shot around a defender, just inside Martyn's right hand post.

The Baggies began to play with some style and when Jonathan Greening was released down the right he timed a perfect cross for the onrushing Kanu, only for the striker to head straight at the keeper.

Albion seemed determined the visitor's would score a consolation goal. A searching, but routine cross from the left, tempted Kuszczak from his goalline, so that when Curtis Davies made an interception at full stretch, the miscue looked to be rolling towards the gaping net, only to pass a foot the safe side of the post.

Ellington left to a standing ovation, replaced by Earnshaw, but that was not the end of the scoring. In the final minute Kilbane, on the halfway line, was forced back towards his own goal and in error played a perfect through ball behind the last defender to ROB EARNSHAW. The Welshman used his pace to stay clear of the chasing man and calmly placed his shot past the advancing keeper.

ALBION FORMRATE : VERY GOOD

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH : JUNICHI INAMOTO

AND FINALLY, THE RECORDS

This was Albion's biggest win in the Premiership, our biggest win in any division for three years and our biggest win over Everton for forty years. It equals the biggest winning margin in the Premiership this season, with only Chelsea having scored more goals in a match.

What's more we've reached a historic milestone. Up until yesterday, in 107 seasons of league competition, we'd recorded fifty successes against Burnley, Everton, Nottingham Forest and Wolves, but had never exceeded that figure. Hence we've now beaten Everton more times in the league than any other club.

After three weekends in a row, in which all three West Midlands Premiership clubs lost, the pressure is now on Blues, after both ourselves and Villa secured victories. Villa are 15th and Albion 16th, both outside the relegation places, which are occupied by Everton 18th, Blues 19th and Sunderland 20th.

FOOTNOTE ..... TO EVERTON FANS

Before you sing "you've never won f... all" consult the history books. Not only have the Baggies won a Championship, five F A Cups and a League Cup, the last was against YOU! What a gift to the Albion fans, who responded with "Wembley, Wembley 68, Wembley 68" and "Jeff Astle"!

Jez Fletcher:

Brilliant result for Albion. We certainly rode our luck with the penalty looking to be out the box and the Pole's out the box hand ball, but we fully deserved the comfortable win.

I thought Wallwork and particularly Ina in the middle were very effective. Greening & Kamara gave the Everton full backs plenty to worry about. Clem & Davies, who I thought was rubbish the only time I've seen him v Newcastle, were rock solid and reading the game well.

Ellington didn't really do anything up to slidding the penalty home. Second half though I thought his partnership with Kanu looked very coherent and of course his 2nd goal was high class.

Kanu has to take the most plaudits. We might have had our most luck with Geoff picking up an injury, becuase when Kanu came on he seemed to be at the heart of everything good for Albion.

Brilliant stuff. Unexpectedly on TV in Canada and it has set up the rest of the day very nicely indeed... thank you very much.

Boing Boing everyone.

Buenos Aires Baggie:

Well, finally we get a game on out here and to be honest it didn't appear, on paper, to be a particularly good one. 2 teams in poor form and geoff horsefield starting up front with ellington? Surely not...ellington maybe but horsefield? Come on...ellington clearly needs someone with a bit of skill to play him through and hold the ball up for him, something Kanu is perfectly suited for. And, as it turned out, the game was terrible up until the moment Horsefield went off injured and Kanu took his place. Suddenly we looked threatening, passed the ball around with confidence and the game became interesting.

The penalty was definitely outside the box but seeing as neville had punched the ball away earlier in the game, it was fully deserved and incredibly coolly put away.

The second half was way more enjoyable than the first and we deservedly went first 2 and then 3 up with excellent finishes from clem and ellington in particular. Prior to the goal, the pole clearly handled outside the box but, hey, it's about bleeding time we got away with a bit of luck isn't it?

Earnshaw wrapped things up with a great finish after latching onto a through ball from... an everton player...

Overall, it was a great performance, everyone played their part. Robson really, really should understand by now that horse and ellington is not the partnership...kanu should be playing every week, he creates so much and brings people into the game. The team we had out there should stay the same for the next game but with robbo coming back in at left back. Chances are though that it'll be horse and earnshaw up front with scimeca in midfield and kanu at centre half with inamoto and ellington dropped to the reserves...

