West Ham can consider themselves very unlucky to have lost a game from which they definitely deserved a point!
For starters Everton’s opener from Lukaku was at least two yards offside and that’s the kind of break you can do without when stripped of five of your best players.
But despite that, the Hammers battled well, particularly in the second half, and were worth at least a point against a very average Everton side.
It was a little surprising to see Cole and Carroll line up together and to be honest I didn’t see much link up work going on between them.
And not surprisingly – shorn of so many good players – we lacked quality where it mattered. Having said that nobody could fault their attitude in a game which was nasty and niggly at time.
Mauro Zarate was nice and bright and scored soon after he arrived and showed he really should have a first team future at the club.
However, what this game did show was how absolutely excellent Sakho and Valencia are as a strike force and the other missing players were obviously badly missed.
However, to see the team show so much fight and spirit and come within a tiny margin of getting the result they deserved really does demonstrate how far we have come this season.
