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| James Rodriguez - 8.5: The Colombian certainly has a fantastic left foot on him. Superb finish from edge of area on brink of half-time despite being surrounded by defenders. Cross helped set up Calvert-Lewin's second goal and his corner supplied the striker's hat-trick. Constantly switching play from right to left with quality cross-field balls to Digne. Deducted half a mark for making the most of Gibbs' moment of madness by hitting the deck very quickly holding his face, also not exactly enthusiastic about tracking back - but that's not what Ancelotti signed him for. Impressive. Getty |
Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Everton might have made a flying start to the new season but the striker is not getting carried away.
The 23-year-old bagged his first senior hat-trick in Saturday’s 5-2 mauling of 10-man West Brom, which followed his winner away at Tottenham Hotspur last weekend as Everton suggest they could be a real threat for the European places this season.
With a vastly improved midfield that includes Colombian playmaker James Rodriguez, Everton created 32 goal attempts in their opening two matches, with four of them converted by Calvert-Lewin.
"You look at the quality we have got on the ball, it was important we utilised the extra man," the striker said after the match. "We created space and chances, and I was happy to be in the box to tap them in."
Calvert-Lewin hailed the impact of manager Carlo Ancelotti, who is helping him hone his predatory instincts in the box.
"He’s on me every day for one-touch finishes and being in the box to put the ball in the back of the net. It’s nice to know that what I am working on in training is coming off.
"But it’s important not to get carried away. I just need to keep taking care of business, scoring goals and playing well, and the rest will take care of itself."
As for the Baggies, they were left to rue a moment of madness by former Arsenal defender Kieran Gibbs, who was sent off for pushing Rodriguez in the face just before the break.
Before then, Slaven Bilic's team – and winger Grady Diangana in particular – had been making life difficult for Everton.
Bilic, who was also shown a red card for remonstrating with officials heading off the pitch at half-time, said of Gibbs: “He can’t do that, he’s old enough. He’s experienced. He played a great game until then.
"He reacted to something James did to him but he wasn’t clever enough to go down when he clipped him. He reacted and gave the referee no choice. It was our mistake.
“Why I’m frustrated is the way we were tactically in the first half, we were closing them down, passing the ball, the way we pressed them, it can’t be 2-1 for them. To show that naivety to go down after we are 1-0 up and to get the red card is frustrating.”
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