KING JAMES Calvert-Lewin grabs the hat-trick but Rodriguez runs the game as Bilic sees red
EVERTON brought Real Madrid galactico James Rodriguez to Goodison Park to make things happen but even they could not guess his first home outing would be this incident packed.
Rodriguez shared top billing with team-mate Dominic Calvert-Lewin whose first senior hat-trick enabled Everton to maintain their perfect start to the season.
But every twist and turn of a memorable lunch time game involved the Colombian including red cards for West Bromwich Albion defender Kieran Gibbs and their manager Slaven Bilic at the end of the first half.
Rodriguez, 29, who first sprung to prominence at the 2014 World Cup with Colombia, has moved to Merseyside to revive his career under Carlo Ancelotti with whom he’s had an impressive history.
He made a promising start in the 1-0 victory at Tottenham last weekend and yesterday stepped up another gear.
It did not start well though with a misunderstanding with team-mate Andre Gomes leading to Albion going ahead.
But he made amends with an exquisite finish to put Everton 2-1 in front and then provoked Gibbs into pushing him in the face which saw Albion reduced to 10 men.
The pass to Richarlison in the build-up to Everton’s fourth was world class and naturally it was also Rodriguez’s corner that set up the hat-trick goal.
‘ James is showing the quality I saw in Real Madrid and Bayern Munich,’ said Ancelotti. ‘His goal was fantastic and the key goal for us. I’ m not surprised by how quickly he has adapted. Football is not complicated for him.
‘He knows when he has space he can use his quality. When he is under pressure, play it simple. He’s doing it perfectly and his teammates are helping him.’
Newly- promoted Albion were hammered 3-0 by Leicester last weekend but Bilic was rewarded for keeping an unchanged side by enjoying a lively start and taking the lead after 10 minutes.
Rodriguez’s loose pass surrendered possession in Albion’s half and Bi lic’ s team countered brilliantly. Matheus Pereira found Grady Diangana and the £15million signing from West Ham sped from the halfway line before beating Jordan Pickford with a left-foot finish on the edge of the box. At that stage, Ancelotti was cutting a frustrated figure and it nearly got worse when Albion captain Jake Livermore struck the post.
But the home side levelled after 31 minutes when Calvert-Lewin’s backheel was given after a lengthy VAR check.
Seamus Coleman created the danger with a cross to the far post but linesman Darren Cann flagged because he thought Richarlison had flicked on to the scorer from an offside position.
But replays showed the decisive touch had come off the head of Albion defender Darnell Furlong allowing the goal to stand.
If the game was already lively, it exploded shortly before half-time.
First, Rodriguez claimed his first Everton goal when he cleverly bent in from Richarlison’s pass, with his trusted left foot, from 18 yards.
He was then involved in controversy when he gave Gibbs a shove by the touchline with the Albion defender reacting by catching
Rodriguez in the cheek with a raised arm. Rodriguez milked it with a roll and clutch of the face and Gibbs was dismissed.
Bilic argued with Mike Dean as they walked off but later admitted his player ‘had given the referee no choice’ and said Gibbs would have been better falling to the ground himself. Bilic would have initially enjoyed his view of the second half from the stands when Pereira curled a brilliant free- kick past Pickford to make it 2-2.
But it proved a false dawn as Everton proceeded to make their class tell against 10 men. ‘I have to be honest and say it was a huge advantage,’ said Ancelotti.
The third goal arrived after 54 minutes when Lucas Digne’s free-kick was headed goalwards by Richarlison. Albion goalkeeper Sam Johnstone pushed the ball out but only to defender Michael Keane, who prodded home.
From then, i t was a romp with Calvert-Lewin following up his winner at Spurs on t he opening day by claiming his first senior hat-trick.
The centre forward was a fox in the box to turn in Richarlison’s cross-shot after 62 minutes after Rodriguez had again set up an Everton attack with a brilliant looping pass.
Four minutes later Calvert-Lewin was able to claim the match ball with a header from Rodriguez’s centre before getting mobbed by his team-mates. EVERTON (4-3-3): Pickford 6: Coleman 7, Keane 7, Mina 6.5, Digne 7; Gomes 6, Allan 6, Doucoure 6 (Sigurdsson 65min, 6); Rodriguez 7.5 (Kean 76, 6), Calvert-Lewin 9 (Iwobi 71, 6), Richarlison 8. Booked: Doucoure. Subs (not used): Virginia, Kenny, Davies, Bernard. WEST BROM (5-3-2): Johnstone 6; Furlong 5, Bartley 5, Ajayi 6, O’Shea 5, Gibbs 4; Pereira 6.5 (Phillips 71, 6), Livermore 6, Sawyers 4 (Field 75, 6); Robinson 6, Diangana 7 (Edwards 71, 6). Subs (not used): Button, Kipre, Harper, Robson-Kanu. Referee: M Dean (Wirral) 6.
WEST BROM manager Slaven Bilic claimed his defender Kieran Gibbs should have been cleverer in avoiding a red card following a clash with James Rodriguez at Goodison.
Gibbs was sent off shortly before half-time for retaliating after he had been pushed by Rodriguez — shoving the Colombian star in the face.
Bilic was also sent to the stands for confronting referee Mike Dean as they walked off for the interval and Albion, trailing 2-1 at the time, eventually lost the match 5-2.
‘Kieran made a mistake when James clipped him. He stayed on his feet and reacted. If he’d gone down, it would have been a yellow card for James and definitely not a red for him,’ argued Bilic afterwards.
‘He did the worst situation by not going down and then reaching with the hand. He didn’t give the referee any other option. He should have been a little bit more crafty and clever.
‘James was waiting and if you do that, it is a straight red. You can’t complain.’
Ironically, Bilic did complain at the time, loudly, to Dean when managers are not allowed to speak to officials until half-an-hour after the final whistle.
A straight red card is the automatic punishment though Bilic insists he was not abusive. ‘As a manager, I should be in a position to ask the referee what is going on. It was half-time, not like the game was going on, nobody was around,’ he said.
‘I didn’t swear. I asked hi min a frustrated way but I didn’t cross the line,’ he said. ‘I told him if you want to kill us, kill us. That’s all.’
Bilic was also picked up by TV microphones shouting at Dean ‘Check the foul, check the foul’ — a reference to Everton’s first goal when West Brom believe their defender Darnell Furlong was fouled in the build-up.
Everton manager Carlo Ancelotti wants improvement from his team despite their impressive start to the season. ‘We weren’t able to control West Brom’s transitions in the first half,’ he said.
‘We were more in control in the second half but I have to be honest and say we had a great advantage with their red card. I think we had a lot of creativity in attack with the full-backs pushing up.’
Gibbs should have gone down first says Bilic