VIEW FROM THE BLUE

Discouraging Developments

West Ham United 1 - 1 Everton

Everton exited 2010 in disappointing fashion with a sloppy draw at Upton Park that was notable more for the surprisingly negative approach adopted by David Moyes than the actual performance which, itself, was another frustrating one to endure for Blues fans.

Having fallen behind after a quarter of an hour when Tony Hibbert, operating as an emergency centre back in the absence of injured pair Phil Jagielka and John Heitinga, stuck out a leg to block Kovac's shot and diverted the ball into his own net, the Blues equalised through Seamus Coleman three minutes before the break. But handicapped by Moyes's own decision to leave three natural strikers on the bench in favour of deploying Tim Cahill up front on his own, the Blues struggled to find the winning goal against a poor Hammers side ? though, truth be told, even when Yakubu was eventually introduced after an hour, attack after attack fell apart as they tried to walk the ball through the home defence.

Cahill's status as the team's most potent weapon so far this season is unquestioned but the Australian has been effective as an auxiliary striker, not as the lone forward and it became clear very quickly that the decision to play him as such was not working. Yakubu has arguably shown the best ability to hold up the ball and bring others into play so far, Louis Saha did well in the same vein as a second-half substitute at Manchester City eight days ago and both players had scored on this ground in Everton wins in recent seasons but both were forced to watch from the bench.

Very little was sticking with Cahill isolated up front and with him constantly dropping deep, there were often no options at all when the likes of Coleman tried to break quickly. And with Avram Grant's players looking quicker, sharper and hungrier than the leaden-footed Everton midfield for much of the first half, it looked like it was going to be a long afternoon when the home side took the lead after 15 minutes.

Though Hibbert played well enough in his unfamiliar role, the Everton defence rarely looked comfortable without Jagielka alongside Sylvain Distin and when they failed to clear a corner and the ball eventually fell to Kovac, Hibbert deflected his effort past his own goalkeeper to hand West Ham the lead.

Perhaps illustrating the point about the overly conservative nature of the manager's team selection, the Blues' first three chances all fell to Distin, the French defender screwing a sixth-minute chance agonisingly across the face of goal and then going close on back-to-back corners before one-time Moyes target Victor Obinna easily nut-megged Mikel Arteta and hammered a shot off the stanchion behind the goal and Matthew Upson wasted a free header from a free kick later in the half.

Things clicked for Everton, though, after 41 minutes when Cahill turned provider on the left flank with a clipped cross to the back post to pick out Coleman, completely unmarked, and he slotted neatly past Robert Green to level the scores.

Scott Parker's audacious lob attempt dropped into the roof of Tim Howard's net before Coleman had the chance to turn the match on its head on first-half injury time but, having turned inside Luis Boa Morte and set up a great chance on his left foot, he couldn't find the inside of the post and the opportunity went begging.

Having exposed West Ham's frailties, you'd have thought that Moyes would have gone for their jugular after half time but the team was "as you were" when the players emerged from the tunnel for the second half. They were the better side for much of the second period but the propensity to over-elaborate in the final third and slow the game down with tedious passing proved to be their undoing time after time.

Steven Pienaar, well below his best but, along with Coleman, arguably the pick of an otherwise disappointing five-man midfield curled a terrific shot just over the bar and Jack Rodwell dropped a half-volley wide from 20 yards before Moyes finally introduced a second striking option in Yakubu just after the hour mark.

But the Nigerian hardly had a look in and the few chances that Everton created in the final quarter of the match fell to Cahill and Marouane Fellaini. After Carlton Cole had made a mess of what was West Ham's only real chance of the second 45 minutes, one of Everton's best moves of the match ended with Pienaar's square pass to Cahill but he could only shoot straight at the 'keeper.

A couple of minutes later, Fellaini rose highest to meet a corner from the right with a powerful header but Green beat it away with a two-handed save. Had the Belgian been able to place the ball anywhere else on target he would surely have scored.

Cahill then had the ball in the net with seven minutes remaining but after nodding back across goal for Yakubu he was adjudged to have been offside when he collected the striker's mis-cued scissor kick and slid the loose ball home ahead of Tomkins.

And that, despite five uneventful minutes of stoppage time, was pretty much that. The Blues had ended the calendar with their 10th draw of the season, together with Fulham the team to have racked up the most draws so far. Yes, Moyes's side may only have been beaten as many times as the likes of Chelsea and Arsenal but they just can't find enough ways to win and it's doubtful that further reducing the firepower in your ranks by leaving three strikers on the bench will help the cause.

Moyes is infamous for his conservatism but he really outdid himself today with a highly discouraging team selection. He sent out a team aimed at avoiding defeat ? not to a Champions League-chasing side but to a team mired in the relegation zone with far bigger problems than Everton's ? when this was the kind of opposition that would probably have wilted under a more attacking approach.

Of course, even with the negative starting line-up, Everton weren't helped by another poor performance by Mikel Arteta who, again, fell way short of the level required by someone of his import to the team. Fellaini was better but not much, giving the ball away with annoying regularity and Rodwell didn't ever really justify his presence as the extra midfielder before he was withdrawn in favour of Yakubu.

After the impressive manner in which they roared into a 2-0 lead at Eastlands, this "bottom-half" mindset against a limited Hammers side leaves one with more questions about just where Everton are heading under Moyes. Certainly, they can pass the ball about nicely enough but there's still little in the way of a cutting edge so it begs the question why you'd further deplete your attacking options by playing without a recognised striker.

This had nothing to do with an injury crisis or even the well-documented financial straitjacket within which Moyes operates and as another example of his overly defensive mindset it's a discouraging development. It also raises the question about what happens when one of those shunned strikers gets thrown into a starting berth cold when Cahill ships out to the Middle East for the Asia Cup next week. Or will Fellaini get pitched into the striker's role...?

Player Ratings:
Howard 6, Neville 6, Hibbert 6, Distin 7, Baines 7, Fellaini 6, Rodwell 6 (Yakubu 6), Arteta 6, Coleman 7, Pienaar 7, Cahill 7

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