John:

I think we had a massive dose of lady luck today and the first, and best was that Horse had to go off (he was playing okay mind) but Kanu, who I would start every week, was involved in 3 of the 4 goals, turned Ellington into a different player with his introduction. Bit of luck with the pen, although we should have had the earlier one. Ina, Clem and Davies all went close to scoring O.G.'s

Thought Everton were really poor. Poor tactics with 3 wingers in a 4 man midfield, started the 2nd half with the only central midfielder playing wide right and finished with 4 wide men in the midfield 4.

BUT a few months ago we'd have struggled to a 1-0 win, possibly even only drew, today we finished them off and played some good stuff at times.

Ina (bearing in mind a trip to Japan this week) and Ronnie were excellent, Greening somewhere near his best. Back 4 solid enough.

All in all good display and reasons for optimism return!

BRE Baggies:

Great result, and the first time for the last 3 premiership years that we have been comfortable 15 minuites from the end. Very comfortable against what is the worst performance by an away team in our premiership stay over all of the years. It says something when their fans were happier to sit in their coaches for 20 minutes than watch us score more goals. Horsefield getting injured actually proved a help on the day because Kanu was very good at bringing Elington into the game. Very happy and can say this is our best result in the prem apart from the Arsenal win. Job done today, well done Albion.

Player ratings:

The Pole: Did his job and kept a clean sheet but rode his luck at times.
Albrechtsen: Played well going down the wings although his understading with Kamara first half was not at its best.
Davies: MOM, superb, handld their strikers and is really good for a 20 year old. Should get a chance in the u21's soon.
Clement: Very good second half with a good goal to top it of.
Watson: Was brilliant first half and was nearly as good second, maybe his best performance for us yet.
Kamara: Always a threat and he goes past people for fun. Needs to work on his understanding with other players and he could be a real threat.
Wallwork: Did his job well of cleaning up the loose balls and breaking down play.
Inamoto: Although sometimes dissapeared, when he was in the game he was another level. Gets stuck in and is good on the ball. Great to have him and can only get better.
Greening: Played today like he did last season and his crossing is getting better. Good game.
Horsfield: Looked injured and although not bad he didn't look good either.
Ellington: Worked hard although rusty at the start. Very calm penalty and second goal was taken very well. Once he has had a few games he could prove to be very good.

Subs:

Kanu: Brought others into the game. When we went 2 0 up he ran the show up front with his tricks and understanding. Great player to have at a game like this.
Carter: Very good when he came on and his vision to set up Ellington at one stage was just class. Looked good on the ball.
Earnshaw: Had five minuites and that was all he needed. Very good goal.

Hopefully we will continue this form for a few games and get ourselves away from the drop zone.

Melbourne Baggie:

Great game, about time the dubious decisions went our way. How did Everton finish so well last season? They are shite! I thought each and every baggie played well this morning. Notable above par performances from Kanudoit, Kamara, Inamoto, Clemski, Willwork. Happy for the Duke, However piss poor penalty (Vidukaesc), Class finish for the second, baggie to his right with clear open shot on goal if he laid off, luckily for him it snuck in!

I was very happy that the Horse started, he is our leading scorer, although his injury enabled the class of Kanu to grace the pitch! Hopefully we take the game plan to Riverside, and not the attitude! We may all be surprised.

P.S. See you in Germany, hopefully we will be in the same group. I've burnt a ball and put the remains in a, well, all I could find was a plastic bag! Finally on the big stage!!!

thecads:

taking your chances wins games - simple as that - reasonable performance - didn't think we theatened first half. but thankfully neither did everton.

felt that horse and ellie were too far apart. kanu was sublime and created first 3 goals. he has to play from now on - he gives us the option of creativity that noone else has. he also is a player who rarely loses the ball and keeps it easily - gera and usually johnny i also feel capable of not giving it away - noone else you feel will always keep hold of it (maybe inamoto i suppose too) - by it being held, it gives us a chance to move up the park.

i wouldn't change the team that started the second half for the next game. please go and attack boro robbo - don't go for a 0-0 or a hopfeul 1-0. keep a settled team - if he changes it apart from robinson he's a burke.

the next few games are critical as are the next 7 home games - we could win every one i believe and give ourselves a real chance of stopping up. we've got to maintain this scoring of goals.

man marks

pig - 6 - kicking dodgy, admit pitch was frosty, 2 good saves
watson - 7 - superb today - if only he played like that every week
albie - 6 - poor crosses - solid
clem - 6 - dodgy first half - lost his man a lot - goal settled him
davies - 7 - though he did very well - should have been called by pig when he nearly conceded an own goal
greening - 6 - did ok - didn't stand out
kamara - 5 - poor, tried to flick and trick - wasn't effective
ronneh - 7 - did ok - still tend to be on back foot - got stuck in, but slow to react
inamoto - 8 - superb - how robson couldn't pick him i do not understand
ellie - 7 - goal gave him real confidence - not sure how effective he will be out of the box - but 2 clinical finishes - the last striker we had capable of scoring a goal as naturally as his second was....... lee hughes - the turn and instinct to bend it like that - wow
kanu - 8 - created first 3 goals & should have scored - keep him in - shame we'll lose him jan and feb
carter - 7 - looked better than kamara - pacey, sublime pass for ellie who drilled it over bar - good potential

bring back kirkie, robinson - things looking better - next 10 games crucial, expecially ones at home - hope we can kick him.

also well done to robson - thought he was superb in choices today - i wouldn't have stared with horse, but i thought his decisions were spot on today - makes a change - now keep the team the same please

Jules:

Well that was an improvement wasn't it? Our finest premiership result ever and it wasn't achieved by our best line up! Undoubtedly our decent premiership players are Kanu, Gera, Robinson, Inamoto, Kamara, Greening and Albrechtson. Ellington, Earnshaw, Chaplow, Carter, Davies, Clement and Kuzsczak are all improving and in the case of Horsfield, Campbell, Wallwork, Watson, Scimeca, Moore and Hoult i don't think they're going to show much improvment because they're simply as good as they're going to get. In the case of Kirkland i do think he is our best goalkeeper but the goals against tally, although not usually his fault, is dubious.

Inamoto was superb, in my opinion we should sign a couple more far eastern players because they seem to truly understand its a team game. Kanu proved yet again that he is a massive asset to the club, his ability to keep posession in the oppositions half and feed our oncoming players is fantastic, how can he not start over Horsfield? Ellington did what no baggies striker has done for years- claimed the goals would come in the week and then did actually score at the weekend. He should have done better when unleashed 1 on 1 with Martyn and again later when he opted to take on two defenders rather than a simple pass to Kanu who was a few yards to his left in space- simple 1-2 and he would've had a hatrick.

Earnshaw was also bright for the few short minutes he was on - it's good to see them both on the scoresheet. Greening and Kamara were also guilty of being greedy in a game where i think everyone thought they could score. But who can blame them? They marshalled their flanks beautifully otherwise. I can't really single out a player who performed badly. Its always good to see Clement score as hes the longest serving in the team now. Wallwork deserves credit too, he looks alot more confident with a decent player like Inamoto alongside him. Kuzscszak didn't really have a lot to do apart from saving some fantastic strikes from our own back 4!

I think i'm correct in assuming Robinson is back for the next game at Boro. My line up would be:

                Kuzscszak
Albrechtson, Davies, Clement, Robinson
           Inamoto, Wallwork, 
Kamara,                        Greening,
              Kanu
                      Ellington

Subs: Earnshaw, Watson, Chaplow, Carter, Hoult

So we finally CAN beat one of the teams around us and before christmas! We'll be ok, don't expect much at Boro and i think Fulham will be extremely tough as will Man City, but i think we won't be waiting as long for 3 points this time.

Well done baggies we're all very proud.

Des:

Main thing about yesterday was the win. This was a massive game for us and everyone went into it knowing that a loss would be a complete and utter disaster. This is the sort of pressure which at times makes players nervous, the team edgy and so often leads to a bad result. Happily yesterday the team dealt with the stress, they really seemed up for the battle and we won convincingly.

I thought Ina in particular was brilliant. His commitment and use of the ball was excellent. Wallwork also had a good game and with his Japanese team mate dominated the central midfield IMO. Grreening also played well, getting down the wing and putting in useful crosses.

In defence Albrechtson, Clements and Watson all did well. following this performance it will be tough on either Watson or Albrechtson to be dropped for Robinson's return next week. however I would certainly bring Robinson back, as he has been one of the players of the season so far IMO.

Up front Kanu was excellent and it was a blessing in disguise whenn the Horse got injured. Kanu's arrival turned the game IMO. Surely Kanu must start every game from now on.

I thought the Tommy K' did well enough in goal, but he doesn't have the same presence as Kirkland. Once again its tough, but when Kirkland is back fit he should be straight back in the team. Davies did OK at centre back, but some of his clearances were wayward, bordering on recklessness.

Kamara I thought was poor and it was no suprise when he was taken off, Carter when he came on played well. kamara seems to be one of those players who either blows v hot or v cold. Must be frustrating for the manager not knowing which player, the "good" one or the "crap" one, is going to show up

Ellingtion scored a couple of goals and one was a penalty and one was an absolute peach. I know this is heresy, and reads as stupid as it sounds, but apart from the two goals I didn't think he played particularly well. His first touch is desparate and he just doesn't look comfortable on the ball. Having said that i hope the Duke now starts to justify the ?3m we spent on him. On the basis of the goals alone he should start next week, up front with Kanu. However IMO, and to coin a well hackneyed phrase, the jury is still out.

Earnie meanwhile did well when he came on and scored a real opportunist's goal. Was the back pass from Kilbane? think so, and if so he really must be an albion fan.

Mind you the whole everton team could be albion fans given the ineptitude of their performance. Is this really the team that made it to the champions league last year, with one of the best young managers in the country?. They were sh*te.

But we played well and won 4-0, i had a great saturday night out, my wife had a happy husband, and my kids a cheerful Dad and that really is all that matters.

Pete Cottrell:

No use crying over spilt milk, but if we had played half as well as that against Birmingham, Wigan and Charlton we would now be eighth in the table and the Bluenoses would be bottom. Let?s hope that having found a team and formation that can come up with the goods ? albeit against a very poor Everton performance ? Robson doesn?t tinker with it. Middlesbro? away next week is winnable as long as we attack?

When the teams were read out, my first thought was ?how come this team are languishing in the relegation zone?. Even before the penalty decision I was thinking ?how can such an uncoordinated outfit hope to avoid relegation??

No mistake, the Albion dominated the game from start to finish. Even before Horse left the pitch we had kept Everton pinned in their own half for 20 minutes; after Kanu came on there was only ever one team that was going to win. Gratifyingly, we took our chances and got the just result. Let?s hope that this is the confidence booster that the team, especially the attack, needs.

The most positive thing of all was the understanding that grew between Inamoto, Kanu and Ellington which could keep on reaping good rewards if they can keep it up over the rest of the season. Kanu was as good as I?ve ever seen him for the Baggies, and Inamoto showed what many of us believed that he was always capable of: committed, tackling, dribbling, incisive passing. These two must have cemented their permanent places as long Kanu doesn?t go into hibernation (again). The Duke looked his most promising yet, quite apart from his two excellently taken goals. Anyway, we know that Earnie and Horse are not up to Premiership standards, Campbell is too old, which only leaves Kanu and Ellington: but I?ll settle for that on today?s performance.

Player ratings:

Kuszczak: 5. Handling poor (almost gifted Ferguson a goal ? good job it wasn?t bent) and some dodgy positioning.
Watson: 7. Excellent first half, fairly anonymous in second, but by then he didn?t need to do much.
Davies: 7. Good all round game and looking confident. Came nearer to scoring for Everton than anyone in a blue shirt.
Clement: 6. Did all that he needed (which wasn?t much to be honest). Still not up to last season?s (at least after new year) standards.
Albrechtsen: 6. For a left-footer looks more at home at right back.
Greening: 6. Getting back to form. Showed more willingness to take on full-backs.
Wallwork: 7. One of his better games ? kept cropping up just where he was needed
Inamoto: 9. MOM. Brilliant performance whether attack, defence or distribution.
Kamara: 7. Good, very good, flashes but not consistently in the game.
Ellington: 8. Could have scored more, but I'll put that down to nerves - not that he showed much for the penalty, though ! Brilliantly taken second goal.
Horsfield: 5. Didn?t contribute a lot, but at least stayed onside, and made way for...
Kanu: 9. Scintillating ? up to every trick in the book and dictated the game for long periods in the second half.
Carter: 7. Not on for long. A bit sloppy at times, but a couple of brilliant through balls.
Earnie: 7. Not on long enough to rate any higher, but one chance, one goal. Enough said.

If it were not for three things, I would say that the team starting the second half ought to be the template for the rest of the season. Those three things are Robinson, Gera and Kirkland. Kirkland is easy enough to deal with, but what about the others? Robinson must come back, but do you drop Albrechtsen, Watson or play Watson in midfield in place of Wallwork? And what of Zoltan? Either Kamara or Greening must go, but which one? Still, these are more acceptable headaches than some of the others that Robson has had to contend with recently!